SRNL’s Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative celebrates first year as nexus of innovation

One year ago, Savannah River National Laboratory opened the doors to the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, a facility built with a bold purpose and a clear vision as a nexus of innovation. Today, the AMC stands proudly as a place where industry, academia, and government come together to pioneer technologies that advance national security, environmental stewardship, and energy resilience. It has quickly become a home where collaboration thrives, integration drives impact, and ideas are transformed into purposeful solutions for the nation.

The 63,000‑square‑foot facility located in Aiken, South Carolina, represents far more than a building. It represents an investment in people, partnerships, and opportunity — offering an open invitation to help shape the future. SRNL’s AMC was intentionally designed to be accessible, viewed as the “front door to the lab” for science, innovation, and economic development.

“In only one year, the AMC has demonstrated the power of bringing diverse expertise together under one roof,” said SRNL Director Johney Green. “The AMC is strengthening our national capabilities, expanding regional opportunity, and accelerating the creation of technologies that make a real difference. Its success reflects the dedication of our partners and the promise of how integrated innovation can advance environmental technologies, energy infrastructure, nuclear energy, fusion energy and national security.”

From its inception, the AMC was built as a dynamic ecosystem where collaboration accelerates discovery. Its mission is to bring world-class minds together including scientists, engineers, researchers, interns and students, industry partners, and academic collaborators to push the boundaries of advanced manufacturing. This interdisciplinary approach is at the heart of SRNL’s philosophy: to accelerate innovation by intentionally weaving together science, engineering, and technology — transforming ideas into purposeful impact for the nation. The AMC officially opened on August 7, 2025.

With state-of-the-art laboratories and shared research spaces, the AMC is enabling significant advances across the lab’s core capabilities including materials design and processing, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and robotics and automation. Inside the AMC, work focuses on integrating these disciplines to solve national challenges in areas such as environmental cleanup, fusion energy, advanced materials, and intelligent systems.

The AMC has demonstrated its ability to achieve mission‑critical milestones rapidly, including standing up essential infrastructure required for next‑generation research. Among these accomplishments is the deployment of a mission‑focused high‑performance computing system, available to staff not only at the AMC but across SRNL. This resource provides the computational backbone necessary for advancing artificial intelligence projects under the Department of Energy’s landmark Genesis Mission initiative and for enabling complex modeling and simulation activities across the laboratory.

The Genesis Mission unites DOE national labs, industry, academia and more to harness AI for breakthroughs in energy dominance, discovery science, and national security.

AMC teams are developing first-of-its-kind AI models to enhance predictive capabilities, optimize manufacturing processes, and strengthen national resilience. This momentum aligns directly with SRNL’s leadership role in the Genesis Mission, where SRNL-led projects support critical national security and environmental stewardship goals for the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

By combining more than 70 years of expertise in nuclear materials, restoration, and revitalization with unique, site-specific datasets, SRNL is developing AI tools designed to solve complex challenges in environmental remediation, waste management, and infrastructure resilience, ultimately safeguarding national security assets while yielding more than $150 billion in lifecycle cleanup savings.

Collaboration at the AMC continues to grow as companies partner with SRNL researchers to explore challenges and prototype new ideas. Key partners — including Silica‑X, 3D Systems, and Georgia Tech — have played an important role in advancing shared research goals and expanding technical capabilities. SRNL’s partnership with Silica‑X earned an R&D 100 Award for developing innovative materials capable of safely absorbing and storing nuclear waste — one of the world’s most significant technology recognitions.

The R&D 100 Awards — called the “Oscars of Innovation” — recognize the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace each year.

“The AMC has quickly become a space where people feel energized to explore, experiment, and build,” said AMC Director G. Jeremy Leong. “Our first year has been defined by collaboration and real teamwork that accelerates discovery and brings new ideas to life. We are just getting started.”

The AMC is also helping shape the future of SRNL’s region and local area. By encouraging investment, attracting companies, and strengthening the regional workforce, the facility is becoming a catalyst for economic development. The AMC is located on the University of South Carolina Aiken campus, which affords unique opportunities for college and high school students to explore STEM careers while interacting with cutting-edge research and world-class scientists in a highly innovative and collaborative environment.

This momentum is further bolstered by strong support from DOE, industry, academia, and the local community, all of whom recognize the AMC as a vital investment in innovation, workforce development, and regional opportunity.

As the AMC enters its next chapter, it is poised to expand its research, strengthen partnerships, and accelerate technologies that will shape the nation’s future. Its first year is not just a milestone, but a beginning — positioning SRNL and the local community at the forefront of American innovation for years to come.

Savannah River National Laboratory is a multi-program federally funded research and development center managed and operated by Battelle Savannah River Alliance for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. EM transforms the nation’s environmental liabilities into opportunities for innovation, job creation, and economic growth, while ensuring safe, secure and prosperous communities across America. For more information, visit energy.gov/em.

Contact: news@srnl.gov