OMEGA Laser Facility getting more federal funding

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics’s OMEGA Laser Facility is getting more funding as part of the spending package that was passed by Congress earlier this week.

Sen. Maj. Leader Chuck Schumer said the $83 million is critical to the research being done at the lab to help support the nation’s nuclear weapon stockpile and keep it safe, and it will support the nearly 900 workers employed.

Schumer spoke about it when he was in town earlier this week.

"Here at the U of R we have the best laser lab in the world and it creates not only jobs at U of R but it also created lots of ancillary companies that are here that want to be here involved in optics and stuff," Schumer said. "They got $83 million that’s a record."

The laser lab opened in 1970.

It is the largest U.S. Department of Energy university-based research program in the nation and it is home to the OMEGA lasers, two of the largest and most capable lasers at any academic institution in the world.