Kenneth Fletcher
NS&D Monitor
4/11/2014
The Department of Energy requested a funding boost for weapons projects in Fiscal Year 2015 at the expense of nonproliferation and cleanup programs, Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week, and appropriators are looking for ways to rebalance that funding. Feinstein pressed Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on the issue at a budget hearing in her subcommittee. “The priorities you lay out, Mr. Secretary, for national security programs in this year’s budget request demand an explanation,” she said. “The budget request makes nuclear weapons and naval reactor programs the highest priority at the expense of nonproliferation and environmental cleanup activities. It is hard for me to understand why we would cut programs to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, especially when Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have repeatedly shown interest in acquiring weapons-grade material.”
The FY 2015 budget request includes about $8.3 billion for weapons activities, a $533 million increase over enacted levels, but includes only about $1.5 billion for nonproliferation programs, a decrease of nearly $400 million from current levels. DOE Office of Environmental Management is seeking approximately $5.6 billion, a $209 million decrease from current funding. “What I see are additional cuts to well-managed programs that have made this country safer from nuclear terrorism, at the expense of increased funding for poorly-managed nuclear weapons programs,” Feinstein said. “I say that with justification that I believe you know about,” she told Moniz and Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, adding, “Slashing programs that prevent nuclear terrorism and protect the health and safety of communities from the effects of nuclear weapons production is a major concern, and I hope you’re prepared with a good explanation.”
Moniz: DOE Working With ‘Very Constrained’ Budget
Feinstein is expected to seek a boost to nonproliferation funding over DOE’s budget proposal while searching for areas in the weapons budget that can be trimmed. At this week’s hearing, Moniz replied that the Department was working with a “very constrained” budget when it came up with the FY 2015 request. “Administration- wide, we proposed again the stockpile plan that we felt minimized the cost but yet achieved what has been agreed to, I think, very broadly in terms of nuclear posture review, what we need for a safe and reliable stockpile without testing,” he said. “Given that, we had to make some tough choices, and that appeared in many places.”
Nonpro Programs Have Accomplished ‘Tremendous Amount’
The Department has accomplished a “tremendous amount” in nonproliferation programs such as the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which aims to secure vulnerable nuclear material, Moniz said. “There’s been a surge, really, over the last four years with 12 countries, all HEU removed from them, including I think three in the last year-and-a-half,” Moniz said. “We will continue that program. And I can assure you that I personally and, as you said, the president are very, very much committed to the nonproliferation program. And we hope that the resources, you know, will in the future allow us to accelerate.”
The Department outlined its upcoming nuclear security goals in its 2014-2018 Strategic Plan released this week. The Department plans to remove or confirm disposition of 315 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium by the end of FY 2015, for a cumulative total of 5,322 kilograms, according to the plan. That includes material from Italy and Belgium shipped to the United States this year, as well as 45 kilograms of HEU returned from Canada in December and a shipment from Hungary completed in November. The plan also calls for completion of the disposition of 154 metric tons of surplus U.S. HEU total by the end of FY 2018 that is in excess of defense needs. Other goals by FY’18 include April 11, 2014deploying mobile radiation monitors in 44 countries, improving export control systems in 38 countries, and protecting 2,327 buildings with nuclear and radiological materials.
Senate Authorization Panel Chair Plans to Advocate for Nonpro Funds
Also this week, Senate Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chair Mark Udall (D-Colo.) told National Nuclear Security Administration acting administrator Bruce Held he would work to support the nonproliferation programs. “There’s no shortage of work to go around in stopping the spread of nuclear material that can harm our country, yet we continue to see a decrease in funding for these programs. In my opinion, there’s a fundamental flaw in the way the budget for nonproliferation programs is coordinated in the executive branch,” Udall said. “And in that vein, Mr. Held, I’d like to hear from you regarding the underlying reasons for the funding decreases we’ve seen over the past several budget proposals. It’s my intent to advocate strongly for solutions in the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act to help mitigate these cuts.”
House Lawmakers Also Concerned About Cuts
DOE officials have noted that close to half of the reduction to the nonproliferation budget is due to the suspension of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility—the Fissile Materials Disposition Account was cut about $137 million. House appropriators have also expressed concern about cuts to nonproliferation programs, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) last week at a House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing. “What are we not doing with this budget request that you have put before us that might jeopardize that security?” she asked. “We look upon this as quite a severe cut. So is there something on the terrorism side that is at risk here?”
The NNSA was able to reprogram some funds recently that led to a reduced need for funding nonproliferation programs, and also is wrapping up some efforts, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington replied at last week’s hearing, calling them “some very positive trends, programs that are successfully drawing to a close.” She added later: “We believe that we are hitting the major points. You know, when you do programs like ours, the globe is a pretty big place and there is almost an infinite amount of work that can be done. And our job is to work corporately within the interagency, with the intelligence community to come up with the best prioritization for those programs that we can.”
Acting NNSA Chief Some Cuts ‘Are Admittedly Painful’
The issue was also raised this week by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing. “I’m very concerned about the downward funding trend for key nonproliferation programs,” he said, asking later: “Why doesn’t NNSA funding priorities match up to the president’s priorities, and which would you have accomplished if R&D and GTRI had not been cut?”
The NNSA’s Bruce Held replied: “Some of the reductions are as a result of programs coming to a natural end at the end of a four- year surge that the president announced in Prague four years ago. Some of them are admittedly painful. They are very valuable programs and we need to protect them. As I said previously, though, $1.6 billion remains an awful lot of taxpayer money to spend on these issues, and we are looking for ways of driving synergies with other areas of the program to maximize the return to the taxpayer on these things.”
