NEWPORT NEWS, VA. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility today announced that it will receive $75 million from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund construction of its 12 GeV Upgrade project and to modernize infrastructure.
The funds are part of $1.2 billion announced by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today from funding allocated under the Recovery Act to DOE’s Office of Science. The funds will support an array of Office of Science-sponsored construction, laboratory infrastructure, and research projects across the nation. The Secretary made the announcement during a visit to Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, NY.
“Leadership in science remains vital to America’s economic prosperity, energy security, and global competitiveness,” said Secretary Chu. “These projects not only provide critically needed short-term economic relief but also represent a strategic investment in our nation’s future. They will create thousands of jobs and breathe new life into many local economies, while helping to accelerate new technology development, renew our scientific and engineering workforce, and modernize our nation’s scientific infrastructure.”
The Jefferson Lab allocation is part of $1.2 billion that Secretary Chu announced is being disbursed now in the first installment of a total of $1.6 billion allocated to the DOE Office of Science by Congress under the Recovery Act legislation. Officials are working on details remaining to enable approval and release of the balance of $371 million.
Of the $75 million for Jefferson Lab, $65 million will be applied to the 12 GeV Upgrade, a construction project that will double the energy of the lab’s electron beam from 6 billion electron volts (GeV) to 12 GeV. When complete, the project will allow the lab’s international community of physicists to continue Jefferson Lab’s mission of expanding our knowledge of nuclear and particle physics with an unprecedented level of precision. The additional $10 million will be used to modernize lab facilities.
“The ARRA funding will secure Jefferson Lab’s position as a world-leading nuclear physics research facility far into the future, while creating jobs and providing an economic stimulus that are needed now in the Hampton Roads region and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Jefferson Lab Director Hugh Montgomery.
Jefferson Lab is devoted to the study of the building blocks of matter – quarks and gluons. The 12 GeV Upgrade is a $310 million project that will begin construction this spring and be completed in 2015. In addition to doubling the power of the lab’s accelerator, the project also includes the construction of a fourth experimental hall, a 250-foot extension to the lab’s underground accelerator tunnel, and new roads and utilities to support the new experimental hall.
To read more about the Office Science projects funded by ARRA, please visit the DOE website at: http://www.energy.gov/news2009/7083.htm
Media Contact: Kandice Carter, Public Affairs, (757) 269-7263 or kcarter@jlab.org