appropriate management role for U.S. participants. We believe that not only do we have a better agreement with CERN, but also that our working relationship with CERN has been improved thanks to their concern and support. Congress expects us to be vigilant in ensuring that U.S. interests are protected in the LHC Project. The Office of Energy Research will be proactive in keeping the Congress informed on U.S. LHC activities. On December 8, 1997, the Secretary of Energy and the Director of the National Science Foundation took on an historic, national responsibility when they, and the President of the CERN Council and the Director General of CERN, signed the "International Co-operation Agreement Concerning Scientific and Technical Co-operation on Large Hadron Collider Activities". The LHC Agreement represents the largest commitment ever made by DOE and NSF to an international project overseas. We realize that this unique project poses new management challenges, and have, in partnership with NSF, taken steps to ensure effective coordination and strong leadership of the U.S. part of the LHC project. DOE, NSF and CERN have established a management structure that looks at the U.S. contributions from the various perspectives entailed in an international research program. The Agreement with CERN established a Co-operation Committee to monitor and facilitate activities with annual meetings beginning this Spring. DOE and NSF are now official Observers at the CERN Council, the governing body of CERN. As Observers, DOE and NSF receive the same information and reports as Member State delegates on the LHC Project, and can influence the deliberations of the Council on the LHC. By being part of the Committee of Council, a closed session of the CERN Council which meets quarterly, DOE and NSF now have the capability (and the forum) to discuss privately LHC concerns with CERN management. DOE and NSF also have full membership in the Resource Review Boards that monitor and oversee resource matters related to LHC experiments. DOE and NSF are forming a Joint Oversight Group, the decision-making body that will be responsible for the joint co-ordination, oversight and programmatic direction of DOE and NSF activities regarding the U.S. LHC effort. Its purpose is to ensure that the commitments made to CERN (and the U.S. Congress) under the Cooperation Agreement and Protocols are met in a timely and effective manner, and that DOE and NSF are reliable, predictable, and credible international partners with CERN and with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector and ATLAS (A Torroidol LHC ApparatuS) detector collaborations. A U.S. LHC Program Manager located at DOE Headquarters and a U.S. LHC Project Manager located at Fermilab, both Federal employees, will support the work of the Joint Oversight Group. Reporting to the U.S. LHC Program and Project Managers are the individuals with the technical expertise and experience to design, build and operate the in-kind contributions that are part of the U.S. LHC effort. Under the LHC Agreement, DOE is to contribute $200 million worth of goods and services for the LHC accelerator construction over ten years. The U.S. LHC Accelerator Project Manager, an employee of Fermilab, is responsible for the programmatic coordination and management of the $110 million worth of high-tech hardware for the technically challenging LHC Interaction Regions to be built by Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermilab and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and for advising DOE on the $90 million worth of procurements from U.S. industry. The ATLAS and CMS detectors are being built by international Collaborations in close coordination with CERN. DOE and NSF will provide $250 million and $81 million respectively for goods and services for the ATLAS and CMS detectors, with most of those funds provided to U.S. universities. DOE and NSF communicate and interact with these Collaborations primarily through the ATLAS and CMS Resources Review Boards convened by CERN and through the U.S. ATLAS and U.S. CMS Project Managers, non-federal employees situated, respectively, at Brookhaven and Fermilab. Currently, they are completing Project Management Plans which delineate the organization and distribution of management responsibilities within the U.S. ATLAS and U.S. CMS efforts. In December, LHC management informed the CERN Council that the project is advancing according to schedule and within budget. Council meeting that the LHC Project is. DOE and NSF are active members of the collaboration with a management structure in place to assure responsible stewardship for the resources devoted to this effort. ITER and the Fusion Transition. In FY 1999, the fusion energy sciences program will continue the restructuring recommended in 1996 by the Fusion Energy Advisory Committee to a program that emphasizes science, with a long-term energy goal. In fulfilling our mandate to restructure the program, we have shut down the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) after obtaining significant scientific results and setting a world record for the production of fusion energy. The money saved by shutting down TFTR is being used for an initiative in plasma science that introduces young scientists with fresh ideas into the program. In addition, a reinvigorated program of research on alternative fusion concepts and better use of our remaining tokamak facilities has been put in place. International cooperation is, and will continue to be, a vital part of our fusion program. It is essential to our ability to participate in large scale experiments and to advance the energy goal of the fusion program. We plan to expand our collaborative activities with our partners as long as such collaborations are beneficial to the restructured program. The largest of our international