Federal funding for physics winds up flat for fiscal year 2015

Coming nearly three months into the fiscal year, enactment of the $1.1 trillion spending measure that funds most of the federal government through the remainder of FY 2015 provides slight increases for NSF and the Department of Defense’s basic research programs but leaves spending for most other federal science programs largely unchanged from their FY 2014 levels.

Under the act, which was signed into law by President Obama on 16 December, the Pentagon’s basic research programs will increase 5.1% from their FY 2014 levels, to $2.3 billion. The administration had proposed to trim those programs by 7%. Applied research for DOD was cut by 9.4% from last year, to $4.2 billion. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency budget was upped 4.9%, or $136 million, to $2.9 billion. DARPA basic research increased by $31 million from last year.

An increase of $172 million moved NSF’s budget up to $7.3 billion in FY 2015. That’s $89 million over the Obama administration’s request for the science agency. Compared with last year, the agency will be able to support about 350 additional grants and 4100 more technicians, scientists, teachers, and students, according to appropriators.

In FY 2015 NASA will receive $18 billion, a 1.8% increase from last year. The agency’s science programs increase from $5.1 billion to $5.2 billion. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which the administration had proposed to mothball, receives $70 million to maintain its core operations. Lawmakers instructed NASA to continue its search for international partners to help support full operation of the airborne IR telescope. According to the act, any terminations of scientific missions should be made only after a high-level review that evaluates the relative scientific benefit and return on investment.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which supports the bulk of federal funding for basic research in the physical sciences, receives $5 billion, the same amount as last year. The act provides $150 million for ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in France; that amount is in line with the administration’s request. The measure requires that all but $25 million of the US contribution to ITER be for in-kind reactor components. A provision in the Senate appropriations bill that would have required the US to withdraw from the project was dropped. The Alcator C-Mod tokamak at MIT receives $22 million, but lawmakers said they will not fund that fusion experiment beyond FY 2016.

The omnibus measure provides $766 million for high-energy physics, a $30 million decrease from FY 2014. Included is $22 million for R&D and design activities at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment at Fermilab. But the act prohibits spending for procurements or construction of that project.

Advanced scientific computing programs at the Office of Science increase by $63 million, or 13%, from last year, to $541 million. Of that, $104 million goes to Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s supercomputing facility, $80 million to Argonne National Laboratory’s leadership computing operation, and $75 million to the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The Basic Energy Sciences program receives $1.7 billion, a 1.2% increase from FY 2014. Funding of $15 million for the Fuels from Sunlight energy innovation hub at LBNL and Caltech is made contingent on a peer review of the hub’s first five years, a decision by DOE to extend the center, and the setting of specific milestones and objectives for it during the period of extension.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy at DOE receives $280 million, the same amount as last year.

Funding for DOE’s nuclear energy programs is $914 million, 5.5% above the administration’s request. The act directs the department to pursue a public–private cost-shared demonstration plant for Brayton cycle technology, which uses supercritical liquid carbon dioxide in place of steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.

The nuclear weapons programs at DOE receive $8.2 billion, 5.5% more than the FY 2014 level. The amount includes $512 million for inertial confinement fusion, $3.6 million less than last year.

Nonproliferation R&D is funded at $391 million, between the FY 2014 level of $469 million and the administration’s request of $361 million.

The laboratory and scientific programs of NIST receive a $25 million increase from last year, to $676 million.