The Department of Energy is really two things wearing one badge. It runs the national laboratory system through its Office of Science — the country's largest funder of the physical sciences, home to particle accelerators, supercomputers, and fusion experiments. And through the National Nuclear Security Administration it does the science behind the nuclear weapons stockpile. Around those sit applied programs for renewables, nuclear power, fossil energy, and the high-risk research agency ARPA-E.
The budget's shape is a long valley. Energy research and development (R&D) peaked at about $15.4 billion in 2017 dollars in 1978, at the height of the energy crisis, then fell hard through the Reagan years and bottomed out near $9 billion in the mid-1990s. The climb back took decades: only in 2018 did the inflation-adjusted budget finally pass its 1978 level, and 2022 set the series record at about $19.3 billion.
Fiscal year 2025 came in at about $20.7 billion in current dollars. The 2026 figure — roughly $14 billion, a cut of about a third — is the estimate from the White House budget request. Congress restored much of it: the enacted FY 2026 appropriation came to about $17 billion in R&D. The budget-cycle section below shows the path, account by account.
The current budget cycle: FY 2026 enacted, FY 2027 requested
What Congress enacted for fiscal year 2026 and what the White House has requested for FY 2027, account by account. Budget authority in millions of dollars.
The research and development share of this budget — as estimated by AAAS, excluding non-R&D activities in these accounts — came to $17B enacted for FY 2026 · $13.7B requested for FY 2027 (-19.3%).
| Account | FY 2026 enacted | FY 2027 request | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office of Science | |||
| Basic Energy Sciences (BES) | $2.7B | $2.1B | -19.9% |
| High-Energy Physics (HEP) | $1.2B | $1.1B | -9.3% |
| Adv Sci Computing Res (ASCR) | $1.1B | $1.1B | -1.1% |
| Nuclear Physics | $866M | $791M | -8.6% |
| Bio and Environ Research (BER) | $854M | $396M | -53.6% |
| Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) | $805M | $755M | -6.2% |
| TOTAL | $8.4B | $7.1B | -15% |
| Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy | |||
| Vehicle Tech | $397M | — | — |
| Advanced Manufacturing | $390M | $150M | -61.5% |
| Building Tech | $390M | $20M | -94.9% |
| Bioenergy Tech | $245M | — | — |
| Solar Energy | $220M | — | — |
| Water Power | $220M | — | — |
| Hydrogen & Fuel Cells | $160M | — | — |
| Geothermal Tech | $150M | — | — |
| Wind Energy | $100M | — | — |
| TOTAL | $3.1B | $1.1B | -63.8% |
| Fossil Energy | |||
| Other Advanced Coal R&D | $309M | — | — |
| CCUS | $0M | — | — |
| Natural Gas Tech | $0M | — | — |
| Unconventional Tech | $0M | — | — |
| Total Budget | $720M | $676M | -6.1% |
| Nuclear Energy | |||
| Adv. Reactor Demonstration | $490M | $219M | -55.4% |
| Reactor Concepts RD&D | $176M | $127M | -27.8% |
| Nuclear Enabling Tech | $113M | $94M | -17.2% |
| Total Budget | $1.8B | $1.4B | -23% |
| Other DOE programs | |||
| ARPA-E | $350M | $200M | -42.8% |
| Electricity Delivery | $235M | $203M | -13.4% |
| Cybersecurity and Response | $190M | $160M | -15.7% |
| Energy Information Administration | $135M | $135M | +0.3% |
| Demonstration programs | |||
| Clean Energy Demonstration | $0M | $0M | — |
| National Nuclear Security Administration | |||
| RDT&E: Science Assessment | $976M | $0M | -100% |
| RDT&E: Adv Sim & Computing | $866M | $0M | -100% |
| Nonproliferation and Forensics R&D | $809M | $819M | +1.3% |
| RDT&E: IC Fusion | $803M | $0M | -100% |
| RDT&E: Engineering | $372M | $0M | -100% |
| RDT&E: Manufacturing | $267M | $0M | -100% |
| RDT&E: Academic Programs | $100M | $0M | -100% |
| RDT&E Total | $3.3B | $368M | -88.9% |
Budget history
Energy research peaked during the late-1970s energy crisis and took four decades to climb back — it finally passed its 1978 real-terms level in 2018.
The DOE research and development (R&D) budget, every fiscal year on record.
- 1978 — Energy crisis peak. Energy R&D crests at about $15.4 billion in 2017 dollars at the height of the energy crisis.
- 1997 — Mid-1990s trough. The inflation-adjusted budget bottoms out near $9 billion after two decades of retreat.
- 2022 — Series record. Infrastructure-law-era funding sets a new real-terms high of about $19.3 billion in 2017 dollars.
