Budget & Policy

Nuclear spending debates in Congress often pit active weapons programs against the remediation of shuttered Manhattan Project and Cold War production sites, but this year’s proceeding has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on guard against a provision they say could permanently subordinate legacy environmental programs to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Sen. […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said last week he favors increasing funding for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina by more than $51 million above the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2021 budget request, mostly to finance improvements at the H Canyon complex. Wilson noted that H Canyon is the only hardened nuclear […]

Nuclear spending debates in Congress often pit active weapons programs against the remediation of shuttered Manhattan Project and Cold War production sites, but this year’s proceeding has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on guard against a provision they say could permanently subordinate legacy environmental programs to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Sen. […]

The Department of Energy’s plutonium-pit production plant in South Carolina would get a little extra scrutiny, and civilian nuclear weapons programs would receive a little more funding than requested, under the major defense policy bill approved unanimously late Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee. At about 15 minute before midnight, the committee approved its […]

The head of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said Tuesday he is optimistic his panel’s version of the next defense authorization bill will receive bipartisan support. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) predicted differences with the Senate on several key provisions, such as a new Indo-Pacific initiative, can be reconciled when the bill heads to conference. […]

Nuclear spending debates in Congress often pit active weapons programs against the remediation of shuttered Manhattan Project and Cold War production sites, but this year’s proceeding has one defense-nuclear cleanup ally on guard against a provision she says could permanently subordinate legacy environmental programs to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In a 10-minute floor […]

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee anticipates bipartisan support for the panel’s version of the next defense authorization bill, while adding he wants to see provisions for the Pentagon’s chief management officer and troop movement from Germany addressed at Wednesday’s markup hearing. “I am hopeful, I would say very hopeful, that at […]

An employee at the Germantown, Md., branch of Department of Energy headquarters tested positive for COVID-19 just days before that building advanced to Phase 1 of the agency’s remobilization plan. As far as DOE’s contact tracing showed Friday, nobody who was in close contact with the infected Germantown worker became sick, according to a statement from […]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said last week he favors increasing funding for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina by more than $51 million above the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2021 budget request, mostly to finance improvements at the H Canyon complex. Wilson noted that H Canyon as the only hardened nuclear […]

The chairman’s mark for the House of Representatives’ fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would add about $700 million to the top line for the Trump administration’s $5 billion request for defense environmental cleanup operations managed by the Department of Energy. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) released his mark over the […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday reported out two nominations to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) via voice vote. The nominations of serving DNFSB member Joyce Connery and new nominee Thomas Summers now advance to the full Senate, which had not scheduled a floor vote at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) said Tuesday she wants the next Department of Energy budget bill to prohibit spending that contributes in any way to nuclear-explosive tests. Titus made the request during the House Appropriations Committee’s annual member day hearing, which gives congresspeople a few minutes to publicly discuss measures they want in the various spending bills […]

The Department of Defense would get more control over the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons budget under the Senate version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) unveiled this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee filed the text of the bill, which sets funding limits and policy for defense programs, late Tuesday evening. […]

After a truncated hearing season filled with furrowed brows, skepticism, and hawkish posturing about unspent appropriations, the House Armed Services Committee is authorizing even more funding than the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) requested for fiscal year 2021 — and they’re not even cutting a submarine from the Navy to do it. Committee staff made […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act would allow $100 million more in the primary funding tranche for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management than requested by the Donald Trump administration. The legislation would authorize $5.1 billion for defense environmental cleanup for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday reported out two nominations to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) via voice vote. The nominations of serving DNFSB member Joyce Connery and new nominee Thomas Summers now advance to the full Senate, which had not scheduled a floor vote at deadline Friday for Weapons Complex Monitor. […]

Congressman Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Wednesday he is considering several legislative measures aimed at fixing the federal government’s decades-long failure to find a permanent disposal space for tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste. One of those steps could involve taking the mission away from the Department of Energy in favor of a Nuclear […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 19 locked in its fee collection levels for the current federal fiscal year. The agency collects 90% of its annual budget through annual and service fees, with the rest appropriated by Congress. Lawmakers set the NRC’s budget at $855.6 million for fiscal 2021, which ends on Sept. 30, according […]

A day after the National Nuclear Security Administration announced it would not pick up the remaining options on the existing management deal for its Y-12 and Pantex sites, the Government Accountability Office urged the agency to study whether the outgoing contractor’s cost-saving methods could work at other nuclear-weapon sites. Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) in 2014 […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday reported out two nominations to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) via voice vote. The nominations of serving DNFSB member Joyce Connery and new nominee Thomas Summers now advance to the full Senate. No date has been set for a floor vote. Connery joined the board in […]

The story “Pentagon Would Get More Control of NNSA Budget Under Senate Committee’s NDAA,” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, June 24, 2020) should have included links and attribution to outside reporting about the Department of Energy’s internal budget debate for the 2021 fiscal year. The story was updated to clarify the timeline of events during those […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act would allow $100 million more in the primary funding tranche for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management than requested by the Donald Trump administration. The legislation would authorize $5.1 billion for defense environmental cleanup for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 […]

The Department of Defense would get more control over the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons budget under the Senate version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was unveiled Tuesday. The Senate Armed Services Committee filed the text of the bill, which sets funding limits and policy for defense programs, late in […]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) said Tuesday she wants the next Department of Energy budget bill to prohibit spending that contributes in any way to nuclear-explosive tests. Titus made the request during the House Appropriations Committee’s annual member day hearing, which gives congresspeople a few minutes to publicly discuss measures they want in the various appropriations […]

The House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee on Monday approved the nuclear-weapons parts of the chamber’s fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The brief markup sets the stage for the full committee to consider the legislation on July 1. It took only about 15 minutes, without debate or amendments, for the panel to advance […]

Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee want the president to get more hands-on practice with nuclear command and control, according to a provision in the chamber’s annual defense policy bill. According to aides on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, the lower chamber’s version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization […]

As he attempts to fend off a primary challenge from a young congressman, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has belted out a salvo of arms control legislation, including a new bill last week that would make it U.S. policy to extend the New START nuclear treaty with Russia. Markey filed the Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) […]

A House Armed Services Committee panel is worried the top executive post at the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is becoming too much of a revolving door. The strategic forces subcommittee on Sunday released its 56-page mark for the House’s 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The document calls for the Government Accountability Office […]

The Energy Department was chided for not providing much hard data during a virtual public meeting Wednesday on fiscal 2022 budget priorities for ongoing cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The meeting was organized by the three signatories to the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that governs environmental remediation at the former plutonium production complex: […]

In an official report to Congress about tritium-safety oversight, the Department of Energy again sought to avoid a legal fight about whether its workforce is subject to recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The independent federal agency feared the Energy Department might have rejected a 2019 recommendation to bolster the Savannah River Site’s […]