SAVANNAH RIVER SITE — The nation’s newest national laboratory will focus on developing technology to help clean up nuclear waste, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Friday.

As expected, Abraham named the Savannah River Technical Center a national laboratory, a designation long sought by South Carolina as a way to attract millions in federal research dollars, and the jobs that follow.

The Savannah River National Laboratory will be able to compete as an equal with Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and other national laboratories for major research projects.

The designation also should help ensure the future of the Savannah River Site, which once produced material for nuclear weapons, but more recently has been focused on cleaning up waste from their production. While Abraham wouldn’t discuss specifics, he said future missions at SRS will be “significant and robust.”

“All of our national laboratories enjoy special status that makes them more likely places for important research efforts to take place,” Abraham said. That can attract major research partners.

Joining Abraham were Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Reps., Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., and Max Burns, R.-Ga.

Sanford paid tribute to those who worked at SRS over the past 50 years, calling them pioneers. “We build from that foundation with the success today,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a videotaped statement, “The national lab designation is like going from single-A baseball to the World Series.”

The potential research and development opportunities that could come to SRS and South Carolina from the designation are staggering and on the cutting-edge of technology, he said.

Graham, who remained in Washington on Friday for the Iraqi prisoner abuse hearings, has worked on getting the national laboratory designation for 10 years. Abraham and Sanford praised his effort.

The Savannah River National Laboratory is run under the contract for SRS by the Westinghouse Savannah River Co. It has an annual budget of $132 million with the majority of work involving projects supporting the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration. Some 750 people, including chemists, material scientists, and mechanical, metallurgical, electrical and chemical engineers work for the lab.

The federal government bought $3.1 billion in goods and services in South Carolina during 2002 — and $1.5 billion was spent in Aiken County, with nearly all of that going to Westinghouse.

The depth of the area’s feeling for SRS was seen in the yard signs lining the highway welcoming Abraham. At one elementary school along the route, children stood against a fence waving flags and holding signs.

The activities of the lab will be directed by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Savannah River will be the only full-time national laboratory to fall under the Environmental Management office’s umbrella, Abraham said.

“The Bush administration considers our responsibilities for mitigating the risks and hazards posed by the legacy of nuclear weapons production among our very highest environmental priorities “ the secretary said.

But nuclear cleanup certainly will not be the lab’s only focus. The designation, in fact, will allow the lab to do broader research, said Keith Wood, the lab’s director.

The center has a wide range of expertise, including hydrogen energy, nonproliferation and counterintelligence, environmental science, waste processing, homeland security, robotics and materials technologies.

Much of the lab’s work in hydrogen is being done in connection with South Carolina’s research universities, he said.

Harris Pastides, USC vice president for research, said the university has strengths in three of the lab’s areas: hydrogen, homeland security and environmental cleanup.

“I would think from our perspective we go back now and boost those areas even more, so that we will be worthy partners for the people here at the national lab,” Pastides said.

Wright and Pastides said they were disappointed Savannah River was not selected when the Department of Energy released $150 million last week in hydrogen storage research projects.

But Wright said the national laboratory status will put Savannah River in a better position to compete next time.

“This is a nine-inning game. We were not the first up to bat. But we are in this for the long haul,” Wright said.

“It was a disappointment to us, but the strength is here at Savannah River National Lab,” he added. “There is strength in the state. It’s a long game and we expect to win.”