DOE FY 1999 Request: Office of Energy Research Priorities

“This budget is about science, technology, and energy for our future.” --Energy Secretary Federico Pena.

Presenting the Department of Energy’s FY 1999 budget request, Secretary Federico Pena cited “advancing the frontiers of science and technology” as one of the four greatest challenges facing his department. “Science and technology underlie all of our work at the department,” he said, “and we have a proud history of developing many of the innovations in science and technology that have kept U.S. industry on the cutting edge of intense international competition.”

Pena announced that $2,711 million was being requested for DOE’s Energy Research programs. This is an increase of $246.0 million, or 10 percent, over FY 1998 funding of $2,465 million. This "$2.7 billion budget request for our science programs in fiscal year 1999 will keep us on the cutting edge,” he declared.

Further details about DOE’s science programs within the Office of Energy Research (OER) were provided by OER Director Martha Krebs. As her budget and program priorities for FY 1999, she listed the Spallation Neutron Source, the Climate Change Technology Initiative, the Science Facilities Utilization Initiative, the Next Generation Internet, Science Education, participation in the Large Hadron Collider, and Fusion, including post-engineering design involvement in ITER. FYIs #18 and 19 will contain the specifics of DOE’s request for High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Fusion Energy Sciences, and Basic Energy Sciences accounts. Below are some details on the items Krebs cited as her priorities.

The FY 1999 budget request includes $157.0 million within the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) account to begin construction of the Spallation Neutron Source. The estimated total cost of the project is $1.3 billion over seven years. Another new Administration initiative, Climate Change Technologies, is funded within two Energy Research accounts: $16.0 million within BES, and $11.0 million within Biological and Environmental Research.

A total of $1.0 billion is requested in FY 1999 for the DOE Science Facilities Utilization Initiative, to enable more productive use of some existing DOE user facilities. The FY 1999 request for DOE’s contribution to the multi-agency Next Generation Internet is $22.0 million, within OER’s Computational and Technology Research. The Science Education Initiative, according to DOE’s “Budget Highlights,” is “a small, but important investment” in university and science education “as a way to leverage the Department’s scientific resources for future generations.” The program, with a request of $15.0 million, promotes partnerships between schools and DOE laboratories, on-line mentoring by DOE scientists, and student and faculty participation in research at the national labs.

DOE’s participation in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is funded within OER’s High Energy Physics account. The FY 1999 request for LHC participation is $65.0 million. (Additional FY 1999 funding of $22.0 million for the LHC is requested within the NSF budget.) Additionally, according to the “Budget Highlights,” an advance appropriation of $329.0 million is requested to fund DOE participation through the year 2004 “to ensure that the U.S. will be a stable and effective partner is the international effort,” although Congress has not been supportive of advanced funding for large science facilities.

U.S. participation in another international project, ITER, is funded under Fusion Energy Sciences. The ITER Engineering Design Activity (EDA) ends in FY 1998 and the program then begins a transition stage for three years during which options will be examined before any decision is made on construction. The FY 1999 request for the U.S. portion of ITER funding is $12.0 million, down from $52.6 million in FY 1998, the last year of the EDA. This reduction of about $40 million would remain within the fusion program, and be redirected to enhance the domestic effort for increased facility operations, theory, plasma and materials technology, and exploration of lower cost options.

See FYIs #18 and 19 for quotes from DOE’s “Budget Highlights” relating to the requests for High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Fusion Energy Sciences, and Basic Energy Sciences accounts.