United States Department of Energy
The Department of Energy of the United States (official United States Department of Energy, DOE) is a ministry within the Federal Government of the United States, responsible for energy and nuclear safety. Fall within the remit of the Ministry
- The state's nuclear weapons program
- The production of nuclear reactors for the Navy
- Energy saving programs
- Research in the field of energy (see National Research Facilities )
- The disposal of radioactive waste
- Energy production
The ministry grew out of several state departments, managed the various aspects of energy policy. The first goes back to the nuclear weapons program, the Manhattan Project and was the Atomic Energy Commission. It was in 1974 dissolved and replaced by the supervisory authority Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration of civil and military nuclear research. In response to the first oil crisis in 1973/74 Jimmy Carter, U.S. President from 1977 to 1981, these two and other authorities ( the price of oil tripled in a short time ) united under the umbrella of a new ministry. Congress passed the relevant law on 4 August 1977, the Ministry began its work on 1 October 1977. The top officials of the Ministry, the Minister of Energy.
National research institutions
The Department of Energy maintains a system of national research centers, the so-called National Laboratory system in which basic scientific research and military research is done ( and Others nuclear weapons ). These include
- Ames Laboratory
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- National Energy Technology Laboratory
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Radiological & Environmental Sciences Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Savannah River National Laboratory
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
- Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Other Features
The Office of Scientific and Technical Information in the Department of Energy provides on its websites access to databases containing information from the scientific research and development of the Ministry and other authorities and institutions.
The Ministry issues every two years the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award to outstanding U.S. scientists who conduct research in the tasks of the Ministry.
The Department of Energy has a department called the Office of Intelligence, who works as a news service and of open and covert sources of international information on nuclear weapons and non-proliferation ( nuclear non-proliferation ), energy security, science and technology in the field of energy and nuclear energy, nuclear safety and nuclear waste procured and evaluates. The analyzes of the scientific experts are made available to the entire intelligence community and the federal government.
President Barack Obama created a new position in the White House, the " Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change ", and appointed Carol Browner to a new post. Brown previously worked at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).