RICHLAND, Wash. – Today, Anne Harrington, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), applauded the completion of a new nuclear detection laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Speaking at a ceremony celebrating the opening of PNNL’s Capability Replacement Laboratory (CRL), Deputy Administrator Harrington called the CRL “an important platform for collaboration” with our interagency partners and highlighted the important role it will play in support of NNSA’s efforts to implement President Obama’s ambitious nuclear security agenda.
“This laboratory has a long tradition of performing cutting edge work that is critical to enhancing our nation’s security and promoting global peace and security,” said Deputy Administrator Harrington. “We need the best minds in the country working at our national laboratories and sites to develop new tools that will keep the American people safe and enhance global security. Investing in a modern, 21st century nuclear security enterprise is essential to preventing nuclear terrorism or nuclear proliferation, and that is why this Capability Replacement Laboratory is so important.”
The Capability Replacement Laboratory represents the largest construction project in PNNL’s 46-year history and composes three separate facilities: the Physical Sciences Facility, Biological Sciences Facility and Computational Sciences Facility. Work supporting NNSA’s nonproliferation mission will be housed in the Physical Sciences Facility, a 200,000-square-foot laboratory jointly funded by NNSA, DOE’s Office of Science and the Department of Homeland Security.
The morning ceremony took place in front of the laboratory at the north end of PNNL. Harrington was joined by Director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Mike Kluse, Director of DOE Office of Science William Brinkman, and Director of Office of National Laboratories for the Department of Homeland Security James Johnson.
For the text of Deputy Administrator Harrington’s remarks as prepared for delivery, click here [1].
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Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.
