A possible government shutdown loomed closer at deadline, as Senate Republicans threatened to filibuster a stopgap budget to keep federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, funded when the 2022 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
The continuing resolution, which passed the House Tuesday on a 220-211 party-line vote, will keep federal agencies at their 2021 fiscal year funding levels through Dec. 3, unless Congress can agree on a permanent 2022 budget sooner.
The full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee have passed separate 2022 energy and water development spending bills to fund DOE and its civilian nuclear-waste and energy programs, plus the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: regulator of civilian nuclear waste. However, the measures were at deadline a long way from being reconciled into a compromise package the President could sign.
Here’s what Tuesday’s resolution would mean for civilian nuclear power and waste if it passes:
At fiscal 2021 levels, DOE would get the annualized equivalent of $39.5 billion — about 15% lower than the roughly $46.5 billion requested for the 2022 fiscal year. Funding for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) will remain at around $1.5 billion, per the fiscal 2021 appropriations bill. That’s about 6% lower than the $1.6 billion greenlit separately by the House and Senate.
Cash for ONE’s nuclear waste disposal program would stay rather stagnant at around $27.5 million under the continuing resolution. Consistent with the 2022 appropriations bills, that funding would still be used for interim storage. That’s good news for the Biden administration, which has said it would soon start looking into possible locations for a federal interim storage facility.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is looking at a slight funding cut under the continuing resolution. NRC’s budget would be around $830 million, down about 6% from $890 million in the 2022 spending plan. Only a fraction of that is an appropriation from the treasury, because the NRC collects fees from nuclear power generators.
