Electric Transmission and Distribution

The Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Program supports fundamental, peer-reviewed research in climate change, environmental remediation, genomics, systems biology, radiation biology, and medical sciences. BER funds research at public and private research institutions and at DOE laboratories. BER also supports leading edge research facilities used by public and private sector scientists across a range of disciplines: structural biology, DNA sequencing, functional genomics, climate science, the global carbon cycle, and environmental molecular science.

(1) Climate Change research aimed at the development of advanced climate models to describe and predict the roles of oceans, the atmosphere, ice and land masses on climate over time and research to understand how carbon dioxide moves through the environment, ways to increase its removal from the atmosphere, and its impacts on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems.

(2) Environmental Remediation research aimed at the development of advanced treatment options for nuclear waste, thereby extending the frontiers of biological and chemical methods for remediation, including the use of Earth’s own microbe-based clean-up strategies; this research will yield science-based strategies to reduce the costs, risks, and time for cleanup of DOE sites contaminated from years of weapons research.

(3) Medical Sciences research aimed at the development of advanced imaging and other medical technologies including highly sensitive radiotracer detectors, radiopharmaceuticals, and new technologies such as an artificial retina that will give vision to the blind

(4) Life Sciences research aimed at the development of innovative solutions along unconventional paths to solve challenges in energy and the environment. Research is focused on understanding nature’s remarkable array of multi-protein molecular machines and the intricate workings of complex microbial communities; and on enabling us to use and even redesign these microbial machines and communities to produce clean energy, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and cleanup the environment. This program also supports research to understand the biological effects of low doses of radiation.

The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program supports fundamental research in the natural sciences leading to new and improved energy technologies. The program’s purpose is to create new scientific knowledge by supporting basic, peer-reviewed research in areas of materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, plant and microbial biosciences, and engineering sciences that are relevant to energy resources, production, conversion, and efficiency. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.

A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier national user facilities to serve researchers at universities, national laboratories, and industrial laboratories, thus enabling the acquisition of new knowledge that cannot be obtained in any other way. The scientific facilities include synchrotron radiation light sources, high-flux neutron sources, electron-beam microcharacterization centers, nanoscale science research centers, and specialized facilities such as the Combustion Research Facility. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonpropriety experiments.

A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future fusion energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.

The Department of Energy sponsors fusion science and technology research as a valuable investment in the clean energy future of this country and the world, as well as to sustain a field of scientific research ‑ plasma physics ‑ that is important in its own right and has produced insights and techniques applicable in other fields of science and industry. The mission of the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program is to acquire the knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source. FES research efforts seek to: (1) understand the physics of plasmas, the fourth state of matter – plasmas constitute most of the visible universe, both stellar and interstellar, and progress in plasma physics has been the prime engine driving progress in fusion research; (2) identify and explore innovative and cost‑effective development paths to fusion energy – the current fusion program encourages research on a wide range of approaches including the Tokamak (the leading power plant candidate), other magnetic configurations, and inertial fusion energy using particle beams or lasers; and (3) explore the science and technology of energy producing plasmas, the next frontier in fusion research, as a partner in a international effort – reducing costs, avoiding duplication of efforts, and bringing the best available scientific and engineering talent together to seek solutions to complex problems can best be done through the cooperative efforts of the world fusion community.

This is a time of important progress and discovery in fusion research. The FES program is making great progress in understanding turbulent losses of particles and energy across magnetic field lines used to confine fusion fuels, identifying and exploring innovative approaches to fusion power that may lead to more economical power plants, and encouraging private sector interests to apply concepts developed in the fusion research program. It is felt that small businesses, by performing research within the following technical topics, can make significant contributions to these efforts. This solicitation is restricted to science and technology relevant to magnetically confined plasmas and inertial fusion energy. Grant applications pertaining to fusion energy concepts not based specifically on the use of plasmas for producing energy/electricity for non‑defense purposes will be declined.

