Office of Science Announces New Funding Plan

Earlier today, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science announced how it would distribute the $62.5 million it received under the recently-enacted supplemental appropriations bill. This announcement follows a meeting last week at Fermilab during which DOE Acting Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Kupfer told Fermilab employees “this difficult time has come to an end.” Kupfer was referring to cutbacks in staffing and research programs that had been made as a result of a far less-than-expected FY 2008 appropriation for the Office of Science. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) also spoke at the July 2 Fermilab event.

The following selections are taken from this morning’s DOE announcement:

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES: "+$13,500,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of
$1,269,902,000, for a revised total of $1,283,402,000"

The DOE statement provides the following detail:

Synchrotron and Radiation Light Sources: "+$11,500,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of $220,092,000, for a revised total of $231,592,000"

Spallation Neutron Source: "+$2,000,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of $164,640,000, for a revised total of $166,640,000"

FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES: "+$15,500,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of
$286,548,000, for a revised total of $302,048,000"

The DOE statement provides the following detail:

ITER: "+$15,500,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of $10,626,000, for a revised total of $26,126,000.” The statement explains: “The highest priority of the Fusion Energy Sciences program is the U.S. ITER Project.” The Office of Science “has taken steps to continue our participation in the project by preserving the U.S. ITER core project team until additional funding can be made available. The funding provided in the supplemental will eliminate the need for furloughs and reductions in force resulting from the reduced level of funding in the FY 2008 appropriations for the U.S. Contributions to ITER project.”

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS: "+$32,000,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of
$689,331,000, for a revised total of $721,331,000"

The DOE statement provides the following detail:

“The highest priorities of the High Energy Physics program at this time are to preserve critical, highly trained workforce important for the on-going and future program and to allow work to proceed on the development of a world-class neutrino program at Fermilab.”

“With supplement funding of $32,000,000 for HEP:

"$20,000,000 will be used to stop the planned involuntary layoffs, approximately 100 people at Fermilab and to sustain the Fermilab workforce during an anticipated up to 6-month continuing resolution;

"$9,500,000 will be used to develop the planned neutrino program at Fermilab (i.e.; allowing NOvA to proceed in a timely manner and initiating R&D and planning to implement the world leading U.S. program recommended in the recent High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (P5) report); and

"$2,500,000 will be used to preserve critical accelerator R&D and computing capabilities at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center that had been significantly diminished by the staff reductions necessitated by the original FY 2008 Appropriation.

“This supplemental funding stabilizes the research and operational staff at Fermilab and allows the high priority initiatives in neutrino physics at Fermilab to proceed, preserves important competencies and capabilities in accelerator physics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and allows of more rapid completion of the analysis for B-Factory data.”

NUCLEAR PHYSICS: "+$1,500,000 over a prior FY 2008 appropriation of $432,726,000, for a revised total of $434,226,000"

The DOE statement provides the following detail:

“Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Operations: "+$1,500,000 over a prior FY 2008
appropriation of $136,034,000, for a revised total of $137,534,000.”

In his opening remarks to Fermilab employees, Fermilab Director Pier Oddone said: “This is a great day for the laboratory.”

The entire DOE statement can be read here .