The Department of Energy spending request put forward Friday by the Joe Biden administration for fiscal 2022 would increase funding for environmental cleanup of past weapons work at several National Nuclear Security Administration sites.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management budget for physical cleanup of this legacy contamination would rise by about a third, to $436 million from $328 million, if enacted by Congress, according to figures published by the Office of Management and Budget.
“Funding is included to support the deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) of specific high-risk excess facilities by the Environmental Management program” for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The Environmental Management office is also in charge of tackling the cleanup for NNSA sites such as the Nevada Nuclear Security Site, Sandia National Laboratories facilities in New Mexico and the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU). Citing completion of remediation at SPRU, DOE in December said it was transferring the property at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, N.Y., back to the DOE Office of Naval Reactors, although two-dozen containers of transuranic waste remain onsite.
The nuclear cleanup office seeks first “to ensure that risks to the public and workers are controlled, then to clean up soil and groundwater using risk-informed methodology,” according to the OMB document.
The OMB document notes Los Alamos legacy cleanup is run through Environmental Management’s Los Alamos Field Office. The Biden administration could issue a more detailed budget document for the Environmental Management office this week.
