With the Department of Energy and other federal agencies now working under a continuing budget resolution keeping spending at 2020 levels, the Senate Appropriations Committee finally released its fiscal 2021 budget proposal Tuesday that would keep nuclear cleanup at the 2020 level of nearly $7.5 billion.
The Senate Appropriations’ Energy and Water Development bill would provide $1.5 billion more than what the Donald Trump administration requested for the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) and roughly the same as what the House of Representatives called for in an energy and water bill the lower chamber passed this summer as part of a larger spending package.
Between now and at least Dec. 11, spending will continue at fiscal 2020 levels, under a continuing resolution that took effect Oct. 1. An EM spokesman in a Thursday email to Weapons Complex Monitor declined to say if the office has requested any anomalies to deviate from last year’s budget.
Unrelated to DOE nuclear programs, the bill the full House passed in July included more than $23 billion in what House Democrats dubbed “emergency” funding for shovel-ready projects that could stimulate an economy hampered by the ongoing pandemic. Republican critics, such as Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), said the extra money was a non-starter in the Senate. Another wildcard is that President-elect Joe Biden (D) is, barring some sort of dramatic court reversal, expected to be sworn in Jan. 20.
The Senate panel’s total includes $6.36 billion for cleanup of sites contaminated by nuclear weapons production, according to highlights of the plan. The latter figure is higher than the $6.26 billion than the White House sought but roughly on part with the House budget request.
Senate Appropriations would also provide $326 million for EM’s non-defense environmental cleanup, which is more than the fiscal 2020 level of $319 million, the administration’s request of $276 million, and the House-approved $315 million.
In addition, Senate Appropriators propose $848 million for the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, which Congress created in 1992 to fund cleanup of three old gaseous diffusion plants in Oak Ridge, Tenn., Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio. That is less than the $881 million enacted for fiscal 2020, but well above both the $806 million DOE requested for 2021, or the $822 million approved in July by the House of Representatives.
For the DOE’s largest and most expensive cleanup property, the Hanford Site in Washington state, Senate appropriators would provide $2.57 billion combined for the Richland Operations Office — $926 million — and the Office of River Protection—$1.64 billion. That is well above the $1.81 billion combined total requested, slightly above the $2.5 billion enacted in fiscal 2020 and almost identical to what the House approved in a July spending package. Senate appropriators proposed $5 million more for Hanford’s Richland office than their House counterparts.
The Senate panel would also provide EM funding of $1.53 billion at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which is equal to what’s called for in the House budget and more than the $1.45 billion included in the fiscal 2020 budget.
The Senate committee recommends $475 million in defense nuclear cleanup funding at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, up $25 million from the $450 million fiscal 2020 level and $68 million above the $407 million approved by the House and the $263 million sought by DOE.
Idaho National Laboratory would be funded at more than $403 million: less than the fiscal 2020 budget of $433 million, which the House also recommended for this fiscal year, but much more than the $260 million the White House requested. The bulk of the cut comes from Solid Waste Stabilization and Disposition, with the winding down of the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Lab.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico would receive the same $383 million funding called for by the White House, which is below the roughly $397 million appropriation in 2020 as well as the $423 million passed by the House.
In addition, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would be funded at $31 million under the Senate Appropriations bill. That is flat with the fiscal 2020 level but more than the $29 million sought in the administration’s request.
