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New
Release -- Superconductor Week does not edit or endorse the following
news release:
Department
of Energy Requests $24.3 Billion for FY 2008 Budget
Washington, DC, 5 February 2007: U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel
W. Bodman today announced President Bush’s $24.3 billion budget request for the
Department of Energy (DOE)
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. This request supports continued scientific discovery
and the development of alternative energy sources that are vital to America’s
energy and economic security. Funding priorities include investments to address
growing demand for affordable, clean and reliable energy; further scientific
discovery; continue the legacy waste environmental cleanup; and strengthen and
maintain the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile while promoting global
non-proliferation.
“Under President Bush’s leadership, this budget
builds on our commitment to strengthen our nation’s energy security by
diversifying our energy resources and reducing our reliance on foreign sources
of energy. In addition, this budget will help us expand our nation’s scientific
know-how, protect generations from the dangers of our Cold War legacy, and
safely and reliably maintain our nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile,” Secretary
Bodman said. “Thanks to the investments in this year’s budget, we will be able
to meet the Department’s mission for today, as well as have a profound and
lasting positive impact on our nation’s future.”
Among the President’s goals funded in the FY 2008
budget request include $179 million for the President's Biofuels Initiative, an
increase of $29 million (19 percent) compared to the 2007 budget request, to
help achieve the President’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive
by 2012. This will help reach President Bush’s goal to reduce U.S. consumption
of gasoline by 20 percent in ten years. In addition, to increase our energy
security, the FY 2008 budget includes $168 million to begin the doubling of our
nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5 billion barrels by 2027.
The budget also continues to significantly invest
in the President’s Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) and the American
Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), both of which were unveiled in President
Bush’s 2006 State of the Union Address.
Accelerating the Advanced Energy
Initiative
The FY 2008 budget request includes $2.7 billion,
a 26 percent increase above the FY 2007 request of $2.1 billion, and 53 percent
above FY 2006, to advance President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative. This
initiative seeks to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy and
transform the national energy economy by promoting the development of cleaner
sources of electricity production. The FY 2008 request supports AEI goals to
accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as biomass,
hydrogen, and solar energy; clean coal technologies through FutureGen; and
nuclear energy technologies, through the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
These funds support a diverse portfolio of energy research, development, and
commercialization programs designed to meet the energy challenges of the 21st
century.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy ($1.24 billion) budget includes significant funding increases for
hydrogen technology, vehicle technology, biomass, and building technology
programs. The Office of Fossil Energy ($863 million) supports research and
development of low cost carbon sequestration technology for new and existing
coal plants, the Clean Coal Power Initiative, and the FutureGen project, which
will establish the capability and feasibility of co-producing electricity and
hydrogen from coal with near-zero emissions for start-up in 2012.
The Office of Nuclear Energy ($875 million)
includes $395 million for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative and other
activities to support the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). (In
addition, $10 million is provided to GNEP from the National Nuclear Security
Administration to promote GNEP’s non-proliferation goals, for a total of $405
million for GNEP.); and also supports Generation IV, Nuclear Power 2010, and the
standby support, or risk insurance, called for in the Energy Policy Act of 2005
(EPAct), to protect against unexpected delays of nuclear power plant
construction and spur investments in emissions-free nuclear energy.
In addition, the Department’s FY 2008 requests
$8.4 million to operate an Office of Loan Guarantees and the ability to expand
DOE’s loan volume limitation to $9 billion. This funding will help spur the
commercial development of new and novel clean energy technologies.
Advancing the American Competitiveness
Initiative
The Department’s role in the American
Competitiveness Initiative is funded through the DOE’s Office of Science and
provides research investments to spur innovation and strengthen America’s
competitive edge. The FY 2008 budget requests $4.4 billion, an increase of $300
million over FY 2007 requested levels and more than $800 million over FY 2006,
to further basic research in the physical sciences and to carry out the large
scale scientific demonstrations essential for leading global breakthroughs.
This ambitious strategy represents President Bush’s commitment to double federal
spending on science this decade and ensure that America will continue to lead
the world in opportunity and innovation for generations to come.
Office of Science ($4.4 billion)
DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest
federal supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and
its $4.4 billion request will help ensure U.S. leadership across a broad range
of scientific disciplines. DOE’s Office of Science budget also incorporates
$428 million in funding for basic research in nuclear fusion, including the
international fusion energy experimental reactor agreement, known as ITER; $340
million for the Advanced Scientific Computing Research to sustain DOE’s position
as world leader in civilian computing power; $158 million for operations of the
Tevatron at Fermilab for collider and neutrino physics programs; and $146.5
million for operations of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to provide an idea
of conditions of the very early universe. DOE’s FY 2008 request includes $75
million for three innovative Bioenergy Research Centers to accelerate basic
research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels and make
biofuel production cost-effective on a national scale to meet the President’s
goals.
National Nuclear Security Administration
($9.4 billion)
The FY 2008 National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) budget requests $9.4 billion, 39 percent of the
Department's budget, to promote national security through a combination that
includes maintaining our nuclear weapons stockpile, advancing science, and
promoting nuclear nonproliferation and threat reduction. The NNSA budget
requests $6.5 billion for weapons activities to keep the nuclear weapons
stockpile safe, secure and reliable through continued surveillance, assessment,
and life extension programs. This includes the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW)
program as a long-term strategy to maintain a safe, secure and credible nuclear
deterrent.
