[Senate Report 108-379]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 738
108th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     108-379
======================================================================
 
   DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING REVITALIZATION ACT OF 2004

                                _______
                                

               September 28, 2004.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 4516]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 4516) to require the Secretary of Energy 
to carry out a program of research and development to advance 
high-end computing, having considered the same, reports 
favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the 
Act, as amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

   This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy High-End 
Computing Revitalization Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

   In this Act:
          (1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means a High-End Software 
        Development Center established under section 3(d).
          (2) High-end computing system.--The term ``high-end computing 
        system'' means a computing system with performance that 
        substantially exceeds that of systems that are commonly 
        available for advanced scientific and engineering applications.
          (3) Institution of higher education.--The term ``institution 
        of higher education'' has the meaning given the term in section 
        101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).
          (4) Leadership system.--The term ``Leadership System'' means 
        a high-end computing system that is among the most advanced in 
        the world in terms of performance in solving scientific and 
        engineering problems.
          (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Energy, acting through the Director of the Office of Science of 
        the Department of Energy.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING RESEARCH AND 
                    DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

  (a) In General.--The Secretary shall--
          (1) carry out a program of research and development 
        (including development of software and hardware) to advance 
        high-end computing systems; and
          (2) develop and deploy high-end computing systems for 
        advanced scientific and engineering applications.
  (b) Program.--The program shall--
          (1) support both individual investigators and 
        multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
          (2) conduct research in multiple architectures, which may 
        include vector, reconfigurable logic, streaming, processor-in-
        memory, and multithreading architectures;
          (3) conduct research on software for high-end computing 
        systems, including research on algorithms, programming 
        environments, tools, languages, and operating systems for high-
        end computing systems, in collaboration with architecture 
        development efforts;
          (4) provide for sustained access by the research community in 
        the United States to high-end computing systems and to 
        Leadership Systems, including provision of technical support 
        for users of such systems;
          (5) support technology transfer to the private sector and 
        others in accordance with applicable law; and
          (6) ensure that the high-end computing activities of the 
        Department of Energy are coordinated with relevant activities 
        in industry and with other Federal agencies, including the 
        National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research 
        Projects Agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration, 
        the National Security Agency, the National Institutes of 
        Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National 
        Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Environmental 
        Protection Agency.
  (c) Leadership Systems Facilities.--
          (1) In general.--As part of the program carried out under 
        this Act, the Secretary shall establish and operate 1 or more 
        Leadership Systems facilities to--
                  (A) conduct advanced scientific and engineering 
                research and development using Leadership Systems; and
                  (B) develop potential advancements in high-end 
                computing system hardware and software.
          (2) Administration.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Secretary shall provide to Leadership Systems, on a 
        competitive, merit-reviewed basis, access to researchers in 
        United States industry, institutions of higher education, 
        national laboratories, and other Federal agencies.
  (d) High-End Software Development Center.--
          (1) In general.--As part of the program carried out under 
        this Act, the Secretary shall establish at least 1 High-End 
        Software Development Center.
          (2) Duties.--A Center shall concentrate efforts to develop, 
        test, maintain, and support optimal algorithms, programming 
        environments, tools, languages, and operating systems for high-
        end computing systems.
          (3) Staff.--A Center shall include--
                  (A) a full-time research staff, to create a 
                centralized knowledge base for high-end software 
                development; and
                  (B) a rotating staff of researchers from other 
                institutions and industry to assist in coordination of 
                research efforts and promote technology transfer to the 
                private sector.
          (4) Use of expertise.--The Secretary shall use the expertise 
        of a Center to assess research and development in high-end 
        computing system architecture.
          (5) Location.--The location of a Center shall be determined 
        by a competitive proposal process administered by the 
        Secretary.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

   In addition to amounts otherwise made available for high-end 
computing, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to 
carry out this Act--
          (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2005;
          (2) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and
          (3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.

SEC. 5. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

  (a) Amendments.--Section 23 of the National Science Foundation 
Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n-9) is amended--
          (1) in subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
        subsection (b), by striking ``and the National Aeronautics and 
        Space Administration'' and inserting ``, the National 
        Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of 
        Energy'';
          (2) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``Administration, and'' 
        and inserting ``Administration, the Secretary of Energy, '';
          (3) in subsection (c)--
                  (A) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking ``5'' and 
                inserting ``4'';
                  (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
                  (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4), 
                and in that paragraph by striking ``3'' and inserting 
                ``2''; and
                  (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
          ``(3) 3 members selected by the Secretary of Energy; and''; 
        and
          (4) in subsection (f), by striking ``the advisory bodies of 
        other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy, which 
        may engage in related research activities'' and inserting 
        ``other Federal advisory committees that advise Federal 
        agencies that engage in related research activities''.
  (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) take 
effect on March 15, 2005.

