The 28 facilities cover the range of science supported by the DOE's Office of Science, including fusion energy, materials science, biological and environmental science, high energy physics, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computation.
"This plan will be the cornerstone for the future of critical fields of science in America. These facilities will revolutionize science and society," said Abraham. "With this plan our goal is to keep the United States at the scientific forefront.
"These facilities are needed to extend the frontiers of science, to pursue opportunities of enormous importance, and to maintain U.S. science primacy in the world. Investment in these facilities will yield extraordinary scientific breakthroughs and vital societal and economic benefits."
The Office of Science priority list for new facilities will help the department plan its potential future scientific investments. The list identifies 12 facilities as near-term priorities. Priority one is ITER, an international collaboration to build the first fusion science experiment capable of producing a self-sustaining fusion reaction, called a "burning plasma." Priority two is an UltraScale Scientific Computing Capability, to be located at multiple sites, that would increase by a factor of 100 the computing capability available to support open scientific research.
Four facilities tied for Priority three: the Joint Dark Energy Mission, a space-based probe, being considered in partnership with NASA, designed to understand "dark energy" which makes up more than 70 percent of the universe; t
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Contact: Jeff Sherwood
jeff.sherwood@hq.doe.gov
202-586-5806
DOE/US Department of Energy
10-Nov-2003