I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1793 

To promote fusion energy development in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 21, 2005 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California (for herself, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. HOLT, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. BALDWIN, and 

Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL 

To promote fusion energy development in the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fueling the U.S.A. 

5 Through Unlimited Reliable Energy Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Economic prosperity and national security 

9 are closely linked to an affordable and ample energy 

10 supply. 
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1 (2) Environmental quality is closely linked to 

2 energy production and use. 

3 (3) Population, worldwide economic develop4 ment, energy consumption, and stress on the envi5 ronment are all expected to increase substantially in 

6 the coming decades. 

7 (4) The few energy options with the potential to 

8 meet economic and environmental needs for the 

9 long-term future should be pursued as part of a bal10 anced national energy plan. 

11 (5) Fusion energy is an attractive long-term en12 ergy source due to virtually inexhaustible supply of 

13 fuel, its potential as a substantial energy source re14 quiring relatively little land mass, and its promise of 

15 minimal environmental impact and inherent safety. 

16 (6) The National Research Council, the Presi17 dent’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Tech18 nology, and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board 

19 have each recently reviewed the Fusion Energy 

20 Sciences Program and each strongly supports the 

21 fundamental science and creative innovation of the 

22 program and has confirmed that progress toward the 

23 goal of producing practical fusion energy has been 

24 excellent, although much scientific and engineering 

25 work remains to be done. 
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1 (7) Each of these reviews and United States fu2 sion scientists have stressed the need for a magnetic 

3 fusion burning experiment to address key scientific 

4 issues and as a necessary step in the development of 

5 fusion energy. 

6 (8) Further, the United States fusion research 

7 community has developed a strong consensus that 

8 the first option for United States involvement in a 

9 burning plasma experiment should be through the 

10 international experiment known as ‘‘ITER’’ and 

11 that, should the ITER experiment fail to go forward, 

12 then the construction of a domestic burning plasma 

13 experiment should be pursued aggressively. 

14 (9) The National Research Council has also 

15 called for a broadening of the Fusion Energy 

16 Sciences Program research base as a means to more 

17 fully integrate the fusion science community into the 

18 broader scientific community. 

19 (10) The Fusion Energy Sciences Program 

20 budget is inadequate to support the necessary 

21 science and innovation for the present generation of 

22 experiments, and cannot accommodate the cost of 

23 participation in or construction of a burning plasma 

24 experiment. 
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1 (11) The Department of Energy’s Fusion En2 ergy Sciences Advisory Committee has been recently 

3 tasked with the development of a plan to dem4 onstrate the provision of fusion power to the United 

5 States electric grid within 35 years. Although this 

6 effort is to be commended, Congress finds that the 

7 importance of the development of fusion energy war8 rants that every effort be made to credibly accelerate 

9 this timeframe. 

10 SEC. 3. GOALS. 

11 It shall be the goal of the United States to dem12 onstrate electric power and hydrogen production for the 

13 United States energy grid utilizing a fusion energy device 

14 at the earliest date possible. It shall also be the goal of 

15 the United States to develop the scientific, engineering, 

16 and commercial infrastructure necessary to ensure that 

17 the United States is wholly competitive with other nations 

18 in providing fusion energy for its own needs and the needs 

19 of other nations. 

20 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES PROGRAM. 

21 (a) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 

22 of the United States to conduct research, development, 

23 demonstration, and commercial application activities to 

24 provide for the scientific, engineering, and commercial in25 frastructure necessary to ensure that the United States 
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1 is competitive with other nations in providing fusion en2 ergy for its own needs and the needs of other nations, in3 cluding by demonstrating electric power or hydrogen pro4 duction for the United States energy grid utilizing fusion 

5 energy at the earliest date possible. 

6 (b) FUSION ENERGY PLAN.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec9 retary of Energy shall transmit to Congress a plan 

10 for carrying out the policy set forth in subsection 

11 (a), including cost estimates, proposed budgets, po12 tential international partners, and specific programs 

13 for implementing such policy. 

14 (2) REQUIREMENTS OF PLAN.—Such plan shall 

15 also ensure that— 

16 (A) existing fusion research facilities are 

17 more fully utilized; 

18 (B) fusion science, technology, theory, ad19 vanced computation, modeling, and simulation 

20 are strengthened; 

21 (C) new magnetic and inertial fusion re22 search facilities are selected based on scientific 

23 innovation, cost effectiveness, and their poten24 tial to advance the goal of practical fusion en25 ergy at the earliest date possible; 
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1 (D) the facilities that are selected are 

2 funded at a cost-effective rate; 

3 (E) communication of scientific results and 

4 methods between the fusion energy science com5 munity and the broader scientific and tech6 nology communities is improved; 

7 (F) inertial confinement fusion facilities 

8 are utilized to the extent practicable for the 

9 purpose of inertial fusion energy research and 

10 development; 

11 (G) attractive alternative inertial and mag12 netic fusion energy approaches are more fully 

13 explored; and 

14 (H) to the extent practical, the rec15 ommendations of the March 2004 Fusion En16 ergy Sciences Advisory Committee report on 

17 Workforce Planning are carried out, including 

18 periodic assessment of program needs. 