SEC. 6. REMOVAL OF SUNSET PROVISION FROM SAVINGS IN CONSTRUCTION ACT OF 
                    1996.

   Section 14 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 U.S.C. 205l) is 
amended by striking subsection (e).

                                Purpose

    The purpose of H.R. 4516 is to require the Secretary of 
Energy, acting through the Director of the Office of Science, 
to implement a research and development program (involving 
software and hardware) to advance high-end computing systems.

                Summary of Major Provisions of the Bill

    The bill requires the Secretary of Energy to develop and 
deploy high-end computing systems for advanced scientific and 
engineering applications.
    The bill further requires that the Department of Energy's 
high-end computing (HEC) program support individual 
investigators and multi-disciplinary teams of investigators; 
conduct research on multiple computing architectures; conduct 
research on algorithms, programming environments, tools, 
languages, and operating systems; support technology transfer 
to the private sector; and coordinate with industry and other 
Federal agencies.
    The bill also requires the Secretary to establish and 
operate Leadership Systems facilities that would provide the 
U.S. research community with sustained access to high-
performance computing resources. (Leadership Systems are 
defined in the bill as high-end computing systems that are 
among the most advanced in the world in terms of performance in 
solving scientific and engineering problems.) These Leadership 
Systems are to be made available on a competitive, merit-
reviewed basis to researchers in U.S. industry, institutions of 
higher education, national laboratories, and other federal 
agencies.
    The bill requires the Secretary to establish at least one 
High-End Software Development Center to concentrate efforts to 
develop, test, maintain, and support optimized software tools 
for HEC. The Center is to be staffed with both full time 
research personnel as well as rotating staff from other 
organizations. The Center shall be used by the Secretary to 
assess research and development in HEC architectures. The 
location of a Center shall be determined by a competitive 
proposal process.
    In addition to amounts otherwise made available for high-
end computing, the bill authorizes the expenditure of $50 
million for fiscal year 2005, $55 million for fiscal year 2006, 
and $60 million for fiscal year 2007.
    The bill requires that the Department of Energy be included 
in establishment of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory 
Committee of the National Science Foundation and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
    The bill repeals section 14(e) of the Metric Conversion Act 
of 1975 (15 U.S.C. 205l(e)) so as to remove a sunset provision 
from the Savings in Construction Act of 1996; by so doing, it 
continues requirements that specifications for masonry and 
light fixtures for use in Federal facilities shall not be 
written so as to be satisfied only with metric versions unless 
the need for such ``hard metric'' specifications is certified 
by the head of the relevant Federal agency.

                          Background and Need

    High-performance computers are used to simulate physical 
phenomena that are either too difficult or too costly to study 
experimentally. These simulations provide insight into physical 
phenomena and in some cases are the only alternatives to 
experiments. They provide a critical ability to accelerate 
progress in fundamental sciences. The applications of high-
performance computing extend far beyond scientific advances. 
Global leadership in high performance computing is an essential 
component of national security and economic competitiveness.
    Historically, the United States has driven advances in high 
performance computing and, in most past years, the world's 
fastest computers were located here. But today, the world's 
fastest computer is Japan's Earth Simulator. The Earth 
Simulator has held this distinction for well over two years, an 
extremely long time in the rapidly improving and evolving 
computational arena. The Earth Simulator is slightly more than 
2.5 times faster than the next fastest computer in the world, 
which is located in the United States. While 15 of the top 20 
high-performance computers are currently located here, the fact 
remains that the Earth Simulator has dramatically changed the 
metrics for high-performance computing.
    The Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program 
in the Office of Science supports fundamental research in 
applied mathematics, computer science, and networking. The 
Office also provides world-class, high-performance 
computational tools that enable the DOE to succeed in its 
science, energy, environmental remediation, and national 
security missions. The mission of this program is to underpin 
the Department's world leadership in scientific computation. It 
does not include a substantial budget for new facilities.
    This legislation authorizes the Secretary of Energy, acting 
through the Department's Office of Science, to carry out a 
research and development program to put our nation on the 
forefront of high-performance computing. This act authorizes 
the Secretary of Energy to establish scientific computing 
facilities and a high-end software development center.
    This legislation is consistent with observations of the 
National Research Council in its interim report on the future 
of supercomputing, which addressed the need for government 
involvement:

          There are several important arguments for government 
        involvement in the advancement of supercomputers and 
        their applications. The first is that unique 
        supercomputing technologies are needed to perform 
        essential government missions and to ensure that 
        critical national security requirements are met. 
        Furthermore, without the government's involvement, 
        market forces are unlikely to drive sufficient 
        innovation in supercomputing, because the innovators--
        like innovators in many other high-technology areas--do 
        not capture the full value of their innovations. 
        Historically, it seems that innovations in 
        supercomputing have played an important role in the 
        evolution of today's mainstream computers and have 
        provided important benefits by virtue of their use in 
        science and engineering. These benefits seem to 
        significantly exceed the value captured by the initial 
        inventors.

