The University of Tennessee and Battelle, one of the world's largest private, independent technology organizations, announced plans Wednesday to bid jointly for the U. S. Department of Energy contract to manage Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

The University of Tennessee-Battelle team will be supported by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of prominent research universities. The consortium's lead academic institutions in the project are Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, and Virginia Tech. Additional institutions and subcontractors may be announced in the future. Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist said the UT-Battelle initiative has his full support. "I applaud this joint venture between UT and Battelle and am excited about the prospects," Sundquist said. "The benefits to Tennessee are enormous and I will do whatever I can to ensure success.

"ORNL is one of the nation's foremost scientific research centers and a great asset to the region," said University of Tennessee President Joe Johnson. "The combination of Battelle, one of the world's leading research and development organizations, with the University of Tennessee and outstanding academic partners will provide a very strong team to manage the laboratory."

"Battelle is very pleased to join with Tennessee in pursuit of the ORNL contract," said Doug Olesen, Battelle president and CEO. "UT is an outstanding institution with an excellent perspective on the needs of the laboratory and the region as we move to the 21st century."

Johnson and Olesen commented, "Our four university partners bring to the team strong academic, science and engineering leadership in the Southeast. The universities also have extensive expertise in the commercialization of basic sciences."

Johnson said the goals of the University of Tennessee and Battelle will include completing the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), broadening the lab's scientific research, and providing the nation's scientific and business communities with greater access to ORNL's resources.

Tennessee has made a priority of expanding collaborative research activities with ORNL during the 1990s, Johnson said. Last year, the governor recommended and the Tennessee General Assembly appropriated $8 million to construct the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, a project designed for the University of Tennessee and ORNL to conduct research associated with the $1.3 billion Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL.

When completed, the Spallation Neutron Source will be among the world's most advanced accelerators for the study of materials.

Later this year, the University of Tennessee and ORNL will break ground for the National Transportation Research Center, another joint project designed to support Tennessee's emerging role in the automotive and related industries.

The neutron sciences institute and the transportation institute are in addition to some $20 million in joint scientific research conducted annually by the University of Tennessee and ORNL.

Battelle is a non-profit organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle has annual revenues of about $1 billion and 7,000 employees at more than 60 locations. The organization has operated the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy since 1965, and is a partner in managing both the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.

Battelle's technology based commercial businesses are concentrated in the areas of automotive, pharmaceuticals, medical products, energy products, and chemicals.

The 4,500-employee Oak Ridge National Laboratory is one of several national multi-purpose DOE research laboratories. The laboratory's research focuses on materials, environment, computer science, nuclear physics, and life sciences.

The University of Tennessee has 42,000 students at four campuses and three institutes. The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is a Carnegie I research institution with excellence in waste management and materials processing, and participates in the Science Alliance, a collaboration of University of Tennessee faculty and ORNL staff involved in scientific research.

In December, DOE issued a draft Request for Proposal for the management of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The final request is expected to be issued in March and a contract decision is anticipated in late 1999.

The University of Tennessee-Battelle team plans to open an information office in Oak Ridge in the near future for those interested in more information about Battelle or the University of Tennessee.

For more information, contact Tom McClain, Vice President of Corporate Communication at Battelle, at 614.424.7728; or Homer Fisher, Senior Vice President, University of Tennessee, at 423.974.3211.