Budget & Policy

Stevan Pearce, a former Republican congressman who represented the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), was confirmed by the Senate last month to be director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Pearce was among a large bloc of GOP nominees narrowly confirmed by the Senate 46-to-43 on […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy subcommittee will host a hearing to examine several pieces of nuclear legislation on June 9 in Room 2123 in Rayburn House Office Building at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time. The subcommittee panel will look at three bills that have already been introduced during this Congressional session. It will examine […]

Years after an agreement apparently resolved a federal safety watchdog’s access to staff and records at Department of Energy nuclear sites, the dispute appears to be back. In an April 29 letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) lone member said DOE is not complying with its Atomic […]

The House Armed Services Committee will mark up its version of a must-pass policy bill Thursday that includes a clause on the relationship between the Pantex Plant and the nearby Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Texas. A provision of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will undergo an amendment session Thursday, […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  June 02: Meeting: The Arms Control Association holds its annual meeting starting at 9 a.m. from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  04: Hearing: House Armed Services Committee marks up its version of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Action. The […]

The version of the fiscal 2027 Energy & Water Development bill recently voted out of the House Appropriations Committee endorses key Department of Energy projects getting underway at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash and the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. At Savannah River Site (SRS) DOE is directed to brief the House Appropriations […]

About 81 million pounds of rubble have been cleared away from the two-acre footprint of the former Alpha-2 building site at the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. That amounts to about 3,500 truckloads of debris being hauled away from the former uranium enrichment […]

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Finance Committee lost his Republican primary runoff Tuesday to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to national news outlets. Paxton, recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, won about 64% of the vote in the GOP runoff, according to Wednesday morning data from NBC News. The winner […]

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Greg Jaczko said this week New York state lawmakers should approve the proposed nuclear moratorium bill to protect taxpayers from possible financial overruns of new nuclear plants. Assembly Bill A114333, named New York State Ratepayer Protection Nuclear Moratorium Act, would install a two-year halt to state funding and permits for […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would receive $42 million in fiscal 2027, under the bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. The $42 million is the same amount that Congress enacted for DNFSB for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. It is also less than the $45 million that the  Donald […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive no additional funding for cleaning up certain old nuclear sites during fiscal 2027, according to the Energy & Water Development bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. “This appropriation funds the cleanup of certain low-level radio active materials and mixed wastes located at sites contaminated […]

The White House Office of Personnel Management is seeking public comment on its proposal to implement non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, for future and current federal employees. According to a Wednesday Federal Register notice, the proposal is meant to ensure employees “comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained […]

Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink could gain the authority to transfer funds appropriated for non-ICBM programs to the LGM-35A Sentinel future ICBM and the existing Minuteman III, under the fiscal 2027 House Armed Services Committee (HASC) proposal by Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). The transfer authority would last from fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2030, […]

The White House Office of Personnel Management is seeking public comment on its proposal to implement non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, for future and current federal employees. According to a Wednesday Federal Register notice, the proposal is meant to ensure employees “comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained […]

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Finance Committee lost his Republican primary runoff Tuesday to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to national news outlets. Paxton, recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, won about 64% of the vote in the GOP runoff, according to Wednesday morning data from NBC News. The winner […]

Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink could gain the authority to transfer funds appropriated for non-ICBM programs to the LGM-35A Sentinel future ICBM and the existing Minuteman III, under the fiscal 2027 House Armed Services Committee (HASC) proposal by Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). The transfer authority would last from fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2030, […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive no additional funding for cleaning up certain old nuclear sites during fiscal 2027, according to the Energy & Water Development bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. “This appropriation funds the cleanup of certain low-level radio active materials and mixed wastes located at sites contaminated […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would receive $42 million in fiscal 2027, under the bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week. The $42 million is the same amount that Congress enacted for DNFSB for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. It is also less than the $45 million the  Donald Trump […]

The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., needs better oversight of its consultants, the DOE’s Office of Inspector General said recently.   “We found that PNNL did not fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements in managing its professional and consultant services agreements,“ the DOE Office of Inspector General […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  MAY: 26: Virtual Forum: Advanced Nuclear Weapons Deterrence Center presentation starts at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.  26-28:Conference: The Energy Technology & Environmental Business Association (ETEBA) hosts its Small Business Summit, The formal program starts Tuesday May 27 at 8 a.m. Mountain Time […]

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) will run for another term in Florida’s 20th Congressional district amid Florida’s new redrawn district maps, she announced on her X account May 22. Wasserman Schultz has been a representative for over 20 years. She is a member of the House Appropriation Committee and its Subcommittee on Energy and Water […]

Staffing vacancies in key positions at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) have grown more acute, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report made public Tuesday. The office in charge of nuclear cleanup at Cold War and Manhattan Project sites “has become further understaffed since GAO reported on EM’s workforce […]

The full House Appropriations Committee voted 34-25 this week to approve about $7.7 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management for fiscal 2027. That would be less than the $8.5 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026 and the $8.2 billion sought by the Donald Trump White House. A link to the […]

Republican incumbents easily won their party primaries Tuesday in Idaho, where the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is based. Meanwhile in Kentucky, the GOP House of Representatives member representing DOE’s Paducah Site also won his primary easily.  Longtime House Appropriations Committee member and INL backer Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) carried more than 63% […]

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee on May 12 that the Navy expects industry to hit a production rate of two Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs) per year by 2032 “based on the things we’ve done in place and the things we have now, we should be at the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a time of growing energy demand, investment in nuclear power can be important to the economic future of the United States, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said last week.  Gallego told the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Policy Forum May 12-13 that getting the right mix of nuclear energy in the domestic energy portfolio […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Doug Weaver was reconfirmed by the Senate Monday to serve a full five-year term as a commissioner that will expire in June 2031. Weaver was confirmed alongside nearly 50 of President Donald Trump’s other nominees in the en bloc package, Senate Resolution 690, spearheaded by the Republicans. The nominees’ confirmation passed […]

The House Appropriations Committee passed 34-25 its version of a bill on Wednesday that would give $1.8 billion to the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and $892.3 million to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. For the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, this would be more than President Donald Trump’s White House request of $1.53 […]

This weekend, Saturday May 23 to be exact, marks the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14300, which sought to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The May 2025 executive action took the industry by storm as it called for the nuclear regulator to undergo various changes to accelerate nuclear licensing and deployment in […]

Republican incumbents easily won their party primaries Tuesday in Idaho, where the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is based. Meanwhile in Kentucky, the GOP House of Representatives member representing DOE’s Paducah Site also won his primary easily.  Longtime House Appropriations Committee member and INL backer Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) carried more than 63% […]