March 17, 2014

APPROPRIATORS CRITICIZE NNSA SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE CUTS

By ExchangeMonitor

House appropriators have generally gone along with many of the Obama Administration’s decisions to trim spending from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request, but lawmakers on both sides of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee suggested yesterday that the Administration had gone too far in slowing down the agency’s Second Line of Defense Program. The Administration requested $93 million for the program, down $169 million from the $262 million Congress gave the program in FY2012, and appropriators noted yesterday that the reduction appeared to help the agency find $150 million for research and development funding for USEC. Speaking at a subcommittee hearing yesterday, Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.) read a statement from ranking member Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) in which he said he couldn’t “fathom an explanation that will be satisfactory for these changes given the importance of this mission.” Committee chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said the reduction represented “an incredible cut to a program which just last year the Administration was defending as a critical part of our nation’s efforts to fight the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological materials across international borders.”

Senior NNSA officials at the hearing emphasized that the funding cut was part of a plan to reassess the program, which is expected to have completed by the end of FY2012 the installation of radiation detection equipment at nearly 500 international foreign ports and border crossings. “Instead of just pressing forward to get large numbers of detectors out there we’re taking this opportunity to pause and to make sure things are integrated and look how things go forward.” NNSA nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington suggested that new technologies could drive down the cost of equipment, and she said the agency was particularly excited about a technology being developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that uses plastics to detect radiation. “If it’s commercially producable … it could be a game changer in this field,” Harrington said.

House appropriators also raised concerns about increases to the operating costs for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at the Savannah River Site. The Administration revealed in budget documents that it could cost approximately $500 million a year to operate the facility, nearly three times more than an estimate of $185 million two years ago. “To make matters worse, your request states that the request ‘should be considered preliminary,’ ” Frelinghuysen said. NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino suggested that the market for qualified workers was a contributing factor to the increase. “One thing we’ve learned is we’re going to have to compete very strong to get the right kind of people to operate this facility,” he said.

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