    H.R. 4516 authorizes the Department to support research to 
develop and build the next generation of computer architectures 
and the software to operate and use these next generation 
machines.

                          Legislative History

    S. 2176 was introduced on March 8, 2004, by Senator 
Bingaman on behalf of himself and Senator Alexander. The 
companion bill, H.R. 4516, was introduced on June 4, 2004 by 
Rep. Judy Biggert; passed as amended by the House on July 7, 
2004; and received in the Senate on July 8, 2004.
    On June 22, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources, Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing on High-
Performance Computing: Regaining U.S. Leadership, which 
included consideration of S. 2176, the High-End Computing 
Revitalization Act of 2004.
    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 
4516, as amended, favorably reported on September 15, 2004.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an open 
business meeting on September 15, 2004, by a unanimous voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 
4516, if amended as described herein.

                          Committee Amendment

    The amendment in the nature of a substitute made few 
changes to H.R. 4516 as passed by the House. One definition was 
modified to require the Secretary to act through the Director 
of the Office of Science. Provisions for at least one software 
development center were added to the program functions. The 
National Nuclear SecurityAdministration was added to groups 
whose programs were to be coordinated. No change was made in 
authorization levels or fiscal years. Section 5 on Societal 
Implications of Information Technology was deleted.
    The amendment in the nature of a substitute differs from S. 
2176 in several ways. Section 2, Findings, was deleted. Section 
3, Definitions, had minimal changes, including substitution of 
the term ``leadership system'' for ``ultrascale scientific 
computing capability.'' Program functions remained similar; 
reference to classified facilities was deleted. Levels and 
duration of authorizations in Section 5 were reduced 
substantially to match the levels and duration as passed by the 
House. Sections 6 and 7 of H.R. 4516 as passed by the House 
were incorporated.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis


Section 1. Short title

    Department of Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act 
of 2004.

Section 2. Definitions

    Defines terms used in the Act, including:
    Center: The term ``Center'' means a High-End Software 
Development Center established under section 3(d).
    High-end computing system: the term ``high-end computing 
system'' means a computing system with performance that 
substantially exceeds systems that are commonly available for 
advanced scientific and engineering applications;
    Leadership System: the term ``Leadership System'' means a 
high-end computing system that is among the most advanced in 
the world in terms of performance in solving scientific and 
engineering problems.
    Institution of Higher Education: the term ``institution of 
higher education'' has the meaning given the term in section 
101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).
    Secretary: the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
Energy acting through the Director of the Office of Science.

Section 3. Department of Energy high-end computing research and 
        development program

    Requires the Secretary of Energy to carry out a high-end 
computing (HEC) research and development program. Requires the 
Secretary to develop and deploy HEC systems for advanced 
scientific and engineering systems. Requires the program to:
     Support both individual investigators and 
multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
     Conduct research on multiple HEC architectures;
     Conduct research in algorithms, programming 
environments, tools, languages, and operating systems for HEC 
systems in collaboration with architecture development efforts;
     Provide for sustained access by the research 
community in the United States to HEC systems and to Leadership 
Systems, including the provision of technical support for users 
of such systems;
     Support technology transfer to the private sector; 
and
     Ensure that Department of Energy HEC activities 
are coordinated with industry and with other Federal agencies.
    Requires the Secretary to establish and operate Leadership 
Systems facilities to conduct advanced scientific and 
engineering research and development using Leadership Systems, 
and to develop potential advancements in HEC system hardware 
and software. Requires the Secretary to provide access to 
Leadership Systems on competitive, merit-reviewed basis to 
researchers in United States industry, institutions of higher 
education, national laboratories, and other Federal agencies.
    Requires the Secretary to establish at least one High-End 
Software Development Center that is to concentrate efforts to 
develop, test, maintain, and support optimized software tools 
for HEC. The Center is to be staffed with both full time 
research personnel as well as rotating staff from other 
organizations. The Center shall be used by the Secretary to 
assess research and development in HEC architectures. The 
location of a Center shall be determined by a competitive 
proposal process.