Through fundamental research, scientists have found that all physical matter is composed of apparently point-like particles, called leptons and quarks. These constituents of matter were created following the "big-bang" which originated our universe and they are components of every object that exists today. We also understand a great deal about the four basic forces of nature which we experience: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity. For example, in the past we have learned that the electromagnetic and weak forces are two components of a single force, called the electro-weak force. This unification of forces is analogous to the unification in the mid-nineteenth century of electric and magnetic forces into electromagnetism. History shows that, over a period of many years, the understanding of electromagnetism has led to many practical applications that form the technical basis of modern society.

The goal of the Department's High Energy Physics (HEP) program is to provide mankind with new insights into the fundamental nature of energy and matter and the forces that control them. This program is a major component of the Department's fundamental research mission. Such fundamental research provides the necessary foundation that enables the Nation to advance its scientific knowledge and technological capabilities, to advance its industrial competitiveness, and possibly to discover new and innovative approaches to its energy future.

Experimental research in HEP is largely performed by university scientists using particle accelerators located at major laboratories in the U.S. and abroad. Under the HEP program, the Department operates the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago, IL and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) near San Francisco, CA. Further, the Department has a significant role in the Large Hadron Collider project under construction at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland. The Tevatron at Fermilab is currently the world's highest energy accelerator. SLAC also provides unique experimental capabilities.

While much progress has been made during the past five decades in our understanding of particle physics, future progress depends to a great degree on the availability of new state-of-the-art technology for accelerators, colliders, and detectors operating at the high energy and/or high intensity frontiers.

Within High Energy Physics, the High Energy Technology subprogram supports the research and development required to extend relevant areas of technology in order to support the operations of highly specialized accelerators, colliding beam facilities, and detector facilities which are essential to the goals of the overall High Energy Physics program. The Department of Energy SBIR program provides a focused opportunity and mechanism for small businesses to contribute new ideas and new technologies to the pool of knowledge and technical capabilities required for continued progress in high energy physics research, and to turn these novel ideas and technologies into new business ventures.

The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) supports research in computational technology and laboratory technology research, subprograms that underlie a variety of Department of Energy missions.

ASCR's primary mission, carried out by the Mathematical, Information, and Computational Sciences subprogram, is to discover, develop, and deploy the computational and networking tools that enable researchers in the scientific disciplines to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy. To accomplish this mission the program fosters and supports fundamental research in advanced scientific computing – applied mathematics, computer science, and networking – and operates supercomputer, networking, and related facilities. The applied mathematics research efforts provide the fundamental mathematical methods to model complex physical and biological systems. The computer science research efforts enable scientists to efficiently run these models on the highest performance computers available and to store, manage, analyze, and visualize the massive amounts of data that result. The networking research provides the techniques to link the data producers; e.g., supercomputers and large experimental facilities with scientists who need access to the data.

The Laboratory Technology Research subprogram funds high-risk, multidisciplinary research partnerships between the DOE’s Office of Science multi-program national laboratories and private industry. Projects supported explore applications of basic research advances in the investigation of problems, over a full range of scientific disciplines, whose solutions have promising commercial potential.

Nuclear physics research seeks to understand the structure and interactions of atomic nuclei and the fundamental forces and particles of nature as manifested in nuclear matter. Nuclear processes are responsible for the nature and abundance of all matter, which in turn determines the essential physical characteristics of the universe. The primary mission of the Nuclear Physics (NP) program is to develop and support the scientists, techniques, and facilities that are needed for basic nuclear physics research. Attendant upon this core mission are responsibilities to enlarge and diversify the nation's pool of technically trained talent and to facilitate transfer of technology and knowledge to support the nation's economic base.

Nuclear physics research is carried out at National accelerator facilities and through university programs. The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) allows detailed studies of how quarks and gluons bind together to make protons and neutrons. In an upgrade currently underway, the CEBAF electron beam energy will be doubled from 6 to 12 GeV. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is forming new states of matter, which have not existed since the first moments after the birth of the Universe; a beam luminosity upgrade is proposed for the future. A new electron-ion collider is also being discussed at both TJNAF and RHIC.

