fusion

Inside
DOE.
DOE to Make
Natl Labs Soft
The DOE is quietly turning the
nation's major scientific research laboratories
into "soft path" energy research
centers.
Because the national laboratories
depend on DOE for virtually all their
energy-related research money, they
have to do whatever type of research
the DOE is willing to fund. Over the
past two years, this has meant that
more and more lab facilities and manpower
went into solar, conservation,
and other so-called "alternate" energy
programs that the DOE is funding
at the $1.5 billion level overall,
while hydrogen and advanced nuclear
research was squeezed out of
research funding.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
in New York, for example, is now
spending about 10 percent of its operating
budget on solar, geothermal,
and conservation research. In mid-
May Brookhaven announced that, it
was beginning construction of a solar
passive house as a model to demonstrate
this technology for the DOE.
Although it is not the case that scientists
previously doing fusion research
are now working on solar,
many of the advanced R&D programs
are so underfunded that talented
people are being forced to move
"where the money is."
Equally disturbing is NASA's energy-related
research—involving the
nation's largest pool of scientists and
engineers. The space program has virtually
no energy development effort
of its own, but manages under subcontract
some DOE programs. These
include advanced technologies such
as magnetohydrodynamics, but increasingly
the DOE emphasis to NASA
subcontractors has been in solar and
"alternatives."
Twenty years ago the NASA Lewis
Lab in Cleveland used to hold conferences
on plasma propulsion systems
and fusion. This year the Lewis
Research Center hosted a mid-May
conference on technology transfer
where presentations by NASA contractors
included talks on wind-powered
farms and solar energy for electric
power.
Duncan in Contempt
Energy Secretary Charles Duncan
was voted in contempt of Congress
after he infuriated members of the
Environment and Energy Subcommittee
of the House Government Operations
Committee by refusing to supply
DOE staff documents concerning
the president's proposed oil import
fee.
Some of the documents, requested
by subcommittee chairman
Toby Moffett (D-Conn.), allegedly
questioned the administration's plan.
The contempt charge was purged
when the DOE turned over the subpoenaed
documents May 12.
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