Budget & Policy

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill late last week that would require the president to certify that Yucca Mountain remains the designated site for a high-level radioactive waste repository. The bill, cosponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has named Richard Verhaagen as its new site representative for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Verhaagen will replace Brett Broderick, effective in July, according to a Board release. Verhaagen joined the DNFSB’s technical staff in May 2008 and during his tenure he has been responsible for “evaluating the effectiveness […]

NNSA officials will be back on Capitol Hill for another round of budget hearings this week. NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino, Defense Programs chief Don Cook and Naval Reactors chief Adm. Kirkland Donald will appear before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday along with DOE-Environmental Management chief Dave Huizenga. The hearing […]

The National Conference of State Legislatures is urging Congress to move forward quickly on the waste disposal recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The BRC report released in January “represents an important opportunity to find a permanent, safe and secure solution to America’s nuclear waste problem,” says a March 9 letter […]

USEC moved one small step closer yesterday to obtaining federal funding for its American Centrifuge Project, with the Senate approving by a voice vote an amendment to the transportation bill making its way through that chamber that would give the Department of Energy the authority to transfer up to $150 million to USEC for the […]

Senate Republicans are ramping up their criticism of the Obama Administration’s decision to scale back some of its modernization plans, with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) sparring with National Nuclear Security Administration chief Tom D’Agostino at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee budget hearing yesterday. Sessions, the top Republican on the panel, blasted the Administration […]

Sessions’ assault on the Administration’s budget came at the same time that the Republican Policy Committee outlined its stance on the issue, which mirrored the concerns raised by Sessions and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the leading voice among Senate Republicans on nuclear weapons issues. The committee is chaired by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). “President Obama […]

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) questioned the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for its cleanup efforts yesterday, suggesting that DOE sought to boost funding for its Office of Environmental Management at the expense of nuclear weapons modernization efforts. During a Senate Armed Forces Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on DOE’s request, Sessions questioned the […]

The Texas Compact Commission will meet this week to vote on its proposed import rule, which would open Waste Control Specialists up to ink contracts for waste from across the country. The meeting will be held March 23 in Austin, Texas, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Capitol Extension building. The Texas Compact Commission has […]

The debate between Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on the nation’s nuclear weapons budget is showing no signs of dying down any time soon. Turner extended the back-and-forth between the lawmakers yesterday, suggesting that Markey’s opposition to funding modernization efforts for the NNSA’s weapons complex is based on “grossly inaccurate, or wholly […]

A story in the March 16 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor headlined “EM KICKS OFF FY 2014-2018 BUDGET PLANNING PROCESS” included a typo that suggested the Department of Energy’s FY13 budget request for the Office of Environmental Management is noncompliant. That is incorrect. The quote from a DOE budget planning memo should have read: “We […]

The financial issues facing the nation provide the necessary spark to reform the National Nuclear Security Administration, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee told reporters yesterday. Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) has held a hearing and several briefings exploring potential NNSA reform, and while he declined to predict how far his […]

Following developments in the House yesterday, chances have slimmed for Congressional support for a Department of Energy program for give a financial lifeline to USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant before a funding deadline at the end of the month. The Senate passed a transportation bill last week that included a provision giving DOE transfer authority to […]

Advocates for increasing funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program won’t find an ally in Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Feinstein suggested at an NNSA budget hearing yesterday that the Administration’s $7.58 million request for the agency’s weapons program “provides more than sufficient […]

As Congress weighs whether to extend a $150 million financial lifeline to USEC over the next few weeks, Senate appropriators yesterday raised concerns about the Administration’s request for another $150 million in FY 2013 to support a two-year demonstration for USEC’s American Centrifuge Project, questioning the viability of the beleaguered company itself. Senate Energy and […]

USEC’s American Centrifuge Project could run out of money if the company is not able to secure additional funding this week, as a short-term lifeline for a government program supporting the project is set to run out at the end of March. In Congress, hopes for the program are centered on an extension to a […]

Nuclear policy will be front-and-center during several Senate hearings this week. StratCom chief Gen. Robert Kehler will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9:30 Tuesday, while the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee will hold a hearing at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Defense Department’s nuclear forces and policies with several senior Pentagon […]

Will the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility be deferred longer than five years, or not built at all? That’s the concern of the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, who suggested yesterday that the Administration’s modernization plan could be in jeopardy further into the future due to decisions made for […]

A group of 43 Republican Senators is vowing to oppose any additional reductions to the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, calling President Obama’s suggestion earlier this week that the U.S. could reduce its nuclear arsenal below the ceiling set by the New START Treaty “ill-advised.” Obama reaffirmed the Administration’s plans to reduce the nation’s stockpile earlier […]

After finding that computers purchased by the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Operations Office for the Forest Service have gone unused, DOE’s Inspector General has raised management concerns. The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service-Savannah River bought 17 computers in September 2010 using DOE funds through an interagency agreement. The IG found that 16 of those […]

While the Obama Administration’s recent decision to delay work on a replacement for the Ohio class nuclear submarine and the expectation of a massive cut to funding for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility have led some lawmakers to accuse the Administration of backing off of its nuclear modernization promises, a senior State Department official […]

Following a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing yesterday on the Blue Ribbon Commission’s report on nuclear waste disposal, subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said that the panel would continue to push for Yucca Mountain. “My focus is to get Yucca Mountain back on track so that we have what the Blue Ribbon Commission says […]

The Department of Energy’s $44 million in short-term support for a USEC centrifuge plant R&D program without Congressional backing has rankled Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Last month, DOE announced that it would assume $44 million in liability for depleted uranium tails from USEC, and in return the company would provide […]

Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher formally stepped down from her post yesterday and will transition to a new job as an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Tauscher, who oversaw the State Department’s negotiations with Russia on the New START Treaty and was the prime contact on […]

This year’s set of House Cleanup Caucus briefings is scheduled to get underway next week, with acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management David Huizenga to give an overview of EM’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request on Feb. 16. The briefing is scheduled to be held from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in Room 1539 of the Longworth […]

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill that would establish a new commission to review federal buildings and properties for potential sale. While an earlier version of the Civilian Property Alignment Act would have specifically called for the Department of Energy’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., to be sold, the version approved yesterday by […]

As the Administration formulates its response to the Blue Ribbon panel report on nuclear waste, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons said yesterday that establishing a new waste management entity, as recommended by the panel, would present a big challenge. The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommended late last month the formulation […]

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a bill in the House yesterday that would cut more than $100 billion in spending over the next decade on the nation’s nuclear arsenal, weapons complex and delivery vehicles. Dubbed the SANE Act, short for the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act of 2012, the legislation takes specific aim at […]

The Department of Energy will no longer keep Performance Evaluation Reviews for National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management sites under wraps, deciding late Friday night that the annual report cards should be made public. The decision by Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Poneman would reverse a 2009 decision by the NNSA to […]

Gene Aloise, the Government Accountability Office’s Director of Natural Resources and Environment, has been added to the roster of witnesses scheduled to testify at Thursday’s House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on the management of the NNSA’s nuclear weapons laboratories. The addition of Aloise bumped former Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group President Bob […]