The NP program also supports research and facility operations directed toward understanding the properties of nuclei at their limits of stability, and of the fundamental properties of nucleons and neutrinos. This research is made possible with the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which provide complementary facilities for stable and radioactive beams as well as a variety of species and energies; a local program of basic and applied research at the 88-Inch Cyclotron of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); the operations of accelerators for in-house research programs at three universities (Yale University, Texas A&M University, and the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) at Duke University), which provide unique instrumentation with a special emphasis on the training of students; non-accelerator experiments, such as large stand alone detectors and observatories for rare events. Of interest is R&D related to future experiments in fundamental symmetries such as neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments and measurement of the electric dipole moment of the neutron, where extremely low background and low count rate particle detections are essential. Another area of R&D is rare isotope beam capabilities, which could lead to a set of accelerator technologies and instrumentation developments targeted to explore the limits of nuclear existence. By producing and studying highly unstable nuclei that are now formed only in stars, scientists could better understand stellar evolution and the origin of the elements.

Our ability to continue making a scientific impact on the general community relies heavily on the availability of cutting edge technology and advances in detector instrumentation, electronics, software, and accelerator design. The technical topics that follow describe research and development opportunities in the equipment, techniques, and facilities needed to conduct and advance nuclear physics research at existing and future facilities.

The mission of the Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution is to lead a national effort to modernize and expand America’s electricity delivery system to ensure a more reliable and robust electricity supply, as well as economic and national security. A modernized grid will significantly improve the nation’s electric reliability, efficiency, and affordability. The risk of multi-regional blackouts (such as the August 2003 blackout) will be reduced by providing faster detection of problems, and more widespread operator awareness, of local outages, load imbalances, frequency and voltage problems, and other faults.

The mission of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is to strengthen America's energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality through public-private partnerships that enhance energy efficiency and productivity; strengthen the U. S. manufacturing sector with advances in innovation; bring clean, reliable, and affordable energy technologies to the marketplace; and make a difference in the everyday lives of Americans by enhancing their energy choices and their quality of life.

In order to accomplish this mission EERE has streamlined and integrated its program and business management by creating 11 programs to most effectively address the needs of the industry, transportation, buildings and power sectors: Biomass; Buildings; Distributed Energy and Electricity Reliability; Federal Energy Management; FreedomCar and Vehicle Technologies; Geothermal; Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies; Industrial Technologies; Solar Energy Technology; Wind and Hydropower Technologies; and Weatherization and Intergovernmental.

One of EERE’s core mission priorities is to engage and partner with the small business technology sector, in so doing, “leapfrog the status quo” by facilitating the development of new technologies that will dramatically reduce or end dependence on foreign oil; increase the viability and deployment of renewable energy technologies; increase the reliability and efficiency of electricity generation, delivery, and use; increase the efficiency of buildings and appliances; and increase the efficiency/reduce the energy intensity of industry.

It is estimated that the energy technologies and practices supported by the EERE programs have saved Americans billions of dollars in energy costs over the past decade. These savings are projected to dramatically increase as emerging and new energy technologies are developed and commercialized. These energy savings are accompanied by parallel reductions in emissions and pollutants that affect human health and in the production of greenhouse gases. The EE program in renewable energy has advanced the state of technologies in such areas as solar, wind, and biomass to the point where renewables have been projected to supply as much as 28 percent of the nation’s energy by 2030.

Fossil energy plays a key role in our nation's prosperity, and it is important that we secure an adequate energy supply from our coal, natural gas, and oil resources. However, national complacency, derived from low-cost imported oil, has allowed petroleum imports to increase to alarming levels. We need not go far back in history to find out how uncertainty in petroleum supply can affect our nation's economic growth. Nonetheless, our near term power generation, heating, and transportation needs still require the utilization of these hydrocarbon-based fuels. As the economy expands, demand for hydrocarbons will increase accordingly. Therefore, the Office of Fossil Energy seeks to develop advanced fossil energy technologies that are environmentally sound and economically competitive.

