Budget & Policy

A federal nuclear liability shield would be extended for 40 years and quadruple the value of federal indemnity for nuclear incidents outside the U.S. if a 2024 appropriations bill passed by the House Friday becomes law. The language in the appropriations package that funds the Department of Defense and several other agencies would extend the […]

To our subscribers: we recently moved delivery of the Exchange Monitor newsletters to a new and better platform. This is one of the many ways we strive to deliver industry news in the most efficient way possible. For most people, this will be a seamless change. However, if you experienced any delivery issues over the […]

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday he’s “optimistic” Congress will take action on the pending supplemental with further aid for Ukraine, while adding that Kyiv’s “survival is in danger” in its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion. “I am optimistic that we will see some action [on the supplemental] moving forward. But, again, this is a […]

Merging the Hanford Site’s two field offices in Washington state will not deprioritize cleanup of millions of gallons of radioactive tank waste, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told House appropriators Wednesday. DOE has for years planned to combine Hanford’s Office of River Protection with the Richland Operations Office in 2025, the same year the site […]

The fiscal-year 2025 budget season is heating up and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was set to appear Wednesday before appropriators on Capitol Hill. Granholm was scheduled to testify about the Department of Energy’s $51-billion budget request at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time before the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, which is chaired by […]

The Department of Energy’s final budget for fiscal year 2024 does not contain a federal ban on commercial interim storage sites to which states have not consented. A version of DOE’s 2024 budget bill that passed the House last year specified that none of the agency’s appropriations for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 could […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: March  18: Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Holtec International. Hybrid meeting. “Palisades Pre-submittal Meeting with Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC on Emergency Plan for Resumption of Power Operations.” 9:30 a.m. Eastern time to to 11:20 a.m. Eastern time. Join the Microsoft Teams […]

PHOENIX —A trio of managers from branches of the Department of Energy at the Idaho National Laboratory planned to travel to Washington, D.C., later this month to brief congressional staffers on sitewide spent nuclear fuel management at the lab. Connie Flohr, who is retiring from DOE next month, said at the Waste Management Symposia conference […]

The White House this week requested a roughly 5.5% budget cut for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy for fiscal year 2025. The office, which handles the agency’s civilian nuclear energy and waste programs, would get just under $1.7 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, down about $94 million compared […]

The Joe Biden administration this week requested more than $8.2 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in fiscal 2025, or $253 million less than the $8.5-billion spending package finally approved by Congress and signed by the president last weekend. The formal request, which merely provides the starting point for congressional appropriators, […]

The White House this week requested about $25 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, more than $860 million, or 3.6%, above the 2024 appropriation signed into law late last week. The agency also said in the budget request that the cost of a planned South Carolina facility to make the nuclear-weapon first-stage cores called […]

The Department of the Air Force’s $217.5 billion fiscal 2025 budget includes $3.7 billion for the planned LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM as the department looks for cost savings and faces possible delays to address a Nunn-McCurdy breach.Such breaches occur when programs exceed 25% program acquisition unit cost growth.In January, the Air Force informed Congress of a […]

PHOENIX — Paul Murray, deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, was scheduled to speak to the congressional spent fuel caucus in Washington on March 20, the Department of Energy official said here Tuesday. “Please call your local representatives and ask them to ask me the nastiest questions,” Murray said during a panel […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday requested about $2.5 million in fiscal year 2025 to review Holtec International’s requests to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. In its latest budget request, NRC also said it needs the equivalent of more than nine full-time staffers to review Holtec’s requests, which consist of multiple filings for […]

Now in his second year as second-in-charge at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Jeff Avery wants a laser focus on nuclear cleanup balanced with an eye toward doing “public good” where practical. During a 20-minute interview with Exchange Monitor on the sidelines of the Waste Management Symposia, Avery touched upon the evolving […]

The Department of the Air Force’s $217.5 billion fiscal 2025 budget includes $3.7 billion for the planned LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM as the department looks for cost savings and faces possible delays to address a Nunn-McCurdy breach. Such breaches occur when programs exceed 25% program acquisition unit cost growth. In January, the Air Force informed Congress […]

Now in his second year as second-in-charge at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Jeff Avery wants a laser focus on nuclear cleanup balanced with an eye toward doing “public good” where practical. During a 20-minute interview with Exchange Monitor on the sidelines of the Waste Management Symposia, Avery touched upon the evolving […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday requested about $2.5 million in fiscal year 2025 to review Holtec International’s requests to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. In its latest budget request, NRC also said it needs the equivalent of more than nine full-time staffers to review Holtec’s requests, which consist of multiple filings for […]

PHOENIX — Paul Murray, deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, was scheduled to speak to the congressional spent fuel caucus in Washington on March 20, the Department of Energy official said here Tuesday. “Please call your local representatives and ask them to ask me the nastiest questions,” Murray said during a panel […]

Funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons program would rise and funding for its nuclear-waste-cleanup programs would fall slightly year-over-year, under the fiscal year 2025 budget request President Joe Biden (D) released Monday. The Department of Energy had not released detailed budget justification documents as of Monday afternoon, but according to a document published Monday […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week: 10–14: Waste Management Symposia 2024. Phoenix Convention Center. Phoenix. Register online. 12: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 36th Annual Regulatory Information Conference. Bethesda North Marriot Hotel and Conference Center, Rockville, Md. Portions streaming on the NRC’s website. Register […]

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would extend and expand the federal legislation that financially compensates people harmed by radioactive material used to build the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The measure passed 69-30 with one senator not voting. President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday said he would sign the bill. “The President believes we have […]

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would extend and expand the federal legislation that financially compensates people harmed by radioactive material used to build the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The measure passed 69-30 with one senator not voting. President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday said he would sign the bill. “The President believes we have […]

The largest nuclear cleanup sites run by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management would meet or beat fiscal 2023 funding levels, under the compromise 2024 appropriations bill released over the weekend. The Office of Environmental Management would get about $8.5 billion for fiscal 2024, roughly what Senate appropriators recommended. The final bill would […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues without a quorum for its role as federal safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities, and the current chair’s term expires this fall. Designed as a five-person panel, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) still has only two members. A Senate committee has approved a […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues without a quorum for its role as federal safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities, and the current chair’s term expires this fall. Designed as a five-person panel, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) still has only two members. A Senate committee has approved a White House […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration stands to see its roughly $24 billion budget request fulfilled under the compromise funding agreement reached by Congress this week.   The House approved the bill on Wednesday by a vote of 339 to 85, the Senate was still debating the measure at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration stands to see its roughly $24 billion budget request fulfilled under the compromise funding agreement reached by Congress this week.   The bill includes just over $19 billion for NNSA weapons activities and includes a requirement that the agency work with the scientific advisory group JASON to “conduct an assessment of […]

Defense and civilian nuclear programs at the Department of Energy would all get raises for the 2024 fiscal year under a compromise appropriators package that congressional leaders and the White House have said they support. The House approved the bill on Wednesday by a vote of 339 to 85, the Senate was still debating the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration stands to see its roughly $24 billion budget request fulfilled under the compromise funding agreement reached by Congress this week.   The bill includes just over $19 billion for NNSA weapons activities and includes a requirement that the agency work with the scientific advisory group JASON to “conduct an assessment of […]