(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a key member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced that she has secured millions to support research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PNNL, in key areas of national security, energy, health and environmental protection. The funding is provided in a House-Senate conference report – Senator Murray was a conferee for this bill – on the fiscal year 2006 Energy and Water Development bill.
“As a member of both the Appropriations Subcommittee and the Conference Committee, I’m proud to have fought for this funding to meet our nation’s critical security, energy and environmental needs, especially in such a tight budget year,” Murray said. “This funding will help PNNL continue to deliver breakthrough science and technology for our region and the country.”
The conference report is in its final version, and it will now go to the full Senate and full House for approval; it will then be given to the president to be signed into law.
$18 million for PNNL’s Research Campus of the Future
As part of the clean up at the Hanford site, PNNL scientists and engineers must relocate from laboratories and offices in the 300 area. In addition to securing the $8 million for this effort in the administration’s request Senator Murray added $10 million to complete the design phase of the project and begin construction. Construction of these new facilities will provide state of the art laboratories to enhance the research performed at the lab for critical national missions. Senator Murray is proud to be able to support the top priority of PNNL.
$5 million for PNNL’s Bioproducts Research Program
PNNL is a world class leader in new technologies for bio-based products. Funding for this core research and development program will support the lab’s work in catalysis and fungal biotechnology. One of the goals of this important research is to find ways to replace petroleum in chemicals and materials. Discoveries from this research will provide another way to reduce the nation’s use of oil.
$3.5 million for William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, EMSL
EMSL, a national user facility, houses some of the world’s most cutting-edge research equipment including a supercomputer, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers and electron paramagnetic spectrometers, mass spectrometers. The increase of $3.5 million will help upgrade the equipment and maintain EMSL as a world-class facility open to researchers from around the world.
$1.5 million for the GridWise Northwest Regional Demonstration Project
The GridWise program focuses on increasing the reliability, efficiency, and security of the electricity infrastructure with updated communication systems and advanced information technologies. Funding for the Northwest Regional Demonstration provides researcher the opportunity to test technologies to illustrate their value and discover potential faults.
$8 million for High Temperature Electrochemistry Center, HiTEC
HiTEC is a research collaboration between universities and national laboratories striving to develop clean power generation. The work focuses on the technical foundations necessary to bring together advanced technologies such as fuel cells, turbines and hybrid energy generation systems. Using these technologies as a system will enable development of fossil fuel power generation with increased efficiency and significant reduction polluting emissions.
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