Fermi, Argonne score $48 million in federal funding

Two of the area's major employers will receive a total of $48 million in federal stimulus funds that will create more than 300 construction jobs in the short term.

Sen. Dick Durbin joined Rep. Bill Foster in announcing the stimulus money for Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory on Monday. The dollars come through the $1.2 billion allocated to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

Fermilab will receive $34.9 million of the total. About $25 million will pay for construction and infrastructure improvements. The remaining $9.9 million will fund the purchase of high-tech components for the NOvA neutrino project. That project is investigating the nature of particles that come from the sun and other celestial bodies that are so small they pass through the Earth without leaving a trace.

Argonne will receive $13.1 million. It plans to use the money for electrical system upgrades that will pave the way for an eventual upgrade of the entire central campus of the facility. Argonne also expects to receive another cash infusion in the near future from the federal government that will allow it to replenish original equipment and acquire new tools for its Center for Nanoscale Materials, which deals with microscopic technology.