FPN07-07

FY2008 Budget Request

February 5, 2007

President Bush submitted his FY 2008 Budget Request to Congress on February 5. The President requested $4.4 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science, compared to $3.6 billion actual in FY 2006 and a presumed level of $3.7 billion in FY 2007. Congress has not yet passed the FY 2007 appropriation.

For the DOE's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES), the President asks for $428 million, including $160 for the international ITER project and $268 million for the domestic fusion program. This compares to $25 million and $60 million for ITER in FY 2006 and (assumed) FY 2007, respectively and $257 and $259 million for the domestic fusion program in FY 2006 and (assumed) FY 2007, respectively. The $60 million in FY 2007 and $160 million in FT 2008 for ITER are in agreement with an ITER spending profile submitted to Congress in 2006.

The proposed $9 million increase in the domestic fusion program would be split roughly equally between increases for the three major facilities (D-IIID, Alcator C-Mod and NSTX) and the balance of the domestic program. This would provide the balance of the domestic program with an approximate cost-of-living increase of around 3%.