Section 4. Authorization of appropriations

    Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Energy to 
carry out this Act of $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 
$55,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and $60,000,000 for fiscal 
year 2007.

Section 5. Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee

    Adds the Department of Energy to the jointly established 
(by the National Science Foundation and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration) Astronomy and 
Astrophysics Advisory Committee.

Section 6. Removal of Sunset Provision from Savings in Construction Act 
        of 1996

    Repeals Section 14(e) of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 
(15 U.S.C. 205 l(e)) so as to remove a sunset provision from 
the Savings in Construction Act of 1996; by so doing, it 
continues requirements that specifications for masonry and 
light fixtures for use in Federal facilities shall not be 
written so as to be satisfied only with metric versions unless 
the need for such ``hard metric'' specifications is certified 
by the head of the relevant Federal agency.

Cost and Budgetary Considerations Including Congressional Budget Office 
                               Estimates

    The following estimate of the cost of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 4516--Department of Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act 
        of 2004

    Summary: H.R. 4516 would authorize the appropriation of 
$165 million to the Department of Energy (DOE) over fiscal 
years 2005 through 2007 for certain activities related to high-
end computing systems. The act would direct DOE to conduct 
research and development (R&D) on ways to advance the 
capabilities of high-end computing systems and to establish and 
operate leadership-class facilities, as well as to establish at 
least one High-End Software Development Center for the purpose 
of developing and supporting associated software. The act would 
define high-end computing systems to include those computing 
systems that substantially exceed the performance of systems 
commonly available for scientific and engineering applications. 
Leadership systems would be those whose performance is among 
the most advanced in the world.
    CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4516 would cost $165 
million over the 2005-2009 period, assuming appropriation of 
the authorized amounts. Enacting H.R. 4516 would have no effect 
on direct spending or revenues.
    H.R. 4516 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) 
and would impose no costs on state, local, and tribal 
governments.
    Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated 
budgetary impact of H.R. 4516 is shown in the following table. 
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be 
enacted near the start of 2005 and that the amounts specified 
in the act will be appropriated near the beginning of each 
fiscal year. We assume that outlays will follow historical 
patterns for DOE research and development activities. The costs 
of this legislation fall within budget function 250 (general 
science, space, and technology).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
                             -------------------------------------------
                               2004   2005   2006   2007   2008    2009
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
 Spending under current law
 for DOE R&D on certain high-
 end computing systems:
    Budget authority \1\....     38      0      0      0      0        0
    Estimated outlays.......     19     17      2      0      0        0
Proposed changes:
    Authorization level.....      0     50     55     60      0        0
    Estimated outlays.......      0     25     50     57     30        3
Spending under H.R. 4516:
    Authorization level \1\.     38     50     55     60      0        0
    Estimated outlays.......     19     42     52     57     30       3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The 2004 level is the amount that the Office of Management and
  Budget estimates was appropriated for activities similar to those
  authorized in H.R. 4516.

    Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 4516 
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as 
defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, and 
tribal governments.
    Previous CBO Estimate: On June 24, 2004, CBO transmitted a 
cost estimate for H.R. 4516 as ordered reported by the House 
Committee on Science on June 16, 2004. The two versions of the 
legislation are similar. However, the Senate version would add 
the requirement to establish at least one High-End Software 
Development Center while leaving the authorized appropriation 
levels the same as in the House version.
    Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Mike Waters; Impact on 
State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Greg Waring; and Impact 
on the Private Sector: Jean Talarico.
    Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                      Regulatory Impact Evaluation

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out H.R. 4516.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of H.R. 4516.

                        Executive Communications

    On September 20, 2004, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources requested legislative reports from the Department of 
Energy and the Office of Management and Budget setting forth 
Executive agency recommendations on H.R. 4516. These reports 
had not been received when this report was filed.
    The following testimony was presented on behalf of the 
Executive Branch at the June 22, 2004 Subcommittee Hearing by 
Dr. James Decker, Principal Deputy Director of the Office of 
Science of the Department of Energy.

