FY 1997 Department of Energy Budget Request: Overview

“The U.S. Department of Energy is a Science Agency.” -- DOE Press Kit

On March 19, Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary and other Department of Energy officials announced the Department’s budget request for fiscal year 1997. DOE’s budget request totals $16.3 billion, essentially equal to the amount it is operating under for FY 1996. According to the press kit, “DOE will deliver more than $17 billion in savings through 1998, compared with the last projected budget under the previous administration. These cuts are being achieved through a range of initiatives launched since 1993 which include contract reform, privatization, and a strategic alignment of the department resulting in a smaller, more efficient work force.”

DOE supports physics-related research within its Office of Energy Research (request: $1,539.4 million), under Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Sciences, and General Science and Research (request: $1,009.1 million), which comprises High Energy and Nuclear Physics. Information on the requests for BES, fusion, high energy physics, and nuclear physics will follow in future FYIs.

DOE’s “FY 1997 Congressional Budget Request: Budget Highlights” document has the following to say about the Office of Energy Research, and DOE’s National Laboratories:

OFFICE OF ENERGY RESEARCH: “Program Overview - Office of Energy Research programs are funded in two separate appropriations accounts, reflecting the dual mission of the office. Research into the fundamental nature of matter and energy is funded in the General Sciences appropriation. Office of Energy Research programs funded by the Energy Supply R&D appropriation either support or are related to DOE technology programs. Research is generally of a long-term, fundamental nature, and is dependent on large DOE-owned scientific facilities. The fundamental research includes providing a scientific base for future energy options, a science base for fusion energy and a science base for identifying, understanding, and anticipating the long-term health and environmental consequences of energy production, development, and use. There are also several associated activities which support laboratory infrastructure management, education activities, and evaluation of energy technologies. A new program in FY 1997, Computational and Technology Research, consolidates research previously funded under [the] Technology Transfer program and the Applied Mathematics, and Advanced Energy Projects subprograms of the Basic Energy Sciences program.”

RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE: “The Department’s National Laboratories, the largest research system of its kind in the world, offer the expertise of over 40,000 engineers and scientists who conduct research in the national interest. More than 15,000 additional industry, university, and government-sponsored scientists currently perform experiments at the Laboratories’ user facilities - physics accelerators, neutron and light sources, and smaller facilities such as electron microscopy centers. These experiments involve semiconductors, polymers, alloys, nuclear science, superconductors, magnetic materials, structural biology, pharmaceuticals, and many other fields of research. The Department places a high priority on maintaining and improving the infrastructure of our laboratories and other facilities.”