House Appropriators Look to Provide Less than FY15 Request for Defense Cleanup

6/13/2014

 

House appropriators are looking to spend less next year than what the Department of Energy is seeking for work at its set of major cleanup sites. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 energy appropriations bill, reported out of subcommittee this week, would provide a total of approximately $4.8 billion for defense environmental cleanup, which covers sites such as Hanford, Idaho and the Savannah River Site, among others. That’s approximately $527 million below DOE’s request, with House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) attributing the cut, in large part, to overall limitations on defense spending during a markup hearing on the measure. However, the House bill would also provide $241.2 million for non-defense environmental cleanup, an increase of $15 million from the Department’s request; and approximately $585.98 million for uranium enrichment D&D activities, an increase of $55 million from DOE’s request. 

 

Information on site-by-site cleanup funding levels in the House bill was not available this week. It’s unclear if the bill would provide the $463 million the Department is seeking in defense environmental cleanup funding next year for a new federal contribution to the federal uranium enrichment D&D fund, which is used to help cover cleanup costs at the Oak Ridge, Paducah and Portsmouth sites.  In recent years, DOE has repeatedly proposed a reauthorization of the fund and both federal and industry contributions. Such proposals have been met with strong opposition, though, from the nuclear industry and some lawmakers, and have never moved forward. Language to reauthorize the fund was not included in either the House or Senate version of the FY 2015 defense authorization bills.  

 

 

The House bill would also give DOE the ability to use surplus National Nuclear Security Administration pension funding to help cover the cost of getting the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant back in operation after a radiological release occurred earlier this year. Under the bill, DOE would have ability to transfer up to $120 million in “pension plan payments in excess of legal requirements” to support “decontamination and other requirements” at WIPP. DOE has not yet publicly provided information on the estimated costs for getting WIPP back in operation, though some Department officials have informally told Congressional staff that about $130 million in additional funds would be needed next year. In its FY 2015 budget request, DOE is seeking approximately $220 million for WIPP. Under the House bill, the Department would have the ability to transfer up to $90 million from the NNSA’s “weapons activities” funding, and up to $30 million from the NNSA’s “defense nuclear nonproliferation” funding.

 

 

House appropriators are also looking to put new restrictions on how DOE uses its inventory of excess uranium to help fund cleanup activities and conduct other programs. Under the bill, DOE would be required to notify Congress 30 days before making any uranium transfers, and would need to conduct a new uranium market impact study if when the transfers take place the uranium value “is more than 10 percent lower than the gross fair market value on the date the most recent determination was signed by the Secretary.” DOE’s numerous recent uranium transfers, largely to support the American Centrifuge and environmental cleanup efforts, have been the focus of scrutiny by the uranium mining industry and its supporters in Congress.