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FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 40: March 27, 2003

Final FY 2003 DOE Office of Science Appropriation

The months-long struggle to enact the final FY 2003 appropriations
bill has been followed by weeks of calculations by federal agency
budget officers trying to determine exactly how much money they have
for this year.  In order to make the numbers add up, several
percentage deductions (not often clear) were made by the
appropriators in different parts of the 3,000+ page conference
report.  FYI will report on these final numbers as they are made
available.  This FYI presents the final budget numbers for
physics-related programs of DOE's Office of Science, as calculated by
the Department of Energy.  Selections from the final conference
report language in House Report 108-010 are provided.

The TOTAL BUDGET for the Office of Science declines $48.3 million, or
-1.5%, from $3,309.5 million in FY 2002 to $3,261.2 million for the
current fiscal year (FY 2003).  The report states that "the
conference agreement does not include language specifying funding
allocations as contained in the House report and Senate explanatory
statement." 

The HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS program budget increases $20.5 million, or
2.9%, from $697.4 million in FY 2002 to $717.9 million for the
current fiscal year (FY 2003).  The report language states: "The
conferees have provided an additional $2,000,000 for operations and
activities of the program." 

The NUCLEAR PHYSICS program budget increases $29.0 million, or 8.3%,
from $350.6 million in FY 2002 to $379.6 million for the current
fiscal year (FY 2003).  The report language states: "The conferees
encourage the Department to use these additional funds to enhance
operation of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the
Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Continuous Electron Beam
Accelerator Facility at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility, and to continue research and development and preconceptual
design in support of the Rare Isotope Accelerator." 

The BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES program budget increases $37.2 million, or
3.8%, from $979.6 million in FY 2002 to $1,016.7 million for the
current fiscal year (FY 2003).  The report language states: "The
conference agreement includes $551,378,000 for materials sciences and
engineering research, and $221,551,000 for chemical sciences,
geosciences, and energy biosciences. For purposes of reprogramming in
fiscal year 2003, the Department may reallocate funding among all
operating accounts within Basic Energy Sciences. 

"The conference agreement provides the requested amounts of
$210,571,000 for construction of the Spallation Neutron Source,
$6,000,000 for project engineering and design (PED) for the Linac
Coherent Light Source at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and
$24,000,000 for the design and construction of the Oak Ridge Center
for Nanophase Materials Sciences. The conference agreement provides
$4,500,000 in additional funding to complete PED and initiate
construction of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, and an
additional $1,000,000 to initiate PED in fiscal year 2003 for the
Brookhaven Center for Functional Nanomaterials.

"The conference agreement also provides $11,985,000 for the
Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)."

The FUSION  ENERGY SCIENCES program budget increases $5.8 million, or
2.4%, from $241.1 million in FY 2002 to $246.9 million for the
current fiscal year (FY 2003).  The report language states: "The
conferees note that the fiscal year 2002 funding level included
$19,604,000 for the completion of decontamination and decommissioning
of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), leaving $228,891,000
available for fusion research and facility operations in fiscal year
2002. By comparison, the conference agreement for fiscal year 2003
makes this $19,604,000, plus an additional $1,505,000, available for
fusion research and facility operations, an increase of 9.2 percent
over the comparable amount available in fiscal year 2002. 

"Within the funding available for fusion energy sciences, the
Department should make additional funding of $1,500,000 available to
the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to support the National
Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) research, NSTX operations, and
preliminary design for the National Compact Stellarator Experiment
(NCSX). Within available funding, the Department should report back
to the Appropriations Committees no later than August 1, 2003, with
an evaluation of the 'fast ignition' concept and with any
recommendations regarding the schedule and milestones of the High
Energy Density Physics Program." 

The BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH program decreases $50.5
million, or -9.1%, from $554.1 million in FY 2002 to $503.6 million
in the current year (FY 2003).  The report language consists entirely
of funding amounts for specific projects.

The ADVANCED COMPUTING RESEARCH program increases $17.2 million, or
11.5%, from $150.2 million in FY 2002 to $167.4 million in the
current year (FY 2002).  The report language states: "The conferees
provide these additional funds for the Department to pursue
alternative approaches to advance the United States capability in
advanced scientific computing. The recent developments by the
Japanese on scientific supercomputing are cause for concern. The
conferees strongly support DOE's role in Advanced Scientific
Computing development missions, and will consider a request for
reprogramming of fiscal year 2003 funds in order for U.S.
manufacturers and laboratories to address the recent developments by
Japan relating to the Earth Simulator." 

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Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi{at}aip.org
(301) 209-3094
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