[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 90 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 90
To authorize funding for nanoscale science and engineering research and
development at the Department of Energy for fiscal years 2002 through
2006.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 22, 2001
Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize funding for nanoscale science and engineering research and
development at the Department of Energy for fiscal years 2002 through
2006.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as ``Department of Energy Nanoscale Science
and Engineering Research Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The emerging fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering
address the ability to create materials with fundamentally new
compositions by prepositioning atoms within an overall
molecular composition.
(2) The ability of the United States to respond to the
energy and economic challenges of the 21st century will be
driven by science and technology. Nanoscience and
nanoengineering will enable the United States to develop new
technologies for energy exploration and production, for
monitoring energy infrastructure, for increasing energy
efficiency in end-use application, and for developing new
technologies applicable to other Department of Energy statutory
missions. These advances will also enhance the strength of U.S.
science, technology, and medicine generally.
(3) The fundamental intellectual challenges inherent in
nanoscience and nanoengineering are considerable, and require
public support for basic and applied research and development.
Significant advances in areas such as the self-assembly of atom
clusters will be required before nanoscience or nanoengineering
will be useful to the energy or manufacturing industries.
(4) The development of new scientific instruments will also
be required to advance nanoscience and nanoengineering. Such
instruments are likely to be large and costly. Specialized
facilities are also likely to be required in order to advance
the field and to realize its promise. Such facilities will be
sufficiently expensive that they will have to be located and
constructed on a centralized basis, similar to a number of
unique facilities already managed by the Department of Energy.
(5) Contributions from individual researchers as well as
multidisciplinary research teams will be required to advance
nanoscience and nanoengineering.
(6) The Department of Energy's Office of Science is well
suited to manage nanoscience and nanoengineering research and
development for the Department. Through its support of research
and development pursuant to the Department's statutory
authorities, the Office of Science is the principal federal supporter
of the research and development in the physical and computational
sciences. The Office is also a significant source of federal support
for research in genomics and the life sciences. The Office supports
research and development by individual investigators and
multidisciplinary teams, and manages special user facilities that serve
investigators in both university and industry.
SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy, through the Office of
Science of the Department of Energy, shall support a program of
research and development in nanoscience and nanoengineering consistent
with the Department's statutory authorities related to research and
development. The program shall include efforts to further the
understanding of the chemistry, physics, materials science and
engineering of phenomena on the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.
(b) Duties of the Office of Science.--In carrying out the program
under this Act, the Director of the Office of Science shall--
(1) support both individual investigators and
multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
(2) pursuant to subsection (c), develop, plan, construct,
acquire, or operate special equipment or facilities for the use
of investigators conducting research and development in
nanoscience and nanoengineering;
(3) support technology transfer activities to benefit
industry and other users of nanoscience and nanoengineering;
and
(4) coordinate research and development activities with
industry and other federal agencies.
(c) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and Major
Instrumentation.--
(1) Authorization.--Within the funds authorized to be
appropriated pursuant to this Act, the amounts specified under
section 4(b) shall, subject to appropriations, be available for
projects to develop, plan, construct, acquire, or operate
special equipment, instrumentation, or facilities for
investigators conducting research and development in
nanoscience and nanoengineering.
(2) Projects.--Projects under paragraph (1) may include the
measurement of properties at the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers,
manipulation at such scales, and the integration of
technologies based on nanoscience or nanoengineering into bulk
materials or other technologies.
(3) Facilities.--Facilities under paragraph (1) may include
electron microcharacterization facilities, microlithography
facilities, scanning probe facilities and related
instrumentation science.
(4) Collaboration.--The Secretary shall encourage
collaborations among universities, laboratories and industry at
facilities under this subsection. At least one Department
facility under this subsection shall have a specific mission of
technology transfer to other institutions and to industry.
(d) Merit Review Required.--All grants, contracts, cooperative
agreements, or other financial assistance awards under this Act shall
be made only after independent merit review.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Total Authorization.--The following sums are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary of Energy, to remain available until
expended, for the purposes of carrying out this Act:
(1) $160,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
(2) $270,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
(3) $290,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
(4) $310,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
(5) $330,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
(b) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and Major
Instrumentation.--Of the funds under subsection (a), the following sums
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 3(c):
(1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
(2) $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
(3) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
(4) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
(5) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
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