Budget & Policy

A congressionally chartered commission about U.S. strategic posture is stacked with nuclear-savvy appointees, including the woman who led the National Nuclear Security Administration during most of the Donald Trump administration. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under Trump, will get her direct line to Congress back as one of Sen. Jim […]

Five elected representatives from the Aiken, S.C., area said this week they planned to carry on a fight in the state legislature for a bigger share of federal settlement money related to weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site. With Rep. Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken County) acting as spokesman Monday, the state house members from the […]

A congressionally chartered commission about U.S. strategic posture is stacked with nuclear-savvy appointees, including the woman who led the National Nuclear Security Administration during most of the Donald Trump administration. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under Trump, will get her direct line to Congress back as one of Sen. Jim […]

Five elected representatives from the Aiken, S.C., area said this week they planned to carry on a fight in the state legislature for a bigger share of federal settlement money related to weapon-usable plutonium at the Savannah River Site. With Rep. Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken County) acting as spokesman Monday, the state house members from the […]

The Secretary of Energy of Energy will announce her next chief of staff — and more — “soon,” Tarak Shah, the outgoing chief, told all hands Tuesday in a farewell message. Shah, who hit the campaign trail for Biden and lead beachhead teams into the Forrestal Building in Washington, will depart in April, he said […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said it will hold a hearing to consider Kathryn Huff’s nomination as the head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office: the post in charge of waste disposal strategy. The administration tapped Huff on Feb. 28 to become principal assistant secretary at DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week 15 – The Department of Energy hosts a virtual public briefing on Hanford Site cleanup priorities. 8:30 p.m. Pacific time. Register online. 16 – The Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board holds a hybrid meeting Wednesday starting at […]

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, told the Waste Management Symposia late last week in Phoenix. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for […]

A bipartisan omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature would increase the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy budget from 2021 levels but still come in shy of the agency’s request for the current fiscal year. If the compromise budget bill becomes law, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) would receive around 1.65 billion for […]

After idling for half the 2022 fiscal year at last year’s budget level, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get some $26.65 billion to see it through Sept. 30, under an omnibus spending package that at deadline Friday awaited only President Joe Biden’s signature. That’s a 4.5% raise year-over-year that’s 3% more than requested for […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was recently searching for a new director for its office of enterprise project management, according to a want-ad posted on the federal government’s official recruiting website. According to the listing, the agency conducted interviews only for a month, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22. The current occupant of the office — […]

PHOENIX — An executive with an energy coalition representing the host community of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico asked attendees at an industry conference this week to help ensure that a bill introduced in Congress last week, aimed at blocking the site, dies. “I implore any of you […]

Over the next 10 years, the Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion Office of Environmental Management hopes to realize several of its long-desired objectives around the nuclear weapons cleanup complex. According to its Strategic Vision 2022-2032, published Tuesday by the Environmental Management (EM) branch, the feds expect to start converting low-level radioactive tank waste into glass at […]

Todd Shrader, second in command at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management since 2019, is leaving the cleanup office for a clean energy job at the agency, according to an internal email sent Monday. Longtime DOE hand Candice Robertson will step in for Shrader on an acting basis, William (Ike) White, senior advisor […]

The final fiscal 2022 compromise budget reached by Congress this week continues the era of flush funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, which rises to nearly $7.9 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, up from $7.6 billion. Under the spending plan, which on Friday had cleared Congress and awaited President […]

A bipartisan omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature would increase the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy budget from 2021 levels but still come in shy of the agency’s request for the current fiscal year. If the compromise budget bill becomes law, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) would receive around 1.65 billion for […]

The final fiscal 2022 compromise budget reached by Congress this week continues the era of flush funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, which swells to nearly $7.9 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, up from $7.6 billion. Under the spending plan, which on Thursday morning awaited President Joe Biden’s signature, […]

After idling for half the 2022 fiscal year at last year’s budget level, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get some $26.65 billion to see it through Sept. 30, under an omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature.  That’s a 4.5% raise year-over-year that’s 3% more than requested for the semiautonomous Department of Energy […]

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning House appropriators unveiled, and the Joe Biden administration said it would sign, a bipartisan omnibus 2022 budget bill that would slightly raise budgets for Department of Energy defense nuclear programs. The measure also includes emergency aid for Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Fiscal year 2022 ends […]

Over the next 10 years, the Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion Office of Environmental Management hopes to realize several of its long-desired objectives around the nuclear weapons cleanup complex. According to its Strategic Vision 2022-2032, published Tuesday by the Environmental Management (EM) branch, the feds expect to start converting low-level radioactive tank waste into glass at […]

PHOENIX — An executive with an energy coalition representing the host community of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico asked attendees at an industry conference Tuesday to help ensure that a bill introduced in Congress last week, aimed at blocking the site, dies. “I implore any of you that […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration was recently searching for a new director for its office of enterprise project management, according to a want-ad posted on the federal government’s official recruiting website. According to the listing, the agency conducted interviews only for a month, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22. The current occupant of the office […]

Todd Shrader, second in command at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management since 2019, is leaving the cleanup office for a clean energy job at the agency, according to an internal email sent Monday. Longtime DOE hand Candice Robertson will step in for Shrader on an acting basis, William (Ike) White, senior advisor […]

Here are some events related to defense and civilian matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: March 6-10 – Annual Waste Management Symposium. Phoenix, Ariz. IN PERSON. Professional networking for technical and business leaders in radioactive waste management, with appearances by representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy and foreign government officials. […]

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) is back in the U.S. Senate more than a month after the 49-year-old lawmaker suffered a stroke. “Great to be back at work!” Luján said on this Twitter feed Thursday. The post includes pictures of the legislator in a meeting room, in what appears to be a Congressional corridor and […]

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day, the Democratic controlled House and its Armed Services Committee are certain to authorize an increase in the defense budget for fiscal year 2023, the committee’s leader said Thursday. “It’s gonna go up,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Armed Services chair, said in a […]

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week would prevent the government from using federal funds to develop privately-owned interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a press release. If it became law, the bipartisan legislation unveiled Wednesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would bar the feds from […]

The White House this week officially nominated Kathryn Huff to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, sending her nomination to the Senate about a month after announcing its intention to do so. Next up for Huff, whose nomination to become the deputy assistant secretary of nuclear energy (NE-1) in DOE’s Office of […]

A bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate would prevent the government from using federal funds to develop privately-owned interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, according to a press release. If it became law, the bipartisan legislation unveiled Wednesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would bar the feds from using […]

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day, the Democratic controlled House and its Armed Services Committee are certain to authorize an increase in the defense budget for fiscal year 2023, the committee’s leader said Thursday. “It’s gonna go up,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Armed Services chair, said in a […]