House and Senate Conferees agreed on a fusion budget for FY 2000 of $250 million, $27.4 million above the President's request. Until recently, the fate of the DOE Appropriations Bill was in doubt, due to many differences between House and Senate versions. The Senate, for example, had allocated only $220.6 million for fusion previously (FPN99-31). The House has passed the compromise bill and the bill is expected to move rapidly through the Senate and on to the President for signature.

The Conference Report contains the following language:

Fusion Energy Sciences

"The conference agreement includes $250,000,000, the same amount provided by the House instead of $220,614,000 as provided by the Senate. The conferees are pleased with the highly supportive recent report on fusion energy science from the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board and with the comprehensive scientific plan developed by the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC). The FESAC plan should be used by the Department as guidance in the allocation of the resources provided for fusion energy sciences. "

The Conference Report also contains a total of $475,000,000 for inertial fusion, of which $248,100,000 is for NIF and $227,600,000 is for base program activities. The Conference Report contains the following language:

Inertial Fusion

"The agreement includes the additional $10,000,000 proposed by the House for the inertial fusion program to further the development of high average power lasers."

"The National Ignition Facillity has been described as one of the cornerstones of the Stockpile Stewardship Program. The conferees understand that the most recent internal review of the project has concluded that the projected cost to complete the project has increased and the completion date will be delayed. The conferees are very disappointed by this. Additional reviews will be performed in coming months to establish the appropriate future actions for proceeding with this project.

"The conferees direct that the Secretary of Energy complete and certify a new cost and schedule baseline for the National Ignition Facility and submit that certification to the Committees by June 1, 2000. If the secretary is unable too provide such a certification, the Department should prepare an estimate of the costs necessary to terminate the project."