Budget & Policy

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in July sent a small delegation to Turkey to train the Turkish National Police to use radiation detectors, the agency said in a mid-August press release. “The recently completed training with the Turkish National Police is an important step toward expanding our relationship with a key partner in a strategically […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry made his first trip to the Hanford Site on Tuesday, touring facilities that will be used to treat radioactive waste left over from Cold War-era plutonium production. The former Texas governor walked through the Pretreatment Facility for the Waste Treatment Plant that Bechtel National is building to convert up to 56 […]

Not long after locals did the same, all members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation said this week they have concerns about the Energy Department’s plan for the next national laboratory contract in northern New Mexico. In a list of six concerns over the next decade-spanning management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), lawmakers […]

Atkins executive Alan Parker has voluntarily withdrawn his name from consideration as a candidate for the position of Energy Department assistant secretary for environmental management, industry sources said. Parker, president and project manager for the Atkins-led DOE contractor Mid-America Conversion Services, was reported in July to be on the White House’s list of potential nominees. […]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) has drawn a primary challenge from the right in Danny Tarkanian: a man Heller, the Senate’s antagonist-in-chief for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in his state, quickly dismissed as a political failure. Tarkanian announced his candidacy Tuesday on Fox News. The Tarkanian camp did not reply to multiple requests […]

Notwithstanding President Donald Trump’s widely disputed tweet on Wednesday regarding the strength of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, plenty of work remains at the Energy Department facilities that support the nation's deterrent. My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before.... — Donald […]

The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tiptoed carefully around barbed inquiries from Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) about the Energy Department’s plan to license Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent nuclear waste repository, according to recently released correspondence between the two. Heller has been prodding DOE and NRC officials about Yucca Mountain practically from […]

The Energy Department will host a pair of meetings about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico later this month, including an industry day for those interested in bidding on a contract to build parts of the mine’s new ventilation system. The first of the two meetings, scheduled for Aug. 8, involves “strategic planning for […]

The Senate this week confirmed a host of Defense Department nominees just before the chamber left for its congressional recess, breaking a months-long stalemate due to friction between Republicans and Democrats over the health-care debate. The Senate on Monday confirmed by unanimous consent Air Force Gen. Paul Selva for a second term as vice chairman […]

The U.S. Senate began its August recess Thursday without approving its version of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, leaving the measure in limbo for at least several weeks. Democrats have blocked floor debate and a vote on the Senate version of the bill over objections to other non-defense legislation, meaning a conference between […]

Once and future Energy Department hand Dan Brouillette was confirmed as the agency’s next deputy secretary Thursday after a bipartisan 79-17 vote in the U.S. Senate. The floodgates opened Thursday after Brouillette’s confirmation, as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee subsequently voted that day to send two more senior DOE leadership nominees to the floor. […]

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed by voice vote eight more Defense Department nominees, a day after the chamber approved Air Force Gen. Paul Selva for a second term as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The latest round of confirmations ahead of the upcoming Senate recess included Richard Spencer as Navy secretary, […]

The Senate on Monday confirmed by unanimous consent Air Force Gen. Paul Selva for a second two-year term as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position he has held since July 2015. The Pentagon in May announced Selva’s nomination for reappointment to his position. Before this post, he led U.S. Transportation Command […]

The Senate, working through the first two weeks of its traditional August recess, expects to vote on a package of executive-branch nominees soon, though it was not clear Tuesday whether Energy Department officials-designate would be among them. Addressing the Capitol Hill press corps’ weekly stakeout Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Senate soon […]

In a letter to the local Carlsbad Current-Argus newspaper Monday, two local New Mexico officials clamored for Congress to bump up the budget for maintenance at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in fiscal 2018. “A significant infrastructure failure could put us back where we were in 2014 — facing several years with a complete […]

