Budget & Policy

ARLINGTON, Va. — The United States does not need as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the Air Force plans to build, and Congress should take another look at a low-yield warhead lawmakers just approved, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said here. “I think we have too many ICBMs, absolutely,” Rep. Adam […]

Department of Energy officials and industry executives expressed hope Wednesday that no last-minute snags hold up passage of a fiscal 2019 Energy Department budget with healthy funding for its nuclear weapons and cleanup operations. “Who wants to do layoffs in an election year?” Eric Knox, vice president of strategic development, nuclear and environment, for the […]

Congress could unveil the final version of the Department of Energy’s 2019 budget this week, according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The House could consider the conference report to accompany H.R. 5859, the 2019 Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, on Thursday, according to McCarthy’s website. […]

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters on Capitol Hill that the next Senate Armed Services Committee chairman is expected to be chosen Tuesday and that he intends to seek the chair. Traditionally Senate leadership appoints the majority party member with the greatest seniority on the committee to be chairman; in this case, Inhofe. He has […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a House of Representatives bill to reauthorize appropriations for ongoing environmental remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state would cost $345 million from fiscal 2019 through 2023. The figure is based on the estimated outlays for the five years, rather than the authorized level of […]

Some time after they return to Washington next week, the House and Senate will come together for final negotiations on a fiscal 2019 defense spending bill that cleared the upper chamber last week. The Senate on Aug. 23 approved a multiagency appropriations measure with Pentagon funding that provided a small boost for development of a next-generation […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here in an open hearing Tuesday, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified before the four-member board about an order published […]

An article published in Tuesday’s edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, “Anti-Nuke Groups Slam Possible DOE Curtailment of Communication With DNFSB,” should have said Matthew Moury is associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety, and security for the Department of Energy.

A coalition of antinuclear groups on Monday called on the Department of Energy to rescind a recent order that could curtail the agency’s interaction with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board: an independent health-and-safety watchdog for nuclear-weapon sites. “We believe the revised Order 140.1 should be rescinded,” Alliance for Nuclear Accountability President Beatrice Brailsford wrote in […]

The Senate on Thursday approved a fiscal 2019 Pentagon spending bill that provided a small boost for development of a next-generation nuclear-tipped, air-launched cruise missile, and met the White House’s funding request for development of the next nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile. While the Senate approved less funding for both efforts than did the House, the […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]

The White House has nominated longtime Lawrence Livermore hand William Bookless to fill the No. 2 slot at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration — a post that has sat vacant throughout the Trump administration. President Donald Trump nominated Bookless, now a Livermore senior physicist, on Aug. 16. If recommended by the Senate […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate, […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

The lone member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to oppose its recently announced reorganization slammed the plan in comments made public this week. In a record of votes taken Aug. 13-14, Joyce Connery — who chaired the independent watchdog of Energy Department nuclear operations during the latter half of the Barack Obama administration […]

Having already been removed at least temporarily from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is suspending his re-election campaign while he fights federal insider trading charges. Collins said Aug. 11 he will use his remaining months in office to advocate both for his constituents and the agenda of President Donald Trump. […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said Thursday in a telephone interview […]

The Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel said during his confirmation hearing Thursday the agency should follow the law on establishing a nuclear waste repository below Yucca Mountain in Nevada During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee session, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked how William Cooper would approach the long-planned […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said Wednesday it will open two new field offices and cut its Washington workforce by almost half as part of a major reorganization scheduled to start in October. The changes will be effective Oct. 1, according to a press release from the independent federal agency that monitors health and safety issues […]

President Donald Trump on Monday signed the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2019, officially setting budget limits for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons and cleanup operations. Trump did not mention either program during a signing ceremony before several hundred people at the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum in New York state. Congress […]

The White House on Friday announced the anticipated nominee to fill the No. 2 slot at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which has been vacant throughout the Trump administration. Longtime Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory senior physicist William Bookless would take over as NNSA principal deputy administrator upon Senate confirmation, according to the […]

After letting it sit empty for most of the Donald Trump administration, the Labor Department has restaffed a small advisory group that helps the Department of Labor process medical claims from workers sickened at U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. The Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health advises the Labor Department’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational […]

A New York congressman will at least temporarily lose his seat on the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee until insider trader charges against him are resolved, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday. Ryan suspended Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) from the panel shortly after national news outlets reported the allegations. By afternoon it appeared […]

The Energy Department is taking public comment until Oct. 9 on a proposal to revise certain regulations for nuclear safety management across its facilities, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking published Wednesday in the Federal Register. “The proposed revisions reflect the experience gained in the implementations of the regulations over the past seventeen years,” […]

A recent leak of radioactive waste from a storage tank at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina reinforces the need to properly fund the facility’s liquid waste program, local stakeholders said this week. Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) noticed the leak from Tank 15 in early June and […]

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the final version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to sign a bill that would tighten congressional oversight of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. The $717 billion bill sailed through on an 87-10 vote, less than […]