Dept. of Energy FY 1994 Budget Bill Moves to House Floor - Fusion

On Thursday, June 24, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2445, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1994. Accompanying this bill is a 162-page report spelling out the House Appropriations Committee’s recommendations on spending. This and other FYIs provide selections from the committee’s report of interest to the physics community.

FUSION:

Current funding: $339,710,000
Administration request: 347,595,000
House committee bill: 347,595,000

The committee report states:

“The goal of this program is to establish the scientific and technological base required for achieving magnetic fusion energy. The target for completion of magnetic fusion development is determined by the present technical, economic, and political uncertainties of energy supply. Given timescales for the resolution of these uncertainties, it follows that the scientific and technological base for fusion should be essentially available by the turn of the century.”

“The Committee expects the Department of Energy to remain a full and vigorous partner in the Engineering Design Activities (EDA) of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The Committee considers this collaboration a model of successful partnerships of large scientific projects. The Committee directs the Department of Energy to move forward with the site selection process as soon as site requirements have been established so that an ITER candidate construction site can be nominated by this country. The Committee notes the importance of identifying an ITER site as soon as possible so that site-specific design work can be completed by 1998.”

“The Committee is pleased with the progress being made by the Joint Central Team in organizing this unprecedented international scientific collaboration. The Committee is also pleased that the U.S. is making major contributions to the physics basis for the ITER design. The U.S. program in physics is focused on resolving key issues for ITER including plasma confinement, plasma equilibrium and stability, the behavior of alpha particles, power handling and plasma heating operations. Contributions are being made by experiments at U.S. research facilities, including TFTR, DIII-D, Alcator C-Mod, PBX-M and TEXT.

“The Committee provides funding for the critical deuterium-tritium experiments (D-T) in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). The experiments will begin in September 1993. These experiments have the highest priority within the U.S. fusion energy program along with the ITER Engineering Design Activities.

“The Committee has also provided $20,000,000 for detailed design work leading to the steady-state, advanced tokamak-- the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX)-- planned as a national facility at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory taking advantage of TFTR site credits. TPX has been identified as the next major step in U.S. fusion efforts and it will improve the performance and effectiveness of the tokamak reactor concept. TPX will be a unique facility worldwide.”

“TPX will also place U.S. industry in a strong position to compete internationally for major ITER tasks and subsystems. . . . TPX will permit U.S. industry to gain experience in the design and construction of major fusion components for the first time in over a decade, a period during which the ITER partners have been building new devices and major upgrades to facilities.”

“The Committee is concerned about the reduction in funding for Inertial Fusion Energy. The Committee has supported this program over the years and views inertial fusion as a promising energy source for the next century. The most recent Fusion Energy Advisory Committee, endorsing the view of past review panels from the National Academy of Sciences and others, strongly endorsed the goals and technical progress of the program. These panels have also strongly supported moving forward with the next major experimental step in the program-- the Inertial Linac Systems Experiment. The Committee therefore provides a $500,000 increase to the budget request and strongly urges the Department to maintain a viable inertial fusion energy program and move forward with a timely decision on ILSE that would allow, if a favorable decision is rendered, construction to begin in fiscal year 1995.” [The accompanying chart does not show an increase of $500,000 above the budget request for inertial confinement fusion. Instead, it shows that the bill provides $4,000,000, equal to the request.]

While the above heading provides a small amount of funding to explore the use of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) as an energy source, additional funding is provided for weapons-related ICF under Atomic Energy Defense Activities, as follows:

INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION:

Current funding: $212,310,000
Administration request: 188,413,000
House committee bill: 188,413,000

The report states:

“The Committee recommendation for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is $188,413,000, the same as the budget request. From within available funds, the Committee has provided a total of $25,198,180 for the University of Rochester to maintain an efficient schedule for upgrading the OMEGA laser and supporting activities. The Committee continues to support the very useful work performed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and provides within available funds $8,200,000, the same as the budget request, to NRL for this effort.”