Budget & Policy

House lawmakers and industry representatives agreed late last week that the Department of Energy is bound by the law to pursue Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent fuel, speaking during a hearing in front of the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), one of the most vocal pro-Yucca advocates […]

The Department of Energy supports bringing the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Administration back under the Energy Department in line with recommendations of the Congressional Advisory Panel, according to a DOE response to the panel’s findings obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. DOE largely agreed to the panel’s recommendations from late last year, including the most extreme, which […]

Senate appropriators are set to begin marking up Fiscal Year 2016 spending bills this week, with the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee scheduling a markup this Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in Dirksen 138. The Energy and Water bill will set funding levels for Department of Energy programs, as well as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 In the face of a White House veto threat over concerns including nuclear policy provisions, the House late this week passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 269 to 151. The bill sets authorized funding levels and policy for nuclear weapons […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 The Department of Defense plans to fund the more than 50-year-old U.S. ICBM command and control structure, even if the military’s budget is limited by sequestration, a top Air Force nuclear official said this week. “The good news is significant investment in the President’s Budget to get at this, and […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/15/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee late this week completed its markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes authorized funding and policy provisions for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Defense Department programs associated with the nuclear triad. Notably, the bill would require the Defense Secretary […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 The Senate Armed Services Committee late this week completed its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets authorized funding levels for defense environmental cleanup. The bill authorizes $5.5 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s defense environmental management programs, matching the administration’s FY’16 budget […]

Reductions Could Have $65 Million Impact in FY’16 Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 Members of Ohio’s Congressional delegation expressed concern this week over the impact on Portsmouth cleanup of the Department of Energy’s recent decision to reduce its uranium transfers. D&D funding at Portsmouth comes in a large part from the sale of DOE-owned uranium […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/15/2015 In the face of a White House veto threat over concerns including nuclear policy provisions, the House late this week passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 269 to 151. The bill sets authorized funding levels and policy for defense environmental […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 The Environmental Protection Agency late last week sent its proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new-build coal-fired power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The rule, which would largely mandate the use of carbon capture technology on all new-build coal fired power […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 Gassnova has identified a potential path forward for the realization of a full-scale carbon capture and storage project in Norway in a new pre-feasibility study conducted for the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and released late last week. Gassnova identified three emitters that show promise as potential carbon capture […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy voted last week in favor of a draft report on the European Energy Security Strategy containing language in support of carbon capture and storage. The document includes two compromise amendments addressing CCS, one that calls for actions to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 The University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center will receive $2.5 million to support carbon capture and storage research under a two-year cooperate agreement reached with the Department of Energy this week. The funding will be used for research intended to “assist the energy industry in deploying […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) introduced a bill this week that would place strict limits on the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from new and existing coal-fired power plants. The “Affordable Reliable Energy Now Act [ARENA]” contains language that would repeal the EPA’s proposed carbon emissions […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) this week introduced a package of bills aimed at supporting the development of clean coal technologies. The package consists of five measures, many of which pull from Heitkamp’s Advanced Clean Coal Technology Investment in Our Nation (ACCTION) Act, which the Senator […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 Following the Conservative Party’s victory in last week’s election in the United Kingdom, proponents of carbon capture and storage are still unsure what the future will hold for the technology. The Conservatives have not made clear their stance on the use of CCS, saying in their manifesto only that […]

GHG Monitor 5/15/2015 IN DOE The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has awarded an estimated $2.5 million to David Heldebrant, a researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to support his research into combined capture and conversion of CO2. The funding will span five years and will cover Heldebrant’s year-round salary plus research expenses. […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 5/15/2015 The “time is now” to move forward on used nuclear fuel policy, Congressional lawmakers said this week in remarks at the Nuclear Energy Assembly conference in Washington, D.C. Members from both parties highlighted the issue as a major problem holding the nuclear industry from expanding in the future, but […]

The White House yesterday released a Statement of Administration Policy that stated President Barack Obama’s “senior advisers would recommend” a veto if Congress approves the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The 11-page statement outlines the Administration’s opposition to eight NDAA elements that involve nuclear technology, nuclear […]

Amid a threat of a veto of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, the House begin will begin voting on amendments to the legislation today. Notably, the following amendments will be considered:    An amendment introduced by Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) to prohibit reducing […]

Congressional lawmakers called for a departure from the “either/or” thinking on interim storage or Yucca Mountain yesterday during speeches made at the Nuclear Energy Assembly Conference in Washington D.C. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) indicated that this type of thought process on nuclear waste policy “does not allow nuclear energy […]

The Pentagon plans to fund the more than 50-year-old U.S. ICBM command and control structure, even if the military’s budget topline is limited to the Budget Control Act level, a top Air Force nuclear official said yesterday. “The good news is significant investment in the President’s Budget to get at this, and even at the […]

The Nuclear Energy Institute re-elected Exelon President and CEO Christopher Crane as chairman of NEI’s board of directors, the organization announced yesterday. Donald Brandt, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. and Arizona Public Service Co., has been re-elected vice chairman of the board. NEI also elected three new members […]

Republican Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio voiced his support for opening Yucca Mountain, according to reports in the Greenville News last weekend. The Florida Senator was in South Carolina over the weekend campaigning for the Republican nomination when local reporters asked him his thoughts on Yucca Mountain. Rubio said that the United States has spent so […]

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) is looking to have the National Nuclear Security Administration establish a “Business Board,” modeled on the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board. Lujan has submitted an amendment establishing the NNSA Business Board to be considered during House floor debate on the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The House Rules Committee […]

  The Nuclear Energy Institute is hosting the annual Nuclear Energy Assembly Conference this week in Washington D.C. Key speakers will include top House and Senate energy lawmakers, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Steven Burns, and executives from nuclear utility companies. The event runs from May 12 to May14, and it […]

The Senate is scheduled to take up the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act this week, with subcommittee markups scheduled for Monday and Tuesday and the full committee markup on Wednesday. However, few details in the legislation are expected to become public initially, as those markups will take place in closed sessions. This comes […]

The following interview with Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was conducted April 29 by ExchangeMonitor Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker. WC Monitor 5/8/2015 We’re right in the midst of appropriations season. As your subcommittee is working on its version of the FY 2016 energy and water bill, what are going to be […]

Uranium Mining Industry Gives Move ‘Mixed Reviews’  Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 In a move that is expected to impact funding for cleanup work at the Portsmouth site, the Department of Energy is reducing the amount of excess uranium it will transfer to contractors to help pay for cleanup activities and downblending programs. Under the […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/8/2015 There is no evidence that former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman broke any ethics rules while at the Department of Energy regarding his future post as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., DOE Deputy General Counsel Eric Fygi said in an April 30 letter to Sen. John Barrasso […]