About the Office of Science - The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, providing more than 40 percent of total funding for this vital area of national importance. It oversees – and is the principal federal funding agency of – the Nation’s research programs in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and fusion energy sciences.

The United States is part of an international collaboration to construct and operate ITER, a full-scale experimental device that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. ITER (prounced like 'fitter' is Latin for 'the way') will be constructed at Cadarache, France, and is expected to be completed by 2016. All U.S. activities will be managed by the U.S. ITER Project Office, hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory with partner labs Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory. The project will be accomplished through a collaboration of DOE laboratories, universities, and industry.