Statement of Dr. James F. Decker, Principal Deputy Director, Office of 
                   Science, U.S. Department of Energy

    Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I commend you 
for holding this hearing--and I appreciate the opportunity to 
testify on behalf of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of 
Science, on a subject of central importance to this Nation: 
advanced supercomputing capability for science.
    The Bush Administration has recognized the need for the 
U.S. to emphasize the importance of high-end computing and is 
working as a team to address it. The Administration 
commissioned an interagency study by the High End Computing 
Revitalization Task Force (HECRTF). The HECRTF report (http://
www.itrd.gov/pubs/2004_hecrtf/20040510_hecrtf.pdf) reinforces 
the idea that no one agency can--or should--be responsible for 
ensuring that our scientists have the computational tools they 
need to do their job, but duplication of effort must be 
avoided.
    Through the efforts of DOE's Office of Science and other 
federal agencies, we are working to implement the 
recommendations of the HECRTF Report by investing in the 
development of the next generation of supercomputer 
architectures, as well as the networks to enable widespread 
access to these new supercomputers.
    On May 12th of this year, Secretary Spencer Abraham 
announced that the DOE will grant Oak Ridge National Lab 
(ORNL), Argonne National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab 
and its development partners, Cray, IBM and SGI, $25 million in 
funding to begin to build a new supercomputer for scientific 
research. The Department selected ORNL from four proposals 
received from its non-weapon national labs. The Department is 
in the final stages of completing this award and expects to 
start the project before the end of this fiscal year.
    Computational modeling and simulation rank among the most 
significant developments in the practice of scientific inquiry 
in the latter half of the 20th century and are now a major 
force for discovery in their own right. In the past century, 
scientific research was extraordinarily successful in 
identifying the fundamental physical laws that govern our 
material world. At the same time, the advances promised by 
these discoveries have not been fully realized, in part because 
the real-world systems governed by these physical laws are 
extraordinarily complex. Computers help us visualize, test 
hypotheses, guide experimental design, and most importantly 
determine if there is consistency between theoretical models 
and experiment. Computer-based simulation provides a means for 
predicting the behavior of complex systems that can only be 
described empirically at present. Since the development of 
digital computers in mid-century, scientific computing has 
greatly advanced our understanding of the fundamental processes 
of nature, e.g., fluid flow and turbulence in physics, 
molecular structure and reactivity in chemistry, and drug-
receptor interactions in biology. Computational simulation has 
even been used to explain, and sometimes predict, the behavior 
of such complex natural and engineered systems as weather 
patterns and aircraft performance.
    Within the past two decades, scientific computing has 
become a contributor to essentially all scientific research 
programs. It is particularly important to the solution of 
research problems that are (i) insoluble by traditional 
theoretical and experimental approaches, e.g., prediction of 
future climates or the fate of underground contaminants; (ii) 
hazardous to study in the laboratory, e.g., characterization of 
the chemistry of radionuclides or other toxic chemicals; or 
(iii) time-consuming or expensive to solve by traditional 
means, e.g., development of new materials, determination of the 
structure of proteins, understanding plasma instabilities, or 
exploring the limitations of the ``Standard Model'' of particle 
physics. In many cases, theoretical and experimental approaches 
do not provide sufficient information to understand and predict 
the behavior of the systems being studied. Computational 
modeling and simulation, which allows a description of the 
system to be constructed from basic theoretical principles and 
the available experimental data, are keys to solving such 
problems.
    We have moved beyond using computers to solve very 
complicated sets of equations to a new regime in which 
scientific simulation enables us to obtain scientific results 
and to perform discovery in the same way that experiment and 
theory have traditionally been used to accomplish those ends. 
We must think of computation as the third of the three pillars 
that support scientific discovery, and indeed there are areas 
where the only approach to a solution is through high-end 
computation.
    Combustion is the key source of energy for power 
generation, industrial process heat and residential 
applications. In all of these areas, combustion occurs in a 
turbulent environment. Although experimental and theoretical 
investigations have been able to provide substantial insights 
into turbulent flame dynamics, fundamental questions about 
flame behavior remain unanswered. Current limitations in 
computational power do not allow combustion scientists to 
address the range of conditions needed to have environmental 
and economic impact. Leadership class computers should enable 
us to model more complex fuels with emission chemistry under 
conditions typical of industrial settings. These computations 
should make it possible to design new low-emission burners that 
could dramatically reduce NOX emissions.
    The Fusion Program must be able to model an experiment the 
size of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor 
(ITER) through the duration of a discharge that may last on the 
order of hundreds of seconds. Current codes are able to model a 
variety of the physical phenomena that occur in small 
experiments operating on a millisecond time scale. Leadership 
class computers should enable scientists to simulate burning 
plasmas in ITER and include new physics such as more realistic 
treatment of electron dynamics and multiple species of fusion 
products such as high energy alpha particles.
    High-end computing must be coupled with high-performance 
networks to fully realize its potential. These networks play a 
critical role because they make it possible to overcome the 
geographical distances that often hinder science. They make 
vast scientific resources available to scientists, regardless 
of location, whether they are at a university, national 
laboratory, or industrial setting. We work with the National 
