| SRS lab will get national status Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will designate the Savannah River Technology Center as his department's 12th national research laboratory, Department of Energy and Congressional sources said Thursday, boosting the future employment fortunes of the beleaguered Savannah River Site. During a speech today at the center, which is the research arm of the federal nuclear reservation, Mr. Abraham will unveil the coveted title, enhancing the chance SRS will win new DOE missions, but having little immediate effect on the current job roster. He will be flanked by a number of elected officials from Georgia and South Carolina who have been lobbying to win the status for SRS, which has curtailed its Cold War-era nuclear weapons program and is ahead of schedule on a massive environmental cleanup effort. They were also pushing to have SRS designated as a center of excellence for hydrogen research. But hopes for the latter dimmed when Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico recently got that nod, said Mal McKibben, the executive director of Citizens for Nuclear Technology, a pro-nuclear advocacy group based in Aiken. Mr. McKibben said the national laboratory designation will "open the door to us for a lot more national projects." "It gives the director of SRTC a place at the table when DOE is considering new missions," Mr. McKibben said. "We've never had a place at that table," he said.
Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com. Spencer Abraham: Energy Secretary will name SRS as a national research laboratory today.
|