Budget & Policy

The National Nuclear Security Administration told the House Armed Services Committee that it is already doing enough to address oversight and management issues plaguing the agency, suggesting that the panel’s reform legislation was unnecessary. In a six-page letter to Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) earlier this month, NNSA […]

The House Energy & Commerce hearing on Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight will be held July 24, with new Chairman Allison Macfarlane and the four other commissioners testifying. Macfarlane was sworn in July 9 to complete the final year of former chairman Gregory Jaczko’s term, after he abruptly resigned May 21 following months of criticism about […]

Here’s a look at some of the events we’ll be following this week: Today, the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and Foreign Policy Initiative are sponsoring a discussion on “How Much Tighter Must the NPT Be?” at 11:45 a.m. in Room B340 of the Rayburn House Office Building. On Tuesday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold […]

After a last-minute cancellation last week of a markup of legislation that would phase out the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will take up the bill today and consider provisions aimed at USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant. The “No More Solyndras Act” came as the result of the panel’s […]

Only two weeks into her new job as Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman, Allison Macfarlane defended her previous work analyzing the Yucca Mountain geologic repository before a joint meeting of House Energy and Commerce subcommittees yesterday, saying that work will not be a factor in her new role as independent regulator. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) asked […]

NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino met with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) yesterday, providing the first of what is expected to be twice yearly briefings on the Uranium Processing Facility and other major NNSA projects, Alexander spokesman Jim Jeffries confirmed. Feinstein and Alexander, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and […]

The estimated cost of a National Nuclear Security Administration program to refurbish four versions of the B61 nuclear bomb has nearly doubled to $7.9 billion over the last year and could cost as much as $10 billion, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said yesterday at a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. Feinstein, the chair […]

The anti-loan guarantee legislation that cleared a House subcommittee yesterday still leaves USEC eligible for a Department of Energy loan guarantee despite efforts by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to target the company’s enrichment plant. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman for the House Energy and Commerce Energy and Power subcommittee, said the legislation that passed the […]

New Mexico’s two Democratic Senators, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, formally requested that the Obama Administration reverse its plan to delay construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility for at least five years in letters to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week. The Senators called the NNSA’s plan […]

Here’s a look at some of the stories we’ll be following this week: On Tuesday, the Department of Energy is holding an industry day in Paducah, Ky., to gauge interest from companies that may be interested in using facilities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. On Wednesday, outgoing Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear […]

Former Secretary of Energy Adm. James Watkins passed away late last week at the age of 85. According to reports, Watkins had suffered from congestive heart failure. Watkins served as Energy Secretary under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, and during his tenure he launched DOE’s program to clean up former U.S. nuclear […]

A Continuing Resolution will fund the federal government through the first six months of Fiscal Year 2013 thanks to an agreement reached between Congressional leaders and the White House yesterday, but it’s not clear whether the stopgap funding measure will allow any exceptions for Department of Energy or National Nuclear Security Administration accounts. Pushing debate […]

The threat of significant funding cuts occurring early next year through process known as sequestration doesn’t require federal contractors to issue WARN Act notices to employees of potential layoffs, according to guidance the Department of Labor issued this week. While contractors are typically required to notify workers of potential layoffs 60 days before they could […]

Buoyed by widespread weapons complex modernization efforts, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget is receiving unprecedented scrutiny, but a new report from the Government Accountability Office throws into question the credibility of the agency’s budget planning processes. In a report released yesterday, “Modernizing the Nuclear Security Enterprise: NNSA’s Reviews of Budget Estimates and Decisions on […]

Senior Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee continue to believe that they must intervene to reform the National Nuclear Security Administration, and in a letter yesterday to NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino, Reps. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Michael Turner (R-Ohio) rebuffed the agency’s suggestion that its own reform efforts would address management problems plaguing the […]

USEC officials told investors yesterday that with Congress planning for a six-month Continuing Resolution starting this fall, the company is hoping for additional funding from the Department of Energy starting in November to avoid a demobilization of the American Centrifuge Project. While USEC this week reported a net loss of $92 million in the second […]

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) yesterday introduced legislation aimed at implementing the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future’s recommendations. Though Bingaman had been working with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to craft bipartisan legislation, a draft of which was obtained by RW Monitor […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation yesterday aimed at reforming the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program, after rejecting an amendment that would have terminated the program. The legislation was prompted by DOE’s loan to the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra and aims to eventually phase out the program, but still allows loans to […]

A bipartisan group of 100 House lawmakers is appealing to Energy Secretary Steven Chu to preserve funding for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility. The facility has been beset by complications in its quest to achieve fusion ignition and after the facility missed a key milestone at the end of June, the National Nuclear […]

Amid the furor over last weekend’s security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Oak Ridge/Y-12/Pantex protective force contract will submit bids by Friday’s 12 PM Mountain Time deadline. Among the expected bidders: a team of Oak Ridge pro force incumbent WSI and Y-12 and Pantex incumbent […]

The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee has rescheduled its hearing on NNSA governance for Sept. 12 at 10 a.m., and has added one item to its agenda: the recent security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The subcommittee said yesterday that the hearing would examine “a range of management and administrative […]

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, offered a defense of his controversial package of National Nuclear Security Administration reform provisions that are part of the House-passed FY2013 Defense Authorization Act in a speech to the Energy Facility Contractors Group yesterday, as well as a warning. “If these […]

The House of Representatives voted 255-165 yesterday to approve the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The measure would provide a total of approximately $5.53 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a cut of approximately $100 million from DOE’s request. During floor debate on the bill in the House, […]

A pair of amendments to the House Energy and Water Appropriations bill that would have reduced federal support for USEC uranium enrichment activities failed yesterday. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wy.) offered an amendment aimed at limiting several recently approved Department of Energy uranium transfers, one of which is designed to keep the USEC-operated Paducah enrichment plant […]

The House passed an amendment yesterday to the Energy and Water spending bill to provide an additional $10 million to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the review of the Yucca Mountain license application. The amendment, which passed 326 to 81, would add that funding to the $25 million already provided in the bill. Though […]

Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) continued to pressure the Administration for backing off its plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal, releasing a June 5 letter that calls on President Obama to restore funding for the modernization plan. Turner has led the charge to restore funding for the modernization plan, and the House-passed […]

A bipartisan group of Senators yesterday announced their ongoing efforts to introduce a bill addressing U.S. nuclear waste policy in light of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommendations. At a Bipartisan Policy Center event yesterday Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has completed its work on the FY2013 Defense Authorization Act, but the panel’s Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee is still planning to hold a hearing on proliferation prevention programs at the NNSA and Department of Defense. Madelyn Creedon, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, will testify before […]

The Government Accountability Office hasn’t been able to complete a review of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request because the agency still hasn’t finished work on budgetary planning documents. In a June 7 letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, GAO Natural Resources and Environment Director […]

USEC has until Friday to obtain additional Department of Energy funding for the American Centrifuge Project before creditor JP Morgan significantly restricts the amount USEC can spend on the program. On June 1 the lender extended a line of credit that had been funding the project for 15 days, allowing USEC to spend $6 million […]