DOE FY94 Budget Bill Moves to House Floor - Basic Energy SciencesAdvanced Neutron Source,

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.

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES:

Current funding: $859,700,000
Administration request: 801,965,000
House committee bill: 789,965,000

The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) budget includes funding for many DOE user facilities, including the High Flux Beam Reactor, the National Synchrotron Light Source, the Combustion Research Facility, the High Flux Isotope Reactor, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, and the 1-2 GeV Synchrotron Radiation Source.

BES funding is grouped under six major areas: materials sciences, chemical sciences, applied mathematical sciences, engineering and geosciences, advanced energy projects, and energy biosciences. The House bill funds each area at an amount equal to the President’s request except for Materials sciences, which is reduced from a request of $276,985,000 to $264,985,000. (Of the funds remaining for Materials sciences, $12,000,000 are to be used for the Advanced Neutron Source-- see below.)

Also included in the Basic Energy Sciences budget is $119,500,000, equal to the request, for construction. This amount includes accelerator and reactor improvements, including the request of $107,000,000 for a new facility, the 6-7 GeV Synchrotron Radiation Source at Argonne National Lab.

Another new DOE facility for fiscal year 1994 is the Advanced Neutron Source, to be constructed at Oak Ridge National Lab. The Committee’s bill provides $17,000,000 less than the request, in part by reducing the construction budget from $26,000,000 to $12,000,000. The report states, “The Committee recommends $10,000,000 to continue the research and design of the Advanced Neutron Source; in addition, the Committee directs that of the funds available for materials science, $12,000,000 shall be made available for the detailed technical work required prior to physical construction of the Advanced Neutron Source.”

ADVANCED NEUTRON SOURCE:

Current funding: N/A (new start)
Administration request: $39,000,000
House committee bill: 22,000,000