Budget & Policy

Bills pending before the South Carolina legislature could split the state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken into two separate organizations, a state agency official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the federal complex Monday. Susan Fulmer, manager of federal remediation for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental […]

The budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy would fall about 12% to around $1.56 billion in fiscal year 2024 if the White House’s latest federal spending request became law. That’s about $210 million less than the 2023 appropriation Congress provided in December in an omnibus spending bill for the part of […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would wind up with close to a flat budget in 2024 if a request sent to Congress Monday becomes law. The independent federal civilian nuclear power regulator seeks some $979.2 million for fiscal year 2024, about $52 million million more than the roughly $927 million Congress approved for fiscal year 2023 […]

A federal jury convicted a former Ohio lawmaker and an accomplice last week for a massive bribery scheme intended to keep two struggling Ohio reactors financially afloat. Former House speaker Larry Householder, 63, and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Mathew Borges, 50, face potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison. The trial lasted […]

President Joe Biden’s administration requested $47.2 million in funding for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board for fiscal year 2024, up from $41.4 million this year. That is according to the 1,350-page appendix to the fiscal 2024 budget request released by the White House this week. Fiscal year 2024 begins Oct. 1. The Defense Nuclear […]

Bills pending before the South Carolina legislature could split the state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken into two separate organizations, a state agency official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the federal complex Monday. Susan Fulmer, manager of federal remediation for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental […]

The 2024 budget for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state would grow to an unprecedented $3 billion or so from $2.7 billion this year, if President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request became law. Overall, however, the administration’s budget request would keep funding at the DOE Office of Environmental Management about flat […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management would, after helping prop up the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund again in fiscal 2024, effectively stay flat at $8.3 billion, according to White House budget request details released this week. Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest tranche of the nuclear cleanup budget, would be relatively flat […]

Funding for a nuclear warhead carried by an in-development sea-launched cruise missile was written out of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget request, reflecting the Biden administration’s desire to cancel the weapon. The NNSA received $20 million in 2023 to continue development of a lower-yield sea-launched cruise missile variant of the W80-4 […]

President Joe Biden’s administration requested $47.2 million in funding for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board for fiscal year 2024, up from $41.4 million this year. That is according to the 1,350-page appendix to the fiscal 2024 budget request released by the White House this week. Fiscal year 2024 begins Oct. 1. The Defense Nuclear […]

The budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy would fall about 12% to around $1.56 billion in fiscal year 2024 if the White House’s latest federal spending request became law. That’s about $210 million less than the 2023 appropriation Congress provided in December in an omnibus spending bill for the part of […]

Bills pending before the South Carolina legislature could split the state regulator for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken into two separate organizations, a state agency official told the Citizens Advisory Board for the federal complex Monday. Susan Fulmer, manager of federal remediation for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2024 includes a funding boost for plutonium pit production in New Mexico, with the goal of building 80 per year as close to 2030 as possible.  Also in the request, the NNSA provided a new cost and schedule estimate for completing the Uranium Processing Facility […]

Details appended to President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request show the budget for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state would grow to about $3 billion, up from $2.7 billion from the current fiscal year. “The fiscal year 2024 record Hanford budget request by President Biden of more than $3 billion is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would wind up with close to a flat budget in 2024 if a request sent to Congress Monday becomes law. The independent federal civilian nuclear power regulator seeks some $979.2 million for fiscal year 2024, about $52 million million more than the roughly $927 million Congress approved for fiscal year 2023 […]

A federal jury convicted a former Ohio lawmaker and an accomplice Thursday for a massive bribery scheme intended to keep two struggling Ohio reactors financially afloat. Former House speaker Larry Householder, 63, and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Mathew Borges, 50, face potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison. The trial lasted seven […]

President Joe Biden recently announced his intent to nominate Patricia Lee, who has more than 30 years of experience with radiation protection issues at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina and elsewhere, to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Lee now serves as the portfolio manager for the laboratory’s digital enterprise, […]

President Joe Biden recently announced his intent to nominate Patricia Lee, who has more than 30 years of experience with radiation protection issues at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina and elsewhere, to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Lee now serves as the portfolio manager for the laboratory’s digital enterprise, […]

The weapon systems that make up the U.S. nuclear triad have nearly outlived their operational utility and must be replaced to maintain a credible deterrent, senior Air Force officers in charge of nuclear forces said in congressional testimony Wednesday. Both Russia and China are rapidly modernizing and expanding their nuclear weapons stockpiles and delivery platforms, […]

The Biden Administration’s fiscal 2024 budget requests $23.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of about $1.5 billion from the current fiscal year.  Released Thursday, the president’s budget request aims to “make historic investments in the nation’s nuclear security enterprise to implement the President’s Nuclear Posture Review; support a safe, secure, and […]

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration announced Thursday it wants $8.3 billion for cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear properties for fiscal 2024, which would be flat with the final Congressional appropriation for the current spending year ending Sept. 30. A 182-page overview of the fiscal 2024 budget recommendation was released at mid-day by […]

Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs would get a roughly 6% boost under the budget request President Joe Biden (D) released Thursday, while weapons cleanup would be flat. For DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the Biden administration proposed roughly $23.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That’s over $1.5 billion […]

The weapon systems that make up the U.S. nuclear triad have nearly outlived their operational utility and must be replaced to maintain a credible deterrent, senior Air Force officers in charge of nuclear forces said in congressional testimony Wednesday. Both Russia and China are rapidly modernizing and expanding their nuclear weapons stockpiles and delivery platforms, […]

PHOENIX – Winning support for a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee took a lot of time and friendly arm-twisting, a member of the House Appropriations Committee told the Waste Management Symposia Monday via electronic hookup from Washington, D.C. “For over 10 years we have needed […]

PHOENIX – Winning support for a new low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee took a lot of time and friendly arm-twisting, a member of the House Appropriations Committee told the Waste Management Symposia Monday via electronic hookup from Washington, D.C. “For over 10 years we have needed […]

PHOENIX—Roughly 2,600 people involved with nuclear waste and related fields are taking over this desert city’s downtown convention center this week for the 49th Waste Management Symposia. Monday’s headliners including U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and a French energy official. In addition to Granholm, other speakers in […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published on Monday in observance of the Presidents Day holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, Feb. 21 2023.

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. February 13-15: Exchange Monitor Publications & Forums’ 15th Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va.  14: Earnings call: Leidos will host a fourth quarter earnings call at 8 a.m. Eastern Time.  15: Earnings […]

Congressional leaders asked the Department of Energy to turn over by Feb. 16 its communications with three national labs reportedly targeted in January by Russian hackers. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California was among the labs the hackers targeted by, among other things, creating fake login pages and asking authorized users of the lab’s […]

Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) will continue as the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee in the 118th Congress, the committee announced this week. Among the subcommittee rank-and-file, there were only two changes. Democrats effectively expanded their Senate majority by one after November’s midterm elections, so […]