Budget & Policy

WC Monitor 5/9/2014 IN CONGRESS The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to hold a hearing next week to consider the nomination of Monica Regalbuto to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. The hearing is scheduled to be held May 13 beginning at 10 a.m. Regalbuto currently holds the position […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 A provision in the House Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would have boosted authorized construction funding for the wobbling Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility was stripped from the bill late in the evening of May 7 with opponents of the project […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 Republicans this week turned away an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would’ve authorized an increase in nuclear weapons dismantlement work. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) during a markup hearing on the bill, would have […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 The House Appropriations Committee formally unveiled its subcommittee allocations for Fiscal Year 2015 this week, and lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee will have a little less funding to work with this year. The committee set the Energy and Water allocation at $34.010 billion, $50 million less […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration is transferring $56.65 million from other programs to an effort to preserve the American Centrifuge technology under a new contract being managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The ORNL subcontract, awarded to USEC, is worth $33.7 million through the end of this fiscal year, and […]

DOE FY’15 Budget Request Would Cut RL Funding by Approx. $93 Million Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/2/2014 As many as seven cleanup milestones at Hanford are at risk of being missed in Fiscal Year 2015 due to funding issues, a DOE official said this week. DOE’s Richland Operations Office faced one of the largest cuts […]

HASC-Strategic Forces Markup Would Accelerate Cruise Missile Warhead, Creation of Pu Capabilities  Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 Republicans on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee are objecting to Administration plans to delay the refurbishment of the cruise missile warhead, and they are moving to authorize additional funding to accelerate the program in Fiscal Year […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 While the Department of Energy this week backed off from plans to immediately suspend work on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and released a long-awaited alternatives study, the plant’s supporters in Congress continued to pressure DOE to commit to MOX completion. Though the Department originally said it would begin […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 As a contract that cedes management of the American Centrifuge Project from USEC to Oak Ridge National Laboratory began this week, Senate appropriators are questioning how the program will be funded. This week DOE and USEC’s bankruptcy court approved a $118 million subcontract between ORNL contractor UT-Battelle and USEC to […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, promised to fight proposed funding cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation program during a subcommittee hearing this week, calling the reductions to the program “egregious.” The Administration requested $8.31 billion for the NNSA’s weapons […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 A new report from the Government Accountability Office this week said it’s unlikely that the National Nuclear Security Administration will meet its goals to dismantle all nuclear weapons retired prior to Fiscal Year 2009 by FY 2022, but it suggests slowing down the dismantlement work might help address a problematic […]

NS&D Monitor 4/25/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy has amended the Brookhaven National Laboratory Request for Proposals, stripping language that would have required companies to establish a new entity to bid on the contract. The RFP previously required that a new legal entity be created for procurement, but in a pre-proposal conference presentation last […]

State, DOE Can’t Reach Agreement on Modification Staff Reports WC Monitor 4/25/2014 Washington state has triggered a formal dispute resolution process for Hanford’s court-enforced consent decree following the Department of Energy’s rejection late last week of the state’s proposal for new deadlines and other requirements. State attorneys sent a brief letter April 23 to the […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/25/2014 The Department of Energy’s directives revision process is “too cumbersome” and creates confusion, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said in a letter earlier this month to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. In his April 4 letter, which was recently made public, Winokur urged Moniz to review the directives […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/25/2014 The Department of Energy could potentially save more than $2.3 million over the next three years by increasing efficiency  in acquisition and management of mobile devices such as phones, tablets and air cards, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week. The IG’s review covered 10 sites in […]

Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 4/25/2014 The Department of Energy’s directives revision process is “too cumbersome” and creates confusion, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said in a letter earlier this month to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. In his April 4 letter, which was recently made public, Winokur urged Moniz to review the directives […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/25/2014 The Department of Energy could potentially save more than $2.3 million over the next three years by increasing efficiency  in acquisition and management of mobile devices such as phones, tablets and air cards, according to a DOE Inspector General report released this week. The IG’s review covered 10 sites in […]

WC Monitor 4/25/2014 IN DOE The Department of Energy is gearing up for an inquiry into an allegation of a hostile work environment within the DOE Office of Acquisition and Project Management. DOE issued a solicitation this week seeking a contractor to provide “fact finder services” to look into a “recent allegation” of a hostile […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 4/18/2014      While the Department of Energy is not seeking any funding next year for a program to reimburse the costs of cleaning up a set of sites that produced uranium and thorium, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) has requested $54 million in Fiscal Year 2015 for the effort from Senate […]

IN CONGRESS The House Cleanup Caucus this week announced the schedule for this year’s set of briefings on specific Department of Energy cleanup sites. The schedule includes: — Idaho National Laboratory on April 30 at 4 p.m. in Room 1334 of the Longworth House Office Building; — Hanford’s Richland Operations Office on May 1 at […]

Still No Direction to Contractor on ‘Cold Standby’  Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/18/2014 As the state of South Carolina this week filed for summary judgement in its challenge to the Department of Energy’s planned suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the Department still has not provided any direction to the project’s contractor on […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 As the National Nuclear Security Administration pivots toward a smaller and cheaper way of maintaining its uranium processing capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex, acting NNSA chief Bruce Held acknowledged this week that about half of the $1.2 billion that has been spent on the Uranium Processing Facility has […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The National Nuclear Security Administration’s strategy for maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent can’t absorb any more cuts or schedule delays, acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held told a Senate panel this week. The Administration has requested $8.3 billion for NNSA weapons work in Fiscal Year 2015, a $533.9 million […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 More than seven months after Frank Klotz was nominated to head up the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Senate finally confirmed the retired lieutenant general, clearing him by a voice vote late in the afternoon on April 8. Klotz’s confirmation ends the NNSA’s 15-month gap without a permanent administrator; Neile […]

  Mike Nartker  WC Monitor 4/11/2014 Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) warned this week that the Department of Energy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget for Hanford could put milestones at risk of being missed. Hanford came in for one of the largest cuts in the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s  FY 2015 budget request—for work overseen […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The Department of Energy requested a funding boost for weapons projects in Fiscal Year 2015 at the expense of nonproliferation and cleanup programs, Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week, and appropriators are looking for ways to rebalance that funding. Feinstein pressed Secretary of […]

Says Department Hopes to Begin U-233 Shipments to Nevada ‘Later This Year’ Mike Nartker WC Monitor 4/11/2014              Department of Energy cleanup chief David Huizenga this week defended DOE’s decision to seek a funding reduction for D&D activities at Oak Ridge in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. DOE is proposing to […]

Board Working To Address Staff Morale Concerns Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is considering establishing some sort of ombudsman capability as part of its efforts to address staff morale concerns, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur told NS&D Monitor this week. A new ombudsman was one of several recommendations developed by […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 While a Department of Energy program supporting the American Centrifuge Project is set to come to an end next week, DOE is deciding how to reprogram National Nuclear Security Administration funds to keep the project alive. Last week, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 Department of Energy officials are still in the hot seat with lawmakers over the decision to suspend the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project, and this week they did not provide any specifics on alternatives for plutonium disposition. DOE last month announced that due to rising costs it would immediately […]