Department of Energy Nanoscale Science and Engineering Act

Summary: Requires the Director of the Office of Science to: (1) support individual investigators and multidisciplinary teams of investigators conducting R&D in nanoscience and nanoengineering; (2) develop, plan, construct, acquire, or operate special equipment or facilities for the use of such investigators; (3) support technology transfer activities to benefit industry and other users of nanoscience and nanoengineering; and (4) coordinate such R&D activities with industry and other Federal agencies.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy Nanoscale 
Science and Engineering Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The emerging fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering 
        address the ability to create materials with fundamentally new 
        compositions by prepositioning atoms within an overall 
        molecular composition.
            (2) The ability of the United States to respond to the 
        energy and economic challenges of the 21st century will be 
        driven by science and technology. Nanoscience and 
        nanoengineering will enable the United States to develop new 
        technologies for energy exploration and production, for 
        monitoring energy infrastructure, for increasing energy 
        efficiency in end-use application, and for developing new 
        technologies applicable to other Department of Energy statutory 
        missions. These advances will also enhance the strength of U.S. 
        science, technology, and medicine generally.
            (3) The fundamental intellectual challenges inherent in 
        nanoscience and nanoengineering are considerable, and require 
        public support for basic and applied research and development. 
        Significant advances in areas such as the self-assembly of atom 
        clusters will be required before nanoscience or nanoengineering 
        will be useful to the energy or manufacturing industries.
            (4) The development of new scientific instruments will also 
        be required to advance nanoscience and nanoengineering. Such 
        instruments are likely to be large and costly. Specialized 
        facilities are also likely to be required in order to advance 
        the field and to realize its promise. Such facilities will be 
        sufficiently expensive that they will have to be located and 
        constructed on a centralized basis, similar to a number of 
        unique facilities already managed by the Department of Energy.
            (5) Contributions from individual researchers as well as 
        multidisciplinary research teams will be required to advance 
        nanoscience and nanoengineering.
            (6) The Department of Energy's Office of Science is well 
        suited to manage nanoscience and nanoengineering research and 
        development for the Department. Through its support of research 
        and development pursuant to the Department's statutory 
        authorities, the Office of Science is the principal federal 
        supporter of the research and development in the physical 
and computational sciences. The Office is also a significant source of 
federal support for research in genomics and the life sciences. The 
Office supports research and development by individual investigators 
and multidisciplinary teams, and manages special user facilities that 
serve investigators in both university and industry.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy, through the Office of 
Science of the Department of Energy, shall support a program of 
research and development in nanoscience and nanoengineering consistent 
with the Department's statutory authorities related to research and 
development. The program shall include efforts to further the 
understanding of the chemistry, physics, materials science and 
engineering of phenomena on the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.
    (b) Duties of the Office of Science.--In carrying out the program 
under this Act, the Director of the Office of Science shall--
            (1) support both individual investigators and 
        multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
            (2) pursuant to subsection (c), develop, plan, construct, 
        acquire, or operate special equipment or facilities for the use 
        of investigators conducting research and development in 
        nanoscience and nanoengineering;
            (3) support technology transfer activities to benefit 
        industry and other users of nanoscience and nanoengineering; 
        and
            (4) coordinate research and development activities with 
        industry and other federal agencies.
    (c) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and Major 
Instrumentation.--
            (1) Authorization.--Within the funds authorized to be 
        appropriated pursuant to this Act, the amounts specified under 
        section 4(b) shall, subject to appropriations, be available for 
        projects to develop, plan, construct, acquire, or operate 
        special equipment, instrumentation, or facilities for 
        investigators conducting research and development in 
        nanoscience and nanoengineering.
            (2) Projects.--Projects under paragraph (1) may include the 
        measurement of properties at the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers, 
        manipulation at such scales, and the integration of 
        technologies based on nanoscience or nanoengineering into bulk 
        materials or other technologies.
            (3) Facilities.--Facilities under paragraph (1) may include 
        electron microcharacterization facilities, microlithography 
        facilities, scanning probe facilities and related 
        instrumentation.
            (4) Collaboration.--The Secretary shall encourage 
        collaborations among universities, laboratories and industry at 
        facilities under this subsection. At least one Departmental 
        facility under this subsection shall have a specific mission of 
        technology transfer to other institutions and to industry.
    (d) Merit Review Required.--All grants, contracts, cooperative 
agreements, or other financial assistance awards under this Act shall 
be made only after independent merit review.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Total Authorization.--The following sums are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Energy, to remain available until 
expended, for the purposes of carrying out this Act:
            (1) $160,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
            (2) $270,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
            (3) $290,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
            (4) $310,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
            (5) $330,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
    (b) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and Major 
Instrumentation.--Of the funds under subsection (a), the following sums 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 3(c):
            (1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
            (2) $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
            (3) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
            (4) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
            (5) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.