Title 42 › CHAPTER 161 — DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RESEARCH AND INNOVATION › SUBCHAPTER III — DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF SCIENCE POLICY › § 18644
The Director must run a research program on biological systems, climate, and environmental science to help develop new energy technologies and support the Department’s energy, environmental, and national security missions. The program focuses on genomic and systems biology of plants, fungi, and microbes to speed bioenergy, advanced biofuels, and bioproduct development; microbiomes and plant‑microbe relationships; carbon cycling and removal; subsurface processes that move or clean contaminants; computational tools, imaging, sensors, and high-performance computing; and models for ecosystems and the atmosphere. The Director must also run biomolecular characterization and imaging research, build and operate user facilities (chosen by competition) that include field observation sites, laboratory analysis, sequencing, and modeling resources, and fund programs for integrated user-facility use, atmospheric research, coastal “littoral” field sites, and an engineered‑ecosystems effort using AI and new sensors. The Director must coordinate with other agencies (like NOAA, NSF, EPA, NASA, USDA, Interior) and with stakeholders. The Secretary must expand the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (or its successor) to add high‑throughput microbial and molecular phenotyping with operations starting no later than September 29, 2027, subject to funding. Funding authorized for that project: $550,000 for FY2023; $29,000,000 for FY2024; $32,000,000 for FY2025; $30,500,000 for FY2026; and $27,500,000 for FY2027. The Secretary must run a research program on low‑dose and low dose‑rate radiation to improve understanding and risk assessment. The Secretary had to contract with the National Academy of Sciences within 90 days after December 27, 2020 to make a long‑term research plan and send that plan to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources within one year of December 27, 2020. The Comptroller General must report to those committees within 3 years after December 27, 2020 on program activities, coordination, and plan implementation. The program must coordinate with other agencies and users, and support education and outreach. Low‑dose research funding available from the Biological and Environmental Research Program: $20,000,000 for FY2021; $20,000,000 for FY2022; $30,000,000 for FY2023; $40,000,000 for FY2024; $40,000,000 for FY2025; $50,000,000 for FY2026; and $50,000,000 for FY2027. The Secretary must also run basic research, with NASA, on how low‑dose radiation effects compare on Earth, in low Earth orbit, and in deep space to help long‑duration space exploration. Office of Science funding authorized for these activities: $885,420,000 for FY2023; $946,745,200 for FY2024; $1,001,149,912 for FY2025; $1,068,818,907 for FY2026; and $1,129,948,041 for FY2027. Definitions (one line each): Advanced biofuel — meaning given in section 8101 of title 7. Bioenergy — energy derived from biofuels. Biomass — meaning given in section 15852(b) of this title. Bioproduct — meaning “biobased product” in section 8101 of title 7.
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The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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Citation
42 U.S.C. § 18644
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110