The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive $200 million for its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program in fiscal 2024, or half the fiscal 2023 total for the effort, under the energy and water development bill approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee.
Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) funds for cleaning up certain low-level radioactive materials and mixed wastes remaining at sites contaminated as a result of the nation’s early atomic weapons development work, according to the report language of the bill passed by House Appropriations on Thursday.
The $200 million is equal to the request submitted for FUSRAP by the administration of President Joe Biden (D) in March.
The Senate in its 2023 energy and water bill, fueled a big increase, calling for $400 million in 2023, far more than the $300 million in fiscal 2022. The House in its 2023 bill had sought $278 million. The Senate said a year ago there was some catching up to do, citing more than 20 sites with final or near-final records of decision carrying a combined total cleanup cost of up to $3 billion.
So for fiscal 2024, the House is scaling back its FUSRAP proposal.
“The Committee continues to support the prioritization of sites, especially those that are nearing completion,” according to the 2024 bill report. No date has been set for the full House to vote on the bill. “The committee is aware that the Corps has completed the Remedial Investigation of the former Sylvania nuclear fuel site at Hicksville, New York, and is planning to continue a feasibility study for the site.”
The site was used for making nuclear elements for reactors used in research and electric power generation during the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Army Corps.
