DOE Office of Science Well-Funded in FY 2014 Appropriations

budget

Reprinted with permission from FYI: The AIP Bulletin of Science Policy News

The FY 2014 appropriations cycle is coming to a close. On January 13, the text of an almost 1,600 page bill was released that was the product of intense negotiations between the House and Senate Appropriations Committees since a budget agreement was announced in December. The omnibus bill, consisting of twelve separate appropriations bills, is expected to pass the House and Senate and sent to President Obama within the next few days.

Accompanying the omnibus bill is an Explanatory Statement detailing program funding levels and new language about various programs. An introduction by the appropriators in Division D of the Statement, which includes the FY 2014 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies bill, explains that previous report language for the House and Senate versions of their FY 2014 bills stands unless it contradicted by new language in the just-issued Explanatory Statement. The Statement is not in final form as it includes hand-written notations; the section on the Department of Energy’s Office of Science begins on page 32, with funding charts on page 42c (hand-written.)

The following language and program funding levels are taken from the just-released Explanatory Statement. The Explanatory Statement does not include current FY 2013 funding levels; those shown are from the FYI describing the Senate report referenced above. Note that the committee reports and the Explanatory Statement did not include post-sequestration program funding levels for FY 2013 (generally a 5 percent reduction.)

TOTAL OFFICE OF SCIENCE:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the 5 percent mandatory reduction) is $4,876.0 million. The FY 2014 request was $5,152.8 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $5,071.0 million.

ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the 5 percent mandatory reduction) is $440.8 million. The FY 2014 request was $465.6 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $478.6 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"Within available funds, the agreement provides $93,000,000 for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, $67,000,000 for the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, $65,605,000 for the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, $32,608,000 for the Energy Sciences Network, and not less than $76,000,000 for the exascale initiative. The agreement addresses the Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowship Program under the Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists heading."

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the mandatory 5 percent reduction) is $1,689.5 million. The FY 2014 request was $1,862.4 million.  The FY 2014 agreement provides $1,712.8 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"Within available funds, the agreement includes $24,237,000 for the fifth year of the Fuels from Sunlight Innovation Hub, $24,237,000 for the second year of the Batteries and Energy Storage Innovation Hub, $10,000,000 for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and up to $100,000,000 for Energy Frontier Research Centers.

"For scientific user facilities, the agreement provides $45,000,000 for major items of equipment, to include $20,000,000 for the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade and $25,000,000 for National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) Experimental Tools. For facilities operations, the agreement provides $778,785,000 for Synchrotron Radiation Light Sources, High-Flux Neutron Sources, and Nanoscale Science Research Centers, to include $56,000,000 for early operations of NSLS-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The agreement also includes $37,400,000 for Other Project Costs, including $10,000,000 for the LINAC Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II).

"For construction, the agreement provides $75,700,000 for LCLS-II at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to account for the project's revised baseline cost, schedule, and scope. The agreement includes no direction regarding a novel free-electron laser array light source."

BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the mandatory 5 percent reduction) is $610.2 million. The FY 2014 request was $625.4 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $610.2 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"Within available funds, the agreement provides $75,000,000 for the second year of the second five-year term of the three BioEnergy Research Centers, $5,000,000 to continue nuclear medicine research with human applications, and $500,000 for the Department to engage universities more directly in climate analysis."

FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the mandatory 5 percent reduction) is $401.1 million. The FY 2014 request was $458.3 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $505.7 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"The agreement includes $305,677,000 for the domestic fusion program. Within available funds, the agreement provides $62,550,000 for the National Spherical Torus Experiment, of which $22,250,000 is for research, $16,600,000 is for operations, and $23,700,000 is for major items of equipment; $75,160,000 for DIII-D, of which $31,200,000 is for research and $43,960,000 is for operations; and $22,260,000 for operations and research at Alcator C-Mod.

"Furthermore, above the budget request, the agreement provides an additional $1,700,000 for International Research, $8,500,000 for High Energy Density Laboratory Physics, $3,500,000 for Theory, $2,500,000 for Science Discovery through Advanced Computing, $5,000,000 for General Plant Projects, $3,000,000 for Enabling Research and Development, $2,500,000 for heavy ion fusion research, and $3,000,000 to support increased computational and advanced measurement capabilities for validated fusion simulation development. Not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, the Department shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a plan with research goals and resource needs to implement a Fusion Simulation program.

"The agreement provides $200,000,000 for the U.S. contribution to the ITER project and establishes a new congressional reprograming control point.

"Not later than 12 months after enactment of this Act, the Department shall submit a ten-year strategic fusion plan to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The ten-year plan should assume U.S. participation in ITER and assess priorities for the domestic fusion program based on three funding scenarios with the fiscal year 2014 enacted level as the funding baseline: (1) modest growth, (2) budget growth based only on a cost-of-living-adjusted fiscal year 2014 budget, and (3) flat funding. The January 2013 Nuclear Science Advisory Committee report on priorities for nuclear physics used similar funding scenarios and should serve as a model for assessing priorities for the fusion program."

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the mandatory 5 percent reduction) is $789.6 million. The FY 2014 request was $776.5 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $797.5 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"Within available funds, the agreement provides $15,000,000 to support minimal, sustaining operations at the Homestake Mine in South Dakota, $9,931,000 for Accelerator Stewardship, and $26,000,000 for the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE), to include $10,000,000 for research and development and $16,000,000 for project engineering and design. The agreement includes no funds for long-lead procurements or construction activities for the LBNE project."

NUCLEAR PHYSICS:

The FY 2013 budget (not including the mandatory 5 percent reduction) is $548.5 million. The FY 2014 request was $569.9 million. The FY 2014 agreement provides $569.9 million.

The Explanatory Statement includes the following language:

"Within available funds, the agreement provides $165,224,000 for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider operations to support a standalone run of approximately 22 weeks. The agreement also includes $55,000,000 for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University and establishes a new congressional reprogramming control point."

Published January 16, 2014