The full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $43.8 billion energy and water development bill for fiscal 2019, which includes almost $7.2 billion for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management.
The panel’s provision for the Cold War cleanup program exceeds the $6.9 billion passed last week by the House Appropriations Committee.
The bill was approved in a 30-1 vote. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was the sole vote in opposition as he continues to fight the Energy Department’s recently announced cancellation of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. The committee bill would provide $220 million for “closeout costs” for construction of the facility intended to convert plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.
The spending bill can now advance to the full Senate for a vote. No date has been set, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested the Senate might begin voting on its appropriations bills next month.
The proposed funding for DOE’s Environmental Management office is $56 million above the fiscal 2018 enacted level and $581 million above the Trump administration’s budget request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
It covers $6 billion for defense environmental cleanup, $358 million for nondefense cleanup, and $841 million in the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund.
The non-defense environmental cleanup figure is $135 million more than the administration request, according to the Senate committee’s bill report. The fiscal 2018 appropriation was $298 million. House appropriators have called for $240 million in non-defense cleanup.
Defense environmental cleanup would be funded at about $6 billion in the Senate bill, which is flat with the fiscal 2018 appropriation and more than the administration’s $5.6 billion request. The House Appropriations bill calls for about $5.8 billion.
On May 17, the House Appropriation Committee proposed $870 million in the UED&D Fund. That is relatively flat with the fiscal 2018 appropriation and about $89 million more than the administration’s budget proposal.
The Senate committee proposal for the UED&D Fund includes $206 million for the Paducah Site in Kentucky and $408 million for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The House Appropriations Committee recently proposed $414 million in UED&D money for Portsmouth, and $223 million in UED&D funds for Paducah.
An additional $60 million above the administration budget request would offset the loss of the sale or “barter” of excess government uranium to help pay for Portsmouth cleanup. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) had delayed the confirmation of Anne Marie White as assistant secretary of energy for environmental management until Energy Secretary Perry agreed to suspend the DOE uranium barter program.
The committee also designated $195 million of UED&D spending to continue demolition and cleanup of the East Tennessee Technology Park at Oak Ridge, Tenn. The funding supports cleanup of all remaining facilities at the former gaseous diffusion plant, including the K-1200 and K-1600 complex. The $195 million figure is more than the $179 million figure proposed in the House Appropriations bill.
Other highlights from the Senate spending proposal:
- The Oak Ridge Reservation would receive $410 million in defense environmental money, including $10 million toward preliminary design for a new landfill. The detailed report for the bill said completion of a new landfill is important to prevent interruption of cleanup activity. Under the U-233 Disposition Program, the committee bill seeks $52 million for disposal of material within the aging Building 3019 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
- Also, at Oak Ridge, $76 million is designated for construction of the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. That’s well above the $21 million toward the project in the House bill, which was about $4 million more than the current appropriation.
- The Savannah River Site in South Carolina would receive $1.4 billion, slightly above the $1.38 billion included in the House committee’s bill. The Senate Appropriations target includes $3 million from available funds for disposing of spent fuel from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High-Flux Isotope Reactor. The committee also ordered SRS to submit a report as soon as possible to ensure Environmental Management, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Management and Budget are working to coordinate retiree pension payments at SRS.
