United States Department of Energy
Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNI : United States Department of Energy
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| Established: | August 4, 1977 |
| Activated: | October 1, 1977 |
| Secretary: | Samuel W. Bodman |
| Deputy Secretary: | Jeffrey Clay Sell |
| Budget: | .4 billion (2006) |
| Employees: | 16,100 federal 100,000 contract (2004) |
In the United States, all nuclear weapons deployed by the US 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; 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, and final weapon/warhead assembling/dismantling - Pantex.
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 Congress and signed into law by President Carter on August 4, 1977. The department began operations on October 1, 1977. The agency is administered by the United States Secretary of Energy.
Operating units
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.
National laboratories funded by the Department include:
- Albany Research Center
- Ames Laboratory
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Argonne National Laboratory (West) (now part of Idaho National Laboratory)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Center for Functional Nanomaterials (under design or construction)
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (under design or construction)
- Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (under design or construction)
- Center for Nanoscale Materials (under design or construction)
- Environmental Measurements Laboratory (now affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security)
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
- Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory - operates for Naval Reactors Program Research under the DOE
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Molecular Foundry (under design or construction)
- National Energy Technology Laboratory
- National Petroleum Technology Office
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- New Brunswick Laboratory
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Radiological & Environmental Sciences Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Savannah River Ecology Laboratory [link] on the Savannah River Site
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
- Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
- Yucca Mountain
- Bonneville Power Administration
- Southeastern Power Administration
- Southwestern Power Administration
- Western Area Power Administration
Related legislation
- 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
See also
- American Solar Challenge
- Energy Policy Act of 2005
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Timeline of Chinese espionage against the U.S.
External links and sources
- [United States Department of Energy Official Website]
- [Energy Information Administration]
- [Office of Science]
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