WASHINGTON - The Energy Department will designate its Savannah River Technology Center in South Carolina as its 13th national research laboratory, department and congressional sources said Thursday.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham plans to make the announcement during a visit to the facility near Aiken, S.C., on Friday.

The center, created in the 1950s as a research facility for producing plutonium and tritium for nuclear warheads, more recently has focused on a wide range of applied research from environmental remediating, hydrogen energy technology to counterintelligence and security systems and robotics.

The designation as a national laboratory will increase the facility's prestige and allow its scientists more easily to team up with scientists at other national laboratories in research projects, officials said.

The research center is part of the Energy Department's broader Savannah River Site, a key part of the government nuclear weapons complex, located along the Savannah River that separates South Carolina and Georgia.