Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
5/2/2014
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, promised to fight proposed funding cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation program during a subcommittee hearing this week, calling the reductions to the program “egregious.” The Administration requested $8.31 billion for the NNSA’s weapons program in Fiscal Year 2015, an increase of $533.9 million over FY 2014 enacted levels, while asking for $1.55 billion for the agency’s nonproliferation account, a cut of $398.4 million. Feinstein noted that nonproliferation funding has decreased 34 percent ($764 million) since FY 2010 while the agency’s weapons budget has grown by 30 percent ($1.9 billion). “That’s unacceptable to me because one of my greatest interests is nuclear nonproliferation, and it’s the downing of nuclear weapons across this world,” Feinstein said, later adding: “Too many threats remain to cut these funds so sharply. Significant stockpiles of highly enriched uranium exist in too many countries and global inventories of plutonium are steadily rising.”
While a large portion of the nonproliferation cut was related to plans to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project in cold standby (see related story), several other major programs were significantly reduced. Funding for the agency’s International Material Protection and Cooperation account was cut to $311.1 million, down $214.9 million from FY 2014 enacted levels, and the agency’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative was cut by $108.6 million—from $442.1 million in FY 2014 to $333.5 million in the FY 2015 request.
Feinstein Lauds GTRI ‘Return on Investment’
Feinstein noted that the GTRI program helped remove 2,990 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium in President Obama’s four-year effort to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world and participated in the highly enriched uranium cleanout of 12 countries. “I can’t think of a nuclear security program with a better return on investment,” Feinstein said. “It costs only $320 million to clean out 12 countries. That’s half the cost of funding the B-61 Life Extension Program for just one year.”
Department of Energy and NNSA officials have said budget belt tightening has necessitated difficult decisions on budget priorities—Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz acknowledged when the budget was rolled out in March that nonproliferation was “not such a great story”—but Feinstein remained upset at what she viewed as inappropriate budget tradeoffs. “Candidly, I don’t see hard choices being made in this budget request,” she said. “I would add that the increase to weapons and cuts to nonproliferation are inconsistent with the Administration’s stated priorities. This budget would cut programs that reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism while significantly increasing funding for nuclear weapons, contrary to the stated goal of reducing our reliance on nuclear weapons. For the last two years I have voiced concerns that modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile should not come at the expense of nonproliferation activities. This year is an egregious example of just that happening, and I’m determined that it will not stand.”
In her opening statement, Feinstein said she hoped new NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz would “provide an explanation today of the budget tradeoffs you made and why you made them and why the trend in cutting nonproliferation funding to pay for weapons activities does not concern you,” but in a hearing dominated by debate over the MOX project, Feinstein did not return to the subject and never asked Klotz directly about the nonproliferation tradeoffs.
100 Nonprolif. Experts Express Frustration to President
In a May 1 letter to President Obama, 100 nonproliferation experts also expressed frustration with the cuts to the nonproliferation budget. “We understand that the budget environment is difficult,” the leaders—who included former Senate Energy and Water Appropriations chairman Byron Dorgan and retired Lt. Generals John Castellaw (Marine Corps), Robert Gard (Air Force) and Arlen Jameson (Air Force)—said in the letter. “We also understand that some major projects funded in previous years have been completed. Moreover, Moscow’s unwillingness to renew the old CTR umbrella agreement has reduced the amount of work we can do in Russia. However, the FY 2015 budget request signals a major retreat in the effort to secure nuclear and radiological materials. Nonproliferation programs must be a top priority and their work is too important to be a bill payer for other activities.”
