Provisions of H.R. 4908 - High Energy, Nuclear Physics

The House has passed H.R. 4908, the Hydrogen, Fusion, and High Energy and Nuclear Physics Research Act of 1994. The major provisions of this legislation to authorize, but not fund, the high energy and nuclear physics programs of the Department of Energy are as follows:

SECTION 303, AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

For high energy physics research, the bill authorizes to be appropriated funding for FY 1996 through FY 1999, ranging from $695.4 million to a high of $744.9 million in FY 1998. Funds may be expended for SLAC’s B-factory and the Fermilab Main Injector. Funding for the Large Hadron Collider and its detectors is restricted to research, development and planning. “No funds are authorized for U.S. participation in the construction and operation of the Large Hadron Collider project until the Secretary certifies to the Congress that there is an international agreement” as summarized below.

For nuclear physics research, the bill authorizes funding for FY 1996 through FY 1999, ranging from $337.1 million to $373.7 million. None of this money can be spent for facility operations of the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. Funds may be expended for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven.

The bill also requires authorizing legislation to be passed by Congress for construction and operation of any facility whose total expenditures would exceed $100 million. The funding authorized above “may be expended for preliminary research, development, and planning for such projects.”

SECTION 304, THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER PROJECT

The bill directs the DOE Secretary, in consultation with NSF and the Department of State, to “enter into negotiations with CERN concerning U.S. participation in the planning and construction of the Large Hadron Collider project, and shall ensure that any agreement incorporate provisions to protect the U.S. investment in the project, including provisions for - (1) fair allocation of costs and benefits among project participants; (2) a limitation on the amount of U.S. contribution to project construction and an estimate of the U.S. contribution to subsequent operating costs; (3) a cost and schedule control system for the total project; (4) a preliminary statement of costs and the schedule for all component design, testing, and fabrication...; (5) a preliminary statement of costs and the schedule for total project construction and operation...; (6) reconsideration of the extent of U.S. participation if technical and operational milestones described” above “are not met...; (7) conditions of access for U.S. and other scientists to the facility; and (8) a process for addressing international coordination and cost sharing on high energy physics projects beyond the Large Hadron Collider.”

Also required is an OSTP report on “such issues as cost sharing and financial support, site location, access, and management of megascience facilities.”

SECTION 305, OPERATING PLAN

H.R. 4908 requires DOE to prepare a report on high energy and nuclear physics research activities after an appropriations bill is passed.

SECTION 306, LONG-RANGE PLANNING AND GOVERNANCE

The bill provides for an independent organization “to review the governance of all elements of the Department’s high energy and nuclear physics programs...”

In addition, “the Secretary, in consultation with the high energy and nuclear physics communities, shall prepare a long-range plan for the DOE’s high energy and nuclear physics programs based on current and projected program funding levels.” The bill specifies reporting requirements, which include “an estimate of - (i) the number of scientists and graduate students being supported by Federal high energy and nuclear physics programs; and (ii) the number of scientists and graduate students needed to carry out productive and sustainable research programs in these fields over the next ten years.”