[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 151 (Wednesday, August 6, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46591-46593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-20009]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice DE-FG01-
03ER03-23; Research and Development for the Rare Isotope Accelerator

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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

SUMMARY: The Office of Nuclear Physics (NP), Office of Science (SC), 
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby announces interest in receiving 
applications for Research and Development (R&D) projects directed at 
the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA). RIA is proposed as a new 
accelerator facility to address emerging research opportunities in low 
energy nuclear physics, and DOE is sponsoring pre-conceptual R&D 
activities on the facility.

DATES: The deadline for receipt of formal applications is 4:30 p.m., 
E.D.T., Wednesday, October 15, 2003, to be accepted for merit review 
and to permit timely consideration for award in early Fiscal Year 2004.

ADDRESSES: Formal applications in response to this solicitation are to 
be electronically submitted by an authorized institutional business 
official through DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) 
at: http://e-center.doe.gov/. IIPS provides for the posting of 
solicitations and receipt of applications in a paperless environment 
via the Internet. In order to submit applications through IIPS your 
business official will need to register at the IIPS website. The Office 
of Science will include attachments as part of this notice that provide 
the appropriate forms in PDF fillable format that are to be submitted 
through IIPS. IIPS offers the option of submitting multiple files--
please limit submissions to only one file within the volume if 
possible, with a maximum of no more than four files. Color images 
should be submitted in IIPS as a separate file in PDF format and 
identified as such. These images should be kept to a minimum due to the 
limitations of reproducing them. They should be numbered and referred 
to in the body of the technical scientific application as Color image 
1, Color image 2, etc. Questions regarding the operation of IIPS may be 
e-mailed to the IIPS Help Desk at: [email protected], or you may call 
the help desk at: (800) 683-0751. Further information on the use of 
IIPS by the Office of Science is available at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/ 
production/grants /grants.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Eugene A. Henry, Office Nuclear 
Physics, SC-23/Germantown, Office of Science, U.S. Department of 
Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290; 
telephone: (301) 903-6093; facsimile: (301) 903-3833; e-mail: 
[email protected]. The full text of Program Notice DE-FG01-
03ER03-23 is available via the World Wide Web using the following Web 
site address: http://www.sc.doe. gov/production /grants/grants.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nuclear science community has proposed 
the Rare Isotope Accelerator as a new accelerator facility to address 
emerging research opportunities in nuclear structure, nuclear 
astrophysics, and fundamental interactions and symmetries. See the DOE/
NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee's 2002 Long Range Plan available 
at the

[[Page 46592]]

following Web site address: http://www.sc.doe. gov/production/henp/np/
nsac/nsac.html.
    The Department of Energy is sponsoring pre-conceptual research and 
development for the Rare Isotope Accelerator. Community sponsored 
studies and workshops have identified a number of areas where focused 
R&D and prototyping could enhance performance, reduce costs, and impact 
the engineering and construction schedule. Among these areas are:
    [sbull] Gas stopper for fast fragments. A key feature of the RIA 
concept is the use of intense high-energy heavy-ion beams with 
projectile fragmentation as the production mechanism. The gas stopper 
will slow the projectile fragments and deliver them for subsequent re-
acceleration.
    [sbull] Fragment momentum compression preceding the gas stopper. To 
stop fragments efficiently in a finite gas stopper volume, there must 
be compensation of the large fragment momentum spread.
    [sbull] Fragment separators that handle beam spray and allow beam 
sharing. Development work on the front end of the fragment separator is 
required to minimize radiation damage to the magnetic elements.
    [sbull] Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources producing 
high intensity, high-charge-state uranium, and the low energy beam 
transport (LEBT). The driver linear accelerator requires ECR ion source 
performance for uranium greater than the current state of the art by a 
factor of 2 to 8.
    [sbull] Driver technologies, especially superconducting radio-
frequency (SRF) structures. The driver linear accelerator will require 
a number of distinct radio-frequency (RF) structures, likely 
superconducting, but possibly room temperature. Among the issues to be 
addressed are beam loss, SRF structure cavity cleanliness, and overall 
cost.
    [sbull] Beam stripping. The high power of the heavy ion beams 
requires innovative solutions to beam strippers such as liquid lithium 
films, or rotating carbon foil strippers that do not degrade beam 
emittance.
    [sbull] High-power targets including liquid lithium for 
fragmentation and isotope separator on-line (ISOL-type) sources with 
good diffusion and effusion properties. The development of ISOL-type 
targets with long lifetimes and fast extraction times at high beam 
powers are essential for the success of RIA. For in-flight 
fragmentation and fission, development of a liquid-lithium target, or 
other new high power fragmentation target concepts, is imperative.
    [sbull] Other RIA accelerator and experimental facility components 
will also require focused effort. These include post-acceleration 
including radio frequency quadrupoles (RFQs) and very low velocity 
accelerating structures, charge-multiplying ECRs, radiation hardened 
magnetic equipment, innovative detector instrumentation, beam 
diagnostics optimized for a broad range of beam intensities, beam 
dumps, radio-frequency equipment, and controls.
    The concept, elements and R&D issues of RIA are outlined in the 
Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) ISOL Taskforce Report that 
can be found at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/henp/np/nsac/
nsac.html.
    Updated opportunities for RIA R&D can be found at the following Web 
site after September 15, 2003: http://www.sc.doe.gov/henp/np/program/
riard.htm.
    Applications requesting support for research and development in the 
areas outlined above should indicate a separate task for each area. 
Applications may include more than one task. For each task the 
application should address the goal of the effort; the method or 
approach to be taken; the cost and schedule of the effort; the 
deliverable result of the work; and the performance, cost, or schedule 
benefit for RIA. Institutional contributions to the effort should be 
clearly indicated.

