Budget & Policy

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published on Monday in observance of Presidents Day. Look for our next edition in your inbox on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Senate Armed Services Committee still has the nominee for the No. 2 spot at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in a holding pattern, the nominee himself said here Tuesday. After his nomination lapsed in the 115th Congress, which ended Jan. 3, the Donald Trump administration again nominated former Lawrence Livermore […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department remains satisfied with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) strategy to produce plutonium pits at two facilities, but time is short to get started, a senior Pentagon official said here. “DOD is fully behind the NNSA’s current plan,” Peter Fanta, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, said […]

The New Hampshire legislature is considering a bill intended to shut the door on disposal of nuclear waste in the state even while establishing three bodies to address the issue. House Bill 704 would formalize the legislature’s opposition to building a facility for high-level radioactive waste in New Hampshire “and finds that the north-east is […]

The Government Accountability Office says there is an opportunity for the Department of Energy to balance the cost and risks posed by 149 single-shell tanks containing radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. A section a Jan. 29 GAO report, on growing liability costs for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, said the agency […]

After moving relatively quickly through the confirmation process, former Senate staffer Terri Donaldson became the Department of Energy’s (DOE) permanent inspector general. The Energy Department swore in Donaldson on Jan. 23 for a lifetime appointment, but did not announce her installation at the Forrestal Building in Washington until Thursday. The Donald Trump administration nominated Donaldson in June 2018. The […]

The projected cost of remaining cleanup at the Hanford Site has dramatically increased over the last three years, according to a Department of Energy report made public on Feb. 1. The 2019 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost report estimates the remaining cost of environmental remediation of the former plutonium production complex in Washington state […]

After moving relatively quickly through the confirmation process, former Senate staffer Terri Donaldson became the Department of Energy’s (DOE) permanent inspector general. The Energy Department swore in Donaldson on Jan. 23 for a lifetime appointment, but did not announce her installation at the Forrestal Building in Washington until Thursday. The Donald Trump administration nominated Donaldson in June 2018. The […]

Matthew Beinart Defense Daily MONTERRY, Calif. — The president’s fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Pentagon is likely to be delayed until mid-March and will arrive in two parts: a skinny budget followed by the full request a week later, a staff member on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee said this week. Congressional staffer John […]

A senior Department of Energy official on Thursday urged the Senate to confirm nominees to fill four leadership vacancies, including a candidate to oversee the agency’s nuclear power and waste activities. “I’d like to kindly ask the committee for consideration … around the leadership positions that are still open for us as a department. We […]

The prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 and Pantex sites spent about $30 million from 2016 to 2018 to create consolidated business information systems it says will save the government nearly $3 billion over the life of a 10-year site management contract, according to the Government Accountability Office. That is less than […]

House Democrats on Thursday introduced a bill to ban the low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead the National Nuclear Security Administration recently acknowledged it started producing. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) leads the cadre of Democrats, which includes House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.). The text of the bill, “H.R.1086 – To prohibit the research and […]

The president’s fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Pentagon is likely to be delayed until mid-March and will arrive in two parts, a skinny budget followed by the full request a week later, a staff member on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee said Monday. Congressional staffer John Lucio told attendees here at NDIA’s Tactical […]

The prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 and Pantex sites spent about $30 million from 2016 to 2018 to create consolidated business information systems it says will save the government nearly $3 billion over the life of a 10-year site management contract, accpording to the Government Accountability Office. That is less than […]

Nevada’s Senate delegation wants unclassified and classified briefings from the Department of Energy about the clandestine shipment last year of half a metric ton of plutonium to the Nevada National Security Site. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) made the request in a Feb. 1 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Last week, […]

The projected cost to clean up the Hanford Site in Washington state dramatically increased over the last three years, according to a Department of Energy report published Friday. The 2019 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost report put the remaining cost of Hanford cleanup at some $323 billion, in a best case scenario. In the […]

The United States would adopt an official policy not to start a war using nuclear weapons, under legislation announced Wednesday by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Democrat member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is mulling a presidential run. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chamber’s Armed Services chair after […]

With the partial shutdown of the federal government resolved, at least until mid-February, a lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) has resumed, according to a court filing this week. The $200-million lawsuit ground to a halt during the 35-day shutdown, […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which Congress in 1987 […]

Cleaning up the contamination left by Cold War nuclear weapons operations could cost the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) another $377 billion, or $109 billion more than last year’s estimate, the Government Accountability Office said in a report Tuesday. Agency cleanup officials interviewed by GAO are aware of the increase, but have not […]

After decades on staff and one term as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stephen Burns plans to retire in June — for the second time. Burns noted his decision during an all-staff meeting Monday near NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. “At the All Hands, the Commissioner reiterated (not for the first time) […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which Congress in 1987 […]

The United States would adopt an official policy not to start a war using nuclear weapons, under legislation announced Wednesday by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Democrat member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is mulling a presidential run. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), HASC chair, posted a draft version […]

Cleaning up the contamination left by Cold War nuclear weapons work from could cost the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management another $377 billion, or $109 billion more than last year’s estimate, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Tuesday. The DOE office has spent about $170 billion since its creation in 1989, […]

Two of the Hill’s most notable nuclear doves on Tuesday pressed for passage of their newly refiled bill to ban the United States from using nuclear weapons to start a war. “In about the same time as it takes President Trump to launch a tweet, he could also order America’s armed forces to launch a nuclear […]

The nongovernmental organization representing communities near Department of Energy facilities around the nation is urging Senate leaders to commit to ending the federal government’s dithering over building a disposal facility for the nation’s nuclear waste. The United States holds roughly 100,000 metric tons of waste that by law must go into a permanent repository, which […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose congressional district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., will keep a seat on the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee. The same goes for Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), whose district includes the Oak Ridge Site and the Y-12 National Security Complex, in Tennessee. The panel […]

With the partial shutdown of the federal government resolved, at least until mid-February, a lawsuit between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the prime contractor for the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) has resumed, according to a Monday court filing. The $200-million lawsuit ground to a halt during the 35-day shutdown, during […]

Governors from 22 western states and territories last week called on the new Congress to advance a solution to the long impasse over disposal of U.S. radioactive waste. Radioactive waste management was among the many issues for state and federal cooperation included in the Western Governors’ Association’s priorities list, mailed Jan. 14 to the leaders […]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Trump administration is likely in its fiscal 2020 federal budget plan to again seek funding for licensing the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, nuclear industry representatives said here Tuesday. Whether Congress will appropriate any money remains in question. “I think the budget request for the next fiscal year […]