August 22, 2012
Aiken County and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, (SRNS) have reachedagreement on a corporately funded $3-million expansion plan that will add an additional 6,435 square feet of finished laboratory and support space to the county-owned Center for Hydrogen Research (CHR) facility, located in Aiken County’s Savannah River Research Campus adjacent to the Savannah River Site.
The CHR building will be re-designated as the Applied Research Center (ARC) in the future to more accurately reflect the diversity of research and development initiatives in the 60,000 square foot facility.
The Center for Hydrogen Research, which opened in 2006, currently houses the Savannah River National Laboratory’s (SRNL) Hydrogen Technology Research Laboratory, a 24,400 ft2 lab complex primarily used for unclassified research into new applications for hydrogen technology, USC-Aiken research and small technology companies.
The expansion will be privately funded, via a $3-million expenditure authorized by the Board of Directors of SRNS. Upon completion of construction, SRNL will lease the space. The Department of Energy has authorized an initial ten-year lease.
The expansion will add six new laboratories with flexible configurations to support growing SRNL research on advanced materials to support areas such as nuclear energy, energy storage materials and systems, solar energy materials, materials for wind and marine energy systems and carbon dioxide capture.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, is a Fluor partnership comprising Fluor, Newport News Nuclear and Honeywell, responsible for the management and operation of DOE’s Savannah River Site, including the Savannah River National Laboratory.The Applied Research Center is a subsidiary of the Economic Development Partnership concentrating on economic development and job creation based on technology. The Center for Hydrogen Research promotes fuel cell and hydrogen technology through education, training and research and development.