FY 1998 DOE Appropriations: Good News for Physics Programs

On September 30, both the House and the Senate adopted the conference report (H. Rpt. 105-271) for H.R. 2203, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for FY 1998. The conferees provided each of the Department of Energy’s civilian physics programs with funding equal to or greater than last year’s funding and the Administration’s FY 1998 request. Although the increases over FY 1997 funding generally do not keep pace with inflation, they are still good news in light of the constraints of the budget agreement within which appropriators had to work.

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (HEP): The conference report gives HEP $680.0 million, an increase of 0.7 percent over the request, and 1.5 percent over last year’s funding of $670.1 million. With construction completed on the B-Factory at SLAC and winding down on the main injector at Fermilab, the Administration had requested $675.0 million for FY 1998, a 0.7 percent increase over the FY 1997 level. The request included $35.0 million for Large Hadron Collider participation.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS: The conference report provides $320.9 million for FY 1998. This is an increase of 1.6 percent over the Administration’s request and last year’s level. The Administration had requested $315.9 million, equal to FY 1997 funding.

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES (BES): Under the conference report, BES would receive $668.2 million, equal to the request and 2.9 percent greater than the FY 1997 appropriation of $649.4 million. The request included $23.0 million for design of the National Spallation Neutron Source.

MAGNETIC FUSION ENERGY: Magnetic Fusion would receive $232.0 million, equal to last year’s appropriation. The Administration had requested $225.0 million, which apparently represents not a decrease from FY 1997, but a bookkeeping change made by moving some program elements.

ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES: Within its defense programs, DOE supports research into Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF.) The conference report provides $217.0 million for ICF, the same amount as the request. For NIF construction, the Administration had requested a total of $876.4 million to “forward fund” the program through expected completion of construction in FY 2003; the report provides $197.8 million, which would fund construction in FY 1998 only.

FY98 DOE PHYSICS APPROPRIATIONS

ADDITIONAL CONFERENCE REPORT LANGUAGE:

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: The House Appropriations Committee Report (H. Rpt. 105-190) included language stating that “No funds appropriated in this bill for high energy physics may be used for the Large Hadron Collider project” until the Secretary of Energy provides the Committees with a report on details of U.S. participation in the LHC and its impact on U.S. facilities (see FYI #96 .) Neither the Senate nor the conference report counter this language, so it remains in effect.

HIGH FLUX BEAM REACTOR: DOE is not to restart this reactor in FY 1998. See FYI #120 for further details.

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: The House report contained language ordering the Corps of Engineers to review all new DOE construction projects before they can be funded. The conference report provides very specific instructions for this type of review, and suggests that “other qualified, unbiased external organizations...could conduct this type of assessment.” In addition, the conference report calls for a broader review, by “an impartial, independent organization” of “the Department’s overall management structure and process for identifying, managing, designing and constructing facilities.”

EPSCoR: Within BES, the conferees direct that $7 million go to DOE’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, as requested.

UNIVERSITY AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: Although the Senate report directed that $10 million be devoted to reinstating DOE’s university and science education efforts, the conference report deletes this provision.