The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is shopping around for industry partners to invest between $5 million and $10 million in an “incubator” for startup businesses aimed at areas such as nuclear energy and cyber security.
In exchange for the seed investment, the startups would gain access to Idaho National Laboratory’s “world-class facilities and technical expertise,” according to a Tuesday press release from the lab.
“Partnering with INL adds credibility, goodwill and visibility to the private sector sponsor’s investments, demonstrating viable leadership in technical innovation,” the press release goes on to say.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent letters to directors of Oak Ridge, Los Alamos and Argonne National Laboratories on reports of researchers leveraging supercomputers from the Chinese military.
Lee, a proponent for examining vulnerabilities at national labs particularly concerning foreign nationals, published the letters Wednesday on the committee’s website. In each letter, he cited a report that analyzed pulled DOE-funded research from 2016 to 2024.
Lee said at the beginning of each letter, the research persisted despite the 2015 U.S. sanctions on China’s National Supercomputing Centers and their presence on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List “due to their ties to China’s military and strategic weapons programs.” Lee included examples of studies from each of the labs where researchers collaborated with a Chinese institution. All three labs had a study that used the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, which is in the U.S. Entity List.
Former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), the first black Republican Congresswoman, died at age 49 on Sunday following a battle with brain cancer.
Love, who represented the 4th Congressional district of Utah from 2015-2019, passed away on Sunday in Saratoga Springs, Utah, according to her X account where her family announced it.
Love was one of five Republicans to vote against the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017-18, which was passed 340 – 72 in the House but never passed the Senate. Among other things, the measure sponsored by former Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), would instruct the Department of Energy program to consolidate and temporarily store commercial spent nuclear fuel during the development and construction of a permanent nuclear waste repository.
