FY 87.

Question: Explain the need for a $9 million increase in

Answer: The $8.6 million increase over FY 86 is needed primarily to continue the same level of operations in FY 87 as in FY 86, which is not optimal. The major components of the increase are: increased safeguards and security costs at HFBR, the first installment of operations funding at the Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center, the increased operation of the NSLS now that the X-ray ring is beginning full operation, and increased support at SSRL to permit better utilization of that frontier facility including the PEP beamlines.

Question: What is the status of the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) project?

Answer: The status of the Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) project is that the construction is on schedule and within the budget projections. The CAM project consists of two buildings, the Surface Science and Catalysis Laboratory (SSCL) and the Advanced Materials Laboratory (AML). The SSCL is in the construction phase, concrete foundations have been poured and steel-work is being erected. An occupancy date of May 1987 is expected. The AML is fully designed and construction will begin in a few months. An occupancy date of September 1988 is expected. Until the buildings are ready for CAM personnel, research is being conducted at available space throughout LBL. Research at a level of about $3 million total is underway in the areas of catalysis, ceramic/metal interfaces, instruments and sensors, electronic materials, light alloys and polymers and composites.

Question: How much is requested for operating and construction in FY 84, 85, 86, and 87?

Answer: For the Center for Advanced Materials, the construction appropriations request is $10,560,000 for FY 1987. The corresponding levels in previous years are $1,760,000 in FY 1984, $9,290,000 in FY 1985 and $11,008,000 in FY 1986. The CAM research funding which is being requested in FY 1987, the only operating funds requested, for this project, are $3,400,000. The corresponding research levels in previous years are $2,200,000 in FY 1984, $2,800,000 in FY 1985, and $3,100,000 in FY 1986.

Question: Describe the extent of industrial and university participation in the project.

Answer: Industrial and university participation in research at the Center for Advanced Materials has been quite substantial considering the early stage of the CAM program. At the moment, the research operation program level is about $3 million and researchers are occupying available space at LBL until the CAM project buildings are complete. CAM has attracted about 60 students. The research programs are run by faculty members at the University of California or personnel connected with LBL and the University. There are about 20 faculty members involved with CAM.

Each of the research projects has been designed with participation from industry and other university researchers. In addition, there have also been 67 visitors from industry and 6 gifts/contracts from industry to date. It should be noted that all this outside

participation has taken place even at this early stage of the program.

Question: Provide a table showing the breakdown of chemical science operating expense at the various facilities in FY 84, FY 85, FY 86 and FY 87.

Answer: The breakdown is shown in a table I would like to insert in the record.

Question: Please provide the Committee with a table showing the breakdown of funding for nuclear science within the five principle activities in FY 84, FY 85, FY 86, and FY 87.

Answer: The breakdown of Nuclear Sciences (in thousands of dollars) is shown in a table I would like insert in the record. (The information follows:)

Question:

Explain the need for the $5.4 million increase in

FY 87 for nuclear science operating expenses.

Answer: Approximately $4.0 million is required to attain a viable level of operations for six major facilities. Important driving factors are restoring lost operating staff; increased requirements for maintenance, safety modifications, and radwaste handling; increased production of enriched isotopes to replenish depleted inventories; and, increased user demand. The list of facilities includes: the Calutrons for the production of stable isotopes needed in medicine, research, and industry; the High Flux Isotope Reactor that provides neutron irradiation services for the production of isotopes and neutrons for a variety of materials studies; the Transuranium Processing Plant for the processing and purification of actinide materials including californium-252; the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory for user studies in materials, chemical and biological sciences; and two accelerator based neutron generators needed for the measurement of data required for fission and fusion energy technology development. Approximately $1.4 million is required to maintain a viable level of research in Heavy Element Chemistry, Nuclear Data Compilation and Evaluation, and Heavy Ion Fusion Accelerator Research.

Question: Provide a detailed breakdown for applied mathematical sciences by activities with funding levels in FY 85, 86, and 87.

Answer: The breakdown for Applied Mathematical Sciences, in millions of dollars, is shown in a table I would like to insert in the record.

(The information follows:)

Question: With the major achievements in biological energy research, why are you proposing a $3 million reduction in FY 87 from your FY 86 levels.

Answer: The appropriated budget for the Biological Energy Research (BER) program in FY 1986, less the Gramm-Rudman reduction, was $18,248,000. The request for the program in Fiscal Year 1987 is $15,148,000, a reduction of $3,100,000 in the overall request. This reduction comes principally from the inclusion of a one-time construction item of $5,773,000 in FY 1986 for partial support of a building for a Center for Energy and Biotechnology at Tulane University. There is no additional funding for this project or other construction in FY 1987.

Question: Explain the results of your recent workshop on future research directions in biological energy and list some of the funded activities as well as the unfunded higher priority areas of research.

Answer: The participants in the recent workshop on future research direction for the Biological Energy Research program made suggestions of future needs and opportunities for research for the program. The strongest point made at the workshop was that the program should increase support of areas that it currently funds such as those listed below.

research on the genetics, biochemistry, and physiology of
organisms that might be employed in fermentations of
renewable biomass to fuels and chemical feedstocks using
"orphan" microorganisms;

studies on complex carbohydrates with emphasis on

determining chemical structure and function of this class of compounds in plants and microorganisms;

increased attention to the merging of some of the newer, powerful, sophisticated analytical procedures of physics and chemistry with difficult and complex problems of biology about which the program is concerned;

and additional emphasis on the mechanism of breakdown of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses, the mainstay abundant renewable resources.

Magnetic Fusion

Question: When will we be able to make an assessment of the economic feasibility of fusion power?

Answer: It is the Department's goal to have an adequate data base to make an economic assessment of fusion energy by around the turn of the century.

Question: What additional research and capital investment would be required before we could decide on the feasibility of commercial application of fusion power?

Answer: In order to develop the necessary science and technology base for an assessment of fusion's commercial application, we expect several new facilities will need to be constructed and operated to address the four remaining key issues. These facilities include an ignition/burn experiment, a materials test facility, engineering test facilities and confinement concept development experiments. It is important to note, however, that DOE does not plan to deploy all of these facilities on its own. We have been engaged in discussions with our allies under the auspices of the Economic Summit on ways to share the work.

Question: What is the total amount spent by the Federal government on magnetic fusion research?

Answer: A total of about $4.5 billion has been spent on Magnetic Fusion Energy over a thirty year period.

Question: What is the projected level of funding for the next five years?

Answer: We currently are planning on maintaining an

essentially flat funding profile at the FY 1987 requested level for fusion research over the next five years.

Question: Please explain the refocusing of the fusion effort over the last three years?

Answer: As the nation's energy crisis has relaxed, we recognized that the urgency to develop fusion has also lessened. This fact together with increased budget pressures forced us to review the program strategy. Starting in FY 1985, we began modifying the program pace and priorities accordingly. A new program plan was developed to focus on the four remaining key technical issues including the development of magnetic confinement systems, exploration of scientific principles governing the behavior of a burning plasma, the development of materials for fusion applications, and the development of fusion nuclear technology. The balance of the program was modified to emphasize the development of the scientific and technological elements of the program while postponing reactor-specific work.