By the US Department of Energy | November 11, 2022
The Biden-Harris administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy, on Nov. 4 announced $1.5 billion from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to build and upgrade National Laboratories. Americans. The resources will help upgrade science facilities, upgrade infrastructure, and address deferred maintenance projects at national laboratories run by the DOE’s Office of Science, which are regional hubs for innovation, including energy technologies that support well-paying jobs and reduce energy costs for families. This historic amount of support will help realize the Biden-Harris administration’s vision to advance solution-focused research and innovation led by America’s best and brightest scientists to address the nation’s greatest challenges and achieve the President’s ambitious climate goals.
“America’s commitment to science and ingenuity has made us the global leaders we are today, and the continued success of our National Laboratories will ensure that we will be at the forefront of global innovation to generations to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Thanks to President Biden’s Cut Inflation Act, these world-class institutions will receive $1.5 billion – one of the largest investments ever made in national laboratory infrastructure – to develop advanced energy technologies and groundbreaking tools like Argonne National Laboratory’s powerful new supercomputer, Aurora, that we need to advance new frontiers, like climate change modeling and vaccine development.
“Our system of world-class national laboratories has enabled American innovation and made the United States the world leader in science and technology for generations,” said John Podesta, senior White House adviser for the innovation and implementation of clean energy. “The investments in National Laboratories in President Biden’s Cut Inflation Act will help spur clean energy innovation, boost our economy, cut costs for families, create good American jobs. paid and fight the climate crisis here at home and around the world.”
On November 4, at the DOE’s state-of-the-art Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, Secretary Granholm joined Senior White House Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation John Podesta, Deputy Director of the Office of Energy Science and Technology Policy and Chief Energy Transition Strategist Sally Benson and other senior White House and DOE officials. The visit highlights the DOE’s swift action to allocate funds for science and research infrastructure provided by President Biden’s program, and the critical role the DOE and national laboratories are playing in the recently released White House report on the innovation to meet the 2050 climate goals. The additional investments made possible by the Cut Inflation Act will deliver critical benefits to the National Laboratory Complex that will drive and support climate science and innovation while creating local jobs and helping to attract and retain the highly skilled workforce needed to tackle the climate crisis.
The DOE’s Office of Science is the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences and the primary federal entity supporting basic research for clean energy. The Office of Science oversees the majority of the DOE’s national laboratories, as well as various programs and facilities, which help achieve its mission of providing breakthrough scientific discoveries, capabilities, and tools to transform understanding of nature and make advancing energy, the economy and national security. However, decades of underfunding of the DOE’s network of national laboratories has jeopardized the Bureau’s mission and threatened America’s scientific and technological competitive advantage against adversaries like China and Russia.
To address this funding backlog, the Office of Science received an additional $1.55 billion in fiscal year 2022 through the President’s Inflation Reduction Act to expedite development projects. ongoing facility upgrades and national laboratory infrastructure projects. Projects include the continued construction of everything from state-of-the-art electron colliders to the world’s fastest supercomputers, as well as infrastructure upgrades for systems such as fire alarms, electrical systems and upgraded HVAC systems. to ensure that DOE National Laboratories are modern, safe and reliable.
The Inflation Reduction Act will provide funds for:
• State-of-the-art scientific computing research facilities
• Basic energy science projects
• Construction of high energy physics and major equipment projects
• Construction of fusion energy science and major equipment projects
• Construction of nuclear physics and major equipment projects
• Isotope research and development facilities
• Science laboratory infrastructure projects
White House Fact Sheet: Find more information on funding for the Cut Inflation Act and a new White House initiative to change the game. here.
More information on the funding announced today can be found here and a full list of funding for each facility can be found here.
Building on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to innovation, the funding announced today has already been distributed to select projects to address a wide variety of long-term priorities and accelerate projects underway for critical facilities and other infrastructure. Together with President Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, the Cut Inflation Act will position America to lead the world in the industries of the future and strengthen America’s ability to make facing our biggest challenges, from climate change to quantum computing and everything in between.
To learn more about the DOE Office of Science and its priorities, click here.
