Oak Ridge Could Have Funding Cut

Oak Ridge National Laboratories could face funding cuts if Congress deals with its proposed budget as expected this week.

Instead of re-crafting a new budget, Congress is looking at passing a continuing resolution which means funding for federal agencies would remain the same as last year. Oak Ridge officials say that may mean the loss of as many as 900 jobs at the facility, which receives almost all of its funding through the Department of Energy.

Oak Ridge spokesman Billy Stair says it would help if Congress allows federal departments to be flexible.

“The Department of Energy for this next year’s budget was to take money from clean-up projects out West which have now been completed, and move that clean up money into the Office of Science for research. So in effect, the department of Energy’s total budget is the same next year as this year but they’re moving a big piece of money, about 500-million dollars into research. If they can not do that, that’s where we experience the problem.”

Oak Ridge also picked up an extra responsibility last year—overseeing the construction of a nuclear fusion reactor in France. The project is an international effort of seven countries to produce energy from fusion reactions, which is supposed to be cleaner than the fission process of current nuclear reactors.

Tennessee Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander have signed a letter urging more science funding. Representative Bart Gordon, of Murfreesboro, is now the chair of the House Science Committee, which also could work in Oak Ridge’s favor.

**WPLN originally aired this report using the name of Billy Fields, rather than Billy Stair, for the spokesman at Oak Ridge. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.**