Budget & Policy

Funds for cleanup of the Energy Department’s footprint at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in California would increase from $11 million in fiscal 2019 to $18 million in fiscal 2020, if Congress approves the Donald Trump administration’s budget request. The department in this calendar year expects to issue the record of decision for environmental […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management is nearing completion of cleanup for one of its smaller projects. After receiving $10 million to finish remediation of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) in fiscal 2019, DOE has zeroed out the project in its fiscal 2020 budget request. In addition, the University of Arkansas and […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February spent $1,249 of its remaining available balance from the Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving it with $407,230 absent an additional appropriation from Congress. The NRC uses its portion of the federal fund to pay for work connected to its adjudication of the Department of Energy license application for a […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) naval reactors budget is entering a relative lull as development ramps down on reactor design for the Navy’s flagship Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, according to the agency’s 2020 budget request. For Naval Reactors, which researches, develops, and manufactures reactors and refueling infrastructure for nuclear-powered Navy warships and submarines, […]

WASHINGTON  — The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) can only wait five to seven more years before beginning a potentially costly life-extension program on the megaton-class B83 gravity bomb, a senior agency official said here Wednesday in a budget hearing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) coaxed the estimate out of Charles Verdon, deputy administrator for NNSA […]

By John Stang Two Democratic senators this week pressed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to explain its reasoning for leaving out certain requirements in a final rule intended to safeguard nuclear power plants from flooding and earthquakes. The commission in January voted 3-2 in favor of the rule on mitigation of beyond-design-basis events. The proceeding had been […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management (EM) expects to speed cleanup of its nuclear sites by decades and save “$100s of millions” in life-cycle costs, according to the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget request. The request, issued in March, would trim the DOE nuclear remediation appropriation from $7.2 billion in fiscal 2019 to […]

Centrus Energy should wrap up $15 million worth of decontamination and decommissioning at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee by Sept. 30, according to a financial filing Monday. Last September, DOE issued the contract to the Maryland-based company to prepare the K-1600 building for demolition. Centrus leased the K-1600 building to further test […]

The Department of Energy this week offered details on how it would divide and use $116 million proposed for nuclear waste storage and disposal operations in fiscal 2020. In rolling out its latest budget plan in March, the agency said only the money would support regulatory activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in […]

The Department of Energy this week offered details on how it would divide and use $116 million proposed for nuclear waste storage and disposal operations in fiscal 2020. In rolling out its latest budget plan in March, the agency said only the money would support regulatory activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in […]

WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) moved to protect weapons life-extension programs and plutonium infrastructure from the budget ax wielded here Tuesday by the House’s top nuclear-security appropriator. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), chair of the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, told NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty that the […]

A New Mexico lawmaker questioned Tuesday why the Energy Department plans to issue a $115 million sole-source contract for Centrus Energy to build new uranium enrichment equipment at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) posed the question to Energy Secretary Rick Perry during a hearing DOE’s budget request for fiscal 2020. Heinrich […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Tuesday he is ready to again suspend his agency’s past practice of bartering excess government uranium to help pay for environmental remediation at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. “I agree with you,” Perry told Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a vocal opponent of the practice, during a Senate Energy and Natural […]

Democratic members of Nevada’s congressional delegation on Monday called on key House appropriators to prevent the federal government from moving forward with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository or shipping any more plutonium to the state. Nevada’s leaders have for decades fought the U.S. government’s effort to make their state home to the nation’s stockpile […]

The Energy Department Office of Environmental Management expects to speed Cold War cleanup by decades and save “$100s of millions” in life-cycle costs, according to the Donald Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget request. The request, issued in March, would trim the DOE nuclear remediation appropriation, from $7.2 billion in fiscal 2019 to $6.5 billion in […]

After the Department of Energy released some 650 pages of details on its $16.5-billion nuclear-weapon budget request for 2020, the chair of the House Appropriations panel that funds the agency demanded more information on proposed weapons spending. “With respect to nuclear weapons, this is not a budget that establishes clear priorities with a responsible plan […]

The $6.5 billion fiscal 2020 budget request for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would resume the practice of “bartering” excess government uranium in order to defray cleanup costs at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, helped win […]

The Savannah River Site would receive nearly $798 million for liquid tank waste treatment under the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2020 budget request – an uptick of more than $100 million from the current federal budget year. Most other missions under the South Carolina facility’s Environmental Management (EM) program would also get a boost if […]

Funding for a key environmental remediation infrastructure project at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee would be sliced by $27 million in the Department of Energy’s budget plan for fiscal 2020. The DOE Office of Environmental Management request at Oak Ridge would decrease by $217 million from the fiscal 2019 level, from $646 million to […]

The Department of Energy plans in fiscal 2020 to cut funding for cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state in part because of progress made and projects completed, according to detailed budget documents released Monday. In total, funding for the two DOE offices at Hanford would drop by more than $400 million from current […]

A senior U.S. Army official on Wednesday struggled to explain the reasoning for the Trump administration’s plan to return management of a nuclear cleanup program from the Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Energy. “I really think that DOE wanted that program back, and I can’t answer why on that,” R.D. James, assistant […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators suggested Wednesday it is gearing up for another legislative campaign to authorize interim storage of the nation’s growing stockpile of nuclear waste. Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he hopes to meet within two weeks with panel Ranking Member Dianne Feinstei (D-Calif.), the […]

The $6.5 billion fiscal 2020 budget request for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would resume the practice of “bartering” excess government uranium in order to defray cleanup costs at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, helped win […]

On Wednesday, only days after announcing he will not stand for re-election, Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) again roasted Energy Secretary Rick Perry for the decision to move most of the agency’s plutonium-pit production out of New Mexico. The Donald Trump administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review directed DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to make […]

Legislation introduced Wednesday in the Senate to promote new U.S. nuclear power systems also aims to address the problem of radioactive waste produced by that technology. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined 14 colleagues from both parties to reintroduce the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. The bill was first submitted in September near the tail end of […]

A bipartisan group of senators suggested Wednesday they are gearing up for another legislative campaign to authorize interim storage of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors. Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he hopes to meet within two weeks with panel Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top […]

A day after the Department of Energy released some 650 pages of details on its $16.5-billion nuclear-weapon budget request for 2020, the chair of the House Appropriations panel that funds the agency demanded more information on proposed weapons spending from Energy Secretary Rick Perry. “With respect to nuclear weapons, this is not a budget that […]

South Carolina has named its terms for settling a $200-million plutonium lawsuit against the Department of Energy, according to a late Tuesday court filing. South Carolina on Jan. 30 gave attorneys at the Justice Department “a list of potential terms for negotiation” in the ongoing settlement talks that began in October, according to a status […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday defended his agency’s proposed $400 million-plus budget reduction at the Hanford Site in Washington state, even while the cost of cleanup is on the rise. “On one hand the department is telling us the mission is going to become exponentially more expensive,” even as it cuts the remediation budget […]

The U.S. government since 2010 has spent $8 billion, now at a rate of $2 million per day, for failing to build a permanent repository to take spent fuel from nuclear power plants, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday. While he did not discuss specifics of this cost during testimony on Capitol Hill, Perry almost […]