Science Foundation and university consortia such as Internet 2 
to ensure that scientists at universities can seamlessly access 
unique DOE facilities and their scientific partners in DOE 
laboratories.
    In addition, the emergence of high-performance computers as 
tools for science, just like our light sources, accelerators 
and neutron sources, has changed the way in which science is 
conducted. Today and in the future, large multidisciplinary 
teams are needed to make the best use of computers as tools for 
science. These teams need access to significant allocations of 
computer resources to perform leading edge science. In the 
Office of Science we are building on the experience of the 
National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Advanced 
Simulation and Computing program to build and manage these 
teams.
    The astonishing speeds of new high-end machines, including 
the Earth Simulator, should allow computation to inform our 
approach to science. We are now able to contemplate exploration 
of worlds never before accessible to mankind. Previously, we 
used computers to solve sets of equations representing physical 
laws too complicated to solve analytically. Now we can simulate 
systems to discover physical laws for which there are no known 
predictive equations. We can model physical structures with 
hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions, of ``actors'' 
interacting with one another in a complex fashion. The speed of 
our new computational environment allows us to test different 
inter-actor relations to see what macroscopic behaviors can 
ensue. Simulations can help determine the nature of the 
fundamental ``forces'' or interactions between ``actors.''
    The ASCR program mission is to discover, develop, and 
deploy the computational and networking tools that enable 
scientific researchers to analyze, model, simulate, and predict 
complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy--and to 
the U.S. and the world.
    Advanced scientific computing is central to DOE's missions. 
It is essential to simulate and predict the behavior of nuclear 
weapons and aid in the discovery of new scientific knowledge.
    As the lead government funding agency for basic research in 
the physical sciences, the Office of Science has a special 
responsibility to ensure that its research programs continue to 
advance the frontiers of science. This requires significant 
enhancements to the Office of Science's scientific computing 
programs. These include both more capable computing platforms 
and the development of the sophisticated mathematical and 
software tools required for large-scale simulations.
    Existing highly parallel computer architectures, while 
extremely effective for many applications, including solution 
of some important scientific problems, are only able to operate 
at 5-10% of their theoretical maximum capability on other 
applications. For most vendors, today's high performance 
computer market is too small a fraction of the overall market 
to justify the level of R&D needed to ensure development of 
computers that can solve the most challenging scientific 
problems or the substantial investments needed to validate 
their effectiveness on industrial problems.
    Therefore, we are working in partnership with the National 
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the National Security 
Agency (NSA), and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency 
(DARPA) to identify architectures which are most effective in 
solving specific types of problems; to evaluate the 
effectiveness of various different existing computer 
architectures; and to spur the development of new architectures 
tailored to the requirements of science and national security 
applications.
    This partnership is working to ensure the development of 
computers that can meet the most demanding Federal missions in 
science and national security. We are also working to transfer 
the knowledge we develop to U.S. industry to enable a vibrant 
U.S. high performance computing industry, which can provide the 
impetus for economic growth and competitiveness across the 
nation. The Office of Science plays a key role in providing 
these capabilities to the open science community to support 
U.S. scientific leadership, just as we do with other facilities 
for science.
    Advanced scientific computing will continue to be a key 
contributor to scientific research in the 21st century. Major 
scientific challenges in all Office of Science research 
programs will be addressed by advanced scientific 
supercomputing. Designing materials atom-by-atom, revealing the 
functions of proteins, understanding and controlling fusion 
plasma turbulence, designing new particle accelerators, and 
modeling global climate change, are just a few examples.
    In fact, in fulfilling its mission over the years, the 
Office of Science has played a key role in maintaining U.S. 
leadership in scientific computation and networking worldwide. 
Consider some of the innovations and contributions made by 
DOE's Office of Science:
     Helped develop the Internet;
     Pioneered the transition to massively parallel 
supercomputing in the civilian sector;
     Began the computational analysis of global climate 
change;
     Developed many of the computational technologies 
for DNA sequencing that have made possible the unraveling of 
the human genetic code.
    Various computational scientists have said that discovery 
through simulation requires sustained speeds starting at 50 
teraflops to examine a subset of challenging problems in 
accelerator science and technology, astrophysics, biology, 
chemistry and catalysis, climate prediction, combustion, 
computational fluid dynamics, computational structural and 
systems biology, environmental molecular science, fusion energy 
science, geosciences, groundwater protection, high energy 
physics, materials science and nanoscience, nuclear physics, 
soot formation and growth, and more.
    The Office of Science also is a leader in research efforts 
to capitalize on the promise of nanoscale science and 
biotechnology. This revolution in science promises a revolution 
in industry.
    To develop systems capable of meeting the challenges faced 
by DOE, universities, and industry, the Office of Science 
invests in several areas of computation: high-performance 
computing, large-scale networks, and the software that enables 
scientists to use these resources as tools for discovery. The 
FY 2005 President's Request for the Office of Science includes 
$204 million for ASCR for IT R&D and approximately $20 million 
in the other Offices to support the development of the next 
