ORNL Successfully Passes External Review of New Animal Facility (July 2000)

Before DOE line items can be funded, they must pass a Congressionally appointed external independent review (EIR) panel. An EIR was convened for an onsite review during July 19-22, 2000, for the new animal facility [Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics (LCFG)] to be constructed on the west end of the ORNL campus. The review panel concluded that the new facility is justified and the project should proceed. The review team further commended ORNL for a "best practice" in the front-end planning of the project by the ORNL engineering team through self-educating themselves on animal facilities and obtaining appropriate consultants to advise them on critical aspects of the new facility. ORNL expects to get $2.5 million in FY 2001 to begin construction of the LCFG. (Contact: Barry Berven, 576-2083, bervenba@ornl.gov)