NDAA MOVES FORWARD IN CONGRESS

Late on Sunday night, Congress released the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill is the result of weeks of negotiations between the House and Senate Armed Services committees, congressional leaders, and the White House. 

This compromised bill is expected to see a vote in the House later this week, followed by the Senate. This version of the NDAA includes $34.2 billion in authorizations for Atomic Energy Defense Activities which include authorizations for National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), EM, and other DOE related defense activities. A detailed breakdown of the conference authorizations compared to the Senate authorizations and original budget requests are listed below (in thousands), and available to view here. 

Authorization for Environmental Cleanup funding is consistent with the President’s request for most sites. Authorization for NNSA is slightly lower than the levels authorized by the Senate bill, but still higher than the original FY’26 request.

The bill places a focus on accelerating cleanup, with several provisions impacting DOE Office Environmental Management activities. These include provisions requiring DOE-EM to submit to Congress an annual report on how EM funds are expended and a call for DOE to involve “public participation in planning for defense environmental cleanup”, for DOE-EM to make available to the public an annual statement of environmental liabilities, and for reporting every four years to plan for the deactivation and decommissioning of nonoperational defense nuclear facilities. 

The bill also requires the Secretary of Energy to transfer the responsibility for decontaminating and decommissioning facilities to the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management by March 31, 2029. Other site-specific provisions include:

At the Savannah River Site, the Bill would allow DOE to accelerate the schedule for the isolation of HLW at the Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility to achieve long-term cost savings and accelerate the removal and isolation of HLW. This includes development of a multi-year plan to do so. 

With regard to waste stored in Washington State (the Hanford Site), the bill includes a “Prohibition Relating to the Reclassification of High-Level Waste”, barring any funds authorized from being utilized to apply DOE-EM high-level waste interpretation to HLW.

Also included in the NDAA, are unchanged requirements for plutonium pit production from the base of 30 pits per year until at least 80 pits are produced in 2030. Attached to this provision is the prohibition on Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System method (ARIES) expansion of pit disassembly at Los Alamos National Laboratory until the achievement of 30 pits-per-year is met. 

Highlighted in the House Armed Services Committee Legislative Summary, is the establishment of a new Rapid Capabilities Program within the NNSA to enhance the nuclear enterprise’s ability to respond to growing nuclear threats from China and Russia. Further, a two-site strategy for restoring U.S. capabilities to produce plutonium pits at Los Alamos and Savannah River Site is codified, funding is reallocated to support the continuation of ongoing NNSA construction projects, and DOE’s ability to protect nuclear laboratories and facilities from unmanned aerial strikes will be enhanced. 

The bill includes a provision initiating a new nuclear energy pilot program on Naval land. It also creates a new Defense Department working group on nuclear energy issues and includes new indemnification authority for nuclear energy projects on DOD land.

Additionally, this bill creates a new “International Nuclear Energy Act of 2025” which identifies how the US will continue to work with the IAEA and bring nuclear energy to certain countries, assist with financing of the projects, and addresses the spent nuclear fuel. This is a provision to support US nuclear energy project companies to expand their business and compete internationally. Pilot projects for 5 partner countries and provides funding for the countries and requires a stakeholder engagement requirement.

ECA will continue to monitor and provide updates on the progress of this bill as it makes its way through Congress this week for final votes. If you are interested in learning more about the Appropriations and Authorization website, visit our website.