Battelle is expecting to receive an "outstanding" rating for fiscal year 1999 from the Department of Energy for its performance in operating Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

The rating is to become final and be announced in late December.

Last year, Battelle also received an outstanding rating. Even though its 1998 score fell just barely shy of the number needed for the top rating, DOE awarded the outstanding rating because of Battelle's strong efforts in key areas.

This year, Battelle expects to be well above the minimum score needed for an outstanding rating, based in part on the lab's self-assessment, outgoing lab Director Bill Madia said Wednesday during a meeting with the Tri-City Herald editorial board.

Madia is wrapping up business in the Tri-Cities before leaving to head the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He'll also serve as a Battelle vice president, coordinating all of Battelle's DOE business, including work at the Richland lab.

He expects both the Richland and Oak Ridge labs to benefit from their connection as facilities operated by Battelle. In areas where one has a smaller program, such as energy research at PNNL, competing for projects can be difficult. However, by forming a partnership to compete for specific projects, both labs are in a stronger position to get some research funded, he said.

Madia said he also will be watching closely an Oak Ridge program that links the lab there with a consortium of the South's major research universities.

"If it's successful, we'd like to reach out to regional research universities (in the Northwest)," he said.

The six southern universities are investing $18 million in the Oak Ridge laboratory, much of that in faculty salaries and research projects brought into the lab. The universities include Duke University in Durham, N.C., Florida State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, which Battelle also operates, has organized a similar consortium.

In the Northwest, Battelle would approach research universities in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

"They will not manage the lab," Madia said. "But we do want to reach out and bring in core universities and better formalize that relationship."

At Oak Ridge, Battelle is taking over operation of the national lab in partnership with the University of Tennessee.

The lab there also has had strong state support, with the state offering to invest $18 million for computational research, biological research and a joint center for graduate studies after the Battelle and University of Tennessee team won the contract.

Washington does not offer similar monetary support for the Richland lab, Madia said.

With Madia leaving for Tennessee, Adrian Roberts, who recently retired from full-time work with Battelle, has been named interim director.

Madia is expecting a permanent replacement to be named in three months. Battelle is asking the new director to agree to stay for five years, Roberts said.

This fall Battelle appeared to be close to naming a director before Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said he wanted the pool of candidates for the job expanded to include more women and minority candidates. Since then, 43 women and minority candidates have been identified.

Some have said they were not interested in the position, but four remain under consideration along with other candidates, Madia said.

In addition to Madia leaving for Tennessee, five senior managers also are transferring to Oak Ridge. Other key staffers have been transferred to Brookhaven or departed to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

That Battelle still is expecting an outstanding rating at PNNL shows the lab has the depth of talent to withstand what's been called a "brain drain," Madia said.

As many as 70 people got advancements at PNNL who otherwise might not have, Madia said. That included many opportunities for women and minorities, he said.

He leaves the lab in good shape, he believes.

"Morale is real high right now," he said. "The lab has a very good reputation. People like being part of a winning organization."