The FY 2008 budget request maintains current
commitments to the nuclear deterrence policies of the Administration’s Nuclear
Posture Review through NNSA’s “Complex 2030”, the long-term strategy for
effective transformation and modernization of the Cold War era weapons complex
into one that is more efficient, smaller, and secure. To further nuclear
nonproliferation activities, the FY 2008 request of $1.7 billion supports the
international nuclear materials protection and cooperation programs that are
denying terrorists the nuclear materials, technology and expertise needed to
develop or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons. The budget includes a request
of $334 million for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Plant project at DOE’s
Savannah River Site that will dispose of 34 metric tons of U.S. surplus
plutonium and facilitate complex-wide consolidation of nuclear material. The FY
2008 budget request also includes $162 million for NNSA to maintain its robust
nuclear and radiation emergency response teams and capabilities.
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy ($1.24 billion)
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
budget requests $1.24 billion, $60 million (5 percent) more than the FY 2007
request. Much of this funding is an integral part of the Advanced Energy
Initiative and will help us achieve the President’s goal to reduce U.S. gasoline
consumption by 20 percent in ten years. It also expands key programs that focus
on developing new energy choices, including: vehicle efficiency technology ($176
million); biomass ($179 million), including research into cellulosic ethanol,
made from switch grass, wood chips, and corn stalks; the Solar America
Initiative ($148 million); hydrogen technology including fuel cell development
($213 million); and wind projects ($40 million).
Office of Nuclear Energy ($875 million)
The Office of Nuclear Energy FY 2008 budget
requests $875 million, a $242 million (38 percent) increase over the FY 2007
request. In addition to the $395 million for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative
in support of GNEP, the budget request includes Nuclear Power 2010 ($114
million), which will reduce barriers for light water reactor designs and
deployment; and Generation IV ($36 million), which will focus funding on
long-term research and development to support the Next Generation Nuclear Plant
technology. The FY 2008 budget request supports implementation of the standby
support, or risk insurance, program called for in EPAct, to protect against
unexpected delays of nuclear power plant construction and spur investments in
emissions-free nuclear energy.
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management ($495 million)
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management requests $495 million to further plan for operation of the safe,
permanent, geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear
waste at Yucca Mountain, $50 million below the FY 2007 request. The FY 2008
budget request sets DOE on a path to file a license application no later than
June 30, 2008, continue the facility planning and safety design, make critical
infrastructure upgrades at Yucca Mountain to ensure worker safety and
operational efficiency, and build on national transportation planning
activities.
Office of Fossil Energy ($863 million)
The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) FY 2008 budget
requests $863 million, an increase of $214 million, or 33 percent above the FY
2007 request. The FY 2008 budget supports President Bush’s priorities to
develop advanced clean coal technologies ($427 million) which includes FutureGen
($108 million), the public-private international partnership to build the
world's first coal-fired power plant that produces electricity and hydrogen with
nearly zero-emissions; the Clean Coal Power Initiative ($73 million) to
initiate, by or before 2010, demonstration of advanced coal-based power
generation technologies; and coal research and development activities ($246
million). As part of the Administration’s effort to deploy clean energy
technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the budget request includes $79
million in FY 2008 for sequestration work including four large scale field
tests, which have the potential to store more than 600 billion metric tons of
carbon dioxide, the equivalent of more than 200 years of emissions from energy
sources in the United States.
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy
Reliability ($115 million)
The FY 2008 Office of Electricity Delivery and
Energy Reliability (OE) budget requests $115 million, a decrease of $10 million
(8 percent) from the FY 2007 request. This request supports a variety of
programs designed to modernize the electricity transmission and distribution
system; and increase energy reliability, energy and system efficiency, and
security. Within the request, the Department will focus $86 million on research
and development (R&D) activities to strengthen grid stability, reduce frequency
and duration of operational disruptions, and increase efficiencies. The budget
request also supports implementation of EPAct requirements in transmission and
energy corridor designation and coordination of Federal agency transmission line
permitting. Additionally, this budget request supports OE energy emergency
response capabilities to ensure energy assurance through federal, state, and
local coordination.
Office of Health, Safety and Security
($428 million)
The Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS)
was created by Secretary Bodman last year to strengthen DOE’s health, safety,
and security organization, which previously operated in separate offices within
DOE. The new office requests $428 million for FY 2008, an increase of $20
million, or approximately 5 percent above the FY 2007 request for the combined
activities of the former offices, to support its mission of ensuring the safety
and health of the DOE workforce and members of the public and the protection of
the environment in all DOE activities. HSS is responsible for policy
development and technical assistance; safety analysis; corporate safety and
security programs; education and training; complex-wide independent oversight;
and enforcement.
Office of Environmental Management ($5.7
billion)
The FY 2008 Environmental Management budget
requests $5.7 billion, $173 million below the FY 2007 request, primarily due to
the completed clean-up of seven sites over the past two years, including the
1,050 acre Fernald site in January 2007. This budget request supports the
Department’s efforts to complete clean-up of three additional sites in FY 2008
and continue clean-up progress across the complex with a focus on activities
with the greatest risk reduction. The FY 2008 budget requests $690 million to
continue safe construction of the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford, which will
stabilize high-level waste currently stored in tanks into a glass form for
disposal.
Office of Legacy Management ($194
million)
The Office of Legacy Management FY 2008 budget
requests $194 million, $7 million below the FY 2007 request, to support the
long-term stewardship responsibilities where active remediation has been
completed and payment of pensions and benefits for former contractor workers
after site closure is needed. This budget request reflects the transfer of
clean-up sites completed by the Office of Environmental Management.
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