Each year ORNL hosts about 3,000 guest researchers who spend two weeks or more conducting research at the laboratory. Many of these scientists are involved in experiments that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This means that, to get a little shut-eye they have to shuttle back and forth to hotels in town at all hours of the day and night?not an attractive option. To make these marathon research sessions a little easier to bear, ORNL is building a guest house just down the hill from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. Similar to a small, on-site hotel, the guest house will have 47 units, including a mix of single and double rooms. The rooms will be equipped with the usual amenities, including televisions, microwave ovens and wireless Internet access. The proximity of the guest house to the SNS office building will also allow guests to have easy access to the SNS cafeteria. Ground was broken for the facility in February, and the building is expected to be ready for occupancy by late winter or early spring of 2011.
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