This report contains the fiscal year budget justification to Congress. The budget provides estimates for salaries and expenses and for the Office of the Inspector General for fiscal year 1997.

This describes a comprehensive, integrated approach for the development of HTS (high-temperature superconductivity) technology for cost-effective use in electric power applications. This approach supports the program`s mission: to develop the technology that could lead to industrial commercialization of HTS electric power applications, such as fault-current limiters, motors, generators, transmission cables, superinductors, and superconducting energy storage. The vision is that, by 2010, the US power systems equipment industry will regain a major share of the global market by offering superconducting products that outperform the competition; and in US, the power grid will gain increased efficiency and stability by incorporating many kinds of HTS devices. After an overview and a discussion of the program plan (wires, systems technology, partnership initiative), this document discusses technology status, stakeholders, and the role of US DOE.

Alcator C-Mod is the high-field, high-density divertor tokamak in the world fusion program. It is one of five divertor experiments capable of plasma currents exceeding one megamp. Because of its compact dimensions, Alcator C-Mod investigates an essential area in parameter space, which complements the world`s larger experiments, in establishing the tokamak physics database. Three key areas of investigation have been called out in which Alcator C-Mod has a vital role to play: (1) divertor research on C-Mod takes advantage of the advanced divertor shaping, the very high scrap-off-layer power density, unique abilities in impurity diagnosis, and the High-Z metal wall, to advance the physics understanding of this critical topic; (2) in transport studies, C-Mod is making critical tests of both empirical scalings and theoretically based interpretations of tokamak transport, at dimensional parameters that are unique but dimensionless parameters often comparable to those in much larger experiments; (3) in the area of Advanced Tokamak research, so important to concept optimization, the high-field design of the device also provides long pulse length, compared to resistive skin time, which provides an outstanding opportunity to investigate the extent to which enhanced confinement and stability can be sustained in steady-state, using active profile control. In …

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Waste Management Program (WMP) began a transition to become a {open_quotes}best of class{close_quotes} waste management program during fiscal year 1995 (FY95). A best of class waste management program means that LANL will provide cost-effective and compliant management of the minimum amount of waste. In FY94, the WMP could be characterized as a level of effort program requiring several new facilities and new LANL-developed technologies to carry out its waste management responsibilities. By the end of FY95, significant progress had been made in the transition to best of class. The FY96 WMP is realigned and reorganized. Its budget and scope of work are built upon discrete work packages. It is committed to achieving improved cost-effectiveness, providing significant tangible technical results, and to having its performance measured. During FY95, over $11,000,000 in facility and operational costs were avoided. The need for three new major facilities was reexamined and lower cost solutions, not requiring the development of new facilities, were agreed to. Technology development activities were terminated and replaced with the use of commercial facilities to achieve aggressive reductions in the Low-Level Mixed Waste legacy inventory. In addition, over $14,000,000 in improved cost-effectiveness has been included in …