WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s $800-million request for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is “a darn good start,” a congressional appropriator said here Wednesday at an industry conference.

“Now, you’ll see my mark tomorrow,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, said in his keynote speech at the Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Energy Security Summit. The uranium processing facility (UPF) got $810 million in fiscal year 2024.

The subcommittee Fleischmann chairs writes the first draft of the Department of Energy’s annual budget bill and was scheduled to vote on that draft Friday. Fleischmann’s district in Oak Ridge abuts Y-12.

While House subcommittees typically release some details of their spending proposals a day before voting, detailed spending reports about their bills are usually held close until the full Appropriations Committee’s subsequent markup. 

The full committee planned to mark up the energy and water bill July 9, Fleischmann told the Monitor.