With no stopgap funding plan imminent and a Sept. 30 deadline looming, the Department of Energy and other feds are reacquainting themselves with contingency plans to carry out in case of a government shutdown.
At the Exchange Monitor deadline, House Republicans, still arguing amongst themselves over what should go into a continuing budget resolution to start fiscal 2024, were heading home for the weekend, media including CNN reported.
The funding uncertainty is prompting DOE and its Office of Environmental Management to dust off plans for keeping Cold War and Manhattan Project nuclear projects safe while the federal funding spigot is largely shut off.
A shutdown of five days or less should have no effect on DOE operations, according to the agency’s management plan for funding lapses, adopted in 2011 and last updated in 2021. DOE has some limited transfer and reprogramming authority that could also be used.
DOE branches such as the National Nuclear Security Administration would tap any unused balances from prior years, according to the plan. The emphasis will be on “only those functions excepted from shutdown and activities related to the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
Beyond that, the agency would start an “orderly shutdown” of most other work, if appropriations lapse. DOE could shut things down within half a workday, according to the management plan.
“Within the weapons programs, excepted personnel will have oversight concerning stopping or maintaining critical control operations systems that involve nuclear materials or maintenance of one-of-a-kind equipment in order to make shutdown decisions,” according to a two-page summary of shutdown actions.
Also, NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation, “will ensure that the stockpile is in secure locations and will recall employees as needed in the event that nuclear weapons must be transported,” according to the contingency plan.
As of Sept. 5, there are about 13,850 full-time DOE staff people and more than 10% of them, around 1,400, are deemed “necessary to protect life and property,” during a funding lapse, according to the summary.
“At DOE Headquarters, in the event of a lapse of appropriations and the exhaustion of available balances, a small staff” from offices including NNSA and Environmental Management would provide support to vital services.
“For the most part, excepted personnel include a sufficient number of contracting officers who can enter into and modify contracts, if needed, and other employees who are needed to ensure that government property is protected” according to the DOE plan.
Last week, Environmental Management senior adviser William “Ike” White expressed hope Congress will avoid a shutdown, and stressed that safety will be the centerpiece of any nuclear cleanup shutdown activity.
