[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1793 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1793

       To promote fusion energy development in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2005

    Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California (for herself, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. 
 McGovern, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Holt, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. 
    Honda) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                          Committee on Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To promote fusion energy development in the United States.

    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 the ``Fueling the U.S.A. Through Unlimited 
Reliable Energy Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Economic prosperity and national security are closely 
        linked to an affordable and ample energy supply.
            (2) Environmental quality is closely linked to energy 
        production and use.
            (3) Population, worldwide economic development, energy 
        consumption, and stress on the environment are all expected to 
        increase substantially in the coming decades.
            (4) The few energy options with the potential to meet 
        economic and environmental needs for the long-term future 
        should be pursued as part of a balanced national energy plan.
            (5) Fusion energy is an attractive long-term energy source 
        due to virtually inexhaustible supply of fuel, its potential as 
        a substantial energy source requiring relatively little land 
        mass, and its promise of minimal environmental impact and 
        inherent safety.
            (6) The National Research Council, the President's 
        Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, and the 
        Secretary of Energy Advisory Board have each recently reviewed 
        the Fusion Energy Sciences Program and each strongly supports 
        the fundamental science and creative innovation of the program 
        and has confirmed that progress toward the goal of producing 
        practical fusion energy has been excellent, although much 
        scientific and engineering work remains to be done.
            (7) Each of these reviews and United States fusion 
        scientists have stressed the need for a magnetic fusion burning 
        experiment to address key scientific issues and as a necessary 
        step in the development of fusion energy.
            (8) Further, the United States fusion research community 
        has developed a strong consensus that the first option for 
        United States involvement in a burning plasma experiment should 
        be through the international experiment known as ``ITER'' and 
        that, should the ITER experiment fail to go forward, then the 
        construction of a domestic burning plasma experiment should be 
        pursued aggressively.
            (9) The National Research Council has also called for a 
        broadening of the Fusion Energy Sciences Program research base 
        as a means to more fully integrate the fusion science community 
        into the broader scientific community.
            (10) The Fusion Energy Sciences Program budget is 
        inadequate to support the necessary science and innovation for 
        the present generation of experiments, and cannot accommodate 
        the cost of participation in or construction of a burning 
        plasma experiment.
            (11) The Department of Energy's Fusion Energy Sciences 
        Advisory Committee has been recently tasked with the 
        development of a plan to demonstrate the provision of fusion 
        power to the United States electric grid within 35 years. 
        Although this effort is to be commended, Congress finds that 
        the importance of the development of fusion energy warrants 
        that every effort be made to credibly accelerate this 
        timeframe.

SEC. 3. GOALS.

    It shall be the goal of the United States to demonstrate electric 
power and hydrogen production for the United States energy grid 
utilizing a fusion energy device at the earliest date possible. It 
shall also be the goal of the United States to develop the scientific, 
engineering, and commercial infrastructure necessary to ensure that the 
United States is wholly competitive with other nations in providing 
fusion energy for its own needs and the needs of other nations.

SEC. 4. PLAN FOR FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES PROGRAM.

    (a) Declaration of Policy.--It shall be the policy of the United 
States to conduct research, development, demonstration, and commercial 
application activities to provide for the scientific, engineering, and 
commercial infrastructure necessary to ensure that the United States is 
competitive with other nations in providing fusion energy for its own 
needs and the needs of other nations, including by demonstrating 
electric power or hydrogen production for the United States energy grid 
utilizing fusion energy at the earliest date possible.
    (b) Fusion Energy Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall transmit 
        to Congress a plan for carrying out the policy set forth in 
        subsection (a), including cost estimates, proposed budgets, 
        potential international partners, and specific programs for 
        implementing such policy.
            (2) Requirements of plan.--Such plan shall also ensure 
        that--
                    (A) existing fusion research facilities are more 
                fully utilized;
                    (B) fusion science, technology, theory, advanced 
                computation, modeling, and simulation are strengthened;
                    (C) new magnetic and inertial fusion research 
                facilities are selected based on scientific innovation, 
                cost effectiveness, and their potential to advance the 
                goal of practical fusion energy at the earliest date 
                possible;
                    (D) the facilities that are selected are funded at 
                a cost-effective rate;
                    (E) communication of scientific results and methods 
                between the fusion energy science community and the 
                broader scientific and technology communities is 
                improved;
                    (F) inertial confinement fusion facilities are 
                utilized to the extent practicable for the purpose of 
                inertial fusion energy research and development;
                    (G) attractive alternative inertial and magnetic 
                fusion energy approaches are more fully explored; and
                    (H) to the extent practical, the recommendations of 
                the March 2004 Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory 
                Committee report on Workforce Planning are carried out, 
                including periodic assessment of program needs.
            (3) Report on fusion materials and technology project.--The 
        plan required by this subsection shall also address the status 
        of, and to the degree possible, the costs and schedules for--
                    (A) the design and implementation of international 
                or national facilities for the testing of fusion 
                materials; and
                    (B) the design and implementation of international 
                or national facilities for the testing and development 
                of key fusion technologies.

