The Department of Energy has awarded an $88.8 million contract to Hensel Phelps for the construction of a facility to enrich stable isotopes at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Construction of the single-story, 64,000-square-foot U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center (SIPRC), funded by DOE’s Isotope Program (IP), is expected to take two years and be completed in Spring 2027. It will be located on the southeast side of ORNL’s main campus. The site has already been cleared and graded in preparation of facility construction, after DOE and ORNL held a groundbreaking ceremony in October 2022.

The $325 million SIPRC project will establish the capability to produce stable isotopes on a large scale to meet the Nation’s continually increasing demands for isotopes needed in medicine, industry, science and national security, and thus reducing U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers. The United States has had no existing domestic broad-scope enrichment capability since 1998, and its stockpiles of isotopes produced prior to that are being depleted.

“DOE IP is committed to the production of high-priority stable isotopes that are crucial to meet U.S. needs, support scientific advancement and bolster the technical strength of the Nation” said DOE IP Director Christopher Landers. “SIPRC is central to re-establishing core competencies in isotope enrichment, fostering innovation, industry growth and a next-generation workforce.”

SIPRC will house two types of isotope enrichment equipment that ORNL has spent more than 10 years researching, designing, prototyping and operating. Ultimately, SIPRC will be capable of simultaneously enriching multiple stable isotopes from across the periodic table. 

“This facility will be a critical source of specific, stable enriched isotopes for the nation now and in the future,” said ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer. “ORNL’s rich history of isotope production, along with our unique scientific facilities and expertise, enables us to advance DOE’s isotope mission with cutting-edge research and technology.”

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. 

This Oak Ridge National Laboratory news article "Department of Energy awards $88.8M contract to build Stable Isotope Production and Research Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news