Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories."
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S. HRG. 115–484 FOSTERING INNOVATION: CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S NATIONAL LABORATORIES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 26–874 WASHINGTON : 2019 COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho RON WYDEN, Oregon MIKE LEE, Utah BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont JEFF FLAKE, Arizona DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan STEVE DAINES, Montana AL FRANKEN, Minnesota CORY GARDNER, Colorado JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine ROB PORTMAN, Ohio TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois LUTHER STRANGE, Alabama CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY CORY GARDNER, Chairman JAMES E. RISCH JOE MANCHIN III JEFF FLAKE RON WYDEN STEVE DAINES BERNARD SANDERS LAMAR ALEXANDER AL FRANKEN JOHN HOEVEN MARTIN HEINRICH BILL CASSIDY ANGUS S. KING, JR. ROB PORTMAN TAMMY DUCKWORTH LUTHER STRANGE CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO COLIN HAYES, Staff Director PATRICK J. MCCORMICK III, Chief Counsel BRIANNE MILLER, Senior Professional Staff Member and Energy Policy Advisor ANGELA BECKER-DIPPMANN, Democratic Staff Director SAM E. FOWLER, Democratic Chief Counsel SCOTT MCKEE, Democratic Professional Staff Member (II) C O N T E N T S OPENING STATEMENTS Page Gardner, Hon. Cory, Subcommittee Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Colo- rado ....................................................................................................................... 1 Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Subcommittee Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from West Virginia ............................................................................................... 2 Duckworth, Hon. Tammy, a U.S. Senator from Illinois ....................................... 4 WITNESSES Tumas, Dr. Bill, Associate Lab Director, Materials and Chemical Science and Technology, National Renewable Energy Laboratory ................................ 5 Ratnayake, Anuja, Director, Emerging Technology Strategy, Duke Energy Corporation ........................................................................................................... 16 Kearns, Dr. Paul, Interim Laboratory Director, Argonne National Labora- tory ........................................................................................................................ 25 Anderson, Dr. Brian J., Director of the WVU Energy Institute, West Virginia University ............................................................................................................. 32 ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED Anderson, Dr. Brian J.: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 32 Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 35 Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 71 Duckworth, Hon. Tammy: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 4 Gardner, Hon. Cory: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 1 ‘‘75 Breakthroughs’’ by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Labora- tories .............................................................................................................. 39 Kearns, Dr. Paul: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 25 Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 28 Manchin III, Hon. Joe: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 2 Ratnayake, Anuja: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 16 Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 18 Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 68 Tumas, Dr. Bill: Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 5 Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 8 Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 63 (III) FOSTERING INNOVATION: CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S NATIONAL LABORATORIES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:06 p.m. in Room SD–366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Cory Gardner, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CORY GARDNER, U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO Senator GARDNER [presiding]. The Committee will come to order. Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for your patience as we had to delay the hearing start. Today the Subcommittee on Energy will hold its second hearing in the 115th Congress. I enjoy the opportunity, always, to work with the Ranking Member, Senator Manchin, to address these key topics in Energy. During today’s hearing we will take a deeper look into the De- partment of Energy’s National Laboratory system. In 2015, the Council to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Labora- tories stated that the 17 labs of the DOE ‘‘are national assets that have contributed profoundly to the nation’s security, scientific lead- ership, and economic competitiveness.’’ I am excited to hear much more about these outcomes today. The constellation of national labs was born from our desire to harness nuclear energy. Through today’s discussion, I suspect our witnesses will enlighten us on the dramatic transformations that the lab system has taken over the last 70 years to continually ad- dress our nation’s biggest challenges and leaders, and as you are leaders, on the global stage. The U.S. has been the leader in research and development for years, but China is close at our heels in research spending. How we choose to invest in our national labs and support the scientists within them is critical going forward. Today I hope to hear more about what has been accomplished with the world-leading unique facilities we have developed so far and insights into how our laboratories incubate creative experts re- sponsible for life-changing outcomes. (1) 2 If I remember right from chemistry class, and according to my grades I may not have always remembered right, a catalyst is something that promotes or accelerates a reaction or outcome that would not normally happen. I believe our national labs are cata- lysts that have accelerated or made possible many innovations. Our national labs harness nuclear power. They have shown us how to draw energy from the sun and the wind. Medical imaging was made possible by national lab materials discoveries. They have continued to push the limits of computational power and software tools to analyze the most difficult problems to keep us all safe, both from nuclear weapons and even in the car as we drive. The national labs are truly a catalyst. The ability of national labs to encourage innovation, foster collaboration and accelerate out- comes results in significant value and impact. I expect our witnesses today can probably teach us a thing or two about catalysis science. Beyond that, I definitely look forward to hearing them elaborate on the discovery environment within the labs and examples of results providing societal value. I believe the national labs have demonstrated a great ability to our delivery on science over several generations and Administrations and will con- tinue to enhance the lives of millions of Americans. I would like to welcome our four witnesses: Dr. Brian Anderson, Dr. Kearns, Ms. Ratnayake, if I got it right, and Dr. Tumas; but I will start first with turning to Senator Manchin for comments and introduction. STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III, U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA Senator MANCHIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for scheduling this hearing and for your work and support of our country’s national lab system. Between the National Energy Technology Lab in Morgantown, West Virginia, and the National Renewable Energy Lab that calls Colorado home, Senator Gardner and I have a firsthand under- standing and appreciation for the critical work that is done by the good men and women who make our national lab systems. I was happy to work with Senator Capito on the Appropriations Committee to ensure that NETL is funded at $72.66 million for NETL research and development and at $58.68 million for NETL infrastructure and operations for the Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water bill. I also want to thank Senator Heinrich for his leadership on the Energy Technology Maturation Act of 2017. This bill is a common- sense approach to ensuring that the Department of Energy can incentivize small businesses and private sector interest to partner with the national laboratories to advance the growth of lab-based technologies