Inflation Reduction Act Invests in U.S. Science Leadership

Here at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, our mission is to deliver scientific discoveries. We also design and build the powerful tools to make those important discoveries. We work to transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. Secretary Granholm often says that we are the ‘solutions department,’ and at DOE, those solutions depend on science. If we are going to deliver the innovations the country needs to meet the major challenges before us, we must have a vibrant, world-class innovation ecosystem. Our success in bringing innovative new technologies to the American people depends heavily on federal support for fundamental research. This is both the starting point and constant source of support for every new technology as it scales up. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 signed by President Biden just two months ago will empower us to deliver even more, even faster. This historic investment will accelerate the development of climate solutions and will pave the way for a zero-carbon, clean energy future. At the same time, this funding will ensure America remains at the global forefront of innovation.

Through this historic act, the Office of Science received an additional $1,550,000,000 in Fiscal Year 2022 funding. These unprecedented investments will accelerate ongoing upgrades to critical facilities and other national laboratory infrastructure projects.

Our funding has already been distributed to projects across the national lab complex and beyond, encompassing a wide variety of needed improvements. Some will help make our labs better and more productive places to work, such as upgrading fire alarm systems and HVAC at labs. Others will further construction on cutting-edge scientific tools. The Electron Ion Collider at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory will peer into fundamental particles. The LCLS-II light source at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will be taking crisp pictures of atomic motions, watching chemical reactions unfold, probing the properties of materials and exploring fundamental processes in living things. Still others will have immediate applications, like delivering more isotopes for uses ranging from medical research and imaging to space missions.

All told, the bill provided:

• $163,791,000 for advanced scientific computing research facilities
• $294,500,000 for basic energy sciences projects
• $303,656,000 for high energy physics construction and major items of equipment projects
• $280,000,000 for fusion energy sciences construction and major items of equipment projects
• $217,000,000 for nuclear physics construction and major items of equipment projects
• $157,813,000 for isotope research and development facilities
• $133,240,000 for science laboratory infrastructure projects.

This funding will help the Office of Science and the Department of Energy as a whole tackle and develop solutions for some of the world’s biggest and most difficult challenges. Building on a long-standing foundation of innovation, this funding invests in our role as the world-leader in science and technology and secures our ability to make and put to use the discoveries that will define our future. Learn more here.

Explore more on these topics:

• Particle/High Energy Physics
• National Labs

More by this author

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Former Director, Office of Science

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