NNSA NONPRO REPROGRAMMING APPROVED BY CONGRESS

More than four months after the National Nuclear Security Administration submitted a reprogramming request for programs in its nonproliferation account, the last congressional committee signed off on the request this week. While the reprogramming that cleared Congress this week includes $59.2 million for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, it does not include the $11.7 million in reprogrammed funds that had been requested for a program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant that is set to wrap up on Jan. 15.  While the funds for MOX were meant to prevent layoffs, the delay in approving the request first submitted in early August meant that the project laid off several hundred workers this fall. This week the request was approved by the final Congressional panel, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee.

The reprogramming request also sought to move nearly $148 million from the waning International Nuclear Materials Protection and Cooperation program to several other projects, including $81.7 million to Nonproliferation Verification Research and Development programs to address impacts from the Continuing Resolution earlier this year. Additionally, the NNSA looked to shift $3.9 million in funds from its nonproliferation account to its defense nuclear security account as a result of higher overhead costs at the Y-12 National Security Complex in the wake of last year’s security breach.