| Secretary boosts SRS' lab status AIKEN - With its new status as one of the country's elite national laboratories, the research arm of the Savannah River Site will continue its work with environmental cleanup but has increased clout to explore a wide range of experimental opportunities, the nation's top energy official said Friday. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, speaking before local business and political leaders at SRS, officially elevated and renamed the former Savannah River Technology Center to the Savannah River National Laboratory. The designation makes it just one of 12 national laboratories in the country that are often the first in line for new Department of Energy missions, which can generate jobs and bolster the economy around them. "They're a big reason the United States is the world's leader when it comes to science," said the secretary, who was joined by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., and Rep. Max Burns, R-Ga. Political leaders such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who pushed for national laboratory status, also lobbied to have the site named a hydrogen center of excellence, a designation Mr. Abraham recently bestowed upon the Sandia National Laboratory. Already known for its extensive work with hydrogen, Savannah River National Laboratory has formed a research agreement with the University of South Carolina and a partnership with the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties to cultivate the gas for commercial use in cars, among other things. There also is still hope that the Savannah River National Laboratory will win designation as a center of excellence for hydrogen research. "There is room for two," said Fred Humes, the executive director of the Development Partnership. "We have not given up on this idea of a center for excellence." The lab, which already gets about half its budget from government agencies other the DOE, also will be asked to tackle "law enforcement and national security challenges," Mr. Abraham said. "Our history has been focused on the Savannah River Site," said Dr. Todd Wright, the director of the laboratory. "This opens doors for us to do broader research." The laboratory, which staffs about 1,000 people and has been conducting scientific work for half a century, already has done work for the Department of Defense and the FBI. Mal McKibben, the executive director of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness in Aiken, said the title could double the number of jobs at the Savannah River National Laboratory. "It opens the door for lots of new possibilities," he said.
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 279-6895 or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
|