42 U.S.C. § 13503 — Supporting research and technical analysis

(a) Basic energy sciences (1) Program direction: The Secretary must keep supporting a strong basic energy sciences program. This program funds early research that leads to new energy technologies. It focuses on producing and using energy efficiently, and on learning more about materials, chemistry, geology, and related fields. (2) User facilities: (A) The Secretary must plan, build, and run "user facilities" — special research facilities with expert staff — for universities, industry, private and federal labs, and others to use. Researchers from other countries can use these facilities too, if their home countries let U.S. researchers use similar facilities there, or if the Secretary decides it serves the national interest. (B) This section specifically authorizes building the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. (C) The Secretary can't change the user-fee rules that were in place as of October 1, 1991, without giving Congress 90 days' notice first. (D) The Secretary must speed up the design of the Advanced Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to support research in advanced materials and biotechnology. This has to follow the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee's technical review of accelerator and reactor technologies. Within 90 days of October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to give Congress a design plan with a construction schedule. (3) Cost sharing: Normally the Secretary can't make researchers pay part of the cost of this research. There are three exceptions: (A) when a cooperative research and development agreement or other existing-law agreement says otherwise; (B) user facility fees the Secretary sets; and (C) specific projects where the Secretary decides one industry or group of industries benefits most — in that case the cost-sharing rules in section 13542 apply. (b) University and science education (1) University research reactors: The Secretary must support upgrades to university research reactors and their equipment. Within one year of October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to report to Congress on the condition of these reactors, including a 5-year upgrade plan. (2) Method to evaluate education programs: The Secretary must create a way to measure how well the Department's science and math education programs work, including specific grading criteria. (3) EPSCoR — the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research: (A) Definitions used in this paragraph: "eligible jurisdiction" means a state that qualifies for a grant as described below; "EPSCoR" is the program itself; "National Laboratory" has the meaning given in section 15801; "State" includes the 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (B) The Secretary must run EPSCoR. (C) EPSCoR's goals are: (i) to grow the number of researchers — especially at colleges — in eligible jurisdictions who can compete nationally for Department of Energy research in applied energy, environmental management, and basic science; (ii) to strengthen science and engineering research and education at colleges in those jurisdictions, including by funding equipment; and (iii) to increase the odds that those jurisdictions keep winning competitive research funding long-term. (D) Eligible jurisdictions: (i) The Secretary may set rules for which states qualify for a grant. (ii) Generally, a state qualifies if it has historically gotten relatively little federal research funding and has shown real commitment to building up its research base and improving college science and engineering programs. (iii) Instead, the Secretary may simply keep using the National Science Foundation's EPSCoR eligibility rules as they stood on January 1, 2021, or whatever rules replace them. (E) Grants: (i) EPSCoR makes grants to eligible jurisdictions for applied energy research and environmental management and basic science work sponsored by the Department, covering areas like energy efficiency, fossil energy, renewable and nuclear energy, electricity delivery, cybersecurity and energy security, environmental management, and a list of scientific research areas — advanced computing, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental research, fusion energy, high energy physics, nuclear physics, isotope work, accelerator work, and any other area the Office of Science funds. (ii) EPSCoR grants support activities like: partnering with National Laboratories; undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, and traineeships; funding early-career faculty and staff research; annual grants to improve research capability; building expert research clusters; and diversifying the future workforce. (iii) EPSCoR can't require grant recipients to share costs, but it may require letters of commitment from National Laboratories. (F) Research capability enhancement: (i) Scholarships and fellowships — the Secretary gives grants to colleges in eligible jurisdictions to award scholarships and fellowships. An undergraduate scholarship lasts one year and can be renewed competitively each year. A graduate fellowship can last up to 5 years. (ii) Early career capacity development — the Secretary gives grants to early-career faculty and staff at these colleges to support their own research (including