Builder Selected for DOE’s Spallation Neutron Source
On his second day at DOE, new Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced that a major subcontractor has been selected to design and build the Department’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The facility, which is expected to cost a total of $1.3 billion and take approximately seven years to construct, “will provide researchers the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world,” Richardson said. “Their work could lead to advances ranging from improved medical implants to lubricants and stronger, lighter materials for tomorrow’s more efficient automobiles.”
The Department of Energy has chosen the joint venture of Lester B. Knight and Associates, Inc., and Sverdrup Facilities, Inc., to be architect, engineer, and construction manager for the SNS. Both firms have been involved with other DOE facilities: Knight and Associates designed the recently-built Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, while Sverdrup is participating in the construction of the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is the prime contractor for the SNS and the proposed site for building the facility. A conceptual design of the facility has been completed, and a draft environmental impact statement analyzing the site is currently under preparation. DOE says that no site-specific design work will begin until the environmental review process is satisfactorily completed.
The Director of DOE’s Office of Energy Research, Martha Krebs, has called the neutron source one of her highest priorities. At a January 22 advisory committee meeting, Krebs said the science community has been recommending such a facility for nearly 20 years. She noted that the SNS would be the first major new Energy Research facility to be constructed since the demise of the Superconducting Super Collider in 1993.
According to a DOE press release, the neutron source will produce “the world’s most powerful and capable pulsed neutron beams” for research in chemistry, superconductivity, magnetism, materials, structural biology, complex fluids, and other fields. Once complete, it is expected to serve 1000-2000 users a year from universities, private industry, national laboratories, and other nations.
The Clinton Administration asked for $157.0 million in its FY 1999 budget request to initiate construction of the SNS. The Senate, in its Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, recommended providing the full request (based on use of some prior-year balances), but the House would only provide $100.0 million (see FYIs #88 , 94 .) A conference on the Energy and Water Development bill is expected soon after the House returns from recess next week.
