For the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) the conferees provided $290.55 million, the same as the President's request and $16.7 M over FY 2005. The distribution of funds provided, however, is different from the President's proposed distribution. The President proposed spending $55.5 million on ITER, an increase of $50.1 M over FY 2005. The President proposed drastically cutting the U. S. domestic fusion program. The Conferees directed that $29.9 be retained in the domestic fusion program and that proposed ITER funding be reduced accordingly. The Conferees warned, "As in previous years, the conferees direct the Department to fund the U. S. share of ITER in fiscal year 2007 through additional resources rather than through reductions to domestic fusion research or to other Office of Science programs." The threatened domestic programs were ordered to be restored to Fiscal Year 2005 levels.

The conferees also directed "the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to undertake a study of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences program in order to define the role of the major domestic facilities in support of ITER, including recommendations on possible consolidation or focus of operations to maximize their research value in support of ITER. The GAO shall also evaluate the opportunities to leverage the National Nuclear Security Administration investment as an alternative to the tokamak concept."

The conferees provided $549 million for the Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High Yield Program, compared to $541 M in FY 2005. Included in the mark "The conference agreement includes $11,012,000, a $901,000 increase over the budget request, for pulsed power ICF to assess Z pinches as drivers for ignition and high yield fusion." The conferees also provided $48 M for the inertial fusion technology program (inertial fusion for energy). Within that total, $25 M is provided for continuing development of high average power lasers, $2 M for the high density matter laser at Ohio State University, $15 M for the Naval Research Laboratory (Nike Laser) and $6 M to prepare Z-machine to support extended operations. The conferees also provided additional funds for petawatt laser development and the Omega laser program at the University of Rochester, including an additional $22 M to accelerate the Omega Extended Performance capability project.

The complete conference language on fusion is posted at http://fire.pppl.gov

The House and Senate are expected to pass the bill and send it to the President for signature.