generation of scientific simulation software for SC mission 
applications.
    As a part of this portfolio the Office of Science supports 
basic research in applied mathematics and the computer science 
needed to underpin advances in high performance computers and 
networks for science.
    In FY 2001 the Office of Science initiated the Scientific 
Discovery through Advanced Computing (www.science.doe.gov/
SciDAC/) effort to leverage our basic research in mathematics 
and computer science and integrate this research into the 
scientific teams that extend the frontiers of science across 
DOE-SC. We have assembled interdisciplinary teams and 
collaborations to develop the necessary state-of-the-art 
mathematical algorithms and software, supported by appropriate 
hardware and middleware infrastructure, to use terascale 
computers effectively to advance fundamental scientific 
research at the core of DOE's mission.
    All of these research efforts, as well as the success of 
computational science across SC, depend on a portfolio of high 
performance computing facilities and test beds and on the high 
performance networks that link these resources to the 
scientists across the country. DOE and the Office of Science 
have been leaders in testing and evaluating new high 
performance computers and networks and turning them into tools 
for scientific discovery since the early 1950s. The Office of 
Science established the first national civilian supercomputer 
center, the Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center, in 1975. We 
have tested and evaluated early versions of computers ranging 
from the first Cray 1s to the parallel architectures of the 
1990s to the Cray X1 at ORNL. In many cases these systems would 
not have existed without the Office of Science as a partner 
with the vendors. Our current facilities and test beds include:
     The Center for Computational Sciences (CCS) at Oak 
Ridge National Laboratory, has been testing and evaluating 
leading edge computer architectures as tools for science for 
over a decade. The latest evaluation is on a Cray X1 formed the 
basis for ORNL's successful proposal to begin developing a 
leadership class computing capability for the U.S. open 
scientific community. In his remarks announcing the result of 
this competition, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham stated, 
``This new facility will enable the Office of Science to 
deliver world leadership-class computing for science,'' and 
``will serve to revitalize the U.S. effort in high-end 
computing.'' This supercomputer will be open to the scientific 
community for research.
     The National Energy Research Scientific Computing 
Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which 
provides leading edge high-performance computing services to 
over 2,000 scientists nationwide. NERSC has a 6,000 processor 
IBM SP3 computer with a peak speed of 10 TeraFLOPS. We have 
initiated a new program at NERSC, Innovative and Novel 
Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE), to 
allocate substantial computing resources to a few, 
competitively selected, research proposals from the national 
scientific community. Last year, I selected three proposals for 
INCITE. One of these has successfully simulated the explosion 
of a supernova in 3-D for the first time.
     The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), which links 
DOE facilities and researchers to the worldwide research 
community. ESnet works closely with other Federal research 
networks and with university consortia such as Internet 2 to 
provide seamless connections from DOE to other research 
communities. This network must address facilities that produce 
millions of gigabytes (petabytes) of data each year and deliver 
these data to scientists across the world.
    We have learned important lessons from these test beds. By 
sharing our evaluations with vendors we have enabled them to 
produce better products to meet critical scientific and 
national security missions. Our spending complements commercial 
R&D in IT which is focused on product development and on the 
demands of commercial applications which generally place 
different requirements on the hardware and software than do 
leading edge scientific applications.
    The Office of Science coordinates with other federal 
agencies to avoid duplication of efforts. In the areas where 
the Office of Science (DOE-SC) focuses its research--High-End 
Computing and Large Scale Networking--DOE-SC co-chairs the 
relevant federal coordinating group. In addition to this 
mechanism, DOE-SC has engaged in a number of other joint 
planning and coordination efforts.
     DOE-SC participated in the National Security 
community planning effort to develop an Integrated High End 
Computing plan.
     DOE-SC and DOD co-chaired the HECRTF.
     DOE-SC and NSF co-chair the Federal teams that 
coordinate the engineering of Federal research networks and the 
emerging GRID Middleware.
     DOE-SC is a partner with DARPA in the High 
Productivity Computing Systems project, which will deliver the 
next generation of advanced computer architectures for critical 
science and national security missions through partnerships 
with U.S. industry.
     DOE-SC works closely with NNSA on critical 
software issues for high performance computing.
     DOE-SC, DOE-NNSA, DOD-ODDR&E, DOD-NSA, and DOD-
DARPA have developed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly 
plan our research in high performance computing. This MOU will 
enable us to better integrate our substantial ongoing 
collaborative projects.
    High-end computing is a key tool in carrying out Federal 
agency missions in science and technology, but the high end 
computer market is simply not large enough to divert computer 
industry attention from the much larger and more lucrative 
commerce and business computing sector. The federal government 
must perform the research and prototype development on the next 
generation of tools to meet those needs. This next generation 
of computers, however, might also serve to benefit industry.
    Mr. Chairman, high-performance computing provides a new 
window for researchers to understand the natural world with a 
precision that could only be imagined a few years ago. Research 
investments in advanced scientific computing will equip 
researchers with premier computational tools to advance 
knowledge and to help solve the most challenging scientific 
problems facing the Nation.
    With vital support from this Committee, the Congress and 
the Administration, we in the Office of Science hope to 
continue to play an important role in the world of scientific 
supercomputing.
    Thank you very much.