See the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | Nominal dollars | Constant 2017 dollars | R&D share of GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 3,069 | 10,678 | 0.17% |
| 1977 | 4,154 | 13,478 | 0.21% |
| 1978 | 5,053 | 15,363 | 0.22% |
| 1979 | 5,442 | 15,308 | 0.21% |
| 1980 | 5,769 | 14,926 | 0.21% |
| 1981 | 6,156 | 14,505 | 0.2% |
| 1982 | 5,406 | 11,910 | 0.16% |
| 1983 | 5,165 | 10,904 | 0.15% |
| 1984 | 5,637 | 11,487 | 0.14% |
| 1985 | 5,979 | 11,790 | 0.14% |
| 1986 | 5,540 | 10,685 | 0.12% |
| 1987 | 5,422 | 10,229 | 0.11% |
| 1988 | 5,821 | 10,637 | 0.11% |
| 1989 | 6,255 | 10,985 | 0.11% |
| 1990 | 6,988 | 11,840 | 0.12% |
| 1991 | 7,339 | 12,005 | 0.12% |
| 1992 | 8,133 | 12,980 | 0.13% |
| 1993 | 7,444 | 11,608 | 0.11% |
| 1994 | 6,771 | 10,333 | 0.094% |
| 1995 | 6,416 | 9,588 | 0.085% |
| 1996 | 6,273 | 9,201 | 0.079% |
| 1997 | 6,217 | 8,960 | 0.074% |
| 1998 | 6,351 | 9,039 | 0.071% |
| 1999 | 6,966 | 9,794 | 0.073% |
| 2000 | 6,956 | 9,580 | 0.069% |
| 2001 | 7,733 | 10,398 | 0.073% |
| 2002 | 8,078 | 10,694 | 0.075% |
| 2003 | 8,454 | 10,980 | 0.075% |
| 2004 | 8,713 | 11,047 | 0.072% |
| 2005 | 8,620 | 10,606 | 0.067% |
| 2006 | 8,584 | 10,230 | 0.063% |
| 2007 | 9,035 | 10,479 | 0.063% |
| 2008 | 9,769 | 11,100 | 0.066% |
| 2009 | 10,301 | 11,586 | 0.071% |
| 2010 | 10,836 | 12,083 | 0.073% |
| 2011 | 10,673 | 11,667 | 0.069% |
| 2012 | 10,811 | 11,607 | 0.067% |
| 2013 | 10,705 | 11,288 | 0.064% |
| 2014 | 11,994 | 12,421 | 0.069% |
| 2015 | 14,385 | 14,744 | 0.08% |
| 2016 | 15,007 | 15,260 | 0.081% |
| 2017 | 15,319 | 15,319 | 0.08% |
| 2018 | 17,441 | 17,062 | 0.086% |
| 2019 | 18,271 | 17,550 | 0.086% |
| 2020 | 19,137 | 18,145 | 0.091% |
| 2021 | 17,759 | 16,278 | 0.077% |
| 2022 | 22,562 | 19,328 | 0.089% |
| 2023 | 20,790 | 17,031 | 0.077% |
| 2024 | 20,703 | 16,519 | 0.073% |
| 2025 | 20,693 | 16,156 | 0.071% |
| 2026est. | 13,997 | 10,706 | 0.046% |
Where the money goes
The Office of Science and the nuclear-weapons agency NNSA anchor the budget, surrounded by applied energy programs.
The major DOE budget lines tracked by AAAS. These are appropriations accounts — they overlap the budget-history series but are not an exact decomposition of it.
See the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | Office of Science | Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | Electricity | Nuclear Energy | Fossil Energy R&D | Energy Supply | Energy Conservation | Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy | National Nuclear Security Agency | Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 3,880 | — | — | — | 595 | 3,361 | 340 | — | — | — |
| 1986 | 3,272 | — | — | — | 559 | 3,025 | 295 | — | — | — |
| 1987 | 2,373 | — | — | — | 444 | 2,766 | 278 | — | — | — |
| 1988 | 3,399 | — | — | — | 697 | 2,815 | 303 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | 3,250 | — | — | — | 549 | 2,785 | 252 | — | — | — |
| 1990 | 3,206 | — | — | — | 584 | 2,829 | 305 | — | — | — |
| 1991 | 4,213 | — | — | — | 631 | 3,157 | 322 | — | — | — |
| 1992 | 4,727 | — | — | — | 567 | 3,363 | 367 | — | — | — |
| 1993 | 4,786 | — | — | — | 512 | 3,290 | 443 | — | — | — |
| 1994 | 4,920 | — | — | — | 513 | 3,237 | 526 | — | — | — |
| 1995 | 4,026 | — | — | — | 489 | 3,355 | 534 | — | — | — |
| 1996 | 3,670 | — | — | — | 428 | 2,756 | 450 | — | — | — |
| 1997 | 3,427 | — | — | — | 413 | 697 | 460 | — | — | — |
| 1998 | 3,548 | — | — | — | 393 | 421 | 484 | — | — | — |
