FYI Number 134: November 2, 2001

FY 2002 DOE Physics Funding Remains Constant

The House and Senate have completed work on the appropriations bill containing funding for physics-related programs at the Department of Energy. FY 2002 funding for the high energy physics, nuclear physics, basic energy sciences and fusion energy research programs remains largely unchanged from FY 2001.

Accompanying the conference report is language describing how the FY 2002 appropriations bill funding should be used. This conference report states at the outset that "The conference agreement does not include language specifying funding allocations as contained in the [previous] separate House and Senate reports." New language from the conference report follows:

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS:

"The conference agreement provides $716,100,000 for high energy physics, the same as the budget request. The conferees encourage strong support for university research and for research on low temperature superconductors to support high energy physics requirements. General Purpose Equipment and General Plant Projects should be funded for Office of Science laboratories at fiscal year 2001 levels. Funds provided by the Senate for a demonstration of the mass of the neutrino at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant have been transferred to the environmental management program."

The new budget is 0.6%, or $4.1 million, more than the previous budget of $712.0 million. The appropriation matches the Bush Administration request.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS:

"The conference agreement provides $360,510,000 for nuclear physics, the same as the budget request. The conferees urge the Department to use these funds to enhance operation of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia." The new budget remains unchanged from the previous budget, and matches the Administration request.

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES:

"The conference agreement includes $1,003,705,000 for basic energy sciences. The conference agreement includes the full amount of the budget request for the Spallation Neutron Source and the SPEAR 3 upgrade at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. The conferees have included $3,000,000 to initiate project engineering and design (PED) for three user facilities for nanoscale science research (Project 02 SC 002), and the budget request of $7,685,000 for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). For purposes of reprogramming in fiscal year 2002, the Department may reallocate funding among all operating accounts within Basic Energy Sciences."

The new budget is 1.2%, or $12.0 million, more than the previous budget of $991.7 million. The Administration request was $1.0 million higher than the appropriation.

FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES:

"The conference agreement includes $248,495,000, as proposed by both the House and Senate, for fusion energy sciences."

The new budget remains unchanged from the previous budget, and matches the Administration request.

The "Science" component of this appropriation bill also contains $527,405,000 for Biological and Environmental Research. The BER language contains numerous earmarks. FY 2001 funding was $482,520,000.

The total Science budget increases from $3,155.5 million to $3,223.1 million. This is an increase of $67.6 million, or 2.1%, in the total Science budget.

Within this Science budget, "The conference agreement includes $10,000,000 for a new Facilities and Infrastructure program, as proposed by the House, to address infrastructure needs at the Department's science laboratories."

Also within this Science budget, "The conference agreement includes $55,412,000 for safeguards and security activities at laboratories and facilities managed by the Office of Science."

Finally, a general reduction of $12.8 million was applied to the Science budget, and $4.9 million for a security charge. DOE will decide how to apply these charges within the Science budget.

Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3095

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