The fusion bill was introduced earlier this year by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and George Nethercutt (R-WA) with over 40 co-sponsors. The complete House energy bill includes a broad range of incentives and programs for conservation, renewables, oil, gas, nuclear, etc.

The House Energy Bill (HR 4) and all the fusion related bills, including: HR 1781, S 1130, and HR 2460 are posted at the FIRE web site: http://fire.pppl.gov

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is also working to complete its own version of comprehensive national energy legislation. The draft bill which the Committee is marking up includes a modified version of S.1130, The Fusion Energy Sciences Act of 2001. The Senate fusion bill (which was essentially identical to the House version) was introduced by Senators Craig (R-ID), Feinstein (D-CA) and Corzine (D-NJ). The Senate Energy Committee's version of that bill is not yet publicly available, but it is in almost all respects essentially identical to the House version. Senate passage of its version of comprehensive energy legislation will not occur until after the August recess.

Due to a number of controversial provisions (of which fusion is not one), including drilling in ANWR in the House version, the time frame for the ultimate resolution between the House and Senate bills and their final passage is not clear but may occur before the end of the year.

It is important to note that these bills are statements of Congressional interest and policy but do not appropriate funds. Both the House and Senate have now passed their own versions of the FY02 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, which contains funding for fusion. The House - Senate conference on that bill will probalby occur sometime in mid- to late September. Both the Senate and House Appropriations bills fund the fusion program at $248.5 million, the same as this year's funding and identical to the President's request. However, there is still hope that a higher number for fusion may come out of the House-Senate conference. The House-passed energy bill authorizes $320 million for fusion.

TEXT OF FUSION SECTIONS OF H.R. 4, THE HOUSE PASSED VERSION OF COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY LEGISLATION

SEC. 2501. SHORT TITLE.

This subtitle may be cited as the `Fusion Energy Sciences Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2502. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds that--

(1) economic prosperity is closely linked to an affordable and ample energy supply;

(2) environmental quality is closely linked to energy production and use;

(3) population, worldwide economic development, energy consumption, and stress on the environment are all expected to increase substantially in the coming decades;

(4) the few energy options with the potential to meet economic and environmental needs for the long-term future should be pursued as part of a balanced national energy plan;

(5) fusion energy is an attractive long-term energy source because of the virtually inexhaustible supply of fuel, and the promise of minimal adverse environmental impact and inherent safety;

(6) the National Research Council, the President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology, and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board have each recently reviewed the Fusion Energy Sciences Program and each strongly supports the fundamental science and creative innovation of the program, and has confirmed that progress toward the goal of producing practical fusion energy has been excellent, although much scientific and engineering work remains to be done;

(7) each of these reviews stressed the need for a magnetic fusion burning plasma experiment to address key scientific issues and as a necessary step in the development of fusion energy;

(8) the National Research Council has also called for a broadening of the Fusion Energy Sciences Program research base as a means to more fully integrate the fusion science community into the broader scientific community; and

(9) the Fusion Energy Sciences Program budget is inadequate to support the necessary science and innovation for the present generation of experiments, and cannot accommodate the cost of a burning plasma experiment constructed by the United States, or even the cost of key participation by the United States in an international effort.

SEC. 2503. PLAN FOR FUSION EXPERIMENT.

a) PLAN FOR UNITED STATES FUSION EXPERIMENT- The Secretary, on the basis of full consultation with the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, as appropriate, shall develop a plan for United States construction of a magnetic fusion burning plasma experiment for the purpose of accelerating scientific understanding of fusion plasmas. The Secretary shall request a review of the plan by the National Academy of Sciences, and shall transmit the plan and the review to the Congress by July 1, 2004.

(b) REQUIREMENTS OF PLAN- The plan described in subsection (a) shall--

(1) address key burning plasma physics issues; and

(2) include specific information on the scientific capabilities of the proposed experiment, the relevance of these capabilities to the goal of practical fusion energy, and the overall design of the experiment including its estimated cost and potential construction sites.

(c) UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION IN AN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENT- In addition to the plan described in subsection (a), the Secretary, on the basis of full consultation with the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, as appropriate, may also develop a plan for United States participation in an international burning plasma experiment for the same purpose, whose construction is found by the Secretary to be highly likely and where United States participation is cost effective relative to the cost and scientific benefits of a domestic experiment described in subsection (a). If the Secretary elects to develop a plan under this subsection, he shall include the information described in subsection (b), and an estimate of the cost of United States participation in such an international experiment. The Secretary shall request a review by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering of a plan developed under this subsection, and shall transmit the plan and the review to the Congress not later than July 1, 2004.

(d) AUTHORIZATION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT- The Secretary, through the Fusion Energy Sciences Program, may conduct any research and development necessary to fully develop the plans described in this section.

SEC. 2504. PLAN FOR FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES PROGRAM.

Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in full consultation with FESAC, shall develop and transmit to the Congress a plan for the purpose of ensuring a strong scientific base for the Fusion Energy Sciences Program and to enable the experiments described in section 2503. Such plan shall include as its objectives--

(1) to ensure that existing fusion research facilities and equipment are more fully utilized with appropriate measurements and control tools;

(2) to ensure a strengthened fusion science theory and computational base;

(3) to ensure that the selection of and funding for new magnetic and inertial fusion research facilities is based on scientific innovation and cost effectiveness;

(4) to improve the communication of scientific results and methods between the fusion science community and the wider scientific community;

(5) to ensure that adequate support is provided to optimize the design of the magnetic fusion burning plasma experiments referred to in section 2503;

(6) to ensure that inertial confinement fusion facilities are utilized to the extent practicable for the purpose of inertial fusion energy research and development;

(7) to develop a roadmap for a fusion-based energy source that shows the important scientific questions, the evolution of confinement configurations, the relation between these two features, and their relation to the fusion energy goal;

(8) to establish several new centers of excellence, selected through a competitive peer-review process and devoted to exploring the frontiers of fusion science;

(9) to ensure that the National Science Foundation, and other agencies, as appropriate, play a role in extending the reach of fusion science and in sponsoring general plasma science; and

(10) to ensure that there be continuing broad assessments of the outlook for fusion energy and periodic external reviews of fusion energy sciences.

SEC. 2505. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for the development and review, but not for implementation, of the plans described in this subtitle and for activities of the Fusion Energy Sciences Program $320,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and $335,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, of which up to $15,000,000 for each of fiscal year 2002 and fiscal year 2003 may be used to establish several new centers of excellence, selected through a competitive peer-review process and devoted to exploring the frontiers of fusion science.