Includes $8.2B for NNSA Weapons Program
Martin Schneider
NS&D Monitor
7/11/2014
The House approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, providing $8.2 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, a cut of $111 million from the Obama Administration’s budget request. The House bill also provides $345 million for the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, $149 million above a DOE budget request that sought to put the project in cold standby. The increase for the MOX project drew the ire of the White House, with the Obama Administration citing the MOX funding in a Statement of Administration Policy this week that threatened to veto the bill if it emerges from Congress in its current form. “The Administration strongly objects to language that would require the Secretary of Energy to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility,” the White House said. “The Administration plans to move the facility into cold stand-by in FY 2015 as it continues to explore the potential for more cost effective alternatives while maintaining the U.S. Government’s commitment to disposing of unneeded plutonium.”
During floor debate on the House floor this week, several amendments seeking to reduce funding for the NNSA weapons program were defeated or withdrawn, leaving the funding levels unchanged from the bill that emerged from Committee in June.
The exact path forward for the bill from this point remains murky, however, as consideration of the Senate version of the bill has stalled at the committee level amidst the prospect of an amendment from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) that would block new Environmental Protection Agency emission reduction regulations aimed at existing coal plants. With some coal-state Democrats likely the vote for the amendment, the Senate leadership has put the bill on hold rather than force such a difficult vote with the November elections looming.
White House, Navy Object to NR Cuts
The White House and senior U.S. Navy leaders were also highly critical of proposed cuts to the NNSA’s Naval Reactors programs in the bill. “The Administration strongly objects to the $162 million reduction to the Naval Reactors program from the FY 2015 Budget request,” the White House said in the Statement of Administration Policy. “Together with the $151 million reduction in the FY 2014 enacted bill, this reduction would continue to put the U.S. Navy’s nuclear powered fleet at risk and would jeopardize the program’s ability to train nuclear-qualified sailors. The bill also continues to underfund the Spent Fuel Handling Facility Recapitalization Project in Idaho, risking the operational availability of aircraft carriers and submarines and increasing costs to the Department of Defense.”
Adm. Jon Greenert, chief of naval operations, and Adm. John Richardson, commander of Naval Reactors, wrote in a July 7 letter to Congress that the cuts “have resulted in delaying the construction of needed facilities, effectively halting research and development, and deferring procurement of equipment needed to address emergent fleet issues. The persistent cuts have put NR in the position of being unable to provide for a safe and reliable nuclear fleet, design and test the reactor plant for the OHIO Replacement Program, and safely and responsibly manage aging infrastructure and the facilities for processing naval spent nuclear fuel. This approach is no longer sustainable.”
