U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in CSRA cutting the ribbon for new SRS energy facility

AIKEN, SC. (WJBF) – The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative project is a culmination of hard work over the last 13 years.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright came down from Washington D.C. Thursday to help open the state-of-the-art facility. 

Secretary Wright joined Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman Joe Wilson, and SRS Director Dr. Johney Green for the announcement.

Several other notable local and state leaders were in attendance, including Representative Bill Taylor, Senator Tom Young, Jr., Aiken County Council Chairman Gary Bunker, and Aiken Mayor Teddy Milner.

The facility, spanning 63,000 square feet, will be run by the Savannah River National Lab on campus at USC-Aiken.

Chancellor Dr. Daniel Heimmermann says this will enhance the educational experience for students.

“Students and faculty will now be able to engage directly with cutting edge projects alongside renowned scientists, and industry partners,” said Heimmermann.

But the impact is expected to be even bigger.

Secretary Wright is calling the new facility the next “Manhattan Project”, as it will bring local jobs, aiming to push America forward as the global leader in artificial intelligence.

“If we let Nazi Germany get weapons ahead of us—if we didn’t move fast—we would’ve gotten second, and we’d be in a different world today. With data centers and artificial intelligence, we need to lead,” Wright said.

Senator Graham played a significant role bringing the facility to Aiken County, following conversations with President Trump and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.

He says the project also plays a part in building nuclear reactors around the country—a step the U.S. needs to take to keep up with the competition. 

“What we’ve done in America is we’ve made it too damn hard to do anything big. The other parts of the world are doing big things and leaving us behind—that’s got to change,” said Graham.

As the A-I race continues, leaders say the facility will help with projects here at home, and bring local jobs to the area. 

“We’ll be working with academia and private sector partners to look at automation, added manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and chemical separations to advance these technologies,” said Dr. Johney Green. “We’re looking forward to doing that, and we hope it is a great economic engine for this area, and a great beacon for innovation in the region.”

“If you want to lift the income for the people of this area, and create tens of thousands of new jobs, data centers and the renaissance of nuclear energy are perfectly suited for right here,” said Wright.

Secretary Wright says out of the 16 facilities nationwide, this site is leading the way for energy—calling this a big step forward for the state and the country. 

“We still have the strongest nuclear arsenal in the world, but we need to be modernized. That’s going to happen at a number of different sites, but one of the most critical sites of our nuclear arsenal is right here in this facility,” Wright said.