On June 27, the U. S. House of Representatives voted approval of Energy and Water appropriations bill that included Fiscal Year 2001 funding for the U. S. Fusion Energy Sciences Program. Similar action is still required in the Senate before the appropriations bill will go to the President for signature. Senate action is expected in July. In passing the bill, the House defeated by voice vote an amendment to cut funding for the National Ignition Facility (FPN00-28, 29).

The funding action is accompanied by the following language from the House Committee on Appropriations:

"The Committee recommendation for fusion energy sciences is $255,000,000, an increase of $7,730,000 over the budget request, and the same as fiscal year 2000. Additional funding of $25,000,000 has been provided in the inertial confinement fusion program in the Weapons Activities appropriation account to support work on the 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 Committee is pleased 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 Committee recommendation includes the budget request of $19,600,000 for decontamination and decommissioning of the Tokomak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR)."

"Inertial Confinement Fusion.--The Committee recommends $364,600,000 for the inertial confinement fusion program, an increase of $169,700,000 over the budget request of $194,900,000. The recommendation includes $144,700,000 which has been transferred to inertial confinement fusion from the readiness in technical base and facilities program, and $25,000,000 to further the development of high average power lasers.

"Last year the Committee requested the Secretary of Energy to complete and certify a new cost and schedule baseline for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This certification was to be submitted by June 1, 2000. If the Department was unable to provide such a certification, the Department was to prepare an estimate of the 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 Committee does not believe that the information provided to date is an adequate basis for additional appropriations in fiscal year 2001. The Committee will reserve judgment on this project until the final report is submitted 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 the work at other inertial fusion facilities, and efforts in diagnostics, target fabrication, and cryogenic target development. 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 recommendation includes the budget request of $9,750,000 for the Naval Research Laboratory and $32,150,000 for the University of Rochester."