NNSA REQUESTS ANOTHER $55.9M FOR LANL, LLNL RETIREE PENSION PAYMENT

The National Nuclear Security Administration needs an extra $55.9 million to make a payment to the University of California Retirement Plan, according to a reprogramming request submitted to Congress Tuesday. The reprogramming request was coupled with an appeal to reprogram another $2.5 million to finish designing Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Low Level Waste building, a key part of the lab’s Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF) project that the Department of Energy said would have to be shut down without the extra funds. The additional money for Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory retiree pensions is on top of $22.8 million DOE already requested as part of a nonproliferation reprogramming request in August. The agency said the funds are needed because recently approved changes to the University of California’s defined benefit pension plan increased assumptions on how long people will live and sequestration reduced the available funding for the payment. According to a letter from DOE Deputy Chief Financial Officer Alison Doone, a variety of sources will cover the reprogramming, including the completion of projects under budget, unearned contractor fee, and funding that was set aside for work that did not come about, including $3.4 million from the cancellation of the Secure Transportation Asset Agent Candidate Training.