United States Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy
Seal of the Department of Energy
Agency overview
Formed	August 4, 1977
Preceding Agencies	Energy Research and Development Administration   Federal Energy Administration
Employees	16,100 federal 100,000 contract (2004)
Annual Budget	$23.4 billion (2006)
Agency Executives	Samuel W. Bodman, Secretary   Jeffrey Kupfer, Deputy Secretary (Acting)
Website
www.energy.gov

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. DOE also sponsors more basic and applied scientific research than any other US federal agency; most of this is funded through its system of United States Department of Energy National Laboratories.

The agency is administered by the United States Secretary of Energy, and its headquarters are located in southwest Washington, D.C., on Independence Avenue in the Forrestal Building, named for James Forrestal, as well as in Germantown, Maryland.

Operating units

DOE headquarters

United States Department of Energy seal as seen at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is an independent agency in the United States Department of Energy. It is the source for official energy statistics from the U.S. Government. EIA collects, analyzes, and publishes data as directed by law to ensure efficient markets, inform policy-making, and support public understanding of energy.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is part of the United States Department of Energy. It works to improve national security through the military application of nuclear energy. The NNSA also maintains and improves the safety, reliability, and performance of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile, including the ability to design, produce, and test, in order to meet national security requirements.

The Department's Office of Secure Transportation (OST) provides safe and secure transportation of nuclear weapons and components and special nuclear materials, and conducts other missions supporting the national security of the United States of America. Since 1974, OST has been assigned responsibility to develop, operate, and manage a system for the safe and secure transportation of all government-owned, DOE or NNSA controlled special nuclear materials in "strategic" or "significant" quantities. Shipments are transported in specially designed equipment and are escorted by armed Federal Agents (Nuclear Material Couriers).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent regulatory agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. The Department also manages the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Office of Cyber Security maintains the Computer Incident Advisory Capability service (CIAC), which provides computer-security related bulletins going back to 1989. Also provides resources about protecting yourself from viruses, hoaxes and other malicious entities on the Internet.

National laboratories

National laboratories funded by the Department include:

• Albany Research Center
• Ames Laboratory
• Argonne National Laboratory
• Bannister Federal Complex - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Center for Functional Nanomaterials (under design or construction) - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (under design or construction) - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Center for Nanoscale Materials (under design or construction) - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Environmental Measurements Laboratory (now affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security) - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• Idaho National Engineering Laboratory - Same as Idaho National Laboratory
• Idaho National Laboratory)
• Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory - operates for Naval Reactors Program Research under the DOE - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Molecular Foundry (under design or construction) - part of LBL, not a national laboratory
• National Energy Technology Laboratory
• National Petroleum Technology Office - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• New Brunswick Laboratory - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• Radiological & Environmental Sciences Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratories
• Savannah River Site (aka Savannah River National Laboratory)
• Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
• Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
• Yucca Mountain - DOE facility, not a National Laboratory

Responsibility for nuclear weapons

In the United States, all nuclear weapons deployed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD) are actually on loan to DOD from the DOE, which has federal responsibility for the design, testing and production of all nuclear weapons. DOE in turn uses contractors to carry out its responsibilities at the following sites:

• Design of the nuclear components of the weapon: Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Engineering of the weapon systems: Sandia National Laboratory
• Manufacturing of key components: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Testing: Nevada Test Site
• Final weapon/warhead assembling/dismantling: Pantex

History

Many federal agencies have been established to handle various aspects of U.S. energy policy, dating back to the creation of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent Atomic Energy Commission. The impetus for putting them all under the auspices of a single department was the 1973 energy crisis, in response to which President Jimmy Carter proposed creation of the department. The enabling legislation was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Carter on August 4, 1977. The department began operations on October 1, 1977.

Controversy

During the Wen Ho Lee scandal, involving stolen nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory, hearings were called in Congress regarding the Department of Energy's handling of the matter. Republican senators thought that an independent agency should be in charge of nuclear weapons and security issues, not the Department of Energy.^[1] Federal officials, including then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, had publicly named Lee as a suspect in the theft of classified nuclear documents before he was charged with a crime; he was later cleared of the spying charges and won a settlement with the federal government.^[2]

Related legislation

Hierarchy of the U.S. Department of Energy

• 1920 - Federal Power Act
• 1946 - Atomic Energy Act PL 79-585 (created the Atomic Energy Commission)
• 1954 - Atomic Energy Act Amendments PL 83-703
• 1956 - Colorado River Storage Project PL 84-485
• 1957 - Atomic Energy Commission Acquisition of Property PL 85-162
• 1957 - Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act PL 85-256
• 1968 - Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act PL 90-481
• 1973 - Mineral Leasing Act Amendments (Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline Authorization) PL 93-153
• 1974 - Energy Reorganization Act PL 93-438 (Split the AEC into the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
• 1975 - Energy Policy and Conservation Act PL 94-163
• 1977 - Department of Energy Organization Act PL 95-91 (Dismantled ERDA and replaced it with the Department of Energy)
• 1978 - National Energy Act PL 95-617, 618, 619, 620, 621
• 1980 - Energy Security Act PL 96-294
• 1989 - Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act PL 101-60
• 1992 - Energy Policy Act of 1992 PL 102-486
• 2005 - Energy Policy Act of 2005 PL 109-58
• 2007 - Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 PL 110-140
• 2008 - Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 PL 110-234

See also

• Advanced Energy Initiative
• Energy Policy Act of 2005
• North American Solar Challenge
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Twenty In Ten

References

External links

• "United States Department of Energy Official Website". Retrieved on August 7, 2006.
• "Energy Information Administration". Department of Energy. Retrieved on August 7, 2006.
• "Office of Science". Department of Energy. Retrieved on August 7, 2006.
• Works by the United States Department of Energy at Project Gutenberg
• Advanced Energy Initiative
• Twenty In Ten.

Agencies under the United States Department of Energy Secretary of Energy Deputy Secretary of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence · Energy Information Administration · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and Environment Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management · Office of Electricity Deliverability & Energy Reliability · Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy · Office of Environmental Management · Office of Fossil Energy · Office of Legacy Management · Office of Nuclear Energy, Science & Technology Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security National Nuclear Security Administration Under Secretary of Energy for Science Office of Science Power Marketing Administration Bonneville Power Administration · Southeastern Power Administration · Southwestern Power Administration · Western Area Power Administration National Laboratory System Albany · Ames · Argonne · Berkeley · Brookhaven · EMSL · Fermilab · Idaho · Livermore · Los Alamos · NBL · NETL · NREL · NTS · Oak Ridge · Pacific Northwest · PPPL · RESL · Sandia · SLAC · SNS · TJNAF