LOOKING AHEAD

Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration officials will make their first appearances before appropriators this week as Congressional budget season heats up in earnest. Energy Secretary Steven Chu will appear before the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee at 2 p.m. Tuesday, while NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino, Defense Programs chief Don Cook and Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan will testify before the same panel at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Both hearings will take place in Room 2362-B of the Rayburn House Office Building. Other notable events this week: 

• On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey will testify before the Senate Budget Committee at 9:30 a.m., while Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz will appear before the House Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m.
• Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also appear before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations at 10 a.m. and before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 2 p.m.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold an all-day meeting with Shaw AREVA MOX Services on potential changes to the quality assurance plan for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being built at the Savannah River Site.