ANS submits recommendations for Federal Budget FY2001
This testimony is submitted on behalf of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) by Dr. Andrew C. Kadak, President of the Society. ANS is a not-for-profit international, scientific and educational organization made up of nearly 12,000 individuals representing more than 1,600 companies, educational institutions, and governmental agencies. It is governed by three officers and a Board of Directors elected by the membership. The Society's main objective is to promote the advancement of engineering and science relating to the atomic nucleus. ANS currently has 52 U.S. and nine overseas local sections, 23 plant branches and 42 student branches.
Summary of Recommendations
Nuclear Energy Research Initiative
The Department of Energy is proposing to continue the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) for $28 million in FY2001. This is a peer-reviewed nuclear energy research program bringing together the best minds in universities, national laboratories, and industry to address the critical research questions concerning nuclear energy. In FY00, your committee provided $22.5 million for the second year of this effort. We strongly support this program and encourage you to provide $45 million for NERI in FY2001. The number of sound proposals that DOE received for the first year of funding was staggering - indicating a very clear demand for peer-reviewed research focused on nuclear energy. As the budget request of $28 million assumes second- and third-year funding for the NERI grants made in 1999 and 2000, only approximately $5.5 million would be provided in FY2001 for new proposals. The $45 million figure is still way below the figures recommended by the President's Committee on Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to keep nuclear energy as a viable option. While this amount would not significantly close the gap between proposals submitted and those funded, it would make the program more credible as a serious research initiative.
International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative
The Department of Energy is also proposing a complement to the NERI program, called International NERI (I-NERI). The budget request contains $7 million to initiate the this effort. The I-NERI program will also utilize a competitive, peer-reviewed program to fund research in collaboration with other nations on a variety of advanced reactor technologies. It is important to note that this funding WILL NOT be used to fund foreign research. Rather, it will be used to support the domestic efforts in collaborations. ANS supports the $7 million requested for 2001 since it will leverage limited US resources with foreign nations who will share in the cost of technology research and development.
University Nuclear Science and Reactor Support
The Department of Energy's (DOE) FY 2001 budget request includes $12 million for University Nuclear Science and Reactor Support. This funding is to be used for supporting the nuclear engineering educational infrastructure (scholarships and fellowships, research grants, etc.) and for assisting university research reactors (fuel, instrumentation upgrades, reactor sharing). The $12 million request by DOE is flat and falls considerably short of current needs. In order to provide for critical infrastructure and university reactor needs, this amount should be increased to $30 million. This money will be used to modernize university research reactors to allow them to be a more productive component of the US research infrastructure. The educational infrastructure that produces trained nuclear engineers for government and industry is being rapidly eroded due to lack of funding; an increase in this budget request is necessary to better ensure the availability of the engineering expertise needed to realize the promise of nuclear energy and the application of radiation science to engineering and technology.
The federal government has generally looked to the DOE to provide the guidance and funding needed for the educational and research activities in nuclear engineering and radiation science and technology at the nation's universities. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has traditionally deferred funding for these academic programs to the DOE. For example, faculty members in other engineering or science disciplines can submit proposals to the NSF for funding of research and educational programs, but nuclear engineering faculty have been discouraged from doing this, with DOE being cited as the appropriate federal agency to funding such research requests. Prior to FY 1996, the DOE had never embraced this concept and had not provided within its budget sufficient resources to fund these programs at an adequate level. In FY 1999, Congress supported $11 million, an increase of $1 million over the budget request. For 2000, Congress provided $12 million, an increase of $635 thousand over the budget request. While funding is increasing, it is occurring at a slow pace and remains far below the level needed to sustain a strong academic infrastructure. The budget request of $12 million in FY 2001 does not support any growth.
The following are the specific needs of the nuclear engineering communities:
Nuclear Engineering/Radiation Science and Technology Education
The Congressionally-mandated programs provide financial support for a number of activities in nuclear engineering/radiation science and technology (NE/RST) education, specifically: 1) research grants, 2) fellowships for promising U.S.-citizen M.S. and Ph.D. students, and 3) matching nuclear electric industry contributions to improve the educational infrastructure for NE/RST.
Research Grants. The peer-reviewed Nuclear Engineering Education Research (NEER) grant program is the first component of the nuclear engineering education program. This program is extremely important because it provides opportunities for faculty and students to explore long-term, innovative ideas that could have great impact in applied nuclear science and technology. The FY 1998 budget included a reinstatement of this program at $2.2 M, which drew 99 research proposals; the budget was sufficient to fund only about 15 of them. In FY 1999, Congress provided $4.5 million for this program and DOE received 126 proposals for which about 25 awards were made. In 2000, 119 proposals were submitted and only 9 will receive funding. ANS recommends funding of this research grant program at a level of $6 million in FY 2001.
Graduate Fellowships. A second component of the nuclear engineering education program relates to graduate fellowships. These four year student stipends attract exceptionally high quality U.S. citizens to pursue Ph.D. programs. The demand for such graduates exceeds the current supply because of the diversity of areas in which they perform research, from studies of materials and radiation damage to advanced controls and artificial intelligence, to improved understanding of thermal-hydraulic behavior, to the design of radiation detection methods for the protection of personnel. A funding level of $2 million is necessary to maintain the supply of highly trained Ph.D.'s for government, universities, and industry.
