CHEYENNE - The proposed National Center for Atmospheric Research supercomputing center in southeastern Wyoming will make a couple of important advances this week, including the first major announcement about the project in months.

On Monday, Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed Senate File 146, which provides financial assurances needed for the project to proceed.

The bill authorizes the University of Wyoming to acquire the supercomputing center using revenue bonds or federal mineral royalty distributions in the unlikely event that the federal government decides to discontinue project funding, state officials said.

The bill is necessary, officials said, because 20-year bonds are the preferred method of financing the facility, and federal rules prevent the National Science Foundation from obligating funding more than 10 years in advance.

"What we're doing is putting in place a contingency plan that we don't expect we'll ever have to use," said UW spokeswoman Jessica Lowell, adding that the expected life cycle of the supercomputing center extends beyond 10 years.

This afternoon, officials from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, will announce the architectural design team for the supercomputing center at a news conference at the state capitol.

Also expected to attend the 1 p.m. meeting are officials from UW, the Wyoming Business Council, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Cheyenne's economic development arm, Cheyenne LEADS, and the governor.

No other details about the announcement were available Monday evening.

State and local officials have been waiting for confirmation that the National Science Foundation would fund the supercomputing center since receiving word in January 2007 that the center would be located in Wyoming,

Originally slated for opening in 2010, the center's completion date has been pushed back by delays in approval from the National Science Foundation, the chief source of funding for the $540 million, 20-year project.

The last official announcement came in September 2008, when federal officials said the National Science Foundation had approved the design phase of the project.

In response, the UW Board of Trustees made an unplanned allocation of $3.5 million to expedite the design phase. The design work must be complete before the National Science Foundation approves more funding, a UW official said at the time.

UW will be reimbursed for that expense from an earlier $20 million appropriation the state invested in the project, said Rachel Girt, spokeswoman for the Wyoming Business Council, which is involved in the project.

The proposed supercomputing center will be dedicated to advancing understanding of climate and weather, and has also been billed as a tool for the development of energy extraction.

The state will share in a portion of the costs, including some maintenance costs, in exchange for access to a share of the center.

UW expects to control 20 percent of the overall computing power, an asset that will be available for use by the new School of Energy Resources and other branches of the school, officials have said.

Contact capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at 307-632-1244 or {M7jared.miller@trib.com. Read Jared's blog at trib.com/blog.

Last we knew: University of Wyoming trustees allocated $3.5 million to pay for the design of a supercomputing center planned for Cheyenne.

The latest: Officials will hold a news conference today to announce design plans for the National Center for Atmospheric Research supercomputing center.

What's next: The National Science Foundation could announce more details about project funding.]]->