The Trump administration is proposing to shift management of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back to the Department of Energy.
The program would be placed into the portfolio of DOE’s Office of Legacy Management, accounting for nearly all of its $144 million funding increase for the federal budget year beginning Oct. 1.
Under an agreement with the Energy Department, the Army Corps would still conduct the actual cleanup work under FUSRAP of sites that were radioactively contaminated from the 1940s to 1960s by operations of the Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission. It would be reimbursed by DOE.
“Consolidating cleanup programs under a single agency will allow DOE to consider the full range of cleanup responsibilities in prioritizing work each fiscal year,” the Energy Department said Friday in its budget-in-brief for fiscal 2020.
There was no additional detail as of Wednesday from the Army Corps or Energy Department about the purpose and function of the change.
FUSRAP would receive $141 million in fiscal 2020, if Congress approves the DOE funding proposal. That would be down from $150 million appropriated for this year at the Army Corps.
The Energy Department established FUSRAP in the 1970s, and Congress moved the program to the Army Corps in a 1998 appropriations bill. There are presently 25 FUSRAP remediation sites in 10 states, according to the Army.
The Office of Legacy Management is already tasked with long-term monitoring and surveillance of nuclear facilities after remediation is complete, including those remediated under FUSRAP and DOE’s Environmental Management program. The new budget proposal would increase the Legacy Management budget from its current $158.9 million to just over $303 million.
