House Bill, Senate Committee Bill More than $50M Apart on Fusion.

Congress adjourned until September without passing the fiscal year 2001 Appropriations Bill for the Department of Energy, which includes funding for the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and the Defense Programs' Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program.

Prior to the recess, the House of Representatives passed its version of the Appropriations Bill, containing slightly more money for fusion than this year's budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to send a bill to the full Senate recommending considerably less.

On June 29, the House approved an Energy and Water Appropriations Bill that included $255 million in FY '01 funding for the fusion energy sciences program, an increase of $7.73 million over the budget request.

House Adds $25M to ICF

The House bill added $25 million to the ICF program in the Weapons Activities appropriation account to support work on development of high- average-power lasers. "Funds for this program should be allocated in accordance with the Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee's (FESAC) report on Balance and Priorities," the House committee report said.

The committee expressed satisfaction that the "FESAC review process seems to be positioning the U.S. program to take advantage of the much larger international fusion research effort with the resources available and also positions the program to accelerate the development of fusion energy."

The House panel recommended that $19.6 million be earmarked to decontaminate and decommission the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

The House appropriated $364.6 million for ICF, an increase of $169.7 million over the $194.9-million budget request. The appropriation included $144.7 million transferred to ICF from the readiness in technical base and facilities program, and the $25 million for further development of high- average-power lasers.

The committee report pointed out that, last year, the committee requested the secretary of energy to certify a new cost and schedule baseline for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and submit it to Congress by June 1. If DOE could not provide the certification by the deadline, it was to prepare an estimate of costs necessary to terminate the project.

"The department has not been able to certify a new cost and schedule baseline, but has submitted an interim report calculating the total project cost at approximately $3.26 billion," the report said. "The committee does not believe the information provided to date is an adequate basis for additional appropriations in fiscal year 2001."

NIF Judgment Deferred

The committee reserved judgment on NIF until DOE submits its final report in September.

"Although completion of the NIF project in a timely and cost effective manner is a high priority for the stockpile stewardship program, it is important that the department continue to support and maintain work at other inertial fusion facilities, and efforts in diagnostics, target fabrication, and cryogenic target development," the report explained.

"These elements of the inertial confinement fusion program not only enable the goals of NIF, but have important roles in meeting the overall goals of stockpile stewardship. With significant delays in NIF, increased use of existing facilities and the continued development of the supporting activities are essential to the long term success of the program."

The committee's FY '01 ICF budget included $9.75 million for the Naval Research Laboratory and $32.15 million for University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

On July 18, the Senate Committee on Energy and Water Development Appropriations completed action on the FY '01 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill.

The committee recommended a total fusion energy sciences appropriation of only $227.27 million, substantially below the administration's request of $243.9 million and the House level of $255 million.

Also, the Senate panel did not provide additional money for high-average- power lasers or related research and development under the defense programs account (the House bill added $25 million for this work).

If the fusion energy sciences and defense high-average-power laser work are taken together, the Senate committee's FY '01 fusion appropriation is approximately $52 million less than the House's funding level.

However, the Senate bill does fund NIF at the administration's requested level of $74.1 million; whereas, the House bill reserves judgment until DOE's cost certification is complete.

Acknowledging the $22.73 million reduction in fusion energy sciences from this year's appropriation, the Senate committee report said that, "While in the past, the committee has supported increases above the level of the request for this program, severe budget constraints and shortfalls elsewhere in the department's request, necessitate the reduction at this time."