ARGONNE, Ill. (July 3, 2008)-During an all-hands meeting at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory on Wednesday, July 2, Acting Deputy Secretary of Energy Jeff Kupfer announced that Argonne National Laboratory will receive $7.5 million in additional funding from the Department of Energy. The money, a one-time allocation for fiscal year 2008, comes from the recently passed supplemental budget bill. Both Fermilab and Argonne will receive additional funding from the bill, which should stave off any further layoffs at both laboratories.

"This is very welcome news for Argonne and for the nation's scientific enterprise," said Argonne Director Robert Rosner. " Argonne will benefit from the supplemental bill to support continued operations of our user facilities."

The funds will have immediate positive impacts on the Advanced Photon Source, according to Murray Gibson, associate lab director for Scientific User Facilities. The first, he said, is an elimination of pressure to carry through with impending staff reductions. The facility also plans to return to normal operations for the fall user run. The possibility of restoring some lost time in the current user run is being explored, he said. Operations plans will be announced by early next week.

"While fiscal year 2009 funds still remain uncertain, and the facility must continue to explore scenarios to deal with the uncertainty, the supplemental funding provides major relief," Gibson said. "This funding is obviously great news for our users and our staff and is a clear sign that both houses of Congress and the Administration are well aware that scientific research is of critical importance to our country."

"We owe a great deal of thanks," Rosner said, "to the APS user community, which advocated tirelessly on behalf of science funding, as well as to our elected representatives, particularly Senator Dick Durbin, Congresswoman Judy Biggert, and Congressman Bill Foster, and to the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, for whom we manage and operate the APS."