Budget & Policy

Two hearings involving the fiscal 2027 budget for the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), including the starting markup for the bill, will take place in Congress this week. Starting Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee will receive testimony from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams, and […]

President Donald Trump issued an executive order April 30 that seeks to shift government procurement toward greater use of firm-fixed-price contracts. It is a change that could have implications across the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex where “cost-plus” contracts are common.  When it comes to nuclear remediation contracts, vendors often don’t know the full […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has plenty of facilities that are more than a half-century old and, since fiscal 2020, the cost of upkeep has more than doubled to $950 million yearly, according to a government watchdog. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Tuesday it is recommending several improvements to the […]

The Donald Trump administration has requested that Congress again budget $45 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) for fiscal 2027, partly due to increased nuclear weapons work. The $45 million was equal to the White House request for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30, although Congress appropriated less, $42 million in fiscal […]

Ted Turner, founder of news outlet CNN and founding co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, died at home in Tallahassee, Fla. Wednesday at age 87 due to Lewy body dementia. According to a statement by NTI, Turner launched the non-profit organization in 2001 with Sam Nunn and Charlie Curtis after watching a report on 60 […]

California state lawmakers have recently pivoted from ending the state’s nuclear moratorium to instead conducting a study on the potential role of advanced reactors to meet state’s clean energy goals. The shifting of the bill, AB 2647, to a study came after the author of the bill, California Assembly Member Lisa Calderon (D), office received […]

The Donald Trump administration has requested that Congress again budget $45 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) for fiscal 2027, partly due to increased nuclear weapons work. The $45 million was equal to the White House request for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30, although Congress appropriated less, $42 million in fiscal […]

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La) last week questioned whether the United States needs to pursue two separate plutonium pit production facilities, signaling potential scrutiny ahead as lawmakers weigh rising nuclear weapons spending against broader defense priorities. Kennedy chairs the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, and made comments at a hearing featuring testimony from top […]

Congress passing $350 billion in reconciliation funds to support the Donald Trump administration’s potential $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense topline is “going to have its challenges,” a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said.  “I want to make sure that we get through that. I want to make sure that members know […]

The Donald Trump administration has requested that Congress again budget $45 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) for fiscal 2027, partly due to increased nuclear weapons work. The $45 million was equal to the White House request for fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30, although Congress appropriated less, $42 million in fiscal […]

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La) last week questioned whether the United States needs to pursue two separate plutonium pit production facilities, signaling potential scrutiny ahead as lawmakers weigh rising nuclear weapons spending against broader defense priorities. Kennedy chairs the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, and made comments at a hearing featuring testimony from top […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has plenty of facilities that are more than a half-century old and, since fiscal 2020, the cost of upkeep has more than doubled to $950 million yearly, according to a government watchdog. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Tuesday it is recommending several improvements to the […]

California state lawmakers have recently pivoted from ending the state’s nuclear moratorium to instead conducting a study on the potential role of advanced reactors to meet state’s clean energy goals. The shifting of the bill, AB 2647, to a study came after the author of the bill, California Assembly Member Lisa Calderon (D), office received […]

Congress passing $350 billion in reconciliation funds to support the Donald Trump administration’s potential $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense topline is “going to have its challenges,” a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said.  “I want to make sure that we get through that. I want to make sure that members know […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  MAY: 04: Earnings call: BWX Technologies (BWXT) will discuss its quarterly financial performance with financial performance starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.  05: Earnings call: Huntington Ingalls Industries holds its quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts on its financial performance starting […]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright were among the government officials evacuated from the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C. after an armed man forced his way into the event headlined by President Donald Trump. Hegseth’s presence was cited by Trump during a press conference about an hour after […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Brandon Williams said the agency plans to hire about 100 federal employees as it works to rebuild its workforce following prior staffing losses, telling lawmakers the effort will focus on targeted, high-quality hires. “We are looking to hire about 100 new personnel…across our enterprise,” Williams said during a Senate […]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright were among the government officials evacuated from the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C. after an armed man forced his way into the event headlined by President Donald Trump. Hegseth’s presence was cited by Trump during a press conference about an hour after […]

A 437-page justification for the Donald Trump administration’s request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management adds more detail on White House priorities for nuclear cleanup. Overall, the roughly $8.2 billion Environmental Management (EM) budget would be $386 million less than the $8.56 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026, according to the […]

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Brandon Williams said the agency plans to hire about 100 federal employees as it works to rebuild its workforce following prior staffing losses, telling lawmakers the effort will focus on targeted, high-quality hires. “We are looking to hire about 100 new personnel…across our enterprise,” Williams said during a Senate […]

A 437-page justification for the Donald Trump administration’s request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management adds more detail on White House priorities for nuclear cleanup. Overall, the roughly $8.2 billion Environmental Management (EM) budget would be $386 million less than the $8.56 billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026, according to the […]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright were among the government officials evacuated from the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C. after an armed man forced his way into the event headlined by President Donald Trump. Hegseth’s presence was cited by Trump during a press conference about an hour after […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  APRIL: 28: Meeting: The Department of Energy and its Bechtel-led prime for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) host a community meeting starting at noon Mountain Time at the Skeen-Whitlock Building, Wendell Weart Auditorium, 4021 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM.  27-29: Conference: […]

The Senate Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee will hear testimony from three of the top officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on the agency’s fiscal 2027 budget request Wednesday, April 29. The three witnesses are Brandon Williams, administrator of NNSA; Matthew Napoli, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at NNSA; and David Beck, […]

Tim Walsh, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), said this week DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state remains the program’s biggest nuclear cleanup challenge. But at the same time Hanford, which accounts for about 40% of EM’s budget, is primed for a “breakout year,” Walsh told a Senate Armed Forces […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Tuesday Senate hearing, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright offered a briefing to an Arizona Democrat on what the Department of Energy is doing to fast-track reactor deployment. In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee fiscal 2027 budget hearing, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said there have been concerns about a […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Democrats on a House Energy and Commerce panel that NRC can remain independent despite the chance of commissioners being terminated by the White House. Wednesday’s hearing of the House Energy and Commerce’s Energy subcommittee came four months after the NRC regained a full  five-member contingent. […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told a Senate panel Wednesday the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy fiscal 2027 budget request is pretty flat once the big picture is considered.  Wright talked about the request from the Donald Trump White House In a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development subcommittee […]

The Air Force’s two most expensive nuclear modernization programs are seeing notable year-over-year declines in their budget lines, driven less by program slowdowns than by the absence of one-time congressional funding infusions and a broader restructuring of acquisition timelines. Northrop Grumman’s LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile’s engineering and manufacturing development budget in particular would receive […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright disagreed Tuesday over the severity of reduced funding for the Hanford Site in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2027 budget request. The following day, Cantwell’s Democratic colleague Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would also challenge the adequacy of the DOE request for Hanford.  Wright told Cantwell during […]