August 22, 1996

The first meeting of the recently re-named and reconstituted DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), with new chairman John Sheffield replacing Bob Conn, has been scheduled for September 24-25 at the Hilton Hotel, Gaithersburg, MD. The primary discussion topic is expected to be the program's response to FY1997 budget actions from Congress. It is hoped that by mid September a House-Senate Conference Committee will have resolved differences between the House ($225M) and Senate ($244M) appropriations bills recently passed separately. In any case, there are important priority issues on the table, since neither bill comes close to the President's request of $272M, which was close to the minimum case ($275M) recommened previously by the FEAC in putting forth the "Restructured Fusion Energy Sciences Program." DOE expects comments from this FESAC meeting to impact their "second financial plan," which they would then issue in October. (See FPN-10) for a discussion of their "first financial plan.") FESAC meeting dates have been known to be changed at the last minute, so it would be best to double check that the meeting is on before getting on a plane. Contact me at 72570.707@compuserve.com, or Al Opdenaker at albert.opdenaker@mailgw.er.doe.gov

For more information, contact: Stephen O. Dean