Recent Developments at the Department of Energy
SPALLATION NEUTRON SOURCE: The Department of Energy has officially selected Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as the site of the Spallation Neutron Source. This “Record of Decision” was published in this week’s Federal Register. The decision follows the Final Environment Impact Statement which can be accessed at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/bbs/ftpup/bbs.html-ssi The statement provides a good summary of why the SNS is needed, and describes why Oak Ridge was preferred. Other siting alternatives were Los Alamos, Argonne, and Brookhaven national laboratories. In explaining the decision, the document states, “The preferred siting alternative for construction and operation of the proposed SNS is the ORNL Alternative. This alternative would allow DOE to take advantage of the highly trained scientific and technical staff at ORNL and the experience gained during development of the conceptual design for the Advanced Neutron Source.”The review estimates that almost 1,500 direct, indirect, and induced jobs will be created by SNS design and construction. A 4-MW operation would result in a maximum of about 1,700 direct, indirect and induced jobs (with a 1-MW operation having slightly less employment benefit.)
NATIONAL LABORATORIES: Last Friday, Victor Reis, DOE Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs, submitted his resignation to President Clinton. Press reports indicate that the resignation was a result of a disagreement with Energy Secretary Richardson about how the department should be reorganized. Reis has held this post since 1993. Today, former Senator Warren Rudman was the sole witness before the House Science Committee to answer questions about the report he recently oversaw on the labs (see FYI #103.) Rudman repeated his contention that “these weapons labs just aren’t working the way they should.”
SCIENCE AT THE NATIONAL LABS - HEADS UP: Earlier this month NBC reported on what it said were “new revelations that the Energy Department is also cited for wasting taxpayer money on extensive and out-of-control travel costs, even after it promised to get those costs under control.” A GAO official calculated that DOE travel costs last year were $229 million, $23 million more than they were to have been. House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ron Packard (R-CA), who writes the bill funding much of DOE, was quoted: “These people are working for the taxpayers of America. And when they abuse travel policy and misuse Federal funds, they’re abusing taxpayers.” When Packard was told that DOE sent 64 Los Alamos researchers to a Vancouver conference on particle acceleration, attended by 525 “government scientists” at a reported cost of $1 million, Packard said, “I just don’t understand how you can justify that.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO FY 2001: Work is underway on the FY 2001 budget for DOE. It appears that the basic premises for FY 2001 will track along the lines of the budget request submitted earlier this year, with most components of the DOE general science budget showing little growth.