Technological innovation is required to take advantage of the United States ' large supply of coal and natural gas reserves. Coal's major drawback is that it contains sulfur, nitrogen, and trace heavy metals, precursors of pollutants that could have deleterious effects on the environment. Natural gas is also produced with a wide variety of pollutant-forming compounds, which preclude some applications such as fuel cells and advanced gas turbines. For both coal and natural gas, further improvements are needed to develop advanced, low cost, high-efficiency processes for the production of clean energy. In addition, it is prudent to consider ways to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are generated by the combustion of fossil fuels, to investigate carbon sequestration in geological and other systems, to consider hydrogen as alternate fuel, and to mitigate impacts on water resources. Advanced technology development in materials to assure compatibility with advances in power systems, will be needed for these challenges - as well as innovations in fuel cells, measurements, sensors, monitors, and controls - to be commercially competitive.

Improvements are also needed in our ability to recover both oil and natural gas. About two-thirds of our national petroleum reserve is "unrecoverable"; i.e., it cannot be extracted economically by conventional means. This unused resource could play a major role in supplementing the national petroleum supply if efficient approaches were developed for improved extraction. Natural gas production and utilization could also be increased through improved characterization of reserves and through better infrastructure.

Many of the topic offerings indirectly support the DOE initiative of FutureGen, which is a platform to demonstrate hydrogen production and carbon sequestration. The objectives of FutureGen are to produce hydrogen at $4/MMBtu, sequester 100% of the carbon-dioxide, and produce electricity with zero emissions at less than a 10% increase in cost.

The purpose of this program area is to seek the participation of small businesses in addressing problems related to utilization of coal and natural gas to produce power, and to the recovery of oil and natural gas.

Continued use of nuclear power is an important part of the Department’s strategy to provide for the Nation’s energy security, as well as to be responsible stewards of the environment. Nuclear energy currently provides over 20 percent of the U.S. electricity generation and will continue to provide a significant portion of U.S. electrical energy production for many years to come. Also, nuclear power in the U.S. makes a significant contribution to lowering the emission of gases associated with global climate change and air pollution.

The Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (NE) enables the Department of Energy to provide the technical leadership necessary to address critical domestic and international nuclear issues by administering research and development and technical assistance in the following general areas: (1) the Generation IV Nuclear

Energy Systems Initiative seeks to develop and demonstrate of one or more Generation IV nuclear energy systems that offer advantages in the areas of economics, safety and reliability, sustainability, and could be deployed commercially by 2030, (2) the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) Program addresses key issues affecting the future of nuclear energy in order to preserve U.S. nuclear science and technology leadership, (3) the Radioisotope Power Systems Program develops new state-of-the-art radioisotope power systems to support the NASA space missions and terrestrial applications for other agencies, (4) the Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization (NEPO) Program conducts research to assure the continued safe and reliable operations of over 100 of the Nation’s nuclear power plants, (5) the University Reactor Fuel and Educational Assistance Program is designed to help retain the U.S. nuclear engineering capability for conducting nuclear research, addressing pressing nuclear environmental challenges, and preserving the nuclear energy option, (6) the Isotope Production Program produces and sells hundreds of stable and radioactive isotopes that are widely used by domestic and international customers for medicine, industry and research applications, and (7) the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative supports the growth of nuclear energy by developing and demonstrating technologies that enable transition to a stable, long-term, environmentally, economically and politically acceptable advanced fuel cycle.

The Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, a component of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), sponsors the development of many types of sensors, data collection systems, and data analysis systems to detect and deter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The scope of this mission includes technologies for nuclear explosion monitoring, detection of the production of materials for nuclear weapons, and detection technologies to support the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT).