The Ames Laboratory, one of 17 national laboratories in the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) federal research system, received bipartisan praise from U.S. congressmen Monday for its work and research with rare earth minerals.
A congressional delegation including Reps. Jim Baird, R-Ind., Bill Foster, D-Ill., Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, toured of the Ames Laboratory’s Sensitive Instrument Facility on the Iowa State University Campus on Monday.
The facility, which opened in 2014, features electron microscopes that are kept in vibration-free and static-free environments that help for smoother preparation of materials from start to finish.
″(Foster) is a Democrat, I’m a Republican, but when it comes to the national labs, we recognize that this is a key national treasure,” said Fleischmann. “We see the very clear benefit of each individual lab, and this lab is very good at at rare earth metals.”
Tucked into the sixth row of the periodic table, rare earth minerals have increasingly become a geopolitical tool for global power.
The 17 elements that make up the rare earth group have been used to transition to a clean-tech-driven economy. They are used in electric car motors, lithium ion batteries, computer hard drives, solar panels, and wind turbines.
Loesback, who represents Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District in southeast Iowa, touted the Ames Lab’s research and innovation, in light of China’s dominance in the rare earth market.
“I am concerned about the rare earth minerals,” said Loebsack, who announced last year he would retire at the end of his current term, which expires at the end of 2020. “So from a strategic standpoint, I think we have to find ways to provide those minerals ourselves here in America, if we can do that.”
The United States seeks to become independent on rare earth metals in the future, and top competitor China leads the nation in top rare-earth mineral mining reserves, producing an estimated 44 million tons, to the United States’ 1.4 tons.
Recently, the lab touted a new start-to-finish machine called a Controlled Atmospheric Materials Processing System that can reduce or eliminate the need for high-demand rare earth minerals and other materials.
“All 17 of the Department of Energy national labs, they’re really sort of the jewels in the scientific crown of the country,” Foster said.
But outside of what’s being unearthed inside the Iowa State University-based research facility, congressmen also discussed the role national labs are playing in solving today’s problems and problem that will arise in the future.
“As we move on down the road, that the challenge, is what they do here (in the) national labs,” Baird said. “That’s trying to identify the basic research that’s going to be important 10, 15, 20 years (down the road), and someone needs to get to that now, so we can move forward.”
This month, the Ames lab received $4.9 million from the DOE for research in the manufacturing of aluminum-cerium alloys for harsh environments.
Fleischmann said the laboratory’s work with rare earth metals, can only be sustained through strong federal funding.
“As we fund the Department of Energy, and we look at the administration’s budget, and then we work with our friends in the Senate, who are appropriators then we have to make the decisions, where we’re going to put those key limited resources,” he said.
Foster said that funding is key to continued innovation at national laboratories, such as Ames.
“The ultimate reason to do (the visit to Ames Lab) is to increase the appreciation of the science that’s being done here and the impact that it has on people’s lives, today and in the future,” Foster said. “And getting Congress to actually vote for larger budgets.”
