FY 2001 Budget Request: Department of Energy

“Strength Through Science” was the theme of the $18.9 billion FY 2001 budget request announced by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson on February 7. “Based on news stories last year, some people may think that the Department is solely a national security agency,” Richardson remarked. “But the fact is that the Department of Energy is at its heart a science agency. Forty percent, or $7.6 billion, of the FY 2001 budget request is for research and development.... We are by far the nation’s largest government agency in the physical sciences and in building and operating research facilities.”

DOE’s Office of Science would see a 12 percent increase, to $3,151.1 million, under the request. Within this office, some programs would do better than others. The recipient of the largest increase would be Advanced Scientific Computing Research, up 42 percent to $182.0 million.

Basic Energy Sciences (BES) is slated for an increase of 30 percent, to a total of $1,015.8 million.

Nuclear Physics would see an increase of 4 percent to $369.9 million.

High Energy Physics would grow by 2 percent (less than inflation) to $714.7 million.

Fusion Energy Sciences would receive $247.3 million, remaining essentially frozen at the (adjusted) FY 2000 level.

Biological and Environmental Research would grow 3 percent to $445.3 million.

Within BES, DOE is asking for a major increase - 138.3 percent - to get Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) funding back on track. Congress cut FY 2000 construction funding for the project, which is being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, by almost half. The total FY 2001 request for the SNS is $281.0 million. This represents a large part of the 30 percent increase for BES.

At a February 7 briefing, Acting Office of Science Director Jim Decker cited a number of initiatives that would receive emphasis within his office in the FY 2001 budget. These include nanoscale science, engineering and technology (as part of a larger Administration initiative on nanotechnology); high performance computing; microbial genome research; climate change research and technology; robotics and intelligent machines; construction of the Spallation Neutron Source; and continued participation in the Large Hadron Collider. Also within the Office of Science, $1,207.0 million is requested for upgrades and increased utilization at scientific user facilities.

In 2000, for the first time, DOE’s defense missions will be moved into a semi-autonomous agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). This action, the result of language in the FY 2000 National Defense Authorization Act, will take place on March 1, 2000. “Now that we have dramatically improved security,” Richardson said, he has informed his lab directors that “it’s time to return to our original mission of science.”

DOE’s stockpile stewardship activities, including construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and related inertial confinement fusion research, will fall under this new agency. An amount of $120.8 million is requested for defense-related inertial confinement fusion; this is separate from any civilian inertial fusion research funded within the Fusion Energy Sciences program. Based on recent revelations of cost and schedule overruns in construction of the NIF at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the department is developing a new baseline for the project. The FY 2001 request for NIF includes $5.9 million for operation and maintenance, and $74.1 million for construction, and the department notes that any additional funding needed in FY 2001due to the rebaselining will be found from within the budgets of DOE Defense Programs and Lawrence Livermore.

A new department-wide Scientific Recruitment and Retention Initiative has been proposed for FY 2001. According to Richardson, DOE’s efforts to downsize in the late 1990s have led to skills gaps in various areas. In response, he has requested $10.0 million in FY 2001 for this initiative.

Later FYIs will include more detail on the FY 2001 requests for High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Fusion Energy Sciences, and Basic Energy Sciences.