Under the bill, the OFES would receive $335,464,000 compared to the FY 2011 level of $375,463,000. The President's FY 2012 request was for $399,700,000. The House-passed billl (see FPA11-29) would provide $406,000,000. The NNSA Inertial Fusion program would receive $476,274,000 compared to $464,747,000 in FY 2011 and equal to the President's request. The House-passed bill would provide $471,174,000.

The report language is reproduced below:

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FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES
The Committee recommends $335,463,000 for Fusion Energy Sciences. The Department is directed to submit a 10-year plan, not later than 12 months after enactment of this act, on the Department’s proposed research and development activities in magnetic fusion under four realistic budget scenarios. The report shall (1) identify specific areas of fusion energy research and enabling technology development in which the United States can and should establish or solidify a lead in the global fusion energy development effort and (2) identify priorities for facility construction and facility decommissioning under each of the four budget scenarios. The Department is encouraged to use a similar approach adopted by the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel that developed a 10- year strategic plan for the Department’s high energy physics program.

Of the $24,741,000 requested for the High Energy Density Laboratory Plasma program, $12,000,000 shall be spent on heavy-ion fusion, laser-driven fusion, and magneto-inertial fusion to be evenly distributed among these three areas of science. A recent Department of Energy report on scientific grand challenges for fusion energy sciences identified these three areas of research as critical to- ward advancing inertial fusion energy. In particular, the Committee does not understand why the Department would redirect funding for magnetized high-energy-density plasma research after the panel report found that this approach has the potential to significantly reduce power requirements compared to conventional inertial confinement fusion and could permit fusion development without building multi-billion dollar facilities.

The Committee is concerned about the impact ITER will have on the domestic fusion energy budget. Based on DOE budget estimates, DOE will be requesting between $300,000,000 to $400,000,000 a year from fiscal years 2014 through 2016 to help build ITER. If current trends of declining or flat budgets continue, almost all of the fusion energy sciences budget will be consumed by ITER. The Committee encourages DOE to find a solution to this problem without compromising the scientific and technical expertise residing at U.S. universities, labs, and industrial partners.

The Committee encourages the Office Fusion Energy Sciences Program to closely collaborate with the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, the Office of Nuclear Energy, and the National Nuclear Security Administration to address mutual needs for technology development in magnetic fusion, inertial fusion, and next-generation fission reactor concepts. One focus area of these collaborations should be on identifying, characterizing, and developing new materials that can endure the intense neutron and heat fluxes expected in these reactor environments. The Committee expects the Department to consider these nuclear technology needs as it develops its prioritization plan.

The Committee also encourages the fusion energy program take continue taking advantage of high performance computing to ad- dress scientific and technical challenges on the path to fusion energy. The Committee supports the Fusion Simulation Program to provide experimentally validated predictive simulation capabilities that are critical for ITER and other current and planned toroidal fusion devices. Given current and future budget constraints, the Committee views this initiative as critical to maintain U.S. world leadership in fusion energy in a cost-effective manner.

Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High-Yield Campaign. -- The Committee recommends $476,274,000 as requested. Within these funds, at least $62,500,000 and $48,000,000 shall be used for inertial confinement fusion activities at the University of Rochester’s Omega facility and Sandia National Laboratory’s Z facility, respectively. The Committee encourages NNSA to increase pulsed power capabilities at the Z facility by increasing available current and attainable pressures and radiation, especially for new radiographic capabilities. The Committee also recommends at least $5,000,000 as requested for the Naval Research Laboratory to continue operating laser facilities focused on laser plasma interactions, target hydrodynamics, and materials issues which are important for ignition. The Committee recognizes and supports the important work of medium scale laser facilities such as Trident at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Jupiter at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Nike at the Naval Research Laboratory to provide independent peer review of experiments at larger scale facilities, such as the National Ignition Facility, and help resolve scientific barriers to achieving ignition.

The Committee recognizes the National Ignition Facility’s important contribution to resolving a critical stockpile stewardship issue related to radiation transport. Scientists used the National Ignition Facility to conduct non-ignition experiments, which do not require using the full capability of the facility, to achieve temperatures and pressures that exceeded any other facility and address one of the largest sources of uncertainty in calculating weapon performance. These experiments validated physics-based models and increased NNSA’s confidence in assessing the safety, security, and reliability of the stockpile. Despite this success, the Committee remains concerned about NNSA’s ability to achieve ignition—the primary purpose of constructing the facility—by the end of fiscal year 2012 when the National Ignition Campaign ends and the facility should transition to regular ignition operations and pursues broad scientific applications. The Committee directs NNSA to establish an independent advisory board by January 1, 2012 that can evaluate experiments planned at the National Ignition Facility pre- and post-ignition, identify potential weaknesses with the experimental plan, and recommend, if necessary, alternative approaches to address scientific and technical challenges. The Committee also strongly supports the advisory committee’s role in setting a strategic direction for inertial confinement fusion and high-energy density physics research and determining how best to use current facilities to advance this scientific field. If the National Ignition Facility does not achieve ignition by the end of fiscal year 2012 using a cryogenically layered deuterium and tritium target that produces a neutron yield with a gain greater than 1, the Committee directs NNSA to submit a report by November 30, 2012 that (1) explains the scientific and technical barriers to achieving ignition, (2) the steps NNSA will take to achieve ignition with a revised schedule, and (3) the impact on the stockpile stewardship program.

The Committee commends NNSA for taking the first steps in soliciting competitive bids for its full portfolio of target fabrication contracts. The Committee encourages NNSA to consider various criteria when awarding contracts, such as the extent to which the contract spurs innovation, lowers costs, reduces technical risk, and maintains a competitive multi-vendor market to avoid relying on one contractor for all future target fabrication needs. The Committee also encourages NNSA to take advantage of existing and presently underutilized fabrication capabilities to meet increased demands for targets rather than developing and building new infrastructure. The Committee also urges NNSA to develop a long- term plan that assesses the demand for targets for inertial confinement fusion facilities that support the stockpile stewardship pro- gram and identifies ways to meet that demand without significant cost increases.