Nov 20 2007
The U.S. federal government expects to spend more than $350 million over the next five years keeping one of the fixtures of the local optics industry operating.
University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics employs about 400 people and conducts cutting-edge research on areas from fusion as a potential power source of ways to extend the life of the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal.
UR announced today that the U.S. Energy Departmen's National Nuclear Security Administration had agreed to renew its support of the lab for another five years. That money represents the vast bulk of the income that keeps the laser lab going, said lab Director Robert L. McCrory.
The lab was founded in 1970, and was built here in large part because of the optics and laser expertise in the Rochester area, McCrory said.
The funding itself is not set in stone and has to be approved annually in the federal budget. But the laser lab traditionally has received what the Energy Department allocated for it, McCrory said.