| 1999 | 3,824 | — | — | — | 415 | 505 | 536 | — | — | — |
| 2000 | 3,869 | — | — | — | 485 | 512 | 647 | — | — | — |
| 2001 | 4,311 | — | — | — | 600 | 83 | 584 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | 4,320 | — | — | — | 551 | 634 | 557 | — | 10,086 | — |
| 2003 | 4,193 | — | — | — | 590 | 658 | 531 | — | 10,060 | — |
| 2004 | 4,335 | — | — | — | 673 | 470 | 466 | — | 10,988 | — |
| 2005 | 4,333 | — | — | — | 534 | 758 | 100 | — | 10,921 | — |
| 2006 | 4,214 | — | — | — | 502 | 640 | 151 | — | 10,566 | — |
| 2007 | 4,360 | 1,066 | 110 | 341 | 547 | — | — | — | 10,585 | — |
| 2008 | 4,592 | 848 | 93 | 623 | 620 | — | — | — | 9,914 | — |
| 2009 | 5,367 | 948 | 84 | 702 | 602 | — | — | — | 10,180 | — |
| 2010 | 5,426 | 2,423 | 184 | 938 | 721 | — | — | — | 10,793 | — |
| 2011 | 5,258 | 1,902 | 147 | 865 | 628 | — | — | 193 | 11,301 | — |
| 2012 | 5,204 | 1,878 | 136 | 900 | 553 | — | — | 264 | 11,606 | — |
| 2013 | 4,848 | 1,752 | 134 | 827 | 516 | — | — | 260 | 10,953 | — |
| 2014 | 5,259 | 1,871 | 148 | 900 | 564 | — | — | 287 | 11,484 | — |
| 2015 | 5,153 | 1,872 | 146 | 836 | 558 | — | — | 285 | 11,589 | — |
| 2016 | 5,347 | 2,069 | 206 | 986 | 632 | — | — | 291 | 12,527 | — |
| 2017 | 5,274 | 1,990 | 147 | 994 | 667 | — | — | 296 | 12,647 | 77 |
| 2018 | 6,013 | 2,230 | 153 | 1,157 | 698 | — | — | 339 | 14,090 | 98 |
| 2019 | 6,243 | 2,256 | 148 | 1,257 | 702 | — | — | 347 | 14,439 | 114 |
| 2020 | 6,416 | 2,546 | 174 | 1,369 | 687 | — | — | 390 | 15,311 | 143 |
| 2021 | 6,019 | 2,454 | 173 | 1,292 | 643 | — | — | 366 | 16,524 | 134 |
| 2022 | 6,991 | 2,779 | 206 | 1,377 | 489 | — | — | 341 | 17,390 | 125 |
| 2023 | 6,463 | 14,360 | 636 | 1,858 | 1,000 | — | — | 375 | 18,094 | 211 |
| 2024 | 6,433 | 2,701 | 219 | 1,316 | 675 | — | — | 359 | 18,858 | 156 |
| 2025 | 6,303 | 2,646 | 214 | 1,289 | 662 | — | — | 153 | 18,045 | 153 |
| 2026est. | 5,425 | 679 | 148 | 1,048 | 455 | — | — | 268 | 22,978 | 115 |
Basic, applied, or development?
Basic research asks how the world works, applied research aims at a specific problem, and development turns knowledge into working systems. This split covers Department of Energy, from 2000 — the first year all three categories are reported.
Energy is the most balanced big funder — real money in basic science, applied research, and development alike.
Research and development at Department of Energy, split by character of work.
See the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | Basic research | Applied research | Development |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,117 | 2,597 | 2,626 |
| 2001 | 3,214 | 3,102 | 2,642 |
| 2002 | 3,415 | 3,238 | 2,622 |
| 2003 | 3,320 | 3,488 | 2,672 |
| 2004 | 3,451 | 3,498 | 2,516 |
| 2005 | 3,527 | 3,557 | 2,268 |
| 2006 | 3,492 | 3,206 | 2,308 |
| 2007 | 3,635 | 3,496 | 2,425 |
| 2008 | 3,933 | 3,613 | 2,658 |
| 2009 | 4,268 | 3,385 | 2,724 |
| 2010 | 4,428 | 3,799 | 2,810 |
| 2011 | 4,350 | 3,908 | 2,581 |
| 2012 | 4,200 | 3,848 | 2,626 |
| 2013 | 4,061 | 4,064 | 2,577 |
| 2014 | 4,236 | 4,711 | 2,656 |
| 2015 | 4,589 | 5,741 | 3,397 |
| 2016 | 4,683 | 6,489 | 2,912 |
| 2017 | 4,556 | 6,684 | 2,821 |
| 2018 | 4,895 | 7,797 | 2,480 |
| 2019 | 4,942 | 7,926 | 2,521 |
| 2020 | 5,229 | 7,861 | 2,802 |
| 2021 | 5,099 | 5,796 | 2,770 |
| 2022 | 5,554 | 5,536 | 4,118 |
| 2023 | 5,411 | 5,476 | 4,134 |
| 2024 | 5,340 | 5,940 | 3,026 |
| 2025 | 5,309 | 4,681 | 3,218 |
| 2026est. | 4,449 | 1,661 | 2,627 |