19 (3) REPORT ON FUSION MATERIALS AND TECH20 NOLOGY PROJECT.—The plan required by this sub21 section shall also address the status of, and to the 

22 degree possible, the costs and schedules for— 

23 (A) the design and implementation of 

24 international or national facilities for the test25 ing of fusion materials; and 
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1 (B) the design and implementation of 

2 international or national facilities for the test3 ing and development of key fusion technologies. 

4 SEC. 5. ITER. 

5 (a) AGREEMENT.—(1) The Secretary of Energy is 

6 authorized to negotiate an agreement for United States 

7 participation in ITER. 

8 (2) Any agreement for United States participation in 

9 ITER shall, at a minimum— 

10 (A) clearly define the United States financial 

11 contribution to construction and operating costs; 

12 (B) ensure that the share of ITER’s high-tech13 nology components manufactured in the United 

14 States is at least proportionate to the United States 

15 financial contribution to ITER; 

16 (C) ensure that the United States will not be fi17 nancially responsible for cost overruns in compo18 nents manufactured in other ITER participating 

19 countries; 

20 (D) guarantee the United States full access to 

21 all data generated by ITER; 

22 (E) enable United States researchers to propose 

23 and carry out an equitable share of the experiments 

24 at ITER; 
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1 (F) provide the United States with a role in all 

2 collective decisionmaking related to ITER; and 

3 (G) describe the process for discontinuing or 

4 decommissioning ITER and any United States role 

5 in that process. 

6 (b) PLAN.—The Secretary of Energy, in consultation 

7 with the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, 

8 shall develop a plan for the participation of United States 

9 scientists in ITER that shall include the United States 

10 research agenda for ITER, methods to evaluate whether 

11 ITER is promoting progress toward making fusion a reli12 able and affordable source of power, and a description of 

13 how work at ITER will relate to other elements of the 

14 United States fusion program. The Secretary shall request 

15 a review of the plan by the National Academy of Sciences, 

16 the results of which the Secretary shall transmit to Con17 gress not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act. 

19 (c) LIMITATION.—No Federal funds shall be ex20 pended for the construction of ITER until the Secretary 

21 of Energy has transmitted to Congress— 

22 (1) the agreement negotiated pursuant to sub23 section (a) and 120 days have elapsed since that 

24 transmission; 
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1 (2) a report describing the management struc2 ture of ITER and providing a fixed dollar estimate 

3 of the cost of United States participation in the con4 struction of ITER, and 120 days have elapsed since 

5 that transmission; 

6 (3) a report describing how United States par7 ticipation in ITER will be funded without reducing 

8 funding for other programs in the Office of Science, 

9 including other fusion programs, and 60 days have 

10 elapsed since that transmission; and 

11 (4) the plan required by subsection (b) (but not 

12 necessarily the National Academy of Sciences review 

13 of that plan), and 60 days have elapsed since that 

14 transmission. 

15 SEC. 6. PLAN FOR FUSION EXPERIMENT. 

16 If at any time during the negotiations on ITER, the 

17 Secretary determines that construction and operation of 

18 ITER is unlikely or infeasible, the Secretary shall send 

19 to Congress, as part of the budget request for the fol20 lowing year, a plan for implementing a domestic burning 

21 plasma experiment such as FIRE, including costs and 

22 schedules for such a plan. The Secretary shall refine such 

23 plan in full consultation with the Fusion Energy Sciences 

24 Advisory Committee and shall also transmit such plan to 

25 the National Academy of Sciences for review. The Sec-
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1 retary shall transmit the results of that review to Congress 

2 not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

3 Act. 

4 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

5 As used in this Act— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘construction’’ means the physical 

7 construction of the ITER facility, and the physical 

8 construction, purchase, or manufacture of equipment 

9 or components that are specifically designed for the 

10 ITER facility, but does not mean the design of the 

11 facility, equipment, or components; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘FIRE’’ means the Fusion Igni13 tion Research Experiment, the fusion research ex14 periment for which design work has been supported 

15 by the Department of Energy as a possible alter16 native burning plasma experiment in the event that 

17 ITER fails to move forward; and 

18 (3) the term ‘‘ITER’’ means the international 

19 burning plasma fusion research project in which the 

20 President announced United States participation on 

21 January 30, 2003. 

22 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 (a) FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES PROGRAM.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of En-
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1 ergy for the Fusion Energy Sciences Program, excluding 

2 activities described in sections 5 and 6— 

3 (1) for fiscal year 2006, $335,000,000; 

4 (2) for fiscal year 2007, $349,000,000; 

5 (3) for fiscal year 2008, $362,000,000; 

6 (4) for fiscal year 2009, $377,000,000; and 

7 (5) for fiscal year 2010, $393,000,000. 

8 (b) ITER.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

9 to the Secretary of Energy for activities described in sec10 tion 5 such sums as are necessary for each of the fiscal 

11 years 2006 through 2010. 

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