Full Text of HJR0100 93rd General Assembly
HJ0100 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HJ0100 |
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LRB093 23937 RSP 54033 r |
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory, chartered in 1946 as | 3 |
| the nation's first national laboratory, maintains a site | 4 |
| located in southern DuPage County 25 miles southwest of the | 5 |
| Chicago Loop; and
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| WHEREAS, Operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. | 7 |
| Department of Energy's Office of Science, Argonne National | 8 |
| Laboratory is a direct descendent of the University of | 9 |
| Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory, part of the World War II | 10 |
| Manhattan Project; and
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| WHEREAS, The Manhattan Project, led by the famed Enrico | 12 |
| Fermi, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for physics for his work | 13 |
| on nuclear processes, created the world's first controlled | 14 |
| nuclear chain reaction; and
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| WHEREAS, Argonne's Illinois facility employs 3,200 staff, | 16 |
| scientists, and engineers, of whom 350 have doctoral degrees in | 17 |
| physics and more than a dozen prestigious international awards | 18 |
| for research in physics; and
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| WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Energy has announced its | 20 |
| intentions to offer a contract for the management and operation | 21 |
| of a Rare Isotope Accelerator, estimated to require | 22 |
| approximately $1 billion and between 6 to 10 years to construct | 23 |
| and between $100 and $200 million annually to operate; and
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| WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Energy has placed the Rare | 25 |
| Isotope Accelerator in a third place tie among 28 projects it | 26 |
| has listed as necessary to keep the United States at the | 27 |
| forefront in scientific research; and
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| WHEREAS, The Rare Isotope Accelerator will help scientists | 29 |
| determine such things as the origins of elements and other |
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| building blocks of the universe, the laws that govern nuclear | 2 |
| matter, and the process by which stars and galaxies evolve; and
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| WHEREAS, The Rare Isotope Accelerator will also have | 4 |
| practical applications in the medical field and its tracking of | 5 |
| disease, in industrial radiology and its identification of | 6 |
| industrial wear, and in national security; and
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| WHEREAS, With over 800,000 students attending the various | 8 |
| institutions of higher education in the State, Illinois' | 9 |
| faculty and students will benefit from the proximity of this | 10 |
| facility by developing collaborations for research in nuclear | 11 |
| physics and nuclear astrophysics; and
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| WHEREAS, Scientists and engineers at Argonne have already | 13 |
| laid the conceptual groundwork for the design, construction, | 14 |
| and operation for the Rare Isotope Accelerator, and Argonne | 15 |
| National Laboratory already has experience with the | 16 |
| cost-effective operation of this type of scientific and support | 17 |
| infrastructure for the U.S. Department of Energy; and
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| WHEREAS, The physical infrastructure, including security | 19 |
| for the facility, and the human resources already in place at | 20 |
| Argonne would take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to | 21 |
| replicate elsewhere; and
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| WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has demonstrated its strong | 23 |
| support for Argonne and the possible location of the Rare | 24 |
| Isotope Accelerator there, as Governor Rod Blagojevich has | 25 |
| taken the initiative to create a task force that includes | 26 |
| Senator Dick Durbin, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, and | 27 |
| Representative Judy Biggert; and | 28 |
| WHEREAS, This proven record of support from the State of | 29 |
| Illinois already includes a $13 million appropriation in the | 30 |
| FY05 budget for the construction of a facility that will house |
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LRB093 23937 RSP 54033 r |
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| Accelerator support staff and act as a venue for the public to | 2 |
| learn more about the important work that would be conducted at | 3 |
| Argonne; and
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| WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory's close proximity to | 5 |
| two international airports, O'Hare and Midway, with O'Hare | 6 |
| offering more connections to more cities, more often than any | 7 |
| other airport in the world, will facilitate the travel of the | 8 |
| thousands of international scientists and researchers expected | 9 |
| to visit the facility; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 11 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 12 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois General Assembly | 13 |
| pledges its support for Argonne National Laboratory and its bid | 14 |
| to be the home of the Rare Isotope Accelerator to be contracted | 15 |
| by the U.S. Department of Energy, and that the General Assembly | 16 |
| commits to do everything within its power and ability to | 17 |
| provide any support necessary in order for the Accelerator to | 18 |
| be constructed at the Illinois Argonne site; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Illinois General Assembly strongly | 20 |
| encourages the U.S. Department of Energy to consider Argonne's | 21 |
| existing scientific expertise and experience with the concepts | 22 |
| and operation of the Rare Isotope Accelerator, its existing | 23 |
| building and security infrastructure, and the human resources | 24 |
| already in place that make Argonne National Laboratory a | 25 |
| natural fit for the location of this exciting new technology; | 26 |
| and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 28 |
| provided to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Secretary | 29 |
| Spencer Abraham of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illinois | 30 |
| Congressional Delegation, and Governor Rod Blagojevich.
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