WIPP Recovery Funded, Savannah River Sees Cuts
Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
12/12/2014
Most sites in the Department of Energy’s cleanup program would receive a funding boost in the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill Congress released this week, with an increase that could stave off looming layoffs at Portsmouth, though in the meantime the Savannah River site is facing a significant cut. The legislation, which passed the House late this week and is expected to be voted on in the Senate soon, sets defense environmental cleanup funding levels at $5 billion compared to the Administration’s FY’15 request of $4.86 billion. Non-defense cleanup funding in the bill adds up to $246 million, about $20 million more than the request. And cleanup activities paid for through the uranium enrichment D&D fund would be funded at $625 million in the bill, a big jump above the Administration’s $531 million request.
Portsmouth Layoffs May be Avoided
The Portsmouth site could see the most immediate impact from the legislation. The $76.4 million boost in cleanup funds for D&D work at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant could reduce or halt potentially hundreds of layoffs were set to happen next week. The omnibus funding measure included $214 million for operations at Portsmouth, compared to an enacted level of $137.6 million. “Clearly, should the bill be enacted, any required workforce restructuring action will be significantly reduced or stopped in its entirety and we will proceed with a refocusing of our resources on our project workscope priorities,” Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, Site Project Director Dennis Carr said this week in a message to employees.
Contractor officials have warned that without $92.5 million in funding above current levels, about 675 layoffs could occur. Austerity measures and an upswing in uranium spot market prices have decreased that from a previous $110 million shortfall. “I will be engaging with DOE over the next several days on the workscope and workforce implications should this draft language be enacted in the near future,” Carr said.
The significant shortfall is due in part to a drop in the price of uranium, which DOE has provided FBP to help fund cleanup activities. Additionally, DOE plans to reduce the amount of excess uranium available to help fund cleanup activities. The current CR language allows DOE to spend available Portsmouth funding from later in the year upfront to avoid immediate layoffs.
WIPP Recovery Funded
Efforts to recover from the February incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant also received funding in the legislation. The site would receive $320 million in funding under the bill, compared to the $216 request that was developed before the truck fire and radiological release at the site. Two large capital projects necessary for recovery also would receive money to get started, including $12 million for a “safety significant confinement ventilation system” and $4 million for an exhaust shaft, both projects that DOE officials have said are necessary for recovery from the WIPP incidents.
Savannah River Sees Cuts
However, the Savannah River Site, already reeling from recent budget cuts, would see further reductions under the legislation. Overall funding for the Savannah River Site was cut to $1.12 billion in the bill, compared to $1.50 billion in the Administration’s request. Site risk management operations stand at about $398 million in the bill, compared to $416.3 million in the request. Liquid waste operations total about $547.3 million, compared to $553.2 million in the request and $565.5 million in enacted funding. Additionally, the request for $34.6 million for the new Saltstone Disposal Unit was cut to $30 million. Finally, the Salt Waste Processing Facility came in at the $135 million request level.
Notably, the reduction to liquid waste funding comes after previous budget issues delayed numerous tank closure dates at the site beyond regulatory milestones, leading to pressure from South Carolina, which has threatened DOE with penalties and fines. Additionally, the risk management operations cuts comes as Savannah River officials have noted issues with maintenance backlogs at the site and delays in completing risk reduction work at the 235-F facility. The budget could also impact a host of new missions underway at the site’s H-Canyon facility. DOE this week did not respond to request for comment on the Savannah River budget.
Flat Funding at Hanford
The Hanford site meanwhile dodged a bullet, coming in with largely flat funding after the Administration proposed a $93 million cut to the DOE Richland Operations Office in its budget request. In the bill, funding for work managed by the DOE Richland Operations Office would be $941 million, which matches enacted funding, a boost over the $848 million request. That includes $497.5 million for central plateau remediation, compared to the $474.3 million request level. It also includes $377.8 million for river corridor cleanup, compared to $332.8 million in the request. A new project to construct a containerized sludge removal annex will be funded at $46 million, compared to the $26.3 million request for that project.
The Office of River Protection was funded at $1.21 billion, in line with the enacted level but slightly below the $1.24 billion level in the request. The bill matches the $522 million request for liquid tank waste stabilization but provides a slight cut in funding for work at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. The bill would provide $563 million for work at most portions of the WTP, down from $575 million in the request; and $104 million for the Pretreatment Facility, down from $115 million in the request.
Oak Ridge, Idaho See Boosts
Oak Ridge cleanup efforts also got a boost in the bill, coming in at $223 million compared to a request of $206.9 million. Notably, the Administration’s request for $41.6 million for the uranium-233 disposition program was not funded. That effort has been put on hold after issues with Nevada over potential disposal of the material at the Nevada National Security Site. However, Oak Ridge cleanup and waste disposition funding received a significant boost to $131.9 million, compared to $71.1 million in the request. Additionally, Oak Ridge would see $167.9 million from the uranium D&D fund, compared to the $137.9 million request.
Cleanup work at the Idaho National Laboratory got a boost in the bill to $380.2 million when compared to the request of $367.2 million. At the Paducah site, funding under the legislation came in at the $207.2 million request. The West Valley site came in at the Administration’s request of about $59 million. But Los Alamos National Laboratory saw a significant cut, with a level of $185 million in the bill compared to a request of $196 million. The site has been the focus of scrutiny since waste packaged at LANL has been linked to the radiological release at WIPP.
