Budget & Policy

As expected, a draft 2022 spending bill from a House Appropriations panel has the requested $27.5 million to help the Department of Energy find a site for a federally owned consolidated interim waste storage site, and no money to turn Yucca Mountain into a permanent waste repository. The House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee’s […]

Department of Energy nuclear weapons programs would get almost exactly the funding they requested for fiscal year 2022, if the House’s first draft of the Department of Energy’s budget bill becomes law. The House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee released its draft 2022 energy and water appropriations act on Sunday and planned to mark up […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not published Monday, July 5 in observance of the Independence Day holiday. Look for the next issue in your inbox on July 6.

In another bid to combat mounting nuclear power plant closures, a group of Senate Democrats last week unveiled a bill to keep the existing fleet afloat. If the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act became law, nuclear plant operators could expect a tax credit on every kilowatt-hour (KWh) of electricity they produce, according to the […]

One of the nuclear industry’s most prominent trade groups pressured the Joe Biden administration this week to do something about the dwindling Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as one of four current commissioners finished her term this week and left the agency. It’s important for the five-person NRC to be at full strength so it can “act […]

The story “NNSA Approves CD-1 Range for Savannah River Pit Factory; $6.9B-$11.1B” [Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, June 29, 2021] should have said that Jill Hruby, the Joe Biden administration’s nominee for NNSA administrator, disclosed a schedule slip for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) in congressional testimony on May 27.

In another bid to combat mounting nuclear power plant closures, a group of Senate Democrats last week unveiled a bill to keep the existing fleet afloat. If the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act became law, nuclear plant operators could expect a tax credit on every kilowatt-hour (KWh) of electricity they produce, according to the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday formalized its choice to build the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility pit factory out of the remains of the partially constructed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The planned pit plant will cost between $6.9 billion and $11.1 billion to build and be ready to annually produce at least […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: June 28: The Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board meets online starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.  

The Joe Biden administration’s nuclear posture review will be bundled with a larger national defense strategy to be released in early 2022, but the administration plans to make a “significant signal” about U.S. force structure before that, a senior Pentagon official said this week at a virtual conference. “The Biden administration and the interim national […]

The acting head of DOE nuclear weapons programs on Thursday passed on a chance to say that a planned plutonium pit factory in South Carolina will cost as much per unit as a cheaper pit factory planned for New Mexico. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans a larger pit factory, the Savannah River Plutonium […]

Nearly a hundred advanced nuclear energy projects are getting cash from the federal government, with the bulk going toward nuclear waste research, the Department of Energy announced this week in the midst of budget season. Most of the $61 million DOE is awarding to advanced nuclear research programs, $58 million, will go to universities, the […]

WASHINGTON — As federal budget season wears on, details are still scarce on the Joe Biden administration’s plans for a federal interim storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, and one key appropriator isn’t happy with the lack of specifics. Asked after a Department of Energy budget hearing Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations energy […]

For the second time in two weeks, a senator from Washington state insisted Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm raise the Joe Biden administration’s financial commitment to long-term Hanford Site cleanup and continue payments to localities bordering Department of Energy nuclear facilities. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) hammered at the topics during Granholm’s Wednesday appearance before the […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the acting chief of DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, Charles Verdon, were to face questions from a Senate Appropriations Committee panel at 10 a.m. for the first time since the Joe Biden administration rolled out its Department of Energy budget request for fiscal 2022. The hearing by the […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: 22: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission meets for an affirmation session on pending business and the agency’s midyear review, “Transformation at the NRC.” Web access available here starting at 8:55 a.m. Eastern time. 23: The Risk Management […]

The Department of Energy is looking for a cash boost to keep researching whether recycling highly-enriched uranium from test reactors is a possible route to producing advanced nuclear fuel, the agency said in budget justification documents published last week. In its fiscal year 2022 budget request, the agency seeks $35 million this fiscal year to […]

The former Ohio speaker of the House was expelled from the state legislature Wednesday over his indictment in an alleged bribery scheme involving two nuclear power plants. State Rep. Larry Householder (R) was removed from the Ohio legislature in a 75-21 vote Wednesday afternoon. Householder, speaking on the state House floor, argued that his expulsion […]

The House Armed Services Committee will hold its full committee mark-up for the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on September 1, pushing back the annual process due to the delayed submission of the president’s budget request. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday also announced plans to have its defense and homeland security subcommittees […]

The head of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is dissatisfied with current legal checks on the President’s authority to launch nuclear weapons, he said in a hearing Wednesday, during which he otherwise offered no other indication that he was eager to disrupt current nuclear weapons policy. The President’s sole authority to launch U.S. […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

The former Ohio speaker of the House was expelled from the state legislature Wednesday over his indictment in an alleged bribery scheme involving two nuclear power plants. State Rep. Larry Householder (R) was removed from the Ohio legislature in a 75-21 vote Wednesday afternoon. Householder, speaking on the state House floor, argued that his expulsion […]

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday to question Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on why the Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for nuclear cleanup trims funding for the Hanford Site during fiscal 2022. The White House has proposed to split about $2.47 billion between Hanford’s two […]

The House Armed Services Committee will hold its full committee mark-up for the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on September 1, pushing back the annual process due to the delayed submission of the president’s budget request. The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday also announced plans to have its defense and homeland security subcommittees […]

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday morning on the Joe Biden administration’s $46-billion fiscal 2022 budget request for the department. Granholm was  to appear before the committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to explain, and if need […]

Here are some public events related to defense- and civilian-nuclear matters that the Exchange Monitor staff is tracking this week: 14: Air Force Association, “Sustaining and Modernizing Ballistic Missile Operations Forum.” Streaming online. Includes appearances by: Air Force Maj. Gen. Anthony Genatempo, commander, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center; Air Force Col Jason Bartolomei, senior materiel leader upper […]

The article “L.A. Court to Hear Enviros’ Petition Against SONGS Decommissioning” (RadWaste Monitor, June 11, 2021) should have said that the spokesperson who provided comment represents Southern California Edison.

“The bow wave has arrived” for the civilian nuclear-weapons budget, the Government Accountability Office warned Wednesday in a report that, amid recommendations for streamlining budget and project organization, made room for a we-told-you-so about the effects of deferring upgrades for nuclear weapons and their production infrastructure. “DOE’s appropriation for fiscal year 2021 includes a 23 […]

The Joe Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 budget request would shift $20 million in existing funding for the siting of a non-Yucca Mountain federal interim storage site into a different silo of DOE’s Nuclear Energy office, according to a budget document published this week. The administration also wants to increase the program’s focus on so-called […]

The Joe Biden administration’s budget request proves they’re willing to help out the nuclear energy industry as part of its clean energy agenda, the Secretary of Energy said at a trade group conference this week. “The administration isn’t just ready to talk the talk, we’re willing to walk the walk” on nuclear energy, said Jennifer […]