Budget & Policy

After three years of wrestling with Congress, the Department of Energy has finally convinced at least one chamber that it is time to move on fully from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). In a bullet point so brief as to belie the drama that has beset the failed plutonium disposal plant, the House […]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) on Wednesday placed blame squarely on Democrats for the ongoing freeze in licensing and then building a nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. “The project boasts support in Nye County, where Yucca Mountain is located. So why hasn’t it moved forward? Politics,” Barrasso wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. […]

A team of certified health physicists from the Energy Department spent the Memorial Day weekend in Piketon, Ohio, collecting air samples that will be analyzed for signs of radioactive contamination at a local middle school. Forty-four air samples were collected both inside and outside of Zahn’s Corner Middle School, about 2 miles from DOE’s Portsmouth […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) program to keep nuclear and radiological materials out of the hands of bad actors would be funded at or above the requested level for the fifth year in a row, if a fiscal 2020 spending bill the House Appropriations Committee passed last week becomes law. The spike in funding, […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans in September to release a report on the Energy Department’s payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) to communities surrounding its national laboratories and cleanup sites. The report will analyze the differences in PILT payments across sites and how have they varied over time, according to the GAO. The […]

The U.S. Senate is lining up a confirmation vote on the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Rita Baranwal’s confirmation as assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy was listed on the Senate’s executive calendar for Friday. “That at a time to be determined by the Majority Leader in consultation […]

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would increase the fiscal 2020 funding for cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state by about $380 million from the Trump administration’s request. However, the funding is still about $37 million below current spending levels, according to initial figures, which do not include security […]

The fiscal 2020 energy and water funding bill approved Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee would slash funding for a $50 million facility intended to reduce the cost and time of cleaning up nuclear waste at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Energy Department requested all $50 million for the […]

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Tuesday passed federal funding legislation that would prohibit the Trump administration from transferring the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy. Appropriators did not discuss the White House proposal before voting 31-21 to send the fiscal […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday ruled out bartering of excess government uranium to help fund remediation of the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio in fiscal 2020. To make up for funds the government would have reaped through uranium barter,  the energy and water development bill for the next budget year would provide Portsmouth […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday affirmed a plan to keep Energy Department Office of Environmental Management funding at about $7.2 billion for fiscal 2020. The funding is included in the energy and water development appropriations legislation for the budget year starting Oct. 1, which the committee reported to the full House. The measure would […]

Officials in southern Ohio met Thursday to narrow the list of potential third-party contractors to sample for potential radioactive contamination at a middle school near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. The Pike County General Health District said Tuesday it is working with DOE, along with local and state agencies, to establish a procedure outlining “when […]

The House Appropriations Committee wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study what impact an Energy Department order on oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has on public and worker safety at nuclear weapons sites. The panel is concerned that DOE Order 140.1, enacted in May 2018, effectively restricts the DNFSB’s ability […]

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee this week approved legislation that would slow development of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with Department of Energy infrastructure that supports them. The next stop for the two bills — which passed essentially along party lines, and without any amendments directly affecting nuclear arms spending — is the […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act would allow for full funding of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plan to build plutonium nuclear-weapon cores in two states, a senior committee aide confirmed Thursday. The committee finished a closed-door markup of the annual military policy bill Wednesday, then had senior staffers […]

After nine months of stop-and-start progress, the Senate on Thursday confirmed former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist William Bookless to be the principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Senate confirmed Bookless by voice vote. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had not set a date for his swearing-in at deadline Friday […]

A 2020 spending proposal passed Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee directs the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to tap the independent group of JASON scientists for at least one, and perhaps two, new studies. After the Pentagon ditched the JASON contract in April following more than 50 years, the NNSA picked up the deal […]

A new entrant into the U.S. medical isotope industry said Wednesday it has secured funding for construction of a 2-megawatt reactor facility for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eden Radioisotopes plans in four years to begin production at the reactor and processing complex in the city of Hobbs, in southeastern New Mexico. […]

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Tuesday passed federal funding legislation that would prohibit the Trump administration from transferring the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy. Appropriators did not discuss the White House proposal before voting 31-21 to send the fiscal […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday turned back an effort to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository as it approved legislation to fund the Department of Energy and other agencies for fiscal 2020. In the late minutes of a seven-hour markup of two appropriations bills, the Democrat-led panel voted 25-27 against approving […]

A startup based in Albuquerque, N.M., said Wednesday it has secured funding for construction of a 2-megawatt reactor facility for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. Eden Radioisotopes plans in four years to begin production at the reactor and processing complex in the city of Hobbs, in southeastern New Mexico. The funder is Abo Empire, […]

The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Please look for the issue in your inbox on Tuesday, May 28.

The Donald Trump administration this week lashed out at House appropriators for proposing to spend money the White House wanted for active Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs on cleanup of legacy nuclear-weapon sites. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved an energy and water funding bill that would provide $7.2 billion for remediation of shuttered […]

Officials in southern Ohio are scheduled to meet today to narrow the list of potential third-party contractors to sample for potential radioactive contamination at a middle school near the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site. The Pike County General Health District said Tuesday it is working with DOE, along with local and state agencies, to establish a […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday turned back a proposal to resume licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository as it approved legislation to fund the Department of Energy and other agencies for fiscal 2020. The panel voted 31-21 to report the $46.6 billion energy and water development appropriations bill to the full House. […]

The House Appropriations Committee wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study what impact an Energy Department order on oversight by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has on public and worker safety at nuclear weapons sites. The panel is concerned that DOE Order 140.1, enacted in May  2018, effectively restricts the DNFSB’s ability […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday affirmed a plan to keep Energy Department Office of Environmental Management funding at about $7.2 billion for fiscal 2020. The funding is included in the energy and water development appropriations legislation for the budget year starting Oct. 1, which the committee reported to the full House. The measure keeps […]

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would slow development of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with Department of Energy infrastructure that supports them. The next stop for the two bills — which passed essentially along party lines, and without any amendments directly affecting nuclear arms spending — is the House floor. […]

The House Appropriations Committee appears ready to add about $400 million to the Trump administration’s funding request for the two Energy Department field offices at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The panel on Monday released the detailed report laying out specific line items for DOE and other agencies from the energy and water development appropriations bill issued […]

Appropriators in the House of Representatives said Monday they see no reason to transfer the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy. “The Committee is pleased with the current cooperation between the Corps and the Department in carrying out the program and expects […]