Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow
All-Hands Meeting/ Announcement of CEBAF Upgrade
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
April 19, 2004

Thank you very much Christoph (Leeman, Director, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility) … it’s a pleasure to be with you today.

And I am particularly honored that Senator Warner and Representatives Davis and Scott have joined us today. They have all supported the work of this lab and in the Senator’s case helped bring this lab to Virginia.

I’m told that early on Senator Warner’s backing was so important that CEBAF was known as the “Warner-tron.”

We just finished a fascinating tour of the “Warner-tron” and this superb laboratory and I want to thank everyone who played a part in that tour, especially, Christoph and Jim Turi.

You have every reason to be extremely proud of what has been built here in Newport News. The Commonwealth, the nation, and the world recognize this lab, and the people who work here, as innovators and leaders in fundamental nuclear physics research without parallel.

Today, I now have a better understanding of why.

First-class scientific machines, running the best experiments, at a lab that cares about the science, and knows that the best science comes from the best people … this seems to be your formula for success.

Christoph Leemann and his team deserve a great deal of credit for making Thomas Jefferson such a success story.

I want to especially take note of the very dedicated staff at Jefferson Lab. Over and over again, they have demonstrated their commitment to this lab and its mission.

The Department is grateful for your selfless contributions.

And I also want to recognize Jim Turi and our site office for a job well done.

We just announced a restructuring of the Office of Science and that plan gives the site offices at all our science labs greater responsibility and a higher profile within the entire organization.

I know Jim and his staff are prepared for our efforts to build a more efficient science organization at DOE.

And let me also thank the Director of our Science effort, Ray Orbach, for his leadership, not only of this restructuring effort, but for his overall outstanding stewardship of DOE science.

Ray is a tireless advocate for science. And he is a tireless advocate for priorities in his science program. The scope of research encompassed by the Office of Science ranges from fusion energy to building a new generation of supercomputers, so setting priorities is both necessary and difficult.

I think more than any other Director of this office Ray has taken that very difficult task seriously and I want him to know that the Secretary and I appreciate that effort.

Jefferson Lab could not succeed without tremendous support from the local community. Mayor Joe Frank and others, thank you.

This kind of community assistance was evident in unusual circumstances like the hurricane last year, but really this community supports our work year round here and I want everyone to know that the Department understands how critical your cooperation is in keeping this a top-flight DOE facility.

University partnerships are critical to the long-term vitality of all our labs. It’s no different here.

Jefferson lab has built strong relationships with colleges and universities in this region and around the world and I am glad to see representatives from some of your key university partners with us today.

Federal and local officials, universities, and the entire region pushed hard to get this lab here. Land was donated by the City of Newport News and it built a guest house for visiting scientists and grad students and the ARC building where the lab leases a third of the space.

The Commonwealth now provides consistent support for scientific positions, joint professorships at Virginia Universities, and state employees who work here at the lab.

The return on these investments has been enormous.

CEBAF is recognized around the world as a leader in nuclear physics research.

Your discoveries in the mysterious world of the quark make science news headlines … and one of the best measures of your success is that Thomas Jefferson is the place the best and brightest want to come to understand matter and energy.

The work here on superconducting radio frequency technology is making a critical contribution to the development of the largest science project in the country …the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab … and this technology can be applied to a broad range of advanced accelerators that may be built in the future.

Indeed, Jefferson Lab could well become the vital center for development of key components for accelerators both here and around the world. That is a wonderful prospect.

As an example, the Free Electron Laser is making an important contribution to national security and basic science, and I am pleased to see this work is going so well.

So, it is clear that investments made here pay dividends.

I mentioned that Ray Orbach has been serious about setting priorities for his office. This is something Secretary Abraham has demanded of all of us since he took office.

And one of the priorities he set when he took office was to raise the level of visibility of the contribution DOE makes to this nation through basic scientific research.

Our Department makes headlines when gas prices spike, but we make history almost every day at places like Jefferson Lab, where we carry out fundamental research on the most challenging problems known to mankind.

Indeed, a critical part of the Department’s mission is to be the steward of the physical sciences in America, and it’s a mission that is not as well understood as it should be.

What’s more, we think what is done here at Jefferson Lab … as well as at all our labs … has clear benefits for our everyday life that have also not been well understood.

Can we show the average American that searching for quarks really makes a difference? I think we can.

For example, the detectors you have developed to help uncover the unknowns of matter and energy … to help understand quarks … make a huge contribution to improving medical diagnoses.

Not long ago a former head of the National Institutes of Health noted that medical advances may seem like wizardry, but pull back the curtain, and sitting at the lever is a high-energy physicist, a chemist, or an engineer.

He pointed out that MRIs, one of the last century’s greatest advances, are the product of nuclear physics, computer science, and quantum chemistry, to name just a few.

Jefferson Lab’s basic research was applied recently to improve existing MRIs allowing them to provide radically improved images of the lung.

And other work at this lab has made basic breast cancer diagnoses far less invasive.

The spin offs from basic research … both the merely useful and the life saving … surround our everyday life.

We take that responsibility to sustain the enterprise of science very seriously, not only because fundamental science has a history of delivering practical benefits.

But also because a great nation should support the quest for knowledge even when that knowledge may have no immediately tangible benefit.

The fact is, DOE and its predecessor organizations have been the consistent friend of basic science, especially the physical sciences.

We intend to continue … and where possible … to enlarge on that tradition.

So, last November the Secretary released a blueprint for DOE’s contribution to science over the next 20 years.

Our plan for future science facilities is unique. No other agency of government has ever produced a facilities plan of this scope based on a clear cut rank ordering of priorities.

To put it simply, our facilities plan outlines the opportunities for discovery that are within our grasp.

It was not easy to make this list. We began with a total of 53 possible projects. After an intense winnowing process, we ended up with just 28.

To be among that 28 is a major accomplishment in itself.

And I am here today at Thomas Jefferson Laboratory to announce that we have taken one of the first steps to fulfilling that plan for the future of science in America.

On behalf of Secretary Abraham, I’m pleased to announce that we have approved the formal mission need for the upgrade of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility.

Doubling the energy of CEBAF and adding computing power guarantees that this lab will have a productive future in science well into the third decade of this century.

What’s more, upgrading the detectors … a critical part of this program … will launch us into the next generation of instruments for medical diagnoses.

Of course, CEBAF has already shown that it is a center for important discovery and a focus for graduate research that is ensuring this nation will continue to have a robust nuclear physics community.

The upgrade we are announcing today secures your future and helps secure the future of nuclear physics in this country.

This upgrade was one of the top priorities in the Secretary’s facilities plan coming along side important projects in biotechnology, computation, and a new generation of electron microscopes.

CEBAF will be in the future … as it is today … one of the premier nuclear physics machines in the world.

So, I congratulate you on the achievements at CEBAF so far and look forward to a successful upgrade of this important facility.

Before I close I want to take a minute to congratulate everyone here on the exceptional work being done in the BEAM program and the academic and research programs for Minority Serving Institutions.

Jefferson Lab’s outreach to local schools and its proven success at improving performance in science and math is a model for all our labs.

The data clearly show that your BEAM program boosts achievement in science and math … I do not know of a greater gift you could give to your community.

There is also a record of proven success at Jefferson Lab of working with minority institutions in the Commonwealth and beyond, taking advantage of their talented students and faculty to improve the science here at the lab and instruction at their universities.

The Department is very proud of the efforts this lab is making to involve everyone in the research and experiments that drive the excellence science here at J Lab.

Anyone coming to this lab will see a magnificent science program, magnificent people … and most of all … a laboratory with a very, very promising future.

Thank you again for your warm welcome.

END