President Barack Obama on Dec. 23 signed the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law, following Congress’ approval of the conference version of the bill earlier in the month.
The bill authorizes nearly $619 billion in spending through the end of the budget year on Sept. 30, though the actual funding the Defense and Energy departments will receive is not yet known, as the federal government is operating under a short-term budget resolution that freezes federal funding at fiscal 2016 levels through April 28.
The continuing resolution keeps the National Nuclear Security Administration’s annualized funding at $12.5 billion, or $600 million less than the $13.1 billion authorized under the fiscal 2017 NDAA. Of this authorization, $9.4 billion would go to weapons activities, including research, development, and production activities in support of the U.S. nuclear arsenal; $1.9 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation operations; and the rest for nuclear reactor work and salaries and expenses.
The NDAA conference report authorizes $340 million to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which is being built at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to process 34 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapon-usable plutonium for use as commercial reactor fuel. The Obama administration has proposed to terminate the project in favor of an alternative plutonium dilution and disposal method it says would cut tens of billions of dollars from the life-cycle cost and decades from the construction timeline.
While the administration requested $270 million in fiscal 2017 to wind down the program, the NDAA conference language requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare a report on contractual, technical, and managerial risks for the NNSA and the MOX project contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services, as well as recommendations on changes that could be made to the contract structure that might lower both risk to DOE and the project’s cost.
“After overwhelming votes of bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, it is reassuring to see the President sign this year’s defense bill to further reform and rebuild our military,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), said in a statement on the day of the signing. “This is a significant step for our troops, our allies, and America’s national security, but there is still much work ahead to repair the damage done to our military over the past several years.”
