Tapping America's Energy Potential through Research and Development Act of 2012 - Directs the Secretary of Energy (Secretary), acting through the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy, to implement research, development, and demonstration (R&D) activities of technologies to: (1) enable safe and responsible production of domestic unconventional oil and gas resources; (2) facilitate commercial application of energy technologies for the exploration, development, and production of oil shale resources including oil, natural gas, and other liquid resources from shale formations; and (3) use produced water, in an environmentally sustainable manner, for agricultural, irrigational, recreational, power generation, municipal, and industrial purposes.
Requires oil shale R&D activities to include: (1) oil shale resource characterization, (2) modeling and simulation of oil shale exploration and production technologies, and (3) minimization and re-use of water.
Requires shale extraction R&D activities to include: (1) water use and demand, (2) water sourcing, (3) materials used in shale oil and natural gas operations, and (4) diagnostic imaging and monitoring.
Includes among produced water utilization R&D activities: (1) produced water recovery, (2) use of produced water for specified environmentally sustainable purposes, and (3) re-injection of produced water into subsurface geological formations to increase energy production.
Limits such activities to technology areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty.