FPN11-07

President Submits FY 2012 Budget to Congress

February 15, 2011

On February 14, President Obama submitted his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2012, that begins October 1, 2011. Since the Congress has not yet acted on his FY 2011 request, the President shows his requests relative to the Fy 2010 appropriations levels. The FY 2010 levels shown in the request do not take into account the substantial funding many programs received in FY 2010 from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), often referred to as "stimulus" funding.

The President requests for the Department of Energy (DOE) $29.5B compared to the (non-ARRA) FY 2010 level of $26.4B, an increase of 12%. Within that amount the Office of Science would receive $5.42B compared to the (non-ARRA) FY 2010 level of $4.96B, an increase of 9%. The Office of Science received $1.6B in ARRA funding in FY 2010. Within the Office of Science, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) would receive $400M compared to the (non-ARRA) FY 2010 level of $426M, a decrease of 6%. The OFES received $83M in ARRA funding in FY 2010. The DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would receive $11.8B compared to the FY 2010 level of $9.9B, an increase of 19%. The NNSA did not receive any ARRA funding in FY 2010. Within NNSA, the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Yield Campaign would receive $476M compared to the FY 2010 level of $457M, an increase of 4%.

Within the OFES request, ITER would receive $105M compared to the FY 2010 level of $135M and the planned $80M for FY 2011. The budget document notes that the FY 2011 budget is still unknown as are the out-year projections for ITER requirements. The U.S. has committed to spend up to $2.2B towards ITER construction, which is currently projected to be completed in late 2019. The OFES budget document projects substantial reductions in the fusion Innovative Confinement Concepts (ICC) program and the Fusion Simulation Project (FSP), with corresponding increases in NSTX upgrade funding and funding increases for the major tokamak facilities, DIII-D and C-Mod and for materials research. The budget document indicates that the remaining ICC efforts "will become more concentrated on projects that solve problems that hinder the tokamak approach to controlling plasma dynamics and improving plasma parameters." The budget contains no funding, per se, for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). OFES states that "any new initiative (for IFE) will depend on the output of the NAS (National Academies) study, ignition on NIF, and available budget authority."

Links to all relevant budget documents are posted at http://fire.pppl.gov