Budget & Policy

The Senate is expected to begin debate on the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Act as early as Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday that he plans to bring the measure to the Senate floor by scheduling a cloture vote Thursday that would allow the chamber to take up the bill […]

Alice Williams, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore Site Office, is joining the senior management ranks of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, a move that has been expected for some time. The shift, which comes as EM is undergoing a reorganization led by acting cleanup chief David Huizenga, was […]

National Nuclear Security Administration Associate Principal Deputy Administrator James “J.” Cavanagh is retiring after more than 30 years at the Department of Energy/NNSA, and an announcement of his departure from the agency is expected to come later this week, NW&M Monitor has learned. Cavanagh’s retirement is expected to be effective in late December. Cavanagh has […]

The Senate will formally restart the Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations process today, beginning debate on the Energy and Water Appropriations Act in the hope of wrapping up work on the bill before Thanksgiving. The bill will be combined with State Department/Foreign Operations and Financial Services spending legislation in a three-bill ‘minibus,’ and it represents the […]

Here are a few events worth noting this week:  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Mike McFaul to be ambassador to Russia at 2:15 p.m. Nov. 15 in Room S-116 of the Capitol. Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, is […]

While the House firmed up plans to move legislation containing an extension to the Continuing Resolution that is currently funding government agencies through Dec. 16, plans to combine the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act with two other spending bills in the Senate hit a significant roadblock yesterday as Republican lawmakers blocked the […]

In response to budget concerns, the Department of Energy Inspector General is recommending that DOE re-evaluate its complex-wide cleanup strategy to focus only on “high risk, high priority” activities. In its annual report on management challenges facing DOE, issued yesterday, the IG questioned the Department’s current approach of making cleanup-related decisions based on regulatory agreements, […]

The battle over nuclear modernization funding could be close to claiming its first victim. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) yesterday moved to block the nomination of the Obama Administration’s pick to be the ambassador to Russia over concerns about potential cuts to funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. With the Administration’s funding plan […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday approved a new version of the FY 2012 Defense Authorization bill, making deeper cuts to authorized levels than the bill the committee originally reported out in June. For DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the bill reduces the authorization level for defense cleanup work to $5.06 billion, down from $5.4 […]

Fresh off his “oops” moment at a GOP presidential debate earlier this month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry outlined his plan to abolish the Department of Energy but spare the National Nuclear Security Administration. In a policy statement posted on his website yesterday, Perry highlighted the elimination of DOE as part of his plan to “uproot, […]

With potential cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program looming, the Obama Administration isn’t doing enough to advocate for its own nuclear weapons modernization plan, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) said yesterday. Senate and House appropriators have cut between $400 and $500 million from the NNSA’s weapons program, and while Republicans on both sides […]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) yesterday backed off from his plans to introduce an amendment to fund Yucca Mountain after Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) offered an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill Tuesday prohibiting funds from being used to reopen the repository. Earlier this month Kirk announced his intention to push for an amendment […]

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) sent a letter Friday signed by 31 Republican Senators to Congressional appropriators, urging them to include funding for Yucca Mountain in a final Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The letter calls for the legislation to match the $45 million in Yucca Mountain funding provided in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill […]

Here are a few notable events coming up this week:  Machinists at the NNSA’s Kansas City Plant will officially return to the plant’s production lines today. Approximately 860 workers from International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 went on strike for 42 days before agreeing to end the walkout Nov. 20; the workers […]

Senate leaders are hoping to wrap up debate on the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization Act by the end of this week in order to allow time for a jam-packed legislative agenda. With more than 250 amendments proposed for the bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed a cloture motion yesterday to limit debate, […]

The Fiscal Year 2013 budget process is set to take a step forward as early as today, with the White House Office of Management and Budget expected to issue the Department of Energy its “passback” memorandum with OMB’s take on the Department’s budget request. The “passback” comes after DOE formulated and submitted its FY 2013 […]

Could the Pentagon help prop up the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program again, this time as NNSA faces cuts to its $7.6 billion Fiscal Year 2012 request from House and Senate appropriators? That’s the idea behind a controversial amendment to the FY2012 Defense Authorization Act that would give Defense Secretary Leon Panetta the ability […]

President Barack Obama yesterday announced his intention to nominate of Arun Majumdar as Under Secretary of Energy, a position that has not been filled in a permanent capacity since the departure of Kristina Johnson in November 2010. The choice of Majumdar for the slot is not a complete surprise. In recent months, the bulk of […]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced an amendment Monday to the Defense Authorization Act that would give the Department of Energy a one-year extension on deadlines for disposition of plutonium in the Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility. Current law requires DOE to pay South Carolina a penalty of $1 million per day, up to $100 million per […]

The Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future will discuss potential updates to its draft recommendations at a meeting Friday, including whether or not to revisit the decision to comingle civilian and defense waste. The panel, which has final recommendations to the Department of Energy due in January, released a draft report in July […]

Local communities near Department of Energy sites are seeking greater involvement in meetings held by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. In a letter sent last week to the Board, the Energy Communities Alliance questioned the lack of local government participation in a public meeting the Board recently held near Los Alamos National Laboratory. “No […]

With his lab facing a potential budget shortfall of $200 million, Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan has established a senior executive panel to oversee the lab’s belt tightening. McMillan said in a memo to employees last week that he was forming a Laboratory Integrated Stewardship Council that will be headed up by lab […]

Here are a few events worth noting this week:  On Dec. 5, the DOE Environmental Management Advisory Board is holding a public meeting at DOE headquarters from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Among those scheduled to speak are acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management David Huizenga, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning and Budget Terry […]

The leadership of the Department of Energy’s cleanup program is set to roll out a reorganization of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management later this week. Details of the reorganization, which has been in the works for the past few months, are set to be provided to EM employees during an all-hands’ meeting scheduled for Dec. […]

It’s time once again for our annual list of Winners and Losers. The 2011 list will be published in the Dec. 23 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor. Got a (confidential, of course) nomination or two for this year’s list? Send them to schneider@exchangemonitor.com.

With the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration having moved to eliminate some burdensome requirements from its directives, a senior NNSA official suggested yesterday that it was now time for DOE contractors to put the less prescriptive requirements to good use. DOE’s Office of Health, Safety and Security has spearheaded much of the […]

Senate leaders have given up on a plan to move a standalone bill containing 71 amendments that failed to make it into the chamber’s version of the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization Act, including a provision that would allow the Department of Defense to transfer $125 million to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. […]

The Department of Energy is looking to reduce its number of full time employees by up to a third from the current level of around 15,000, DOE Chief Human Capital Officer Mike Kane said at the Energy Facility Contractors Group semi-annual meeting yesterday. He said that the Department will have to tighten its belt as […]

In a strong break from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s traditionally collegial structure, the four other members of the NRC raised “grave concerns” about the management style of NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko to the White House in an October letter released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee late Friday. “In a long series of very […]

New Defense Secretary Leon Panetta weighed in on the debate over modernization funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday, telling a House panel that the nation needs to maintain funding for work on the nation’s nuclear deterrent. House and Senate appropriators have both cut liberally from the Obama Administration’s $7.6 billion request for the […]