Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
DOE'
S
B
UDGET
A
UTHORITY FOR
R
ENEWABLE
,
F
OSSIL
,
AND
N
UCLEAR
E
NERGY
R
AND
D
H
AS
D
ECLINED BY OVER
85
P
ERCENT IN
R
EAL
T
ERMS
S
INCE
1978;
DOE
I
S
N
ARROWING
I
TS
R
AND
D
F
OCUS
DOE's budget authority for renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy R and D
dropped from $5.5 billion (in real terms) in fiscal year 1978 to $793 million in
fiscal year 2005—a decline of over 85 percent. Energy R and D budget authority
peaked in the late 1970s in response to the Organization of Arab Petroleum
Exporting Countries' oil embargo of 1973 and fell sharply as crude oil prices
plunged in the mid 1980s. However, since fiscal year 2000, federal support for the
energy industry—through DOE's R and D budget authority and federal revenue
losses from energy-related income tax expenditures—has grown. Since 1978,
DOE's renewable energy R and D program has made incremental progress in
making renewable technologies more efficient and reducing their costs. DOE's
fossil energy R and D program has focused primarily on reducing harmful
emissions by coal-fired power plants. During the 1980s and 1990s, the program
made significant progress in demonstrating technologies that reduce sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollutants, and DOE's current objective is to develop a
“near-zero emissions” power plant by targeting mercury and carbon dioxide
emissions. In response to the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, DOE's nuclear
energy R and D program focused on improving the safety and efficiency of
nuclear reactors. More recently, the nuclear energy R and D program has given
priority to (1) encouraging electric power companies to submit the first
applications to NRC in over 30 years for combined licenses to build and operate a
nuclear reactor to generate electricity, (2) developing technologies for
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel that minimize the threat of spent fuel being used to
make nuclear weapons and reduce highly radioactive waste, and (3) developing
advanced Generation IV reactor technologies. Faced with competing R and D
priorities and budget constraints, DOE has proposed in recent years to concentrate
its R and D funding on key technologies for meeting the nation's growing energy
demand while eliminating funding for geothermal, hydropower, oil, and natural
gas technologies.
