Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
2/9/2016
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has requested $970.2 million in funding for fiscal 2017, which would represent a roughly 2 percent decrease from the current funding level of about $990 million.
The proposed budget encompasses $757.4 million for nuclear reactor safety operations and $212.8 million for nuclear materials and waste safety, which, respectively, are currently funded at $760 million and $172 million. The budget would be 100 percent discretionary.
“This budget recognizes the changing environment in the nuclear industry and reflects the considerable steps taken by the NRC to become more efficient, while still meeting our obligation to protect public health and safety,” NRC Chairman Stephen Burns said in a statement.
Because NRC recovers about 90 percent of its budget from license fees, the net appropriation request is about $124 million, compared to $154 million in fiscal 2016. The amount requested for the NRC Office of the Inspector General, an independent office that audits government programs, was $12.1 million.
The proposed budget does not include any new money for license review of the national repository planned at Yucca Mountain, but the agency budgeted for review of a consolidated interim nuclear waste storage license application expected to be filed in April by Waste Control Specialists in West Texas. Officials have said they anticipate a second application for a similar site in New Mexico from Holtec International.
NRC Chief Financial Officer Maureen Wylie said during a Tuesday media briefing that the agency only had enough certainty on one application to budget the necessary staffing.
“This is one of the challenges of budgeting for our workload,” Wylie said. “There is often uncertainty (on the applicants’) end, and it’s just not possible to budget for any eventuality. We need to make certain that work is coming so that we only ask for the right amount of money.”
According to the NRC announcement, the budget request also includes funding for lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, oversight of four new reactors under construction, and review of three applications for medical isotope production facilities. Wylie said the agency is conducting operating license review for SHINE Medical Technologies, which is planning to build a facility in Janesville, Wis. Two others require environmental safety review: Northwest Medical Isotopes in Missouri and Florida-based Coqui Radiopharmaceutical Corp.
As proposed, the fiscal 2016 budget funds 3,462 full-time equivalent employees, which is 90 employees less than operations in fiscal 2016. The agency is reducing staffing levels as part of its Project Aim initiative, an effort to improve efficiency.
A House Appropriations subcommittee will hold a budget hearing on the NRC request at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 2362-B Rayburn House Office Building.
