Mike Nartker
NS&D Monitor
5/22/2015
To aid nonproliferation efforts, the National Nuclear Security Administration would be directed to establish a new “Uranium Science Institute” under the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, reported out of committee this week. The bill would provide a total of $426.8 million for the NNSA’s Office of Global Material Security, matching the agency’s budget request, of which at least $30 million would be used for the new institute, according to the committee report accompanying the bill. Lawmakers wrote in the report that it is “imperative that the U.S. Government retain requisite expertise in uranium science and engineering, with appropriate infrastructure (laboratories, small-scale processing capability and equipment), and resources to support nonproliferation and counter-proliferation efforts.”
The new institute is intended to provide “capacity building to both preserve and advance uranium science and engineering expertise and technology for national security and nonproliferation initiatives,” according to the report. It adds, “These efforts will include research and development activities that improve and enhance knowledge of uranium enrichment and processing, while establishing and maintaining a core of personnel, laboratories and equipment that can address current and future U.S. Government needs.”
Bill Would Provide $311 Million for Materials Management and Minimization
For the NNSA’s Office of Materials Management and Minimization, the Senate bill would match the agency’s request of approximately $311.6 million. The office is responsible for nonproliferation construction/program analysis, HEU reactor conversion, nuclear material removal, and material disposition. Within the office funding, the bill would provide $109 million for nuclear material removal, down $5 million from the NNSA’s budget request, which had represented a significant increase from current funding levels. “The removal of U.S. and Russian origin HEU and LEU is an important mission, but [the] budget request proposes a greater than 65 percent increase without sufficient justification,” the committee report says. The bill would provide approximately $419 million for defense nuclear nonproliferation R&D activities, matching the NNSA’s request.
