On Tuesday, more than two-dozen advocacy groups with an anti-nuclear bent called on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund a federal nuclear watchdog agency at the $47.2 million level sought by President Joe Biden for fiscal 2025 and the panel came close.
Senate appropriators took up their version of the legislation Thursday and called for $47 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in the Energy & Water appropriation for fiscal 2025.
In a letter to the Senate Appropriations panel, the 28 public interest organizations urged ample funding of DNFSB in the Energy & Water appropriation for fiscal 2025.
DNFSB was created by Congress to provide outside safety advice to the secretary of energy. House appropriators recently backed a $45 million budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. That’s more than the $42 million enacted in 2024 but less than the $47 million sought by the administration. The full House of Representatives is not expected to vote on its spending bill before September.
“The requested funding is especially important as many of the 16 defense nuclear facilities in the 11 states that the Safety Board monitors are significantly increasing nuclear weapon activities as part of the multi-billion-dollar nuclear modernization programs being funded by Congress,” the letter from the public interest groups reads.
DNFSB’s budget has increased in recent years, it was at $36 million in fiscal 2022, and the small federal agency has since sought to increase its staffing levels.
The letter was signed by representatives of: Arms Control Association, Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, Columbia Riverkeeper, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Hanford Challenge, Heart of America Northwest, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Peace Action of Wisconsin, Peace Farm, PeaceWorks Kansas City, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Social Responsibility – Kansas City, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Program on Science and Global Security Princeton University, Project on Government Oversight, RootsAction.org, Savannah River Site Watch, Snake River Alliance, Southwest Research and Information Center, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, Union of Concerned Scientists, Veterans For Peace, Chapter #63 (Albuquerque) and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom San Francisco Branch.