Most Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites would receive modest reductions in their fiscal 2027 funding, under the budget justification document released last weekend by the White House.
At the same time, DOE says the Office of Environmental Management (EM) will play a vital role in future nuclear energy and reindustrialization.
“EM will change the course of the future in American communities by remediating and revitalizing sites,” according to the budget justification document. “These sites will become hubs for nuclear energy, advanced manufacturing and AI [artificial intelligence] infrastructure that create generational jobs and build long-term security and prosperity.”
Fiscal 2026 ends Sept. 30 and House and Senate Appropriators will end up setting the actual funding. As Rick Perry, secretary of energy during President Donald Trump’s first term, once told Congress, the administration request can make a good door stop.
The Congress could start asserting itself Wednesday April 15 when a House Appropriations subcommittee holds its first hearing on the DOE budget.
EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., would get $483 million, an increase of 12% from the $430 million level enacted by Congress for fiscal 2026. Most of the increase is due to funding the Hoisting Capability Project — “which is vital to the long-term viability of operations at WIPP,” according to the request.
WIPP is one of the few EM sites that stands to land more money under the current Trump administration’s budget request. Major news organizations have made much of Trump’s budget request stressing guns over butter, with lots of money for defense and cuts for most other things.
The Idaho National Laboratory EM budget would dip 3% to $493 million from $505 million, under the request. “The funding request continues hot operation of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit to treat the sodium-bearing tank waste” and some of the completed remediation work at Idaho, according to the document.
The nuclear cleanup budget for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee would take a 14% hit, to $604 million, down from $704 million in fiscal 2026. The decrease reflects completion of substantial cleanup at the former K-25 uranium enrichment site, now called the East Tennessee Technology Park, DOE said.
The Paducah Site in Kentucky would get a small raise, receiving $374 million, reflecting a 1% increase over the 2026 level of $371 million. “This budget request also supports the safe operation of the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion facility,” according to the document.
The Portsmouth Site in Ohio would enjoy a 3% bump to $597 million from $580 million in fiscal 2026. The request includes funding for the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility work to receive the debris from the X-333 Building.
The two Hanford Field Offices, Richland and River Protection, in Washington state, would be cut by a combined total of $393 million, but would still have a total budget of $2.95 billion, according to the budget justification. Among other things the request is lower due to completion of the excavation and progress on construction for Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility Supercell 11.
Another big property, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, stands to see its budget rise slightly to $1.79 billion, under the request. That would be up from $1.77 billion in fiscal 2026. The request prioritizes “closure of Tanks 9, 10, and 11 which reside below the water table,” according to the document. Further, the increase is attributed to the resumption of uranium recovery operations at H-Canyon which will generate enriched uranium for future high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).
The administration has requested $296 million for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, up from $281 million in fiscal 2026, a 5% boost. The increase would help fund compliance with a consent decree as well as controlling the hexavalent chromium plume.
Elsewhere, the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state would receive $97.9 million up from $97.5 million fiscal 2026. The Nevada National Security Site would again receive $64.8 million.
The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Site in Utah would receive $64.2 million, or level with fiscal 2026.
The Energy Technology Engineering Center at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, would again receive $10 million in 2027. Lawrence Livernmore National Laboratory in California would again get $2 million in cleanup funds and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico would again be slotted for $1 million.