equipment), help them find and apply for funding, get technical help applying for funding, and build partnerships with National Laboratories, Department programs, and private industry. These grants last up to 5 years and can be competitively renewed for another 5 years. (iii) Research capacity development — the Secretary gives competitive grants to these colleges to build research capacity: developing expertise in key technologies (with equipment), buying advanced instruments costing $500,000 to $20,000,000, boosting collaboration with National Laboratories and industry through staff placements, and supporting formal partnerships with National Laboratories. These grants also last up to 5 years, renewable for another 5. As much as possible, the Secretary must make sure equipment bought with these grants can keep running without needing more funding. (G) Program implementation: (i) Within 270 days of January 1, 2021, the Secretary had to give Congress's energy and appropriations committees a plan for how EPSCoR would be run. (ii) That plan had to describe EPSCoR's management structure, outreach efforts to inform jurisdictions and faculty about EPSCoR, plans to boost engagement (including regular workshops), and anything else the Secretary found relevant. (iii) Within 270 days of August 9, 2022, the Secretary had to update that plan and resubmit it. (H) Program evaluation: (i) Within 5 years of January 1, 2021, the Secretary had to hire an outside group — a federally funded research center, the National Academy of Sciences, or something similar — to assess how well EPSCoR is meeting its goals, its impact on the Department's mission, and any other relevant issues. (ii) That outside group can't be a National Laboratory. (iii) Within 6 years of January 1, 2021, the Secretary had to send Congress a report on that assessment's results, with recommendations. (iv) Every year, the Secretary must also send Congress a report showing: total EPSCoR spending per jurisdiction for the last 3 years; the number and size of EPSCoR awards to colleges in eligible jurisdictions; the number of non-EPSCoR awards to those same colleges; how many people from those colleges serve on each Office of Science advisory committee and what share of each committee they make up; and how many serve on peer review committees. (I) Funding: (i) Congress authorized $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2023, $50,000,000 for 2024, $75,000,000 for 2025, $100,000,000 for 2026, and $100,000,000 for 2027 — all available until spent. (ii) For an EPSCoR grant to a group of colleges (a "consortium") that includes colleges outside eligible jurisdictions, the Secretary can count the whole grant toward the funding target below if the lead college is in an eligible jurisdiction, but only the part going to colleges in eligible jurisdictions if the lead college isn't. (iii) Beyond that funding, the Secretary must try to make sure at least 10 percent of the Office of Science's competitively awarded research money each year goes to colleges in eligible jurisdictions, following the selection rules in 10 C.F.R. § 605.10. (iv) Congress also authorized an extra $25,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2023 through 2027 (available until spent) specifically for the equipment and instrumentation grants described in (F)(iii). (v) The Secretary must try to make sure that any Department program that benefits from an EPSCoR-funded project chips in funding for that award. (c) Technology transfer: The Secretary must support the National Laboratories' efforts to transfer technology to industry. Within one year of October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to report to Congress on whether funding for this was adequate, with a proposal to speed up cooperative research agreements. (d) Facilities support for multiprogram energy laboratories (1) Facility policy: The Secretary must create and follow a lowest-cost strategy for fixing facility problems, closing facilities no longer needed, modifying facilities, and building new ones at multiprogram energy labs. (2) Facility plan: Within one year of October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to give Congress a full plan for future facility maintenance, repairs, modifications, and new construction at these labs. That plan had to rank work in this order of priority: (A) fixing safety and health problems — structural, mechanical, electrical, and environmental — for employees, visitors, and the public; (B) repairing and rehabilitating existing facilities to keep them usable; and (C) designing and building modifications or additions needed for new or bigger programs. The plan also had to cover new facilities and modifications needed for the Department's 21st-century missions, with schedules, cost estimates, and long-term funding needs matched to expected budgets. It had to address coordinating facility modernization and consolidation, and it had to include annual progress reports to Congress on schedules, commitments, and spending. (e) Authorization of appropriations: Congress authorized $966,804,000 for fiscal year 1993, and whatever additional amount is needed for fiscal year 1994, to pay for all of the above — basic energy sciences, energy research analysis, university and science education, technology transfer, program oversight, and facilities support.