FY24 Budget Outlook: DOE Office of Science
The $8.1 billion budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science is poised to remain steady in fiscal year 2024, with appropriators in the Republican-controlled House proposing flat funding and their colleagues in the Democrat-controlled Senate proposing a 4% increase. President Biden requested a 9% increase for the office in March, but the limits on federal spending he agreed to in May with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have constrained what Congress can realistically provide.
With money tight, funding for some efforts is bound to come up short. It is already clear Congress will not follow through
Congress appears ready to mostly meet the requested amounts for major facility construction projects, which also received a major boost
The Biden administration’s request is detailed in its budget justification
Administration priorities
The Biden administration’s request includes initiatives that reflect its emphasis on mitigating climate change and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, House Republicans have targeted these same areas for cuts and are seeking to altogether bar DOE from implementing the administration’s Equity Action Plan and Justice40 initiative.
RENEW and FAIR. Under the Biden administration, the Office of Science has launched two major initiatives aimed at broadening participation in the sciences. RENEW, which issued its first awards
Energy Earthshot Research Centers. In January, DOE opened a competition for new research centers based at national labs with other institutions included as partners. Similar in structure to the existing Energy Frontier Research Centers, the new centers would conduct research relevant to meeting the cost and performance goals the department has set out for various clean energy technologies through its Energy Earthshots initiative. DOE anticipated each center will receive between $3 million and $5 million annually, with a total of $200 million provided over four years.
The department allocated $100 million to its Earthshots initiative this fiscal year and requested $175 million for fiscal year 2024, with an eye to increasing the overall number of centers it supports as well as funding research beyond the centers. However, the House proposal includes just $20 million for the initiative and the Senate proposal would direct DOE to allocate no more than $67 million.
Isotope R&D and Production program. DOE’s isotope program has become a high priority
Key tension points in program funding
Fusion Energy Sciences. Fusion energy’s backers in Congress and the Biden administration aimed this year to increase the FES topline from $763 million to just over $1 billion. However, the House proposal would provide $778 million and the Senate proposal $792 million. The requested funding was primarily intended for creating new fusion R&D centers and scaling up the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, which provides payments to private fusion ventures as they achieve predetermined goals. DOE selected eight companies
Basic Energy Sciences. The Senate proposal would almost meet the administration’s request to increase BES funding from $2.53 billion to $2.69 billion, while the House proposal would provide $2.59 billion. Much of the request’s increase stems from proposals to raise the combined operating budgets for DOE’s X-ray light sources from $599 million to $704 million and the corresponding budgets for its neutron sources from $316 million to $373 million. DOE explains that it recently recalculated the costs of running these facilities, accounting for pressures such as inflation, rising user demand for remote access, and the work needed to transition upgraded facilities back into ordinary operations. It further states that even the higher budgets would only allow them to run at 90% of optimal operations. The Senate proposal would provide the requested amounts, but the House proposal would only meet the request for the neutron facilities while keeping funding for the light sources essentially flat.
Advanced Scientific Computing Research. The administration is seeking to increase the ASCR topline from $1.07 billion to $1.13 billion, but the House and Senate proposals are aligned in proposing a cut to about $1.02 billion. The proposed decreases partly relate to the denouement of the Exascale Computing Project as Argonne National Lab’s Aurora machine nears the start of operations
Biological and Environmental Research. The House proposal targets BER for a significant cut, seeking to roll its budget back from $909 million to $827 million, close to its fiscal year 2022 level. The administration has asked for $932 million, and the Senate proposal calls for $941 million. Notwithstanding the topline cut in the House proposal, it proposes flat funding of $65 million for the operating budget of the Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Lab, rejecting the administration’s proposed reduction to $50 million, close to its fiscal year 2022 funding level. The Senate proposal would direct DOE to allocate up to $65 million, giving the department flexibility to undershoot that amount.
