Budget & Policy

The U.S. Department of Energy’s record of policing itself is “mixed at best,” and the agency might benefit from independent oversight by an entity such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said Tuesday. Pallone made his remarks during a House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on U.S. nuclear infrastructure. The lawmaker […]

President Donald Trump plans to nominate a nuclear physicist from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s roughly $2-billion-a-year nonproliferation division, the White House said Thursday. In a notice posted online, the administration said it intends to nominate Brent Park, who also serves as an ORNL associate laboratory […]

WASHINGTON — About a month after word first leaked that the White House wanted to develop a pair of new low-yield nuclear warheads, Defense Secretary James Mattis this week characterized the proposal as a “bargaining chip” to persuade Russia to freeze what the United States says is a nuclear-capable cruise missile program. In congressional testimony […]

The Department of Energy will remain frozen at fiscal 2017 spending levels through at least late March, under the stopgap spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday morning after an overnight government shutdown — the second of fiscal 2018. The bill is the fifth continuing resolution of the fiscal […]

Plans for pit-production and new warheads figure to feature in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2019 budget request, which at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor was still expected to be released Monday. While no details had leaked out as of Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) appeared well positioned for a […]

The Department of Energy and other federal agencies could get a full fiscal 2018 budget as soon as late March, if a budget compromise Senate leaders announced Wednesday becomes law. That would be nearly six full months after the current budget year began on Oct. 1, 2017. On Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell […]

WASHINGTON — About a month after word first leaked that the White House wanted to develop a pair of new low-yield nuclear warheads, Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday characterized the proposal as a “bargaining chip” to persuade Russia to freeze what the United States says is a nuclear-capable cruise missile program. In congressional testimony […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s record of policing itself is “mixed at best,” and the agency might benefit from independent oversight by an entity such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said Tuesday. Pallone made his remarks during a House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee hearing on U.S. nuclear infrastructure. “For example, […]

The House of Representatives wants to give the Pentagon a permanent budget for the rest of fiscal 2018 while keeping other federal agencies at 2017 spending levels under another stopgap spending plan that would expire March 23. The continuing resolution would free the Defense Department to begin new programs with funding through the end of the […]

Appropriators in the House of Representatives are to blame for the inability to schedule a floor vote on legislation aimed at pushing forward development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Tuesday. Rep. John Shimkus’ (R-Ill.) Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 passed out of the House […]

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration will at last have a confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The committee announced the hearing Tuesday, one month and 21 days after the White House nominated Lisa Gordon-Hagerty to run the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency in charge of […]

Cost and schedule details about a proposed low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic cruise missiles will appear in the White House’s fiscal 2019 budget requests later this month, but details about planned improvements to the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons complex will not be published until next year, the agency’s top nuclear official said Friday. The Donald […]

The House’s top Department of Energy appropriator signaled Monday he might be interested in running the full Appropriations Committee next year after current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) retires from Congress. In a Twitter message, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the blunt-talking, hard-nosed dentist-turned-lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said he has “always” […]

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis is scheduled to brief House lawmakers Tuesday on the Donald Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review: a policy document that proposes refurbishing Department of Energy nuclear infrastructure in part to develop a pair of new warheads for submarine-launched missiles. Mattis is slated to appear alongside Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of […]

Appearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, new Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar was asked whether a recent DOE reorganization put too much on his plate by having him oversee both nuclear cleanup and federal scientific research. “The Environmental Management portfolio has dominated the time and attention of whichever undersecretary has had it,” Rep. […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted to support the nomination of Anne Marie White to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management. The voice vote clears the way for White’s eventual consideration by the full Senate. One obstacle to White’s confirmation remains Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who during a hearing […]

The Nevada agency charged with leading the fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in the state has launched a new salvo, this time against federal legislation aimed at advancing the project. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, introduced last June by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), has a number of negative […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is set to consider a draft recommendation for the Department of Energy, according to a vote tally posted online. The board voted three to zero in favor of a meeting to consider a “staff generated outline for a draft recommendation provided to the Board on January 23, 2018,” […]

Boeing [BA] on Wednesday posted strong fourth quarter results driven by a benefit from new tax legislation, higher commercial airplane deliveries, and higher operating earnings across its three segments. Net income rocketed 92 percent to $3.1 billion, $5.18 earnings per share (EPS), from $1.6 billion ($2.59 EPS) a year ago, boosted by a $1.1 billion ($1.74 […]

Appearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, new Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar was asked whether a recent DOE reorganization put too much on his plate by having him oversee both nuclear cleanup and federal scientific research. “The Environmental Management portfolio has dominated the time and attention of whichever undersecretary has had it,” Rep. […]

After postponing action earlier in the day, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday afternoon voted to support the nomination of Anne Marie White to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management. The voice vote clears the way for White’s eventual consideration by the full Senate. The business meeting had been delayed […]

Next week, the House Energy and Commerce energy subcommittee on will hold another hearing on modernizing the Department of Energy, this time with a focus on U.S. nuclear infrastructure, the committee announced Tuesday. The hearing, “DOE Modernization: Advancing the Economic and National Security Benefits of America’s Nuclear Infrastructure,” is on the slate for 10 a.m […]

Sixteen Democratic senators on Monday protested President Donald Trump’s reported plans to direct the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to create a new low-yield nuclear warhead for submarine-launched missiles and expand the scenarios in which such weapons might be employed. “Creating new nuclear capabilities and widening their possible use conditions constitute an increase in […]

About two weeks before 2019 budget negotiations are set to compete for lawmakers’ attention on Capitol Hill, the Senate still has not taken a look at the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration. President Donald Trump nominated former Department of Energy and National Security Council staffer Lisa Gordon-Hagerty to the post […]

The House’s top Department of Energy appropriator signaled Monday he might be interested in running the full Appropriations Committee next year after current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) retires from Congress. In a Twitter message, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the blunt-talking, hard-nosed dentist-turned-lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, said he has “always” […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upping its vigilance against nuclear terrorism at an event some already consider radioactive in a metaphorical sense: Super Bowl 52. The big game this year will be played in Minneapolis between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles: teams whose fervent fan bases occasionally provoke resentment […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission believes it needs to collect $826.7 million in fees from licensees and license applicants to fund its operations in the current year. The remainder of the anticipated budget authority of $967 million would come from other sources. Of the total fee amount, $289.4 million would fund direct services for applicants […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) criticized the Trump administration’s nearly completed Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) Jan. 24, saying its call for more weapons is unaffordable and unnecessary and would fuel an arms race. “This review is a missed opportunity to introduce realism into our nuclear weapons […]

The Donald Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review would add new warhead work to the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) portfolio at a time when the agency’s budget is already stretched to the limit, nuclear-weapons experts — including the NNSA’s recently retired administrator — said this week. The semiautonomous Department of Energy branch, steward of […]

The federal government reopened Tuesday following a three-day shutdown, after Senate Democrats largely dropped their opposition to a stopgap budget bill to keep agencies open through Feb. 8. President Donald Trump signed the bill late Monday evening after it quickly passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure funds the Department of Energy (DOE) at […]