The Bottom Line -- Congress Passes FY 1997 DOE Appropriation

Congress completed action yesterday on H.R. 3816, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for FY 1997. This legislation provides most of the money for the Department of Energy’s physics-related programs. The President is expected to sign this bill.

A conference report (House Rpt. 104-782) details program direction in some instances, while only giving the final funding level in other areas. Below are applicable sections relating to physics programs:

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS:

The Clinton Administration requested a total of $679,125,000. Congress provided 98.7% of this request, or $670,075,000.

Within this budget, the B-Factory (SLAC) request of $45,000,000 and Fermilab main injector request of $52,000,000 were funded in full.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS:

The Administration requested a total of $318,425,000. Congress provided 99.2% of this request, or $315,925,000.

Within this budget, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (BNL) construction request of $65,000,000 was provided in full.

FUSION ENERGY:

The Administration requested $255,600,000. Congress provided 91% of this request, or $232,500,000.

The conference report states: “The conferees support the House and Senate inclusion of program direction and computational support within the amount provided for the fusion program. The conferees encourage the Department to reduce the amount identified for program direction, but do not stipulate amounts for program direction or computational support. To further provide maximum flexibility, the conferees have not included the prescriptive language included in the House report [see FYI #110.]

“The conferees have provided funds to continue and complete operations and provide for safe shutdown of the TFTR in fiscal year 1997. This is the final year of funding for fusion operations at the TFTR.

“The conference agreement includes funding to continue the U.S. participation in the engineering design activities phase of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, to which the United States is committed through fiscal year 1998.”

While a small amount of inertial fusion research is funded through the above budget, a much greater amount is provided through the Inertial Fusion program of the Atomic Energy Defense Activities portion of H.R. 3816. Congress provided the full request of $366,460,000, which includes the full request of $131,900,000 for initial construction of the National Ignition Facility. The conference report states: “The conference agreement provides specific funding levels identified by the House and Senate for the University of Rochester and the Naval Research Laboratory in the inertial confinement fusion program.”

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES:

The Administration requested a total of $653,675,000. Congress provided 99.4% of this request, or $649,675,000.

Within this budget is the Materials Sciences request of $334,560,000. Congress provided 99.3%, or $332,060,000.

Within the over-all budget, the conference report provides $7,000,000 for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program. Specific funding for five programs is identified.

A future FYI will put the above figures in historical context.