New details emerge on Jefferson Lab transition in June

New details about the future of Newport News-based Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have emerged following last month’s announcement that a joint venture that includes Virginia Tech will operate the lab under a $1.83 billion federal contract.

Awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the contract will broaden operation of Jefferson Lab starting June 1. Southeastern Universities Research Association, which holds the current contract through its limited liability company Jefferson Science Associates, is part of new contract holder SURATech, an LLC that also includes Virginia Tech. SURATech also has four major subcontractors: Honeywell International, Longenecker and Associates, Akima Support Operations and AtkinsRéalis.

During a media briefing on Tuesday, lab and university leaders offered a clearer picture of how the June 1 shift will unfold, highlighting stability in the near term and expansion plans for the future.

Virginia Tech said the new contract marks the first time a university has been part of the organization managing Jefferson Lab, one of the DOE’s 17 national laboratories.

“We are excited for Virginia Tech to bring its expertise in science, engineering, and computation to a premier national facility located right here in Virginia,” said Dan Sui, the university’s senior vice president for research and innovation.

Leaders described the partnership as central to the lab’s future, particularly through a new multi-university initiative known as the Spark Institute, which will connect Virginia Tech and eight other Virginia universities with Jefferson Lab to collaborate on nuclear, data and quantum science research and support workforce development.

Continuity of leadership

Under the new contract, Jefferson Lab will continue to be led by director Jens Dilling, with Johnathon Huff overseeing operations and Eric Brown leading science and technology. The lab said Dilling’s role reflects continuity in leadership as the lab expands its mission.

Dilling emphasized that day-to-day operations will remain largely unchanged June 1.

“In the initial transition from SURA as the operator to SURATech as the operator, nothing will change,” he said.

All current employees will be retained through the transition, he added, citing federal requirements that staff be offered positions under the new contractor.

Organizational changes will be limited to “fine-tuning” internal structures rather than moving individuals into completely new roles.

At the end of 2025, Jefferson Lab reduced its workforce by about 7% through a mix of voluntary and involuntary separations, a spokesperson confirmed. The lab said last year’s reductions were unrelated to the new management contract and did not provide a final count of employees who left or the number of departures that were voluntary versus involuntary.

WHRO reported last year that the reductions were part of a broader restructuring effort to shift resources toward emerging fields such as data science and artificial intelligence.

Officials said the lab will transition from a single-purpose, federally funded research center focused on nuclear physics to a multi-purpose national laboratory with expanded capabilities in areas such as data science and computing. That shift is expected to be driven in part by the High Performance Data Facility, a major initiative tied to the lab’s expansion into data science and artificial intelligence.

The project, expected to cost more than $300 million, will be developed in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

“Even though it’s called a data facility, it will not be a data center,” Dilling said. “It will actually be a centerpiece to manage data flow from all DOE user facilities. There are 28 user facilities across the country. HPDF will be responsible for managing data flow, including secure, safe information flow, but also a standard for the data and metadata.”

The HDPF is scheduled to be operational sometime around fiscal year 2030 or 2031. The Jefferson Lab Data Center, the building that will house the HPDF, should be completed around FY 29-30, according to a Jefferson Lab spokesperson.

Jefferson Lab currently employs about 840 people and operates with an annual budget of approximately $238 million. Leaders made clear that no additional funding is guaranteed.

“[The budget] is governed by opportunities that arise from sponsors,” Dilling said, noting that any increases would depend on future support from the DOE and the scientific community.

Limited answers on prior contract changes

The lab’s leadership and operations have been unsure under President Donald Trump‘s administration.

In February 2025, the DOE canceled its search for a new lab operator, which had begun in 2024 under President Joe Biden. At the time, officials said the award process didn’t align with the administration’s priorities but did not specify which terms conflicted. However, with Jefferson Science Associates’ contract about to expire, in March 2025, Energy Secretary Chris Wright approved a 12-month extension allowing JSA to continue operating the lab, and a new search was launched in July 2025.

SURATech CEO Sean Hearne said Tuesday that the DOE didn’t publicly specify its reasoning for canceling the earlier search, other than to say that none of the earlier applicants met the Trump administration’s needs. Hearne and other officials didn’t discuss whether policy shifts on renewable energy or DEI had played a role.

For now, leaders emphasized stability in the near term.

“We are not starting over,” Dilling said in a statement. “We are building forward.”

SURATech will assume operations June 1, following a two-month transition period currently underway. The initial contract runs for five years, through May 31, 2031, and includes performance incentives that would allow the DOE to extend the contract by up to 15 more years.