fusion activities, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, has proven to be a valuable focusing element for our program both in terms of the technical product, which is excellent, and the process by which we work together. In July 1998, the ITER Agreement between the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Russian Federation for conducting the Engineering Design Activities (EDA) is scheduled to expire. The four ITER Parties are working toward an extension of the Agreement for three years to continue international collaborations in fusion, including the additional activities that may be required to be ready for construction decisions in the 2000-2001 time frame in case there is the interest to proceed. The four ITER Parties are coming to the view that we should plan now to evaluate possibilities for reducing the cost of ITER, in the event that the parties are financially unable to proceed with construction of the current design. Therefore, for FY 1999, the U.S. will refocus its ITER contribution toward the evaluation of a variety of lower-cost design options while reducing our participation in ITER baseline design activities. The restructuring of our participation in ITER will allow further reallocation of funds to high priority science and technology activities in the FY 1999 budget. Enhanced science activities include increased research operations and modifications to the Alcator C-MOD and DIII-D experiments, additional alternate concept experiments, and increases in theory efforts, collaborations on existing experiments overseas, and plasma science initiatives. With the restructuring of our participation in ITER, we are refocusing most of our technology efforts on the needs of existing and planned domestic and international experiments. The remainder of our technology effort will focus on providing the knowledge base needed in the longer term for an attractive fusion energy source. In particular, we have started a coordinated national effort on a facility that will be located at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). This facility, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), is a proof-of-principle scale, innovative fusion concept experiment with exciting scientific potential. During the past year, PPPL and its collaborators, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Columbia University, and the University of Washington, have made rapid progress on completing the design and initiating component fabrication for the NSTX. Their work is on schedule and within budget; we expect to begin operations in mid-FY 1999. Work has also begun to form an NSTX national research team through an open solicitation process whereby scientists across the country have been invited to participate in various topical areas of research. In addition, scientific collaborations are continuing to develop between NSTX and similar efforts on spherical torus research in England and Russia, where complementary experiments will begin operations at about the same time. CONCLUSIONS The significant increase in the FY 1999 budget for the Office of Energy Research recognizes the critical role that fundamental knowledge plays in achieving the mission of the Department as well as for the general advancement of the Nation's economy and the welfare of its citizens. The SNS, the Scientific Facilities Utilization, and Next Generation Internet initiatives will build upon and sustain the Department's role in the development and operation of large, unique scientific instruments and facilities. The Energy Research part of the President's Climate Change Technology Initiative will provide fundamental knowledge for a long term portfolio of clean, efficient energy technologies. On behalf of the Administration and the Department, I am pleased to present this budget for Energy Research programs and welcome the challenge to deliver the required results. Martha Krebs was nominated by President Clinton on October 21, 1993, to be the Director of the Office of Energy Research (OER) in the Department of Energy (DOE). She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 10, 1993, and sworn into office on November 15, 1993. As Director, Dr. Krebs manages the OER, one of the largest In addition to serving as Director of OER, Dr. Krebs is also the Department's Science and Technology Advisor. In this position she advises the Secretary on science and technology issues that cut across DOE programs; on the transfer of technology from DOE laboratories to industry, on science education and training activities, and on the management of the Department's laboratories. Dr. Krebs is also responsible for the management of the Department's five multi-program and ten single-program non-weapons laboratories. She From July 1983 until assuming her current position, Dr. Krebs was Associate Laboratory Director for Planning and Development at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. While at the Laboratory, she was responsible for a strategic scientific program planning process, and for technology transfer planning and policy development. established the Laboratory's Center for Science and Engineering Education, which provides collaborative research experiences at the Laboratory for students, teachers and University of California faculty. Before joining the Laboratory, Dr. Krebs was Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Energy Development and Applications of the House of Representative's Committee on Science and Technology. Dr. Krebs earned an A.B. and Ph.D. in Physics from the Catholic University of America, in 1975. Her field of research was statistical mechanics. She graduated summa cum laude and is a member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. She is also a National Science Foundation Fellow and American Association for Advancement of Science Fellow. |