Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
3/14/2014
The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget released last week proposes terminating $10 million in Department of Energy Office of Science funding for the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has lab officials concerned for the future of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The Lujan Neutron Scattering Center is one of five lab facilities that use LANSCE’s proton linear accelerator, one of the signature science facilities at the lab. It is used to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Stockpile Stewardship Program as well as other missions at the labs, and is viewed as a key recruitment tool for early career scientists.
Lab officials fear the decision to terminate the Lujan Center, which came without warning to the lab, represents diminishing support for LANSCE overall. The Obama Administration previously attempted to block funding for a refurbishment of the facility only to have Congress intervene several times and provide funding for the upgrade. The Lujan Neutron Scattering Center is viewed as a “linchpin” for LANSCE because of its role as a user facility that brings hundreds to the lab each year—about half of the 1,200 user visits annually to LANSCE.
N.M. Lawmakers Vow Support for Lujan Center
Jennifer Talhelm, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Udall would fight to fund the facility this year. “Senator Udall is a strong supporter of the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center, which is important for the stockpile stewardship program and which does critical science research both for the lab and for the nation, including the production of important medical isotopes,” Talhelm said, adding: “He has previously fought successfully to prevent cuts to LANSCE, and he believes this program will remain important to the nation in the in the future.”
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), who is a distant cousin to the facility’s namesake, Manuel Lujan Jr., also said he had concerns with funding levels for the national labs and the decision on the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center. “Reductions to general science research are troubling,” he said in a statement. “Previous budgets have also called for cuts to the Lujan Center, and I’ve worked with the New Mexico delegation to restore funding and keep it operational. I will continue to advocate for the areas that help ensure our labs remain a key component in U.S. competitiveness, job creation, and national security.”
DOE: Lujan Center a Lower Priority
Harriet Kung, the Director of Basic Energy Sciences in DOE’s Office of Science, said in a letter to users of the Lujan Center set to be sent March 14 that DOE could not sustain three neutron scattering sources with the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory fully operational. “The reality is that we are in a very constrained budget environment today, necessitating careful prioritization of facility decisions and hard choices,” Kung said.
Kung said DOE relied on the advice of the federal Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, which in 2013 ranked the Lujan Center as a “Lower Priority” than other scientific user facilities funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. “It was decided to propose discontinuation of BES operations support in the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request to Congress,” Kung said.
