Budget & Policy

Here’s a look at the events we will be following this week: The Congressionally appointed panel on National Nuclear Security Administration governance will offer its sense of the problems facing the agency when the panel’s chairmen appear before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine […]

ExchangeMonitor Publications has promoted Kenneth Fletcher to the position of editor, effective March 15. In the new position, Fletcher will expand his involvement in coverage and editorial direction of the Weapons Complex Monitor, Nuclear Security and Deterrence Monitor and RadWaste Monitor. He will reporter to ExchangeMonitor Publications Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker and work in conjunction with […]

Given the Obama Administration’s intent to suspend the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project, South Carolina says the weapons-grade plutonium in the state may need to be reclassified as waste and disposed of within a year. The plutonium  was intended to be converted by MOX into fuel for use in nuclear reactors, but given the […]

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Terry Tyborowski, who currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget and Program Planning in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, is moving next month to take a job in the Department’s Chief Financial Officer’s office. Tyborowski will serve as Deputy Director for Budget Analysis, effective April 21. Dennis Deziel, who currently serves […]

The Department of Energy yesterday posted budget details here for the Office of Environmental Management’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. Sites that saw the biggest cuts over current enacted levels include Richland, at about a $98 million cut, Paducah at a nearly $55 million cut and Oak Ridge, with a cut of about $45 million. […]

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied two separate motions yesterday that would have re-opened the court’s decision to reduce the Nuclear Waste Fund fee to zero. The Department of Energy filed a motion for re-hearing by the original three judge panel that unanimously agreed to reduce the fee as well as a […]

Approximately two weeks after the Department of Energy issued top-level details of its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, there is still no sign of detailed budget documents for the Office of Environmental Management. Notably, EM is the only major DOE program office for which a detailed FY 2015 budget justification document has not been released. […]

In an effort to halt the suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, South Carolina officials yesterday announced that the state is suing the Department of Energy over its decision to put the project into a “cold standby” mode. In a complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for South Carolina, officials focused on […]

A group of scientists from the Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force called on Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to take a more active role in the handling of the nation’s waste, especially after seeing the Department’s recent budget request, according to a letter sent to Moniz yesterday. The group became concerned after the most recent budget […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is seeking a small boost in funding next year to hire additional staff the Board says are needed to handle additional workload requirements. The DNFSB’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, released late last week, seeks $30.15 million, an increase of approximately $2 million from the Board’s current funding levels. […]

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has made its 18 selections to a Congressionally mandated Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories, and now it’s up to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to whittle that list down to nine. Moniz has until May 1 to make his selections for the […]

Funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program is projected to continue to grow over the next five years, reaching nearly $10 billion by Fiscal Year 2019, according to the Obama Administration’s detailed budget justification for the agency that was released this weekend. The Administration requested $8.3 billion for the weapons program in FY […]

The Obama Administration is requesting $365.1 million in Fiscal Year 2015 for the Department of Defense’s Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction account, a $135.4 million reduction from FY 2014 funding levels that likely reflects a slow-down in nuclear security work in Russia. Funding for Nunn-Lugar work has remained relatively steady in recent years, with $446.2 million […]

March 26 is shaping up to be a busy day on Capitol Hill for the National Nuclear Security Administration. While the co-chairmen of the NNSA governance panel appear before the House Armed Services Committee, top leaders from the agency will testify before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. The Senate hearing will include testimony […]

The South Carolina Attorney General is considering taking legal action in response to the Administration’s plans to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into “cold standby” and analyze alternatives to the program. “The Attorney General’s office is examining all possible avenues for legal action should the need for action arise,” South Carolina AG spokesman […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that Renee Simpson has taken over as the director of the Office of Congressional Affairs. Simpson previously served on the House Appropriations and Senate Intelligence Committees in senior staff positions, as well as in positions with the Offices of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Marine Corps and Director of […]

In the face of questions from lawmakers, Department of Energy officials acknowledged yesterday that DOE has more work to do to ensure a strong safety culture across the complex. The Senate Financial and Contracting Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing to examine concerns over whether workers at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant are at risk of […]

The Obama Administration is expected to release details of its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request early this week after issuing top line numbers last week. The budget details could be released as soon as today or tomorrow, providing more insight into the Administration’s budget plans for the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration and […]

The Senate will vote today on the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security after it voted yesterday to cut off debate on her nomination. The 55-45 vote yesterday  to invoke cloture and set up today’s confirmation vote came in spite of repeated Republican opposition […]

The Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight is set to hold a hearing next week on the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The hearing appears to have been prompted by the recent decision of URS, a major subcontractor at the WTP, to terminate Donna Busche, who served as a key nuclear […]

The Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request includes $8.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, and plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent are beginning to win over one of the staunchest critics of nuclear funding lapses. Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing yesterday, Sen. Jeff Sessions […]

A House Armed Services Committee hearing with Strategic Command and Pacific Command was postponed yesterday because of snow in Washington, D.C. While Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Locklear will testify before the committee today, Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney is likely to appear before the committee in early April, though a date has not […]

As the Department of Energy works on implementing a new rule counting some subcontracts toward small business goals,  officials say  it should have little impact on DOE prime contracting to small businesses. The appropriations bill passed in January allows DOE first tier subcontracts awarded by management and operating contractors to small and disadvantaged businesses to […]

The biggest event of the week will come Tuesday when the Obama Administration releases top-line budget numbers about its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request to Congress. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is expected to brief the media on DOE’s request at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the event will be streamed live at www.energy.gov/live; This year’s Waste […]

With the Obama Administration set to release its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request this week, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) reintroduced legislation late last week that would cut $100 billion in nuclear weapons spending over the next decade. Markey first introduced the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act” when he was […]

Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will appear before the House Armed Services Committee for the first time next week. Haney will testify before the committee alongside Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Locklear at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Room 2118 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Haney’s appearance before the committee will come on the […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced yesterday that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) would take over as head of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee. The chairmanship opened up after Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) sought to fill the top spot on the EPW’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure left open by the confirmation […]

The nuclear triad will survive Pentagon spending cuts in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday. Offering a preview of the President’s budget request to reporters at the Pentagon, Hagel outlined a series of spending cuts across the Department of Defense, but singled out the nuclear triad—consisting of nuclear-capable […]

Seventeen lawmakers—all but one from California—late last week urged President Obama to provide “strong and sustained” funding for the National Ignition Facility and inertial confinement fusion activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In a letter to President Obama Friday, the lawmakers, led by Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), noted recent advancements at […]