FPN13-22

FY2014 Inertial Fusion Budget Request

April 19, 2013

The President's FY 2014 budget request for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), sent to Congress on April 10, proposes to cut the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ICF program by $73.5 million relative to FY 2012 (from $474.5M to $401.0M). The FY2013 allocation is still uncertain, although the budget document indicates it would be $465M absent any "sequestration".

The document indicates that within the ICF category (called Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High Yield), the ignition campaign would be reduced by $30M relative to FY2012 (from $110M to $80M) while support for other stockpile programs would be increased by $15M (from zero in FY2012). The category of diagnostics, cryogenics and experimental support would be reduced by $26M (from $85.6M in FY2012) and the category of facility operations and target production would be reduced by $32M (from $265M in FY2012). The category of the joint (with the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences) program in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP) would be reduced by $1M (from $9.1M in FY2012). The pulsed power program would remain roughly constant at $5M). The DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences indicated in its budget submission (FPN13-20) that it would terminate their contribution to the joint HEDLP program.

The ICF and other fusion-related FY2014 budget documents are posted at http://fire.pppl.gov