The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would get $6.4 billion for fiscal 2018, and take on cleanup responsibility for three new facilities, under a DOE budget approved Thursday by the House of Representatives. The House approved the 2018 DOE budget recommendation on a highly-partisan 235-192 vote, with five Democrats voting “aye” and five Republicans […]

The Donald Trump administration is close to a mostly Republican Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but is still operating with a Democratic-leaning Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The White House in January began an ideological shift at both five-member groups, but the NRC, which regulates commercial nuclear power plants and civilian nuclear waste, is further along in its […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has delayed a planned vote on whether to send three of President Donald Trump’s nominees for senior Energy Department roles to the full Senate for confirmation. The would-be DOE officials scheduled for committee votes Thursday were: Mark Wesley Menezes, a lobbyist for Berkshire Hathaway Energy tapped to be undersecretary for the Department of […]

The Department of Energy would be required to establish a resource center to support ill and injured Hanford Site workers in their efforts to obtain workers’ compensation, under language added to the U.S. Senate appropriations bill covering DOE for the next fiscal year. The language, inserted by Washington state’s two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and […]

By Wayne Barber It appears increasingly likely that the two remaining Trump administration nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t get a vote by the full U.S. Senate until this fall – at which time their confirmation might be tied to a potential second term for Commissioner Jeff Baran. On July 12, the Senate Committee […]

By Wayne Barber The House of Representatives on Thursday approved fiscal 2018 appropriations legislation that would provide more than $939.1 million for Nuclear Regulatory Commission salaries and expenses. The NRC funding is included within the energy appropriations section of the so-called “mini-bus” bill, which also covers defense, legislative, military construction, and veterans affairs operations. It […]

The House of Representatives has approved a fiscal 2018 Energy Department budget that would allow the agency to restart its application to license Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev., as a permanent nuclear-waste repository — something the Senate’s corresponding spending plan would prohibit. The House voted 235 to 192, on a highly partisan line, to […]

The Donald Trump administration is close to a mostly Republican Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but is still operating with a Democratic-leaning Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The White House in January began an ideological shift at both five-member groups, but the NRC, which regulates commercial nuclear power plants and civilian nuclear waste, is further along in its […]

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed fiscal 2018 energy appropriations legislation in a 235-192 vote, after blocking a number of amendments from Democrats targeting the proposed increase in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities account. Lawmakers this week debated a slew of amendments to the Make America Secure Appropriations Act of […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The U.S. Air Force is consulting closely with lawmakers on the bomber roadmap that it plans to unveil in September, the service’s top general said July 26. “We’re in the process right now of doing something that we’ve been accused in the past of not doing really well, and that is […]

The Departments of Energy and Defense should better explain their 10-year nuclear deterrent modernization budget estimates and address future affordability concerns, the Government Accountability Office said in a newly released report. The GAO examined the DOD and DOE’s fiscal 2017 joint report, which places the total cost of the two Cabinet agencies’ nuclear modernization plans […]

The House of Representatives on Wednesday was considering fiscal 2018 legislation that would provide more than $939.1 million for Nuclear Regulatory Commission salaries and expenses. Floor debate on the bill, which covers appropriations for energy, defense, and other federal operations, was ongoing at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. Of the base funding amount for […]

The House of Representatives on Wednesday began considering a massive appropriations package that includes its recommended fiscal 2018 budget for the Energy Department, but debate had not concluded at press time for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The “mini-bus” appropriations bill, which also includes funding recommendations for the Defense Department, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans […]

House Democrats are targeting the proposed increase in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons activities account in the chamber’s fiscal 2018 energy and water appropriations bill by introducing a slew of amendments that seek to redirect money to other Energy Department offices. The House today will begin debate on the Make America Secure […]

Ahead of a long budget debate set to begin today on the House floor, the Donald Trump administration offered grudging support for the chamber’s proposed fiscal 2018 energy appropriations bill, while also criticizing lawmakers’ plans for nuclear waste storage and legacy nuclear cleanup programs. The legislation funding the Department of Energy is part of a so-called […]