Industry Matching Grants. The third element of the nuclear engineering education program is the Matching Grants initiative. This program provides up to $50,000 per year from industry, matched by DOE, to a university to support nuclear engineering research and education. The program originally included industry grants to 16 departments, totaling about $0.8 million each from the utilities and the DOE. This does not include all NE/RST departments who wish to participate. We recommend funding at a level of $1.0 million in the FY 2001 budget to include additional NE/RST departments and to allow increases to offset inflation.
Nuclear Engineering Recruitment Effort. DOE is also proposing to continue a program dedicated to recruitment of students to the NE/RST discipline. The program is being managed by ANS. The purpose of the program is to assist in ensuring there is a healthy number of students interested in pursuing university nuclear engineering programs and related scientific courses of study. Our domestic supply of nuclear engineers continues to shrink and it is imperative that a qualified field of student be in position to replace them. DOE proposes $200 thousand for this effort. ANS would like to see that amount increase to $500 thousand in FY 2001.
University Research Reactors
Reactor Fuel. Since the Atoms for Peace program when the federal government encouraged universities to join in developing new knowledge and applications of radiation science, the fuel cycle costs for university reactors were provided by the federal government. Included is the loan of uranium, fuel fabrication, shipping of new and irradiated fuel, and acceptance of the spent fuel elements. Programs are in progress to improve fuel cycle economics by designing extended life fuel elements. There is also interest in removing from service fuel with over two decades of operation. In addition, Congress has mandated that the use of highly enriched uranium fuel at URRs should be terminated; conversion from high- to low-enrichment fuel has been progressing on a systematic basis. The cost of all these URR fuel-related issues total $2.5 million per year.
Reactor Sharing. The reactor sharing program must rate among the most cost-effective and successful expenditures of federal funds, making geographically distributed URRs available to many users as unique regional resources. This program allows faculty and students from other universities, community colleges, high schools, and junior high schools to utilize university reactors. This has led to research projects and lines of inquiry which might have never occurred had there not been a mechanism to access these facilities. The recommended level of funding is $1 million per year at a minimum.
Reactor Instrumentation Upgrades. The cost to maintain university reactors and associated laboratories as state of the art teaching and research facilities is substantial. These facilities, initially constructed with major federal support, have aged without significant investment beyond the basic operating needs. Upgrading existing facilities is much more cost effective than replacing them. A relatively small investment in new equipment has proven to be very cost-effective. An annual pool of $1.0 million per year from FY 1990-1993 had a dramatic impact on the health of URRs. It is recommended that the instrumentation program be maintained at a minimum of $7.0 million per year.
User Support. University Research Reactors have a very difficult time in attracting users due to the fact that other facilities (National Labs, NIST) are subsidized and supported by the federal government. This creates a tremendous disadvantage to URRs for their ability to provide neutrons to faculty members without cost. ANS advocates a budget line of $ 10 million to relieve the costs borne by URRs to supply neutrons to faculty members.
In summary, in order to maintain the educational infrastructure for nuclear engineering and radiation science and to provide an adequate level of funding for the university research reactors, the total level of funding needed is $30 million. This level for the University Nuclear Science and Reactor Support Program is closer to the NERAC recommendation than what is proposed in the DOE budget request.
Generation IV Nuclear Energy Plant
ANS also supports seed program funding of $5 million to evaluate options to build an advanced Generation IV proliferation resistant, demonstrably safe and economically-competitive nuclear energy plant in the near term. The ANS Board of Directors recently passed a resolution supporting near-term deployment to preserve US leadership in nuclear energy and to maintain the infrastructure to attract young students to the nuclear engineering profession. ANS is requesting $4.5 million for the Department of Energy and $500,000 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The DOE monies would support an initial comprehensive study of conceptual designs of Generation IV technologies leading to demonstration and deployment. The $500,000 request would allow the NRC to establish a risk informed reactor certification process for advanced reactors using license by test concepts for technologies that are not necessarily water based. A copy of the ANS Board-passed resolution is in Attachment A.
High Level Waste Repository
We support the budget request for activities at Yucca Mountain to ensure the proposed high-level waste repository. A total of $437.5 million is requested to continue site characterization activities in 2001 to ready the site for acceptance of spent fuel. Of this amount, $325.5 million is requested from the Waste Fund and $112 million is requested from the Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal account.
Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization
Nuclear power faces critical issues that have broader implications than the needs of a particular industry. It is appropriate that research on these issues be funded by a government - industry partnership, such as the Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization (NEPO) program. We support research to extend the life of currently operating nuclear plants, to establish a process for license renewal, and to improve the efficiency and capacity of existing plants. Such research is essential if our nation is to meet the Kyoto goals for greenhouse gas emission reduction and to improve the quality of our nation's air.
Low-Dose Radiation Effects Funding
ANS also supports continued focus on research into the effects of low-dose radiation on humans. DOE is proposing a ten-year research strategy to help determine the risks of human health from exposure of low doses of ionizing radiation. We believe the success of this program depends on maintaining a diverse and balanced set of research projects that support a clear objective review of this topic. ANS supports continuation of this program in FY 2001. We would like to see the program more focused on end goals rather than pure research for the sake of research.
On behalf of the nearly 12,000 members of ANS, I thank you for your willingness to consider our views and we stand ready to assist you in any way you desire.
