The Trump administration is not saying yet whether it will try again to transfer a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nuclear cleanup program to the Department of Energy, even as it continues to argue the benefits of the move.
Congress blocked the White House request for the 2020 federal fiscal year to relocate the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) to DOE’s Office of Legacy Management. A second attempt would be formalized in the Energy Department’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal 2021, which should be issued in February or March.
The Energy Department declined to say whether it would file the request again. An Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman said she could not speculate on what will be in the administration’s next budget plan. She referred the question to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which did not respond to queries by deadline for RadWaste Monitor.
“The rationale behind this proposal was that while significant progress has been made in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), the remaining sites are more complex, requiring larger and more consistent budgets,” according to Army Corps spokeswoman Jennifer Miller. “Additionally, this proposal would help streamline the process of transferring sites from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after clean-up activities back to the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management for long-term surveillance and maintenance.”
Starting in 1974 under the Energy Department, FUSRAP is charged with remediation of onetime nuclear-weapon and nuclear energy sites operated by the Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission from the 1940s to the 1960s. Congress in 1997 transferred the program to the Army Corps of Engineers.
As of fiscal 2018, there were 23 active sites in 10 states, according to the latest annual report on the program. The Army Corps’ mission under FUSRAP is to identify potential locations for remediation, manage the actual cleanup or control of a property, manage radioactive material, and prepare the sites for future use.
In one of two appropriations packages passed in December, Congress provided $200 million for FUSRAP for the budget year that ends on Sept. 30, 2020. It kept the program squarely within the Army Corps.
It is expected to cost $2 billion to $2.5 billion to completely wrap up FUSRAP, according to Miller. By comparison, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has received roughly $7 billion annually in recent years for cleanup of 16 nuclear-weapon sites.
FUSRAP could complete its mission by 2040, Miller said. She cautioned, though, that the schedule would depend on future funding amounts and the timelines for active sites.
The DOE Legacy Management office manages post-closure operations for more than 100 previously contaminated sites around the nation. It has retained a central role in FUSRAP over the decades, determining which locations are eligible for inclusion and then conducting long-term stewardship once remediation is complete. It currently oversees 34 separate FUSRAP locations.
In the 2020 budget plan rolled out last March, the Energy Department proposed to provide $141 million to Legacy Management to run FUSRAP. In its “Budget in Brief,” DOE said “Consolidating cleanup programs under a single agency will allow DOE to consider the full range of cleanup responsibilities in prioritizing work each fiscal year.”
Speaking briefly to RadWaste Monitor in November, Office of Legacy Management Deputy Director Peter O’Konski said the recommendation came from both the Energy Department and Army Corps. However, during a March budget hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Assistant Army Secretary for Civil Works R.D. James said “I really think that DOE wanted that program back, and I can’t answer why on that.”
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) pushed back against the idea during the hearing, saying he had heard no complaints about how FUSRAP has been managed under the Army Corps. “My Dad said when something isn’t broken don’t try to fix it.” Appropriators in both chambers of Congress appeared to agree, nixing the proposed transfer in separate budget bills that were ultimately merged into a massive “domestic priorities” minibus in December.
The Energy Department declined to discuss the matter further, but the Army Corps was more open about the intended benefits of a potential program transfer.
While Legacy Management would take over management of funding for FUSRAP, the Army Corps would continue to oversee the actual site cleanups and contractor teams would not be changed, Miller noted by email. The Army Corps would be reimbursed for its work by the Energy Department.
“Factors that need to be planned for in completing these projects include having contracting actions in place, transportation and disposal scheduling commitments, and the technical resources needed to ensure we execute work safely,” she wrote. “These complex sites can be remediated in a cost-effective manner by shortening the duration, eliminating multiple mobilizations, and improving project planning through consistent funding streams provided by this proposal.”
Placing financial, records, and data management under Legacy Management would also help expedite the process of turning over closed sites to the office, as well as cut the transition expenses, she said.
