FPN01-31

83 Congresspersons Sign Fusion Letter

April 25, 2001

Eighty-three members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter sent to the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, endorsing the fusion program and its budget. Representives Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and Rush Holt (D-NJ) led the effort to secure 81 additional signatures from their colleagues in the House. The text of the letter is as follows:

The Honorable Sonny Callahan
Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and
Water Development
2362 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Callahan:

We are writing to highlight the importance of the U.S. Fusion Energy Sciences program and to request that you increase the funding available for this research.

For many years, researchers in the U.S. and around the world have been attempting to conquer what many scientists have identified as one of the most difficult and important scientific and technological challenge ever undertaken: creating practical fusion energy here on earth. Meeting this challenge involves re-creating the conditions of the sun and stars here on earth as the basis for a safe, environmentally benign and virtually unlimited energy source.

In the past six years, the U.S. fusion energy sciences program has received high level reviews from the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the Secretary's Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the National Research Council (NRC), and the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC). Each of these reviews has been clear as to the scientific progress and merits of fusion research.

The July, 1995 PCAST Study entitled "The U.S. Program of Fusion Energy Research and Development" concluded: "Funding for fusion energy R&D by the Federal government is an important investment in the development of an attractive and possibly essential new energy source for this country and the world in the middle of the next century and beyond".
The August, 1999 report of the Secretary's Energy Advisory Board entitled "Realizing the Promise of Fusion Energy" concludes: "the threshold scientific question - - namely, whether a fusion system producing net energy gain to be attractive as a commercial power source can be sustained and controlled - - can and will be solved.
The October, 2000 report of the National Academy of Sciences entitled "An Assessment of the Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Program" concludes that "the quality of the science funded by the United States fusion research program in pursuit of a practical source of power from fusion (the fusion energy goal) is easily on a par with the quality in other leading areas of contemporary physical science."

In addition to these endorsements of the scientific value, progress and promise of fusion research, PCAST, SEAB and FESAC have thoroughly examined the issue of funding for the fusion program and have concluded that at existing budgetary levels, the program is substantially underfunded. Indeed, PCAST stated in its 1997 review of federal energy research programs that funding for fusion research should be on the order of $320 million in Fiscal Year 2002 - - this compares to the approximately $250 million available for the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences available in this fiscal year. These studies have made it clear that existing fusion research facilities at universities and laboratories are severely underutilized due to budgetary constraints, that more dollars must be expended for theory and computation, for broadening the connections to other areas of science, for international collaborations and for enabling materials and technology work.

Therefore, we ask that you increase funding for the fusion energy sciences program to at least $300 million in FY 2002. This level of funding will ensure that existing facilities are more fully utilized and that important investments are made in the intellectual and physical infrastructure underlying this critically important and timely area of science.

In addition, we wish to thank the subcommittee for the support in FY2001 of $25 million for high average power laser research. in the Department of Energy's stockpile stewardship program This funding is vitally important for the development of the inertial fusion energy (IFE) path, has the potential to greatly enhance the nation's capability in high-energy laser technology and may have important implications for the stockpile stewardship program. For FY 2002 we ask the subcommittee to continue this support with an additional $5M (total of $30M) to enhance laser IFE related science and technology in such areas as target fabrication, advanced optics, and reactor chamber development. With this funding this new program should develop, over the next 5 years, the most essential technologies and underlying science needed for the design of laser IFE reactors.

Thank you for your consideration in this important matter.

Signed,

Signers of April 9th, 2001 letter to Chairman Callahan

Cramer, Bud (D-AL)
Riley, Bob (R-AL)

Baca, Joe (D-CA)
Becerra, Xavier (D-CA)
Berman, Howard (D-CA)
Calvert, Ken (R-CA)
Capps, Lois (D-CA)
Cunningham, Duke (R-CA)
Davis, Susan (D-CA)
Dooley, Cal (D-CA)
Eshoo, Anna (D-CA)
Farr, Sam (D-CA)
Filner, Bob (D-CA)
Harman, Jane (D-CA)
Honda, Mike (D-CA)
Hunter, Duncan (R-CA)
Issa, Darrell (R-CA)
Lantos, Tom (D-CA)
Lee, Barbara (D-CA)
Lofgren, Zoe (D-CA)
Matsui, Bob (D-CA)
Millender-MacDonald, Juanita (D-CA)
Miller, Gary (R-CA)
Miller, George (D-CA)
Napolitano, Grace (D-CA)
Stark, Pete (D-CA)
Tauscher, Ellen (D-CA)

Degettte, Diane (D-CO)
McInnis, Scott (R-CO)
Schaffer, Bob (R-CO)
Udall, Mark (D-C0)

Larson, John (D-CT)

Weldon, Curt (R-PA)

Norwood, Charlie (R-GA)

Otter, Butch (R-ID)
Simpson, Mike (R-ID)

Hill, Baron (D-IN)
Roemer, Tim (D-IN)

Moore, Dennis (D-KS)

Capuano, Michael (D-MA)
Delahunt, William  (D-MA)
Frank, Barney  (D-MA)
McGovern, James  (D-MA)
Meehan, Martin  (D-MA)
Neal, Richard  (D-MA)
Olver, John  (D-MA)

Bartlett, Roscoe (R-MD)
Hoyer, Steny (D-MD)
Morella, Connie (R-MD)

Bonior, David (D-MI)

Andrews, Rob (D-NJ)
Ferguson, Mike (R-NJ)
Holt, Rush (D-NJ)
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
Pallone, Frank (D-NJ)
Pascrell, Bill (D-NJ)
Payne, Donald (D-NJ)
Roukema, Marge  (R-NJ)
Saxton, Jim  (R-NJ)
Smith, Chris  (R-NJ)

Engel, Eliot  (D-NY)
Rangel, Charlie  (D-NY)
Weiner, Anthony  (D-NY)

Wu, David  (D-OR)

Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)
Spratt, John (D-SC)

Duncan, John (R-TN)
Gordon, Bart (D-TN)

Bentsen, Ken (D-TX)
Hall, Ralph (D-TX)
Jackson-Lee, Sheila (D-TX)
Johnson, Eddie Bernice (D-TX)
Sessions, Pete (R-TX)
Smith, Lamar (R-TX)

Davis, Tom (R-VA)

Inslee, Jay (D-WA)
McDermott, Jim (D-WA)

Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI)
Barrett, Tom (D-WI)
Kind, Ron (D-WI)
Kleczka, Jerry (D-WI)
Petri, Thomas (R-WI)
Sensenbrenner, James (R-WI)

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