Department of Energy managers, college officials and lawmakers broke ground Tuesday on a new off-site research center for the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina.
The $50-million Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative facility, to be built by North Wind Group on the University of South Carolina-Aiken campus, will provide 60,000 square feet of laboratory, office and conference space to the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) outside the DOE’s security fence, the agency said in a news release.
The USC-Aiken campus is located about 20 miles from the DOE laboratory site.
Construction should be completed in 2024, the DOE said in the news release. Participants in the groundbreaking included Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), William (Ike) White, senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, USC-Aiken’s chancellor Daniel Heimmermann, Savannah River Site operations manager Mike Budney and Savannah River National Laboratory director Vahid Majidi.