Budget & Policy

The National Nuclear Security Administration has not sufficiently analyzed the root causes of cost increases in its plutonium disposition program, according to a Government Accountability Office report expected to be released today. The report looked at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which rose in cost by about $3 billion in a 2012 estimate, as […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has dispatched a consultant to the Savannah River Site in recent days to examine options for terminating Shaw AREVA MOX Services’ contract for construction of the MOX plant at the site, according to officials with knowledge of the project. NNSA yesterday declined to comment, but the consultant is believed to be […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s credibility is nearing an all-time low in Congress, Capitol Hill aides said late last week at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Cost overruns on major construction projects, backsliding on major programs, and security breaches have led lawmakers to create a 12-member panel examining the future of the NNSA, and aides said […]

In another step in talks on a potential path forward for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met last week with contractor officials and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.). As DOE said it would take a look at plutonium disposition alternatives due to […]

The “Nuclear Waste Administration Act” is unlikely to see any movement during this year due to the change in leadership of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee , according to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) during remarks at the at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Winter Meeting, held in Washington D.C. Murkowski said […]

While Congress approved a reprogramming request for $59.2 million towards construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility late last year, those funds have yet to reach the project, NW&M Monitor has learned. The National Nuclear Security Administration originally submitted the reprogramming request to Congress in early August in order to avoid losses to the […]

Large fees for contractors managing the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons laboratories might be a thing of the past, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held said yesterday at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. In response to questions at the sixth annual summit, Held called the “creeping privatization” of the national laboratories “unwise” and suggested the agency […]

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners suggested that the Department of Energy can fix the Nuclear Waste Fund fee on its own without the need for a rehearing en banc, according to NARUC’s response to DOE’s en banc motion filed this week. DOE is arguing that the court has placed it in a “damned […]

Entergy gave its nuclear fleet a ‘vote of confidence’ yesterday during its 2013 fourth quarter earnings call, saying it would continue to own and operate the plants for the “foreseeable future.” With the growing economic competition from natural gas as well as a harsh energy policy towards nuclear, many utilities are taking a hard look […]

Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) will join the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, taking the seat vacated by former Senator and current Ambassador to China Max Baucus (D- Mont.). Markey has long been a vocal critic of nuclear power, an oversight area included in the EPW’s jurisdiction, and has pushed for legislation for faster removal […]

The nation’s nuclear forces will be the subject of a pair of Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in several weeks. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will appear before the full committee at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 27 alongside Cyber Command chief Gen. Keith Alexander, while the panel’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee will hear testimony on the […]

Bruce Held, the acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, would be the Department of Energy’s new associate deputy secretary and coordinator of security under a new DOE reorganization of its safety and security functions, Weapons Complex Monitor has learned. DOE unveiled new details of its reorganization plans yesterday at an all-hands meeting. The reorganization […]

Senior Department of Energy officials are scheduled to hold an all-hands meeting this afternoon to outline details of a planned reorganization of the Office of Health, Safety and Security, Weapons Complex Monitor has learned. The meeting is set to be followed by the release of a detailed statement from the Secretary of Energy. Weapons Complex Morning […]

The Department of Energy is moving to split out its oversight and enforcement capabilities from the Office of Health, Safety and Security, Weapons Complex Monitor has learned. Details of the long-anticipated reorganization of HSS have emerged in Department briefings conducted over the last week, though the timing of when the planned changes will go into effect […]

Nominated this week by President Obama to serve as the top two Pentagon policy officials, Christine Wormuth and Brian McKeon will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 25. Wormuth was nominated to be the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, while McKeon was nominated to be the Principal Under Secretary of Defense for […]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote today on the nomination of two key State Department nominees. The committee delayed a vote on Rose Gottemoeller and Frank Rose last month over concerns about a lack of commitment from the Administration to only undertake further nuclear weapons reductions through the treaty process. Gottemoeller is […]

Bryan Smith, the primary challenger to Rep. Mike Simpson’s (R-Idaho) 2014 reelection bid is lagging far behind in campaign fundraising efforts to Simpson, the new Chair of the House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee. Bryan Smith, an Idaho Falls business owner, raised $111,924 in the final quarter of 2013, ending the year with $376,221 in […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is still deciding how to spend the windfall for most cleanup sites in the spending bill that passed Congress earlier this month, which included about $200 million more for EM than asked for in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget request. After financial uncertainties last year caused furloughs, […]

Babcock & Wilcox –led Nuclear Production Partners and the National Nuclear Security Administration will convene at 9 a.m. Wednesday for a hearing on NP2’s protest of the agency’s Y-12/Pantex contract award. NP2 protested the award in November—its third protest of the contract—and the GAO is expected to decide the challenge by Feb. 28. The hearing […]

The markup of the “Nuclear Waste Administration Act” bill that currently resides in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has been delayed once again after the sponsors of the bill sent the proposed legislation to the Congressional Budget Office for additional scoring. Committee Chairman Ron Wyden had expressed a desire to mark the bill […]

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered yesterday that the petitioners in the Nuclear Waste Fund Fee case respond to the Department of Energy’s motion for a re-hearing en banc, extending the time period the court has to decide if the motion should be granted. The petitioners, the National Association of Regulatory Utility […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday released the detailed Fiscal Year 2013 Performance Evaluation Reports for its eight sites, shedding light on what its contractors did well—and not so well—during FY 2013 (links to the reports can be found on the NNSA’s web site). B&W Y-12, still working to repair its image after the July […]

Two new Republican lawmakers have joined the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) announced yesterday. Reps. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) have been added to the panel, joining subcommittee chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), and Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is still deciding how to spend the windfall for most cleanup sites in the spending bill that passed Congress earlier this month, which included about $200 million more for EM than asked for in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget request. After financial uncertainties last year caused furloughs, […]

Babcock & Wilcox –led Nuclear Production Partners and the National Nuclear Security Administration will convene at 9 a.m. Wednesday for a hearing on NP2’s protest of the agency’s Y-12/Pantex contract award. NP2 protested the award in November—its third protest of the contract—and the GAO is expected to decide the challenge by Feb. 28. The hearing […]

The markup of the “Nuclear Waste Administration Act” bill that currently resides in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has been delayed once again after the sponsors of the bill sent the proposed legislation to the Congressional Budget Office for additional scoring. Committee Chairman Ron Wyden had expressed a desire to mark the bill […]

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered yesterday that the petitioners in the Nuclear Waste Fund Fee case respond to the Department of Energy’s motion for a re-hearing en banc, extending the time period the court has to decide if the motion should be granted. The petitioners, the National Association of Regulatory Utility […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday released the detailed Fiscal Year 2013 Performance Evaluation Reports for its eight sites, shedding light on what its contractors did well—and not so well—during FY 2013 (links to the reports can be found on the NNSA’s web site). B&W Y-12, still working to repair its image after the July […]

Two new Republican lawmakers have joined the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) announced yesterday. Reps. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) have been added to the panel, joining subcommittee chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), and Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). […]

IN DOE The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook, issued this week, states projected CO2 emissions will vary with coal and nuclear power plant retirements. The publication, which is being released in stages through May 7, featured several cases addressing accelerated retirements of coal and nuclear plants. The publication states that CO2 emissions would […]