The agreed-upon fiscal 2016 federal omnibus budget would provide nearly $6 billion for remediation of legacy Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities.
House lawmakers are expected to vote Friday on the spending package, followed by a Senate decision. The White House has indicated President Barack Obama would sign the bill, which would keep the federal government open through Sept. 30.
The energy and water development segment of the budget includes just under $5.3 billion for defense environmental cleanup, which would be $234 million more than requested for the fiscal year and nearly $290 million above the amount enacted in fiscal 2015. Close to another $674 million is included in the uranium enrichment decontamination and decommissioning fund — $131 million more than DOE requested and almost $49 million more than it received in the last budget.
The defense environmental cleanup account would include just short of $300 million for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, with $148 million to be used for operations and maintenance and $82 million for recovery from the February 2014 fire and radiation released that halted nuclear waste storage operations at the facility.
At the Hanford Site, the Richland Operations Office would receive nearly $923 million and the Office of River Protection $1.4 billion.
The National Nuclear Security Administration would receive $12.5 billion, including $8.8 billion for weapons activities.
The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina would receive $340 million. “Funds shall be available only for construction and for project support activities,” according to the bill. “The agreement does not include direction in the House and Senate reports regarding additional studies of MOX alternatives.” DOE would be allowed to allocate up to $5 million for advance planning to “complete conceptual design activities” for a “dilute and dispose” alternative to the project for eliminating weapon-usable plutonium and for an analysis for Congress covering the total cost and schedule of that option.