December 3, 2007
Department of Energy renews contract with LLE
Funding may reach $351 million over next five
years
jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced it will renew its
agreement with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). The five-year
contract will make possible up to $351 million in funding and allow the
laboratory’s more than 500 employees and students to continue
research into the development of controlled, thermonuclear fusion energy
sources and high energy density physics, according to LLE Director Robert
McCrory.
“The laboratory is a jewel of the
University,” says President Seligman. “It is a vital component
of our nation’s scientific capital and leadership, a key to strategic
work on an independent energy future, and a crucial part of the high-tech
economy of upstate New York. Its most important contribution is in the new
knowledge and scientific training opportunities it provides. It also makes
a vital contribution to the local economy, including $49 million last year
in local expenditures. This strong vote of confidence ensures that those
contributions will continue to flow.”
The laboratory will complete the construction of the
gigantic Omega EP laser in 2008, designed to help prove the viability of
laser-induced fusion energy. When it begins operation the Omega EP will be
the most powerful laser on Earth.
The funding ensures that the laboratory’s
leading role in lasers and high intensity optics will continue, McCrory
says. McCrory also notes that the laboratory has been the only inertial
confinement fusion program and high energy density physics program jointly
supported by the federal and state government, industry, utilities, and a
university.
“As NNSA’s largest university-based
research program, the university’s laser program plays a unique role
supporting NNSA’s national security mission and is an integral part
of our high energy density research program,” says Thomas
D’Agostino, administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration. “They have made many important contributions to NNSA
over the years, and I look forward to another five years of scientific and
technological excellence from the University of Rochester.”
McCrory explains that although the NNSA contract
provides base funding of $276 million based on current financial planning
projections for the next five years, the laboratory has historically
received additional appropriations to fully fund its activities, and he
expects that to occur during this contract period as well, for an expected
total of $351 million. The NNSA has accepted and approved the proposal for
the full $351 million. Funding is appropriated annually by Congress.
The partnership of LLE, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, and the National Nuclear Security Administration is essential
in the campaign to achieve thermonuclear ignition in the laboratory. LLE is
one of the institutional partners in the National Ignition Facility, a $3.5
billion laser to be completed at Livermore in 2009. This facility will be
used to conduct ignition experiments beginning in 2010.
“LLE is an absolutely unique resource not
found at any other American university,” Provost Ralph Kuncl says,
“and it has brought us unparalleled recognition. This decision by the
NNSA ensures that the laboratory will continue its vital work to the
benefit of the nation, of science, and of Rochester.”
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