Proposed funding in the House for the Department of Energy’s nuclear power office was up slightly compared with the White House’s request, according to a draft of the lower chamber’s 2023 energy and water spending bill scheduled for debate Tuesday.
If it became law, the House’s proposed budget would allocate around $1.78 billion to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, according to a draft spending bill published Sunday by the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee. That’s about 6% more than the roughly $1.67 billion the Joe Biden administration requested for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) in March.
NE’s budget includes funding for advanced nuclear research and development, operating fleet maintenance and nuclear waste disposal, according to a subcommittee summary. The subcommittee will shed more light on its exact proposals for individual programs in the detailed bill report usually released a day before the full Appropriations Committee marks up the proposed energy and water development spending bill. The committee had not scheduled that debate as of Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the House’s draft spending plan provides around $911 million in funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal government’s independent nuclear safety regulator. That’s about 2% lower than the White House’s March request of $929 million for NRC.
The energy and water development subcommittee was scheduled for a markup on the spending bill Tuesday evening.
