Budget & Policy

With a June 7 deadline looming, supporters of reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act gathered in the U.S. Capitol grounds Thursday to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on the bill. As of the Thursday May 16 rally and press conference, the House of Representatives had nine working days left to […]

With a June 7 deadline looming, supporters of reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act gathered in the U.S. Capitol grounds Thursday to urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on the bill. As of the Thursday May 16 rally and press conference, the House of Representatives had nine working days left to […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration still plans to announce the new manager of Pantex Plant in June, the head of the agency said here Wednesday. Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), reiterated the timeline during an evening Capitol Hill panel discussion and reception hosted by the nongovernmental Advanced Nuclear […]

Amid her campaign for a second term, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) on Tuesday filed a bill that would if enacted remove Yucca Mountain’s designation as a nuclear waste repository. The bill would also terminate the not-quite-dead Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding that the George W. Bush (R) administration started with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the […]

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee planned Wednesday to hold a hearing on arms control with the state department official in charge of the portfolio. The hearing was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern time in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 419. The Honorable Bonnie D. Jenkins, the undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security at […]

With a June 7 deadline looming, supporters of reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act planned to gather at the U.S. Capitol grounds Thursday and urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on the measure. By May 16, the scheduled day of the rally and press conference, the House of Representatives will have […]

President Biden (D) on Monday signed into law a ban on importing Russian uranium beginning in 2028, the White House announced. Under the bill, companies may no longer import unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia or by a Russian entity unless the importer gets a waiver from the Department of Energy. Waivers are only good […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons programs would be authorized for slightly more than requested and its nonproliferation programs for slightly less if a defense bill published Monday becomes law. The House Armed Services Committee released the bill and report language for the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday and planned its annual […]

Before leaving the Department of Energy on May 3, Kathryn Huff briefly spotlighted the Joe Biden administration’s consent-based siting program for spent nuclear fuel in a recorded interview produced by the agency. “It’s what we owe to communities, it’s what we’ve promised the utilities, and trust that the U.S. government is moving forward rather than […]

More than two-dozen U.S. lawmakers urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week to set a floor vote on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act, which easily passed the Senate in March. Although the Senate took a “laudable step by passing an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2024 to strengthen RECA [Radiation […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash)., who represents the area around the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, in the House of Representatives, is getting a new challenger, a former GOP Senate candidate, Tiffany Smiley. Smiley, who ran an unsuccessful race against incumbent Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in November 2022, announced Monday she will challenge fellow Republican Newhouse […]

The House on Wednesday evening passed a bipartisan, bicameral package of nuclear-energy reforms, leaving the bill only a Senate concurrence away from the President’s desk. The  Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, which includes the compromise version of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, passed 393-13 on Wednesday evening. Twenty-three lawmakers […]

The House on Wednesday evening passed a bipartisan, bicameral package of nuclear-energy reforms, leaving the bill only a Senate concurrence away from the President’s desk. The  Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, which includes the compromise version of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, passed 393-13 on Wednesday […]

The House of Tuesday concluded debate about but delayed a vote on a bill that includes more than 90 pages of federal nuclear policy reforms. Under clause eight of House voting rules XX, a roll-call vote on the reforms, which have been added to an unrelated bill already passed by the Senate, was postponed. Votes […]

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash)., who represents the area around the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, in the House of Representatives, is getting a new challenger, a former GOP Senate candidate, Tiffany Smiley. Smiley, who ran an unsuccessful race against incumbent Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in November 2022, announced Monday she will challenge fellow Republican Newhouse […]

More than two-dozen U.S. lawmakers urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week to set a floor vote on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act, which easily passed the Senate in March. Although the Senate took a “laudable step by passing an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2024 to strengthen RECA [Radiation […]

A package of nuclear-energy reforms reconciling popular House and Senate proposals is part of a House bill scheduled for a vote this week, according to the majority leader’s calendar. The House was set to vote Tuesday on the Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, a bill from the Senate that at first ran all […]

Before leaving the Department of Energy on Friday, Kathryn Huff briefly spotlighted the Joe Biden administration’s consent-based siting program for spent nuclear fuel in a recorded interview produced by the agency. “It’s what we owe to communities, it’s what we’ve promised the utilities, and trust that the U.S. government is moving forward rather than stagnating […]

Missouri state senators this week passed a bill to provide tax breaks for the expansion of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s factory for non-nuclear nuclear-weapon parts. The bill now heads to the state legislature’s House of Representatives, where it had not been scheduled for a vote at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor. […]

On Tuesday, the Senate voted unanimously to ban imports of Russian uranium by 2028, setting the stage to wean U.S. power plants off the imported fuel this decade. The Senate approved a bill that the House passed in December and which would make Russian uranium illegal in the U.S. by Jan. 1, 2028. U.S. utilities […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works committee on Wednesday morning approved Christopher Hanson’s nomination for five more years on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The committee voted 18-1 to approve Hanson, the current chairman of the NRC, and send his nomination to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.), the […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works committee on Wednesday morning approved Christopher Hanson’s nomination for five more years on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The committee voted 18-1 to approve Hanson, the current chairman of the NRC, and send his nomination to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.), the […]

On Tuesday, the Senate voted unanimously to ban imports of Russian uranium by 2028, setting the stage to wean U.S. power plants off the imported fuel this decade. The Senate approved a bill that the House passed in December and which would make Russian uranium illegal in the U.S. by Jan. 1, 2028. U.S. utilities […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was set Wednesday morning to vote on Christopher Hanson’s nomination to serve five more years on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The committee of jurisdiction for the civilian nuclear regulator was to gavel in at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, according to […]

Missouri state senators last week defeated a proposed amendment that would have added assistance for St. Louis residents affected by radioactive waste to a nuclear-weapons expansion bill. The bill — sponsored by then-state-Sen. Greg Razer (D-Jackson County) — offers sales tax exemptions for construction materials.  The exemptions are meant to lessen the cost of the […]

The administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration was set to testify Tuesday in the House for the first time this hearing season. Jill Hruby, administrator of the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency, was set to appear in an afternoon hearing of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. Hruby, months away from completing […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to give the current Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman five more years at the agency, the committee said Friday. In a press release, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee said it will consider Christopher Hanson’s renomination as part of a business meeting scheduled […]

The South Carolina agency charged with environmental monitoring of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., will split into two separate organizations on July 1. Under a measure passed in 2023 by the state legislature, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is becoming two separate agencies: the South […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) who already chairs a key House Appropriations Committee panel affecting the Department of Energy is also picking up a seat on a defense purse strings subcommittee. Fleischmann has been appointed by House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole  (R-Okla.) to serve on the Defense Subcommittee, the Tennessee lawmaker said in an April 16 […]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) who already chairs a key House Appropriations Committee panel affecting the Department of Energy is also picking up a seat on a defense purse strings subcommittee. Fleischmann has been appointed by House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole  (R-Okla.) to serve on the Defense Subcommittee, the Tennessee lawmaker said in an April […]