                        Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
H.R. 4516, as ordered reported, are shown as follows (existing 
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

                   Public Law 107-368, 107th Congress


 AN ACT To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2003, 2004, 2005, 
  and 2007 for the National Science Foundation, and for other purposes

    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 ``National Science Foundation 
Authorization Act of 2002''.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 23. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Foundation [and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration], the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration, and the Department of Energy shall 
jointly establish an Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory 
Committee (in this section referred to as the ``Advisory 
Committee'').
    (b) Duties.--The Advisory Committee shall--
          (1) assess, and make recommendations regarding, the 
        coordination of astronomy and astrophysics programs of 
        the Foundation [and the National Aeronautics and Space 
        Administration], the National Aeronautics and Space 
        Administration, and the Department of Energy;
          (2) assess, and make recommendations regarding, the 
        status of the activities of the Foundation [and the 
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration], the 
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the 
        Department of Energy as they relate to the 
        recommendations contained in the National Research 
        Council's 2001 report entitled ``Astronomy and 
        Astrophysics in the New Millennium'', and the 
        recommendations contained in subsequent National 
        Research Council reports of a similar nature; and
          (3) not later than March 15 of each year, transmit a 
        report to the Director, the Administrator of the 
        National Aeronautics and Space [Administration, and] 
        Administration, the Secretary of Energy, the Committee 
        on Science of the House of Representatives, the 
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
        the Senate, and the Committee on Health, Education, 
        Labor, and Pensions of the Senate on the Advisory 
        Committee's findings and recommendations under 
        paragraphs (1) and (2).
    (c) Membership.--The Advisory Committee shall consist of 13 
members, none of whom shall be a Federal employee, including--
          (1) [5] 4 members selected by the Director;
          (2) [5] 4 members selected by the Administrator of 
        the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 
        [and]
          (3) 3 members selected by the Secretary of Energy; 
        and
          [(3)] (4) [(3)] 2 members selected by the Director of 
        the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
          (d) Selection Process.--Initial selections under 
        subsection (c) shall be made within 3 months after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act. Vacancies shall be 
        filled in the same manner as provided in subsection 
        (c).
          (e) Chairperson.--The Advisory Committee shall select 
        a chairperson from among its members.
          (f) Coordination.--The Advisory Committee shall 
        coordinate with [the advisory bodies of other Federal 
        agencies, such as the Department of Energy, which may 
        engage in related research activities] other Federal 
        advisory committees that advise Federal agencies that 
        engage in related research activities.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

                              ----------                              --
--------


          Public Law 94-168, as Amended by Public Law 104-289


AN ACT To declare a national policy of coordinating the increasing use 
 of the metric system in the United States, and to establish a United 
   States Metric Board to coordinate the voluntary conversion to the 
                             metric system

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this 
Act may be cited as the ``Metric Conversion Act of 1975''.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 14. IMPLEMENTATION IN ACQUISITION OF CONSTRUCTION SERVICES AND 
                    MATERIALS FOR FEDERAL FACILITIES.

    (a) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    [(e) Expiration.--The provisions contained in subsections 
(b) and (c) of this section shall expire 10 years from the 
effective date of the Savings in Construction Act of 1996.]

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                                  
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