Program Funding

    It is anticipated that up to $3,500,000 will be available for 
multiple awards to be made in early Fiscal Year 2004, in the areas 
described above, contingent on the availability of appropriated funds. 
Applications should be for one year, with a continuation of up to two 
additional years for those tasks requiring a multi-year effort. For 
continuation of multi-year effort, out-year support is contingent on 
the availability of funds, progress of the research and programmatic 
needs. For multi-year tasks, intermediate milestones should be 
indicated.

Collaboration

    Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with researchers in other 
institutions, such as: universities, industry, non-profit 
organizations, federal laboratories and Federally Funded Research and 
Development Centers (FFRDCs), including the DOE National Laboratories, 
where appropriate, and to include cost sharing and/or consortia 
wherever feasible. Additional information on collaboration is available 
in the Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance 
Program that is available via the World Wide Web at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Colab.html.

Formal Applications

    Information about the development and submission of applications, 
eligibility, limitations, evaluation, selection process, and other 
policies and procedures are contained in 10 CFR part 605, and in the 
Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance 
Program. Electronic access to the latest version of the Office of 
Science's Financial Assistance Guide and required forms is made 
available via the World Wide Web at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/
grants/grants.html. DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs 
associated with the preparation or submission of applications if an 
award is not made.
    The research project description must be five pages per task or 
less, exclusive of attachments, and must contain an abstract or summary 
of the proposed research. Projects reporting results or progress on 
work conducted with DOE funding under the previous RIA R&D program may 
include two additional pages per task. All collaborators should be 
listed with the abstract or summary. On the grant face page, form DOE F 
4650.2, in block 15, also provide the Principal Investigator's phone 
number, fax number, and e-mail address. Attachments should include 
curriculum vitae, a listing of all current and pending federal support, 
and letters of intent when collaborations are part of the proposed 
research. Curriculum vitae should be limited to no more than two pages 
per individual.

Merit Review

    Applications will be subjected to scientific merit review (peer 
review) and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria 
listed in descending order of importance as codified at 10 CFR 
605.10(d):
    1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project,
    2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach,
    3. Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed 
Resources,
    4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.
    The evaluation will include program policy factors, such as the 
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and 
agency's programmatic needs. Please note that external peer reviewers 
are selected with regard to both their scientific

[[Page 46593]]

expertise and the absence of conflict-of-interest issues. Non-federal 
reviewers may be used, and submission of an application constitutes 
agreement that this is acceptable to the investigator(s) and the 
submitting institution.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program 
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR part 
605.
    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 30, 2003.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 03-20009 Filed 8-5-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P