Budget & Policy

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/24/2015 House lawmakers are pushing for all of the members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to have a greater say in senior staffing decisions. Language in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, reported out of subcommittee this week, would require the DNFSB Chairman […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 A Congressional hearing could be on tap on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/24/2015 Legislation could be on the table to cap the Department of Energy’s transfers of excess uranium if DOE does not limit the transfers on its own, Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week at a House Oversight Interior Subcommittee hearing on DOE’s uranium management program. DOE uses the transfers to […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Congress would increase oversight of the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRSB) program if legislation reported to the full House Armed Services Committee this week makes its way into the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, and is approved afterward. The last section of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower […]

Kenneth Fletcher RW Monitor 4/24/2014 A Congressional hearing could be on tap on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/24/2014 A Congressional hearing could be on tap on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said this week. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House lawmakers are pushing for all of the members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to have a greater say in senior staffing decisions. Language in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, reported out of subcommittee this week, would require the DNFSB Chairman […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The newly redesigned Uranium Processing Facility might be in jeopardy of breaching its $6.5 billion cost cap, according to the report accompanying the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act cleared by the House Appropriations Committee this week. House appropriators fully funded the Administration’s $430 […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor  4/24/2015 In what amounts to a partial endorsement of the recommendations of the Congressionally mandated National Nuclear Security Administration governance panel, the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee this week unveiled legislation that would create a DOE/NNSA panel to establish an implementation plan for reforming the management of NNSA and improving […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 It could cost nearly $52 billion to complete the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and run it while downblending and disposing of surplus weapons-grade plutonium would be a significantly cheaper approach, according to a recently completed study by The Aerospace Corporation that drew immediate criticism from South Carolina’s Congressional delegation […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 A National Nuclear Security Administration program to install radiation detection equipment at borders, airports and seaports around the world would take a big hit under a provision in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, unveiled this week. The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor  4/24/2015 House appropriators are concerned that a heavy workload on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program could endanger the agency’s modernization efforts. In the report accompanying the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, House appropriators said they were worried that the “aggressive” schedule for […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 4/24/2015 With the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of the Parties less than eight months away, where a new international climate agreement is hoped to be reached, the world is closely monitoring the progress of the United States in its domestic efforts to combat climate change. The […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The House Armed Services Seapower & Projection Forces Subcommittee markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the transfer of $1.4 billion into the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund from Navy research and development funds, expands the transfer authority for the Fund from the Navy to the Defense Department, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 President Barack Obama would be required to begin research and development of counter-force and countervailing U.S. responses to Russia’s reported violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, if Moscow does not become treaty-compliant before the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. That’s according to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 4/24/2015 House appropriators approved their version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week, releasing more detail as to how the bill would fund various Department of Energy fossil energy R&D programs. The bill, which is set to be debated on the House floor next week, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 4/24/2015 The United States should support the expansion of existing CO2 pipeline infrastructure to increase opportunities for both carbon capture and storage and enhanced oil recovery, according to the Department of Energy’s first Quadrennial Energy Review, released this week. Currently, the United States is home to the majority of a […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House lawmakers are asking the Department of Energy for a plan to transfer excess facilities held by the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Office of Environmental Management for cleanup. Both House authorizers and appropriators have asked for reports from DOE for moving NNSA buildings to the cleanup program. The […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 4/24/2015 The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power this week approved by a vote of 17-12 Chairman Ed Whitfield’s (R-Ky.) “Ratepayer Protection Act,” which is intended to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing proposed carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants. The EPA’s proposal, which is currently the subject […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 House appropriators cut in half the Obama Administration’s $100 million Fiscal Year 2016 request for work to sustain the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology, but provided reprogramming authority to the National Nuclear Security Administration for the rest of the funding in their version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water […]

GHG Monitor 4/24/2015 IN DOE Ten million metric tons of carbon dioxide have successfully been captured and stored underground in Department of Energy carbon capture and storage projects, DOE announced this week. The programs contributing to the milestone are the Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (ICCS) Major Demonstrations program and the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership […]

In what amounts to a partial endorsement of the recommendations of the Congressionally mandated NNSA governance panel, the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee yesterday unveiled legislation that would create a DOE/NNSA panel to establish an implementation plan for reforming the management of NNSA and improving efficiency across the weapons complex. The panel would base […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel-led team that took over management of the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants last year, is saving approximately $2 million a week under its cost-savings plan, according to Richard Goffi, the Booz Allen Hamilton vice president helping to head up transformation activities for the CNS team. Goffi addressed the Congressional […]

It could cost nearly $52 billion to complete the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and run it while downblending and disposing of surplus weapons-grade plutonium would be a significantly cheaper approach, according to a recently completed study by The Aerospace Corporation. The Congressionally mandated study eclipses the Department of Energy’s own estimates for completing and […]

President Barack Obama would be required to begin research and development of counter-force and countervailing U.S. responses to Russia’s reported violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty if Moscow does not become treaty-compliant before the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. That’s according to the House Armed Services Strategic Force’s Subcommittee’s […]

An amendment to the House 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill yesterday reduced the funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing review of Yucca Mountain by $25 million. The passed amendment lowers the NRC’s allocated funding by $50 million, with $25 million coming from the originally planned $50 million for the Yucca review and another […]

House authorizers are asking the Department of Energy to develop a plan to transfer excess facilities held by the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Office of Environmental Management for cleanup, according to the subcommittee version of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act released yesterday. Under the bill, DOE would be required to […]

A hearing could be in the works on former Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman’s new position as CEO of uranium enrichment firm Centrus Energy Corp., House Oversight and Government Reform Interior Subcommittee Chair Rep. Cynthia Lummis said yesterday. The House panel launched a probe in late March questioning whether Poneman complied with ethics guidelines and […]

Legislation could be on the table to cap the Department of Energy’s uranium transfers if DOE does not limit the transfers on its own, Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said yesterday at a House Oversight Interior Subcommittee hearing yesterday’s on DOE’s uranium management program. DOE uses the transfers to help fund cleanup activities at Portsmouth and […]

The newly redesigned Uranium Processing Facility might be in jeopardy of breaching its $6.5 billion cost cap, according to the report accompanying the House version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Act released yesterday. House appropriators fully funded the Administration’s $430 million request on UPF, but it said an internal peer review […]