Budget & Policy

Civilian nuclear weapons programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration will almost all get year-over-year raises in excess of what the White House requested under an omnibus 2023 spending proposal poised to become law this week. The Senate voted 68-to-29 Thursday to  adopt the full-year appropriations bill, which then went to the House for a […]

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) took to Twitter Tuesday to praise an increase in cleanup funding for the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in the fiscal 2023 omnibus bill, and remind President Joe Biden’s White House more is expected in the future. “The federal funding bill includes a $141 million funding INCREASE for the Hanford […]

The Exchange Monitor staff are hunkering down for the winter holidays and will observe a publishing break next week, during which Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will publish only on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022 and Thursday, Dec., 29, 2022. 

The story “Pantex building returning to explosive testing after years of semi-retirement” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, Dec. 12, 2022] should have said that a recently reactivated facility at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, will not be used for nuclear weapons production.

Thanks to emergency funding from Congress, the Department of Energy’s civilian nuclear power program will get about what the White House asked for in 2023 under a proposed spending plan unveiled by congressional appropriators early Tuesday morning. Under usual 2023 appropriations, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) should get around $1.5 billion from the spending […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch would see its annual budget swell to nearly $8.3 billion, or $359 million than the $7.9 billion it received during fiscal 2022, under an omnibus 2023 spending bill released Tuesday. It’s the same figure the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended this summer after the House approves the $7.9 billion […]

Civilian nuclear weapons programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration will almost all get year-over-year raises in excess of what the White House requested under an omnibus 2023 spending proposal released early Tuesday morning. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency would get about $22.2 billion under the bill: some $750 million more than requested […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board could be left without a quorum within 10 months if President Joe Biden fails to nominate and win Senate approval of at least one individual before the term ends for a long-serving member. It increasingly appears 2022 will draw to a close without the White House nominating anyone to […]

On Thursday, Congress passed the $858-billion 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and a bill to keep the Department of Energy and the rest of the U.S. government running at fiscal 2022 spending levels for another week. The defense authorization bill awaited the signature of President Joe Biden at deadline friday. The stopgap budget, signed Friday […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. This is it — after Morocco’s luck ran out this week, Sunday’s World Cup final is set between France and Argentina. Before we start the pre-gaming, here are some other stories that RadWaste Monitor has been tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week. Congress this week voted to extend […]

Although the House Democrat currently in charge of the chamber’s energy committee will hand in his gavel in the next Congress, he will stick with the panel as its ranking member, according to a press release this week. The House Democratic Caucus unanimously elected Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) ranking member of the House Energy and […]

Congress passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act and a short-term spending bill this week, clearing the way for a long-term 2023 appropriations bill that would give Department of Energy nuclear programs budget stability through October. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) just passed tees up the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for a budget […]

The United States Nuclear Industry Council has selected Todd Abrajano, founder of Turning Point Public Affairs, as its new president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 2, the industry advocacy organization announced Wednesday. Abrajano will succeed Clarence (Bud) Albright who has led the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC) since December 2019 and previously served as […]

The Senate could vote this week on a short-term federal funding extension and soon after that on the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, leaving a long-term 2023 spending bill as the last domino to fall before the 118th Congress begins in January. In the Department of Energy, both the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) active […]

The United States Nuclear Industry Council has selected Todd Abrajano, founder of Turning Point Public Affairs, as its new president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 2, the industry advocacy organization announced Wednesday. Abrajano will succeed Clarence (Bud) Albright who has led the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC) since December 2019 and previously served as […]

Although the House Democrat currently in charge of the chamber’s energy committee will hand in his gavel in the next Congress, he will stick with the panel as its ranking member, according to a press release Tuesday. The House Democratic Caucus unanimously elected Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce […]

Federal agencies including the Department of Energy will make do with a couple more weeks of their 2022 budgets while Congress works toward a full-year spending deal. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Tuesday announced they had reached an agreement in principle on a framework for the full-year budget, but lawmakers had not released […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. 13: Press conferences and panel discussion on “Major Scientific Breakthrough by NNSA National Laboratory.” Washington, D.C. Media only, invite only. Event begins at 10:00 a.m. Widely rumored to be the reported net energy gain said to […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch should not see a significant near-term decrease in its budget for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because control of the federal complex is being transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a budget and planning official said last week. “Most of our funding is for liquid […]

The text of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released Tuesday approves spending up to $359 million on the High-Level Waste Vitrification Facility portion of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel National. The administration of President Joe Biden proposed spending $316 million on the facility — a vital cog in […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch should not see a significant near-term decrease in its budget for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because control of the federal complex is being transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a budget and planning official said last week. “Most of our funding is for liquid […]

A compromise National Defense Authorization Act approved Thursday by the House would authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend some $880 million more than requested, more than the House or Senate had proposed individually. The House and Senate much each approve this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before President Joe Biden (D) can […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial Report released last week. […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial […]

A compromise National Defense Authorization Act released late Tuesday would authorize the National Nuclear Security Administration to spend some $880 million more than requested, more than the House or Senate had proposed individually. The bill also authorizes almost $7 billion, $100 million more than requested, for defense environmental cleanup: the largest account in the Department […]

Congressional leaders said they still wanted to pass the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act before Republicans take control of the House in January, but partisan maneuvering over issues unrelated to Department of Energy nuclear-weapon programs have held the bill up. The House Rules Committee was scheduled Monday to set the terms of debate for the […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking this week. December 07: Business meeting, Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Consideration of legislation, including S.4064, to facilitate the development of a whole-of-government strategy for nuclear cooperation and nuclear exports 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Capitol Hill, room S-116. No […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch should not see a significant near-term decrease in its budget for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina because control of the federal complex is being transferred to the National Nuclear Security Administration, a budget and planning official said last week. “Most of our funding is for liquid […]

WASHINGTON — The head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear power office said this week that the agency was preparing to roll out its second round of bailouts for economically-troubled nuclear power plants. Applications for the next funding cycle of DOE’s civil nuclear credits program will open “soon,” Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy […]