September 12, 1996

The House-Senate Conference Report contains the following language:

"The Conferees have provided $232,500,000 for the fusion energy program, an increase of $7,500,000 over the House Recommendation. The conferees support the House and Senate inclusion of program direction and computational support within the amount provided for the fusion program. The conferees encourage the Department to reduce the amount identified for program direction, but do not stipulate amounts for program direction or computational support. To further provide maximum flexibility, the conferees have not included the prescriptive language included in the House report. The conferees have provided funds to continue and complete operations and provide for safe shutdown of the TFTR in fiscal year 1997. This is the final year of funding for fusion operations of TFTR. The conference agreement includes funding to continue the U.S. participation in the engineering design activities phase of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, to which the United States is committed through fiscal year 1998."

For more information, contact: Stephen O. Dean