Budget & Policy

By John Stang Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is leading a dozen U.S. House members on a tour of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada on Saturday in hopes of bolstering his case to revive stalled plans for a nuclear waste repository there. Nevada leaders quickly criticized the trip as flawed because no local interests will […]

The leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees expect by July 27 to finish final negotiations on the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which would enable the Department of Energy to design a new low-yield nuclear warhead. That is about two weeks from the day the conferees — members of the House […]

The House and Senate are a step closer to resolving their differences on a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Department of Energy fiscal 2019 budget, after the upper chamber on Wednesday voted to begin final negotiations on the measure. In a procedural move that cleared the way for lawmakers from each chamber to negotiate […]

House and Senate lawmakers are scheduled to meet Wednesday to settle differences over an annual military policy bill that affects Department of Energy plutonium programs and oversight of the agency’s main weapons-production contract. The House passed its fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in May, and the Senate completed its version in June. The […]

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chief architect of a massive nuclear-waste policy bill that cleared the House earlier this year, is scheduled Saturday to lead a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers on a tour of Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev. A House aide confirmed the scheduled trip Monday, but would not disclose the names or number […]

The Trump administration’s nominee to head the Energy Department branch overseeing renewable energy efforts is reportedly temporarily assigned to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management as a senior adviser. Politico reported the interim status of Daniel Simmons of Virginia on Friday. Spokespeople for DOE and its nuclear cleanup office did not respond to requests for confirmation […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in May spent $10,789 from the Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving its available balance at $457,235, according to the latest update to Congress. The agency spent nearly all of that — $10,366 – on costs from a February meeting of the Licensing Support Network Advisory Review Board and collecting information about possible […]

As she closes out her third full month at the helm of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White might not be finished putting together her leadership team. Bechtel Project Manager Mark Frei is said to be in consideration for a top Environmental Management post, possibly even […]

With both chambers of Congress having now given their blessing to fiscal 2019 spending packages that provide in the neighborhood of $7 billion for Department of Energy nuclear cleanup operations, it is now up to a House-Senate conference committee to decide the exact amount. The conference committee had not been scheduled to start its work […]

Teri Donaldson, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Department of Energy inspector general, drew hardly any attention in her initial confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Donaldson, a former corporate environmental lawyer and federal prosecutor now working as general counsel for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), has “impressive credentials,” committee Chairwoman Lisa […]

Congress inched a little closer to finalizing a 2019 budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration this week after the Senate passed a “minibus” appropriations package, but the two chambers still have about half a billion dollars’ worth of differences over nuclear weapon and nonproliferation spending to hash out in a bicameral conference committee. The […]

Teri Donaldson, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Department of Energy inspector general, drew hardly any attention in her initial confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Donaldson, a former corporate environmental lawyer and federal prosecutor now working as general counsel for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), has “impressive credentials,” committee Chairwoman Lisa […]

The House of Representatives approved a defense spending bill this week that would phase out development of a nuclear warhead usable on both Navy and Air Force missiles, while the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a companion bill that could delay deployment of a planned low-yield nuclear warhead. The House approved its version of the 2019 […]

For the second year in a row, the House and Senate have set up a showdown over whether to fund the Donald Trump administration’s request to license a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Senate on Monday passed a so-called minibus appropriations package that includes $35 billion for the Department of Energy […]

The military spending bill awaiting a vote by the full House of Representatives this week would sustain the press to move away from an Obama-administration proposal to build nuclear warheads usable on Navy and Air Force missiles. The House’s Department of Defense Appropriations Act, if signed into law, would provide only half the funding the […]

As she closes out her third full month at the helm of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White might not be finished putting together her leadership team. Bechtel Project Manager Mark Frei is said to be in consideration for a top Environmental Management post, possibly even […]

Teri Donaldson, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Department of Energy inspector general, drew hardly any attention in her initial confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Donaldson, a former corporate environmental lawyer and federal prosecutor now working as general counsel for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), has “impressive credentials,” committee Chairwoman Lisa […]

The Senate on Monday approved a 2019 appropriations package that includes a little under $15 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), fully funding development of a new low-yield warhead but coming up short of the administration’s request for nuclear-weapons infrastructure. The Senate passed the so-called minibus appropriations package 86-5 after a nearly a […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would continue to enjoy a hefty budget under the “minibus” appropriation package for fiscal 2019 passed by the Senate on Monday evening. Voting senators approved the proposal 86-5. The Senate bill, which covers funding for energy and water development programs, among others, would provide $7.2 billion in total […]

Proposed amendments to a federal appropriations package last week from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which did not get a vote, would have treated waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York as defense-related only under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, meaning the material would not be eligible for disposal at the […]

The full Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. today on an appropriations package including the Department of Energy’s proposed fiscal 2019 budget. The so-called minibus spending legislation is a combination of three appropriations bills, one of which is an Energy and Water Development act with some $35 billion in proposed funding for the […]

The second intercameral congressional confrontation over Yucca Mountain in as many years seemed all but imminent Friday, after the Senate scheduled a Monday vote on a Department of Energy appropriations bill that would again provide no funding for the proposed nuclear-waste repository. The Senate has been debating a so-called fiscal 2019 minibus appropriations package all […]

The Senate this week approved a fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would clear the way for the National Nuclear Security Administration to build one, and possibly more, low-yield nuclear warheads. The bill also would prohibit the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency from dismantling the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina […]

The Senate adjourned Friday without passing an appropriations package that includes a little under $15 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), though a key Democratic senator signaled she would not oppose the bill over the low-yield nuclear warhead the measure funds. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), one of the longest-tenured senators still serving, said […]

A newly updated organizational chart suggests the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management has made further changes to its leadership hierarchy. Angela Watmore as of June 1 is listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of […]

Streamlining top-level management of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup operation is one part of a sweeping blueprint for restructuring the federal government, which the White House Housed unveiled on Thursday. The report, “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations,” proposes to increase efficiency in agency operations across the federal government. That […]

By John Stang The Senate appears set to vote Monday on its version of a fiscal 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill that merges three funding measures covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a number of other agencies. The upper chamber of Congress closed up shop for the week on Thursday, but not before scheduling […]

The Energy Department said recently it had nearly $38 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund, in the first of what it pledged will be annual summaries of the finances for the federal account intended to pay for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In a letter attached to the summary, DOE Deputy General […]

Amendments added Wednesday to federal funding legislation being considered on the Senate floor would provide $35 million more for U.S. programs for production of a key medical isotope and recovery of usable nuclear reactor fuel from spent fuel. The measures are among more than 80 amendments submitted to the “minibus” appropriations bill covering energy and […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council would have to write annual progress reports for Congress about the Department of Energy’s plan to produce 80 nuclear-warhead cores a year by 2030, if an amendment proposed this week to a fiscal 2019 budget bill becomes law. Amendment SA 2921, from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), would require the chair of […]