Budget & Policy

The Obama Administration is opposing a provision in the Senate version of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Department of Energy to employ an “owner’s agent” capability at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. As envisioned by the Senate bill, the owner’s agent for the WTP would be “a private third-party […]

Members of the House Appropriations Committee are seeking more information about the Air Force’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the planned Minuteman 3 follow-on. Before the committee reported to the House floor its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense spending bill yesterday, it also approved by unanimous voice vote an amendment to the bill’s companion […]

The Congressional Nuclear Cleanup Caucus will host a panel discussion today with Department of Energy officials titled “Achieving the Mission – Partnering for Success.” Panelists including DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney, DOE EM Los Alamos Field Office Acting Manager Christine Gelles and DOE Office of Management Director Ingrid Kolb. Also on […]

House Deputy Republican Whip Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) sees the House moving on a Yucca Mountain bill by the end of the summer, he said yesterday at The Hill’s policy briefing, titled America’s Nuclear Energy Future. House Republicans have said that they plan to introduce at some point this year a bill that would incentivize the […]

As the full House Appropriations Committee will today start marking up its version of the defense spending bill for Fiscal Year 2016, members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee appear to be “confused” about why the Navy “prematurely down-selected” to a “single material system” in 2014, to develop bow domes for the Ohio-class Replacement (OR), […]

There is nothing to negotiate on Yucca Mountain, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said in a May 21 letter to House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee Chair John Shimkus (R-Ill.). Shimkus recently called on that state to enter into a dialogue on potential economic benefits and infrastructure improvements that would incentivize the state into hosting […]

The Energy Facility Contractors Group will hold its annual meeting on June 3 and 4 at the Department of Energy’s Forrestal Building in Washington, D.C. Wednesday will consist of working group discussions. Thursday’s sessions feature speakers including Reps. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Office of Environmental Management Acting Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney and […]

Department of Energy Senior Advisor Bruce Held retired from DOE on May 30, DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a message to employees Friday. Notably, in 2013 and 2014 Held served as Acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and acting National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator. “Bruce provided exceptional leadership over a critical 10 month period, […]

The following exit interview with Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office Manager Dave Moody, who is retiring this week after nearly five years as site manager, was conducted May 27 by ExchangeMonitor Senior Editor Kenneth Fletcher. WC Monitor 5/29/2015 What would you like to be seen as Savannah River’s major achievements during your five-year […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 5/29/2015 To help provide better oversight at one of the Department of Energy’s largest and most complex projects, the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to have DOE bring in an “owner’s agent” for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Senate authorizers are looking to require the Department of Energy to complete emergency preparedness assessments as part of award fee evaluations for the Department’s set of M&O contractors. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently reported out of committee, would require DOE […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Members of Ohio’s Congressional delegation are asking the Department of Energy how it plans to avoid layoffs at the Portsmouth site in 2016 given planned funding levels and cuts in the uranium transfers used to help pay for cleanup at the site. DOE recently announced plans to reduce the uranium […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy and its contractors should improve the management of spare parts at sites across the complex, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report released this week. Spare parts inventories are needed to maintain DOE facilities, but the IG encountered issues at the three sites covered […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 In light of schedule delays, cost overruns and “other forms of mismanagement” associated with certain National Nuclear Security Administration programs, a Senate panel has cleared a bill that would require the Government Accountability Office to prepare a new report examining, among other things, NNSA program management procedures and performance of […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee is concerned that recent changes within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), including last year’s elimination of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs position, may lead to a decreased policy focus on nuclear deterrence. In the recently released committee report […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/29/2015 Senate authorizers are looking to require the Department of Energy to complete emergency preparedness assessments as part of award fee evaluations for the Department’s set of M&O contractors. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently reported out of committee, would require DOE […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee is proposing to increase the funding cap for Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) programs at the Energy Department’s national laboratories. Currently, the maximum percentage of lab funding that can be apportioned for special projects is 6 percent. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Government Accountability Office is recommending that the Defense and Energy departments address new budgetary obligations and an expanded portfolio of planned weapons projects by requiring officials to attend support meetings more consistently and by revising the 18-year-old document guiding the Nuclear Weapons Council. In a report released last week, […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/29/2015 The Department of Energy and its contractors should improve the management of spare parts at sites across the complex, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report released this week. Spare parts inventories are needed to maintain DOE facilities, but the IG encountered issues at the three sites covered […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/29/2015 Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons will step down from his position at the end of June, according to an internal memo from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz this week. Lyons has served in his current role since 2011 and contributed widely […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 Given the large role that enhanced oil recovery is expected to play in the commercialization of carbon capture and storage, it is vital that U.S energy policy treat the process on par with non-EOR storage of carbon, Sasha Mackler, Vice President of Summit Carbon Capture for Summit Power Group, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 The World Bank stressed the need to act now to develop the climate mitigation technologies that will be needed in the future to stave off climate change in a new report released last week. The report notes the eventual need for bio-carbon capture and storage as a necessity to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 The United States could feasibly achieve much deeper emission reductions if the Environmental Protection Agency were to increase the stringency of its carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, according to a report released this week by the World Resources Institute. The report addresses the U.S. goal of […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 The cost overages and delays that have plagued Southern Company’s Kemper County Energy Facility have now cost the project a significant buyer. South Mississippi Electric Power Association (SMEPA), an electric cooperative that had been pursuing a 15 percent ownership of the new-build coal-fired power plant, announced last week that […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 Implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants could more than double the number of coal-fired power plant retirements expected by 2040, according to a report released by the Energy Information Agency late last week. The report was requested by the House […]

GHG Monitor 5/29/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Engineering firm Wood Group Kenny has been selected to provide technical advisory services to the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change regarding carbon capture and storage policies and potential future projects, the firm announced this week. Wood Group Kenny has recently worked with Shell on its Peterhead […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 16 to again consider the nomination of Monica Regalbuto to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. The White House earlier this year nominated Regalbuto for a second time to head up the Department of Energy’s cleanup program; she was […]

Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons will step down from his position at the end of June, according to an internal memo from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz yesterday. Lyons has served in his current role since 2011 and contributed widely to the Administration’s current waste management strategy […]

Senate authorizers are looking to require the Department of Energy to complete emergency preparedness assessments as part of award fee evaluations for DOE M&O contractors, according to language in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that recently cleared the full committee. The provision “would require the Secretary of Energy […]

The Nuclear Weapons Council’s actions to coordinate the stockpile responsibilities of the Defense Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration are “not fully consistent” with key practices for interagency collaboration, a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday found. While the 43-page report found that the Council’s actions are “generally consistent” with “most key practices” for NNSA-DoD […]