Vol. 22, No. 35

Budget & Policy

Congress Boosts NNSA Infrastructure Spending in Final 2019 Budget Bill

Congress approved  the National Nuclear Security Administration’s final 2019 budget this week, including increased funding for maintenance and cleanup of buildings across the nuclear security enterprise, decreased funding for a controversial plutonium-disposal project, and $65 million to make a low-yield, submarine-launched, ballistic-missile warhead. The House approved the bill 377-20 on Thursday. The Senate approved the legislation 92-5 on […]
  • Budget & Policy

    With Warhead Funding Set for Signature, Congress Compromises on Missile Funding in DOD Budget Bill

    The House and Senate this week sent a multiagency spending bill to President Donald Trump’s desk that boosts the Department of Energy’s budget for nuclear warhead modernization, and reached a compromise on separate appropriations legislation that would accelerate development of the missiles that will carry those weapons. Congress overwhelmingly approved the warhead funding as part of […]

  • Plutonium Pit Production

    Plutonium-Conversion Plant Budget Could Be Cut to Lowest Level This Decade

    The budget for the Department of Energy’s controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction in South Carolina would be cut to the lowest level at least since the start of this decade, under the 2019 DOE budget Congress approved this week. The  plant, being built by CB&I AREVA MOX Services, would get a […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Congress Blocks Reorganization at Federal Nuclear Safety Watchdog

    The minibus appropriations bill on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk would block the independent federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board from downsizing by about 20 percent, and require the Department of Energy to explain why it has restricted some communications with the federal nuclear safety watchdog. Bill language approved by Congress this week forbids […]

  • Nuclear Weapons & Stockpile

    Savannah River Readies for Hurricane Florence

    The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina said it will keep only essential safety and security staff on duty if Hurricane Florence threatens the nearby region inland. The essential staff number fluctuates depending on what is needed at the time, but in recent memory it has been roughly 340 members of the […]

  • National Laboratories

    Slew of Problems With RCLC Expenses, Los Alamos County Manager Says

    Errors and poor policy have fueled the controversy over reimbursement of expenses at a regional group intended to promote communities around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That is the crux of an Aug. 28 analysis by Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess, addressing financial irregularities by the Regional Coalition of […]

  • Non-Proliferation

    Operator Suspended for Transporting Radioactive Material Without Proper Paperwork

    A motor vehicle operator temporarily lost commercial driving privileges after transporting nuclear samples needed for counterterrorism training without completing the proper paperwork. The driver shipped the material Sept. 4 from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Counter Terrorism Operations Support office in Nevada to a training facility in Hagerstown, Md., the Department of Energy  disclosed on […]

  • Budget & Policy

    Former Energy Secretary Bodman Dead at 79

    Former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman died Sept. 7, news outlets reported. He was 79. Bodman led the Department of Energy from 2005 to 2009 during George W. Bush’x second term in office. During his tenure, Bodman fired Linton Brooks — the second full-time administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration — following security lapses at […]

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