Budget & Policy

The story “With Graham Amendment to 2019 NDAA, Most Committees Want More MFFF” (Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, June 5) should have clarified that while a pair of House bills would fund construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site, they also include language that allows the Department of Energy to cancel […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April spent $6,275 of its remaining balance from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund, leaving it with $458,599 until Congress provides another appropriation. Most of the spending — $5,356 – reflects “trailing costs” from a two-day virtual meeting in February of the NRC’s Licensing Support Network (LSN) Advisory Review Panel, […]

The House anticipates voting Thursday on a spending package that includes the Department of Energy’s 2019 budget, though the chamber’s Rules Committee only finished writing the rules of floor debate Tuesday and still must consider what to do with roughly 60 proposed amendments. The so-called minibus package comprises three appropriations bills already approved by the […]

U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) has proposed providing $5 million in fiscal 2019 to further research on storage and disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The proposal is one of more than 170 amendments submitted for a House appropriations “minibus” covering energy and water, the […]

The Senate’s version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which could hit the floor for debate this week, is the third piece of federal legislation produced this year to block the Department of Energy’s plan to cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration did a generally good job estimating its share of the cost to upgrade the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, but the agency has yet to explain a roughly $2.5 billion gap between its forecast and one provided by a nominally independent intra-agency office, according to the Government Accountability Office. The National […]

The House of Representatives could vote this week on a fiscal 2019 spending bill with about $35.5 billion for the Department of Energy, but some Democrats want to amend the measure to remove funding for a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead. The energy budget bill would be part of an appropriations package — informally called […]

In the wake of President Donald Trump ordering the federal government to help keep struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants afloat, FirstEnergy Solutions contended Friday it still needs help from the governments of Ohio and Pennsylvania to keep its four reactors online. Several news organizations reported Friday that Trump has ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry […]

Staff at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board still suffer from low morale, and board leadership has not been able to improve the mood, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general wrote in a report published this week. The NRC inspector general doubles as an internal watchdog for the five-member Defense Nuclear Safety Facilities Board’s (DNFSB). […]

Official documents unearthed this week by anti-nuclear organizations show price took a back seat when the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) settled on a strategy to produce nuclear-warhead cores in both New Mexico and South Carolina — a strategy both states dislike, and which Congress may not approve. However, according to the roughly 300-page engineering […]

The House and Senate disagree about whether to fund construction of new tritium facilities at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019, according to their latest appropriations proposals. The two chambers have also staked out very different negotiating positions about an Obama administration program to create nuclear warheads that could fly on both Air Force […]

The Department of Energy would continue to have an Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site until 2024 under an approved amendment in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2019. Since 1998, DOE has divided its cleanup work at the former plutonium production complex in Washington state between two […]

The two newest members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been sworn into office as of Wednesday. Commissioner Annie Caputo was sworn in Tuesday by NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki, followed by Commissioner David Wright on Wednesday. The Senate last week confirmed the two, nearly a year after President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate […]

By John Stang The California state Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would allow Pacific Gas & Electric to charge its ratepayers to retain personnel at its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The bill, which passed the Senate by vote of 31-4, is now in the California General Assembly. “This community has borne the risk of having […]

The House and Senate disagree about whether to fund construction of new tritium facilities at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019, according to their latest appropriations proposals. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in a bill approved late last week, fully backed the Trump administration’s $27 million request for new tritium-related infrastructure at the South Carolina […]

Senate appropriators favor continuing sustaining an Obama-era program to create a so-called interoperable nuclear warhead that could fly on future Air Force and Navy missiles — a program their House counterparts have proposed canceling. That is according to the detailed bill report accompanying the fiscal 2019 energy and water bill the Senate Appropriations Committee approved […]

A May 23 article in the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing should have reported that a Federal Register notice for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decommisioning rulemaking requires commission approval before being officially issued.

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved Charles Verdon of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense programs office. The committee approved Verdon’s nomination by a voice vote. The nuclear engineer, currently principal associate director at Livermore’s weapons and complex integration directorate, now needs approval from the […]

The House of Representatives easily passed its version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday, sending the Senate a strongly bipartisan bill that calls for the National Nuclear Security Administration to begin work on a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead. The same day, the Senate Appropriations Committee also overwhelmingly approved funding for the […]

The Senate’s version of the fiscal 2019 Energy Department spending bill would set the budget for cleanup at the Hanford Site at $2.4 billion, rejecting proposed cuts from the Trump administration. The Senate budget proposal, which does not include the safety and security money Hanford will receive, is $315 million above the administration’s request for […]

The full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $43.8 billion energy and water development bill for fiscal 2019, which includes almost $7.2 billion for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. The panel’s provision for the Cold War cleanup program exceeds the $6.9 billion passed last week by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill […]

Chris Roscetti will become technical director for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on June 23, the independent federal health-and-safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear programs announced May 18. Roscetti, a naval submarine veteran, previously served as the board’s associate technical director for nuclear programs and analysis, and has also served as DNFSB […]

Both congressional appropriations committees have now cleared the National Nuclear Security Administration to start work on a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead in fiscal 2019, with Senate appropriators approving $65 million for the proposed weapon as part of a spending bill passed Thursday. House appropriators approved the same amount for the warhead, which is to be made […]

Chris Roscetti will become technical director for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on June 23, the independent federal health-and-safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear programs announced May 18. Roscetti, a naval submarine veteran, previously served as the board’s associate technical director for nuclear programs and analysis, and has also served as DNFSB […]

By John Stang Several New Mexico state legislators wondered last week if a proposed temporary used nuclear fuel storage site east of Carlsbad could become permanent by default. Opponents of Holtec International’s planned consolidated interim spent fuel facility also asked, during a May 18 hearing of the New Mexico Legislature’s Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed all three nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, just hours after the chamber’s Appropriations Committee approved a budget proposal that provided no money for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada. While no one would say so on the record, the connection appeared reasonably certain – particularly given […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a fiscal 2019 funding bill that provides nothing for development of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository, instead again backing consolidated interim storage of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear reactors. The $43.8 billion energy spending measure, covering the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other agencies, could […]

The Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Please look for our next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, May 29.

New Jersey on Wednesday joined New York state and Illinois in offering zero-emission credits to prevent closure of nuclear power plants. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed Senate Bill 2313, which will make credits available to nuclear facilities that can show they significantly benefit the state’s air quality and could be forced to […]

The House of Representatives on Wednesday shot down amendments to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would have checked the funding increase and new warhead mission proposed for the National Nuclear Security Administration. An amendment proposed Tuesday to limit 2019 funding for a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead was defeated Wednesday on a […]