Budget & Policy

U.S. District Judge Julianna Michelle Childs, who presided over a number of Department of Energy nuclear cases in South Carolina, and who was publicly discussed as a contender for a U.S. Supreme vacancy, has won confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Childs was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit […]

Congress should enact legislation to clarify the Department of Energy’s authority to sell depleted uranium to private entities, the Government Accountability Office said this week, because such a move could curb the $7.2 billion cost to dispose of the material. As of September 2021, the feds estimate it could cost DOE $7.2 billion to convert […]

Senate appropriators on Thursday rejected proposed cuts to cleanup programs at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon sites in a spending bill that would provide around half a billion dollars more than either this year’s budget or the White House’s request for next year. The proposed energy and water appropriations act, published Thursday, would also go above […]

The Senate this week proposed shifting federal funding for the Department of Energy’s interim storage inquiry into the government’s nuclear fuel cycle account, as the White House requested, according to budget documents published this week. The proposed energy and water appropriations act would provide about $1.76 billion for civilian nuclear power and waste programs at […]

Members of the public interested in how the Department of Energy interpreted community input about siting a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel may not have to wait much longer, the agency’s nuclear energy chief said this week. A summary of responses to DOE’s November request for information (RFI) on its consent-based process […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday unveiled the year’s most generous 2023 budget proposal for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs, beating the White House’s ask by almost $700 million and agreeing with authorizers’ plans to pile unrequested money into plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site. As the House of Representatives did in […]

U.S. District Judge Julianna Michelle Childs, who presided over a number of Department of Energy nuclear cases in South Carolina, and who was publicly discussed as a contender for a U.S. Supreme vacancy, has won confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Childs was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit […]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the panel said in a press release. If the full Senate gives the green light to Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell, they will fill two positions on the nuclear safety regulator’s executive […]

Despite assertions made by an anti-nuclear group suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a recent Supreme Court decision doesn’t affect NRC’s authority to license a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, the company in charge of the project argued Monday. The high court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA “has nothing […]

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Department of Energy to provide more details on how its nuclear weapons and cleanup programs handle federal funds carried over from prior-year budgets. At the end of fiscal 2021 the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) had about $3.2 billion in total carryover balances, and the National Nuclear […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was scheduled this week to consider a proposed bill that would create an independent federal agency to oversee the development of nuclear waste storage sites. The new organization proposed in Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) Nuclear Waste Administration Act, set for debate Thursday during a meeting of the upper […]

The full House this week approved a multi-billion dollar Department of Energy appropriations bill for fiscal year 2023 that would reorganize the book-keeping for the federal interim storage budget. The House version of the 2023 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, part of a package of six spending bills approved on a party-line, 220-207 vote Wednesday […]

A Senate committee had to delay its plan to vote this week on the White House’s picks to fill two open seats on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to an announcement from the panel. Although the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was scheduled Wednesday to consider Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell for roles as […]

The House of Representatives voted 220-207 Wednesday to approve the 2023 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which includes $7.9 billion for the Department of Energy’s cleanup of Cold War and Manhattan Project sites. With a little more than two months left in fiscal 2022, the package of six spending bills, including funds for DOE’s Office […]

The full House this week passed a bundle of six appropriations bills that would provide roughly the request funding for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs and, contrary to the will of House authorizers and President Joe Biden, keep the B83 nuclear gravity bomb in play. The bill also provides the requested funding for the […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released all the unclassified details of its fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, showing lawmakers in that chamber disagree with their House counterparts on little except by how much to exceed the White House’s request for construction of a new plutonium pit factory in South Carolina. The […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is trying to kickstart a solution to U.S. nuclear waste storage problems, usurping Congress’ constitutional authority in the process, an anti-nuclear group argued Wednesday in its lawsuit over commercial interim storage. Beyond Nuclear’s Wednesday comments to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals were the latest in the anti-nuclear group’s ongoing struggle […]

The full House on Wednesday approved a fiscal year 2023 Department of Energy budget bill that provides more or less the requested funding for DOE’s nuclear weapons and waste programs and a small increase over the request for nuclear energy programs.  The 2023 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, part of a package of six spending […]

With no major defense-nuclear amendments allowed on the floor, the full House appeared poised this week to approve fiscal year 2023 spending bills for Department of Energy nuclear weapons and waste programs that would meet the White House’s request. The full House of Representatives, where Democrats have a slim majority, started debate Tuesday on a […]

A Senate committee had to delay its plan to vote this week on the White House’s picks to fill two open seats on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the panel announced Tuesday. Although the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was scheduled Wednesday to consider Annie Caputo and Bradley Crowell for roles as two of NRC’s […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday released all the unclassified details of its fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, showing lawmakers in that chamber disagree with their House counterparts on little except by how much to exceed the White House’s request for construction of a new plutonium pit factory in South Carolina.  The […]

The House this week passed a National Defense Authorization Act that authorized more funding for Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs than requested and allows continued work on a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile. Democrats narrowly control the House, but more than enough of them crossed the aisle during floor debates this week to fend of […]

The Congressionally-created safety watchdog for nuclear defense facilities was not denied access to any Department of Energy records or personnel during the first six months of 2022. In a regular update to Congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said July 1 that the Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for […]

The Department of Energy’s special adviser for Environmental Management, William (Ike) White, told a Congressional panel Wednesday the agency’s cleanup branch is addressing research and development problems raised in an October 2021 Government Accountability Office report. The Office of Environmental Management has issued a definition for research and development (R&D) and is in the early […]

An anti-nuclear group spearheading a legal challenge to a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Texas took a page out of the state attorney general’s playbook Wednesday, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling as evidence that the government cannot license the site. Beyond Nuclear, which is suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in […]

The House had yet to approve its version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act Thursday morning, but after a day of floor debate, the bill seemed all but certain to authorize more funding for Department of Energy nuclear weapons than requested, plus permission to continue work on a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile. […]

The Department of Energy’s special adviser for Environmental Management, William (Ike) White, told a Congressional panel Wednesday the agency’s cleanup branch is addressing research and development problems raised in an October 2021 Government Accountability Office report. The Office of Environmental Management has issued a definition for research and development (R&D) and is in the early […]

Ahead of the House’s scheduled debate of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, the White House said it still does not want to build the sea-launched, nuclear-tipped cruise missile the bill would authorize. “The Administration strongly opposes continued funding for the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and its associated warhead,” the White House […]

The House Rules Committee was set Tuesday to decide which amendments to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, including several related to nuclear weapons, will reach the full House for debate on Wednesday. The committee was set to meet at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time. There were more than 1,000 amendments pending to the annual must-pass […]

House lawmakers returning to Washington this week after campaigning at home over the Fourth of July break were set on Wednesday to vote on the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which by and large authorizes all the budget the White House sought for nuclear weapons and waste. Floor votes were to begin at 12:00 a.m., […]