The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive its full budget request for the upcoming 2021 federal fiscal year via the House Appropriations energy and water development bill issued this week.
That covers $849.9 million for the core operations at the federal regulator, plus just under $13.5 million for the NRC Inspector General’s Office. That would be good for a total of $863.4 million, a modest raise from $855.6 million enacted for this year.
Congress would in 2021 provide $123 million for the agency, which collects 90% of its funding from annual and services fees for licensee and license applicants. Its missions include oversight and licensing for nuclear reactors and radioactive waste, along with oversight of facilities in decommissiong.
The requested amount would pay the salaries of 2,868 full-time equivalent employees, the NRC said in the budget justification published in February. That would be down by 102 positions from this year.
There is no language in the 100-page House bill on the commission’s nuclear waste disposal activities – the NRC for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 did not ask Congress to appropriate money to resume its review of the Department of Energy license application for a waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev.
The Energy Department submitted its application in 2008, during the George W. Bush administration, but the Obama administration cut off funding for the proceeding two years. Under the Trump administration, NRC and DOE requests to restart licensing died on Capitol Hill in each of the three prior budget cycles.
Within the NRC total in the House appropriations measure, $9.5 million could be directed for salaries, travel, and other support expensed within the Office of the Commission. Just over $17.7 million would be applied to establishing the regulatory framework for advanced nuclear reactor technologies. The bill would give the NRC about $13.3 million for international activities.
The House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee marked up the $49.6 billion energy bill Tuesday. Members did not discuss the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the brief session, which ended after 30 minutes and no amendments to the legislation.
The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time Monday. The legislative report for the legislation, which would provide more granularity on spending plans for the NRC and other agencies, would be released at least a day ahead of time.
Major Plus-Up for FUSRAP?
The House legislation would provide at least $210 million – and possibly significantly more – for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), while again nixing the Trump administration’s proposal to transfer management to the Energy Department’s Office of Legacy Management.
That amount would be $10 million above current funding for the radioactive contamination remediation program and $60 million above the Trump administration’s request for fiscal 2021. The Army Corps in total would receive $7.6 billion, $1.7 billion more than sought by the administration.
A separate section of the bill cites an additional $500 million for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program “to remain available until expended: Provided, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to” the 1985 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. Republican members of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, and those in other panels during their markups this week, complained of Democrats’ efforts to add hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency funds to various bills.
FUSRAP provides environmental remediation of properties contaminated into the 1960s by nuclear-weapon and power operations under the Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission. The program was overseen by the Energy Department from its inception in 1974 until October 1997, when Congress sent it to the Army Corps. The White House first proposed returning it to DOE in its budget for the current 2020 budget year.
The Office of Legacy Management already has a central role in FUSRAP – assessing properties for inclusion in the program and conducting long-term monitoring once remediation of a site has been completed. Under the White House plan, the Army Corps would continue to manage the actual site operations, with DOE handling budget and administration.
“This proposal would enable DOE to consider a broader range of federal cleanup efforts in prioritizing work each year, thereby increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal cleanup efforts,” the Army Corps said in announcing its fiscal 2021 budget plan in February.
The House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee did not provide any insight in the bill on why it chose to keep FUSRAP under the Army Corps. However, Ranking Member Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said in addressing the issue last year that the program appeared to be functioning well in its current home.
Subcommittee Rejects Raise for Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
The House bill does not provide the additional $2 million requested by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board for 2021.
The small, independent agency has received $3.6 million per year since fiscal 2016, but asked for $5.6 million in its latest budget. Much of that would pay to hire four new full-time equivalent employees, raising the agency from 16 to 20. The money would be drawn from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund, which is intended to pay for a permanent repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from nuclear power reactors.
Salaries would increase from nearly $2.2 million to over $2.7 million, while costs for benefits would rise from $566,000 to $748,000 and travel and transportation would more than double from $125,000 to $335,000. More money was also to be spent in areas such as rent, communication and utilities, consultants, contracting, and equipment.
The NWTRB has up to 11 part-time board members – scientists and engineers – who lead the provision of technical and scientific peer review on management and disposal operations at the Department of Energy for high-level radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel. There are currently nine members.
In its budget justification, the board said it needed three additional professional staffers and one new General Schedule employee to help carry out its planned “expanded mission.”
“Under the proposed expanded authority, the Board plans to leverage its expertise in the geosciences, material sciences, and engineering fields to conduct independent analyses and other activities as appropriate,” the budget document says. Technical evaluations would cover areas such as alternative storage, transportation, and disposal approaches for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The agency acknowledged that the intended expansion would require authorization from Congress.