Nuclear Physics. Funding for NP is poised to remain near-flat, with the administration requesting an increase from $805 million to $811 million and the Senate and House proposals respectively calling for $818 million and $800 million. The program is currently awaiting delivery of a new long-range plan
High Energy Physics. There is general agreement that the HEP program should receive a modest funding boost, with the Senate proposal meeting the requested increase from $1.17 billion to $1.23 billion and the House proposal providing $1.19 billion. The administration has proposed rolling back some of the increases that certain research programs received in fiscal year 2023, accommodating a ramp up in funding for HEP’s flagship LBNF/DUNE neutrino project. The budgetary pressure that projects are placing on research funding in the HEP portfolio has been a point of tension
Flagship facility projects

The caverns that will house the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment are now more than 70% excavated. The experiment will be located a kilometer and a half beneath the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota to shield it from extraneous radiation as it analyzes a high-intensity neutrino beam generated at Fermilab 1,300 kilometers away.
(Ryan Postel / Fermilab)
LBNF/DUNE. Excavation at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility’s Far Site in South Dakota is moving quickly
DOE has also set out a funding profile for the project that aims to enable
ITER. DOE has requested steady funding of $240 million for the ITER fusion facility under construction in France. The Senate proposal would provide that amount and the House proposal includes an additional $2 million. The ITER Organization is still assessing the consequences of various difficulties it has experienced, which are pushing the start of operations back
DOE is working on establishing a precise baseline estimate for the total U.S. contribution to the project. In its budget request, the department stated
Electron-Ion Collider. Last year, strain on the EIC project
Facility upgrade projects
Owing in part to Inflation Reduction Act funds, the Office of Science’s portfolio of facility upgrade projects is in a strong position, with many at or near the conclusion of their funding profiles. The House and Senate proposals both include almost all of the funding requested for these projects.
Advanced Photon Source. The APS facility at Argonne National Lab is currently in a year-long shut down
Advanced Light Source. The ALS facility at Berkeley Lab will receive $57 million in fiscal year 2024 for its own major upgrade, completing its $590 million funding profile well ahead of installation, which is expected to take place in 2026.
Linac Coherent Light Source II. The new LCLS-II X-ray free electron laser facility at SLAC is expected to achieve its “first light” milestone in September. Funding for a follow-on upgrade will ramp up from $90 million to $120 million and the total cost is expected to be $710 million. The annual budget for a separate project to upgrade the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) end station at the facility is set to remain steady at $10 million. That project is still in its early planning stages and its overall cost is expected to be between $264 million and $461 million.

Beamline lead scientist Christie Nelson works with a diffractometer located at National Synchrotron Light Source II’s beamline 4-ID. NSLS-II currently operates 28 beamlines and is preparing to accelerate the construction of additional ones.
(Brookhaven National Lab)
National Synchrotron Light Source II. Brookhaven National Lab’s NSLS-II started science operations
Spallation Neutron Source. A power upgrade to the SNS facility at Oak Ridge National Lab will receive $16 million, the last installation in its $272 million funding profile. SNS is already achieving new world-record power levels
High Flux Isotope Reactor. DOE is seeking to ramp funding up from $3 million to $13 million for a project to replace the pressure vessel
Proton Improvement Plan II. Funding for the PIP-II accelerator upgrade at Fermilab is set to remain steady at $125 million as requested. DOE’s estimate for the project’s total cost is $978 million.
Large Hadron Collider. DOE’s $260 million contribution to an upcoming accelerator upgrade at CERN’s LHC has now been completely funded. DOE has also funded more than half the cost of its contributions to associated detector upgrades, which are now expected to total about $400 million, and the department is requesting $36 million for them in fiscal year 2024.
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. The Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array to be installed at FRIB at Michigan State University has received $58 million to date, all the funding it is expected to need. Another new component for FRIB, the High Rigidity Spectrometer, is still in its early design stages but received about a quarter of its total anticipated budget of $122 million through the Inflation Reduction Act. DOE has requested $6 million for fiscal year 2024, but the House proposal would provide $15 million. The Senate proposal does not specify a figure.
Nanoscale Science Research Centers. DOE is seeking a final installment of $5 million for an $80 million project to recapitalize equipment at its five NSRCs. The Senate proposal includes that funding while the House proposal does not specify an allocation for the project.