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January 22, 2007
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has big plans for 2007 that could be dashed if Congress passes a budget resolution that keeps funding at last year’s levels.
With more than 20 percent of the lab’s planned budget at risk, the lab is predicting 900 layoffs in a worst-case scenario and major disruption to some of its top research projects.
Of particular concern is the impact to the lab’s plans with Seattle-based Cray Inc. to develop the world’s fastest supercomputers for open research and to the newly completed $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source research facility.
“You can certainly create a very disturbing scenario,” Lab Director Jeff Wadsworth told The Knoxville News Sentinel on Thursday.
Wadsworth said Oak Ridge officials are hopeful that Congress will take action within the next few weeks to avert severe effects on the nation’s science programs.
Meantime, they are preparing assessments of various 2007 spending plans and providing those to decision-makers in Washington, he said.
Wadsworth said sudden budget shifts can have long-term consequences. It takes a national laboratory five to 10 years to put together a world-class research team, and if reduced funding causes a breakup it can take that long to put a team back together, he said.
“You can kill a team in a weekend,” Wadsworth said. “They’re all highly employable. They can go elsewhere.”
ORNL officials hope that Congress passes a spending bill at proposed levels or authorizes the Department of Energy, the lab’s chief funding source, to redirect some of its budget allotment to meet top priorities, Wadsworth said.
A decision is anticipated before Feb. 15, when a temporary spending resolution expires.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who supported a big increase in science research last year, is circulating a letter among fellow senators urging that the DOE’s science budget not be cut.
“Even during times of tight budgets, we need to make this pro-growth investment in scientific research to grow new jobs and keep them from being shipped overseas,” Alexander said.
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