{"id":337812,"date":"2018-09-14T15:07:13","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T19:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=337812"},"modified":"2019-04-05T07:50:05","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T11:50:05","slug":"lle-set-to-receive-the-highest-level-of-federal-funding-in-its-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/lle-set-to-receive-the-highest-level-of-federal-funding-in-its-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Laboratory for Laser Energetics to receive highest level of federal funding to date"},"content":{"rendered":"
After great uncertainty this past year about federal support for the University\u2019s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), the final FY 2019 Energy and Water bill that was just passed by the U.S. Congress includes $80 million for the LLE, a $5 million increase over FY 2018 and the highest level of federal funding ever appropriated to the LLE in the University\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The President is expected to sign this bill into law shortly, which also includes $545 million for the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program at the National Nuclear Security Administration. \u00a0The ICF program supports three major, world-leading research facilities: the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Z Facility at Sandia National Laboratory and the OMEGA Laser Facility at the LLE. Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ 80 percent of ICF\u2019s experiments are conducted at the LLE.\u00a0 In addition, the LLE is the National Nuclear Security Administration\u2019s largest university program, providing a critical scientific pipeline.<\/p>\n
This past February, the Trump Administration proposed a $30 million cut to the LLE, a $126 million cut to the ICF program, and closing the LLE in three years.\u00a0 However, thanks to strong, bipartisan Congressional support led by Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and members of the House delegation, as well as outcry from the scientific community, these devastating cuts and proposal to shutter the LLE were reversed.<\/p>\n