SEC. 5. ITER.

    (a) Agreement.--(1) The Secretary of Energy is authorized to 
negotiate an agreement for United States participation in ITER.
    (2) Any agreement for United States participation in ITER shall, at 
a minimum--
            (A) clearly define the United States financial contribution 
        to construction and operating costs;
            (B) ensure that the share of ITER's high-technology 
        components manufactured in the United States is at least 
        proportionate to the United States financial contribution to 
        ITER;
            (C) ensure that the United States will not be financially 
        responsible for cost overruns in components manufactured in 
        other ITER participating countries;
            (D) guarantee the United States full access to all data 
        generated by ITER;
            (E) enable United States researchers to propose and carry 
        out an equitable share of the experiments at ITER;
            (F) provide the United States with a role in all collective 
        decisionmaking related to ITER; and
            (G) describe the process for discontinuing or 
        decommissioning ITER and any United States role in that 
        process.
    (b) Plan.--The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Fusion 
Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, shall develop a plan for the 
participation of United States scientists in ITER that shall include 
the United States research agenda for ITER, methods to evaluate whether 
ITER is promoting progress toward making fusion a reliable and 
affordable source of power, and a description of how work at ITER will 
relate to other elements of the United States fusion program. The 
Secretary shall request a review of the plan by the National Academy of 
Sciences, the results of which the Secretary shall transmit to Congress 
not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Limitation.--No Federal funds shall be expended for the 
construction of ITER until the Secretary of Energy has transmitted to 
Congress--
            (1) the agreement negotiated pursuant to subsection (a) and 
        120 days have elapsed since that transmission;
            (2) a report describing the management structure of ITER 
        and providing a fixed dollar estimate of the cost of United 
        States participation in the construction of ITER, and 120 days 
        have elapsed since that transmission;
            (3) a report describing how United States participation in 
        ITER will be funded without reducing funding for other programs 
        in the Office of Science, including other fusion programs, and 
        60 days have elapsed since that transmission; and
            (4) the plan required by subsection (b) (but not 
        necessarily the National Academy of Sciences review of that 
        plan), and 60 days have elapsed since that transmission.

SEC. 6. PLAN FOR FUSION EXPERIMENT.

    If at any time during the negotiations on ITER, the Secretary 
determines that construction and operation of ITER is unlikely or 
infeasible, the Secretary shall send to Congress, as part of the budget 
request for the following year, a plan for implementing a domestic 
burning plasma experiment such as FIRE, including costs and schedules 
for such a plan. The Secretary shall refine such plan in full 
consultation with the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee and 
shall also transmit such plan to the National Academy of Sciences for 
review. The Secretary shall transmit the results of that review to 
Congress not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``construction'' means the physical 
        construction of the ITER facility, and the physical 
        construction, purchase, or manufacture of equipment or 
        components that are specifically designed for the ITER 
        facility, but does not mean the design of the facility, 
        equipment, or components;
            (2) the term ``FIRE'' means the Fusion Ignition Research 
        Experiment, the fusion research experiment for which design 
        work has been supported by the Department of Energy as a 
        possible alternative burning plasma experiment in the event 
        that ITER fails to move forward; and
            (3) the term ``ITER'' means the international burning 
        plasma fusion research project in which the President announced 
        United States participation on January 30, 2003.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Fusion Energy Sciences Program.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Energy for the Fusion Energy Sciences 
Program, excluding activities described in sections 5 and 6--
            (1) for fiscal year 2006, $335,000,000;
            (2) for fiscal year 2007, $349,000,000;
            (3) for fiscal year 2008, $362,000,000;
            (4) for fiscal year 2009, $377,000,000; and
            (5) for fiscal year 2010, $393,000,000.
    (b) ITER.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
of Energy for activities described in section 5 such sums as are 
necessary for each of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010.
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