range of parameters. It is the kind of detailed parametric design code traditionally used in the aerospace industry, and we believe it is the most advanced design tool of its type in the fusion field.

All of our machine designs will be able to reach fusion ignition conditions and sustained burn in a deuterium-tritium (D-T) plasma under the standard confinement scaling laws obtained in the DOE program. INESCO's sustained burn would generate several hundred MW of fusion power over a machine life of approximately 1000 hours. INESCO's machines will provide adequate burn time to understand the best design for a practical fusion reactor.

This INESCO has already accomplished. But it is now at a critical point in its history, when engineering design must turn to fabrication. Although practically all of our technology development has been financed privately, such private financing obviously involves high risk and long term pay off. As a result, construction of INESCO's ignition test machines that are financed solely with private funds will require long lead time.

However, a one year cost-shared private and government funded program would combine the best features of entrepreneurial skills and public support. For a very modest governmental investment, a cost-shared program would provide the nation with a key technology that could accelerate substantially the attainment of fusion power.

The modest federal investment INESCO seeks is $2.5 million to accelerate fabrication and testing of the high strength, high conductivity water cooled copper magnet coils that it has developed and designed with private funds. INESCO would continue to apply private financing toward this program.

This approach already has been recommended by the House Science and Technology Committee in its FY 1985 DOE authorization bill. Moreover, it has been recommended by HS&T as a part of the Administration proposed budget level in magnetic fusion for FY 1985, not as an add-on to that budget.

Following completion of the fabrication and testing of these magnet coils, INESCO will be able to proceed with its program of developing a central facility for the testing of inexpensive tokamak machines. This central facility will serve as the testing ground for the repetitive demonstration and testing of several machines over a range of potential design parameters. This approach will allow experimental optimization of plasma performance by testing a number of varied machines. Each of these tokamaks will cost less than $10 million. In this way, if one machine's design is unworkable, or fails for any reason, another machine will be available with an alternative design. By this means all of the relevant physics of fusion ignition and burn can be explored at modest cost and in a relatively short time. At the same time, we will have tested such a variety of designs that a pratical fusion reactor can then be constructed.

As you may know, the Soviet Union is working actively on a program that utilizes small copper coil tokamaks. The Soviet program is also an engineering design program that could lead

to ignition within several years. However, the Soviet Union will not be able to achieve sustained burn for two reasons: first, they have not developed the high conductivity, high strength copper coils, insulator technology and fabrication techniques that INESCO has designed; and second, they lack the overall infrastructure of the USA.

Thus, if INESCO's development program is carried forward expeditiously, the U.S. is likely to achieve the breakthrough of a sustained fusion burn before the Soviet Union. Moreover, apart from the international benefits, if INESCO's program proceeds apace, the results of its contributions to high field tokamak engineering will be of significant value to the U.S. mainline program as it proceeds toward development and design of the world's first tokamak fusion reactor.

Thank you.

STATEMENT OF REV. T. BYRON COLLINS, S.J., SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am Rev. T. Byron Collins, S.J., Special Assistant to the President of Georgetown University.

This is a brief report on the Photovoltaic Higher Education National Exemplar Facility (PHENEF). PHENEF will use sunlight to provide electricity for an education facility. This project has stimulated the mass production of photovoltaic flat plate roof shingles. Because mass production dramatically reduces the unit cost of these flat plate shingles, the University is now planning, from its own resources, to use photovoltaic flat plate shingles on its next academic facility.

PHENEF is on schedule and is expected to be completely operational by the end of this upcoming summer. (c.f. Exhibit) We will invite all the members of

the Committee to a special dedication ceremony for this historic event.

On behalf of our President, Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J., I would like to express our gratitude for the Committee's continued interest and support of this

program.

Introduction

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

The American Gas Association (A.G.A.) is pleased to present this statement on the gas-related research and development (R&D) projects conducted or funded by the Department of Energy (DOE).

A.G.A. is a national trade association comprising nearly 300 natural gas distribution and transmission companies serving more than 160 million consumers in all 50 states. Collectively, these companies account for nearly 85 percent of the nation's total annual gas utility sales.

A.G.A. recommends the appropriation of $150 million for DOE gas-related R&D in FY 1985. of this total, $34 million is for projects under the jurisdiction of this Subcommittee. These projects involve biomass, geopressured methane, and liquefied natural gas (LNG). This level of funding is justified by the long-term, high-risk nature of the projects involved, the benefits that will flow from R&D work on these projects, and the need to develop a wide variety of future energy sources.

On a matter also under the jurisdiction of this Committee, A.G.A. opposes the proposal of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to raise revenue by imposing a system of user fees for regulated companies. We believe that Congress should maintain its oversight responsibility by appropriating all funds necessary for the FERC budget.

Long-Term, High-Risk Projects

A.G.A. agrees with the Administration that the federal government should fund only long-term, high-risk R&D that cannot be undertaken effectively by the private sector. The projects for which we seek funding meet this criterion. Because they are large-scale and involve very sophisticated and novel technology, the projects frequently require 10 to 20 years to advance from the experimental to the operational stage. These long time frames discourage private sector investment because the payback on investment stretches over such a long period.

If a

Moreover, rate regulation imposes other disincentives that discourage even the most strongly motivated companies. project is unsuccessful, the expenditures may be disallowed in the rate base as "imprudently" made. This shifts the expense entirely to the shareholders. On the other hand, the benefits of a successful project are enjoyed by ratepayers via reduced rates. Thus, the shareholders have a greater potential for loss than gain, so the risk related to R&D investment greatly discourages the allocation of capital to such projects. Consequently, federal funding is needed to conduct these projects.

Need for Balanced Research

Natural gas provides space heating for 55 percent of the country's households, 40 percent of the nation's total commercial energy market, and accounts for 36 percent of the energy consumed by American industry a larger share than any other single energy source.

A.G.A. believes that consumer demand for natural gas clearly indicates that it is a valuable and desirable natural resource which merits a proportion of available R&D funds that reflects its usefulness to the nation.