Most Department of Energy cleanup sites including Richland, Portsmouth and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant would see funding increases in the Fiscal Year 2016 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill when compared to DOE’s budget request, according to
report language the House Appropriations Committee released yesterday. At Richland, DOE had proposed a $93 million cut in its FY 2016 budget, but the bill would restore levels to about $79 million above the budget request for a total funding level of $923 million. Cleanup work at the Portsmouth site would be funded at $213.4 million, or $48 million above the budget request, a move that comes after proposed cuts last year led to the threat of hundreds of layoffs there. In order to support recovery activities at WIPP, that site would be funded in the bill at $285.8 million, or $42.5 million more than the budget request.
However, the Savannah River Site would come in at about $1.19 billion in the House bill, a cut of $16.8 million below DOE’s budget request, but would still be about $70 million above FY 2015 levels. For Savannah River’s Salt Waste Processing Facility, the House panel matched DOE’s request of $194 million. Several other sites would see increases above the budget request in the bill. That includes Idaho, with a total funding level of $390.8 million, a $30 million boost above DOE’s proposal in order to maintain funding for radioactive tank waste disposition. The Paducah site would be funded at $193.6 million, a $25 million increase over the budget request that would go to “expedite deactivation activities,” according to the report. At Oak Ridge, D&D activities would be funded at $163.9 million, a $9.7 million increase above the budget request.
