ABSTRACT The National Research Council-National Academy of Sciences report on "Major Facilities for Materials Research and Related Disciplines" recommends that new facilities and upgrades of existing facilities are very important to the nation. At the request of the Secretary of Energy, the Energy Research Advisory Board has reviewed this report and finds that the Department of Energy is responsible for the majority of these projects to carry out its missions in energy, national defense, and science and technology. Therefore, we recommend that the Department should place a high priority on requesting the new funds necessary to fulfill these responsibilities in the next decade. The energy and defense missions of the Department will be best served by this approach. This responsibility requires strong coordination with other funding agencies through a shared advisory and decision-making process. The review recommends immediate implementation of new capabilities at existing DOE facilities (the neutron experimental halls at Brookhaven and Los Alamos and the new synchrotron insertion devices at Stanford and Brookhaven) as a cost effective way of maintaining the Nation's leading role in neutron scattering and synchrotron radiation research. It also recommends the immediate initiation of non-site-specific research and development for the proposed 6 GeV synchrotron and advanced steady state neutron source. This pre-construction work should be sufficient to ensure that these facilities will be constructed in a timely fashion at design goals and with well identified costs. Other recommendations concern advancing the Nation's leading capabilities in synchrotron produced ultraviolet radiation and spallation neutron research. A budget scenario is developed. I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Materials are of primary importance in protecting the economic competitiveness of our nation, in efficient and reliable production and use of energy and also in any forseeable new energy and defense technologies. In acknowledgement of this vital role, the Department of Energy and its antecedent organizations, the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Atomic Energy Commission have consistently supported substantial materials research and development programs. The Department currently provides about $350 million annually for materials research and development-making it the largest reported single source of such support in the United States. Materials research is a broad and diverse group of activities, ranging from concerns with improved mining and minerals processing to fundamental studies of structure and function at the atomic scale. As materials research and development have become more advanced, the associated scientific equipment has become more sophisticated and expensive. Within the last few years, increasing numbers of scientists and engineers involved in materials research and related disciplines have begun to need advanced research facilities such as sources of neutrons, high magnetic field facilities, sources of synchrotron radiation, and special electron microscopes. Department's laboratories are natural sites for future Major Materials Facilities. Indeed, most of the existing Major Materials Facilities in the U.S. are located at the Department's laboratories and these facilities have commanded an increasing share of the Department's funding for materials research and development. The Due to the diverse capabilities of Major Materials Facilities and the large cost of construction and operations in November 1983, the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy in November 1983 asked the National Research Council to assist in establishing national priorities for future Major Materials Facilities (defined to be those facilities whose initial costs were over $5 million). A committee, co-chaired by D. Eastman and F. Seitz, was formed; it included a balanced representation of scientists and engineers in the materials sciences and the related disciplines. The Major Materials Facilities Committee's report and recommendations were submitted to the Office of Science and Technology Policy in July 1984. In July 1984 the Secretary of Energy requested that the Energy Research Advisory Board review the National Research Council Committee's report, "Major Facilities for Materials Research and Related Disciplines," and recommend an appropriate Department response in terms of: The Department's programmatic interests Budget considerations of cost and time O Urgency of action and overall priorities This report provides the rationale, analysis and recommendations for the Department's action in response to the Secretary's request. A forefront capability in materials research is vital to our future economic competitiveness and national security. The Major Materials Facilities report has thoroughly examined the anticipated future national needs and opportunities for major materials research facilities and has done an effective job of establishing scientific priorities. We agree with the general conclusion of the Major Materials Facilities Report; namely that, over the next decade, the nation should develop and construct an array of major new facilities and add new capabilities at some existing facilities. This will strengthen the nation's research base in areas that are of vital importance to the nation's future, including energy and security. We believe that, as indicated in the Major Materials Facilities Report, these needed new investments should not be made in a way that would sap the vitality of other important elements of the materials research enterprise. particular, support for smaller projects should not be curtailed as a consequence of increased support for existing and new major facilities and existing facilities should be operated productively. Facilities currently under construction should be completed expediently. The fundamental implications of these findings are: Significant new investments will be required to equip U.S. science Following the priorities outlined in the Major Materials Facilities The Department must play the leading role in the development and These Findings lead to the following general conclusions relevant to the 1. The Department has vital needs for state-of-the-art neutron and photon facilities for materials research and research in related scientific disciplines. These needs reflect the Department's responsibilities for research related to energy and national defense. ii. iii. iv. - 3 The Department already has a central role in providing such facilities primarily through its national laboratories because of their expertise in the design, construction and operation of large accelerator and reactor facilities for national programs. This central role extends beyond the energy mission of the Department to include the nation's broad science and technology base. Scientists from universities, industry, the Department, and other Federal agencies use and depend upon the Department's facilities. However, this broad role can only be adequately carried out with new funds not only for construction but also for the necessary research and development associated with the construction and operating expenses for the new facilities and capabilities generated. For the evolution and application of new materials knowledge, the Department and the nation depend on the intellectual efforts of a very diverse cadre of scientists and engineers working in laboratories of all types and sizes. It is essential that the Department continue to strongly support the diverse group. Major new tools for materials research are needed but must be developed and made available with new funds. To ensure the vitality of the diverse area of materials research and its balance with major materials science facilities, it is essential that the Department's management develop a strategy which explicitly includes the necessary pre-construction research and development, construction, and operations of major facilities and research funding to utilize these facilities. The strategy must involve strong coordination with other funding agencies through a shared advisory and decision-making process. We want to further stress the essential conclusions above. The facilities and upgrades recommended by the Major Materials Facilities Report are important to the nation and to the missions of the Department. The Department--and only the Department--can respond to the majority of the recommendations of the Report. We conclude that the Department, in its broad mission to contribute to the nation's science and technology base, should explicity take the major responsibility of providing major new facilities and capabilities for this vital area. The Department should urgently and aggressively seek the necessary new funds to fill these new responsibilities in the next decade. We believe the energy and defense missions of the Department will be best served by this approach. This responsibility for Major Materials Facilities requires strong coordination with other funding agencies through a shared advisory and decision-making process. The remainder of our discussion is based on this broad responsibility. We conclude that the prerequisites and scientific priorities set down in the Major Materials Facilities Report are consistent with the needs of the Department and are in the best interest of the Nation. The Report has taken a very hard look at all the needs for major facilities and has carefully assigned priorities to the important needs. Our recommendations for the Department's response related to the specific major facility items in the Report are as listed below. Each recommendation requires immediate and future actions. It is clearly neither feasible nor desirable to fund |