A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Beginning with fiscal year (FY) 1998, federal agencies were required to prepare a Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR) as one of their primary financial statements. GAO's review of 22 major budgetary accounts at 10 agencies, constituting approximately 77 percent of FY 1999 net outlays, showed that the federal accounting and reporting framework was properly implemented for 14 accounts constituting 67 percent of the total outlays reviewed. In addition to the assurances over the budget execution data that were provided by the successful implementation of the framework at these agencies, the preparation and audit of the SBR has yielded other benefits at federal agencies. However, problems in implementing the framework have been an impediment to determining the reliability of budget execution information for the remainder of the accounts reviewed. Although GAO found that some audit improvements could be made, its review of the financial statement audits covering the 22 major budgetary accounts showed that they were generally adequate."

A number of legislative proposals to restructure or eliminate the Department of Energy (DOE) and the DOE laboratories have been introduced since the end of the Cold War, especially since the beginning of the 104th Congress. This legislation has been introduced because of perceived major problems with DOE, including its overall mission. Sponsors state, for example, that about 85% of DOE's budget is for non-energy programs, even though the nation's dependency on foreign energy sources has increased since the establishment of the department. Also of concern is the department's failure to go far enough, in their view, in solving its long-term management problems, downsizing, and reducing budgets.

The NSTX is a new US facility for the study of plasma confinement, heating, and current drive in a low aspect ratio, spherical torus (ST) configuration. The ST configuration is an alternate magnetic confinement concept which is characterized by high beta (ratio plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure) and low toroidal field compared to conventional tokamaks, and could provide a pathway to the realization of a practical fusion power source. NSTX achieved first plasma in February 1999, and since that time has completed and commissioned all components and systems within the machine proper. Routine operation with inductively driven plasma current less than or equal to 1MA and flat top less than or equal to 0.3 seconds has been established, and the ohmic characterization phase of the research program is underway. Radio Frequency (RF) and Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) systems have been installed and are presently being commissioned. This paper describes the NSTX mission, gives an overview of the engineering design, and summarizes the research results obtained thus far.

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