TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS & WHAT TO KNOW THIS WEEK
- National Cleanup Workshop early bird registration ends this Friday! Register
today!
- 📅 Date: September 14-16
📍 Location: Arlington, VA 🔗 Don't miss out - Register Here!
- Federal Budget Update: the Senate version of the NDAA failed to meet a procedural vote in order to move to the Senate floor for debate - read more below.
- Nuclear push
is reviving a moribund debate over waste - read more below.
- Energy Subcommittee advances six bills to support safe and reliable nuclear power to Full Committee - read more below.
- Visit ECA on LinkedIn for regular updates.
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION RATE ENDS FRIDAY! REGISTER TODAY!
Early bird registration rates for the annual National Cleanup Workshop from September 14th - 16th, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia ends Friday, July 17 - register today! $1,225 Private Sector Early Bird ​(increases to $1,375 on July 21) $725 DOE Approved Attendees (increases to $875 on July 21) *use DOE discount registration code ​$475
Virtual
New Speakers Announced: - Tim Walsh, Assistant Secretary, DOE-EM
- Joel Bradburne, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, DOE-EM
- Dave Brunnert, Chief Operating Officer, DOE-EM
- Jack Zimmerman, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy
Affairs, DOE-EM
- Marla Morales, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition, DOE-NE
- Erik Olds, Manager, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management/Acting Manager, Portsmouth Paducah Project Office, DOE-EM
- Edwin R. Deshong, III, Manager, Savannah River Operations Office, DOE-EM
- Michael Lempke, President, Global Security, HII
- Benjamin
Souther, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Environmental and Security, Bechtel
- John Eschenberg, Senior Vice President, Amentum
- Al Collins, Business Group President, Mission Solutions, Fluor
- Heatherly Dukes, President, BWXT Technical Services Group
- Jeff Kendall, President, AtkinsRĂ©alis U.S. Nuclear
- David "DJ" Johnson, Vice President/General Manager,
HOneywell Federal Solutions; Chair, EFCOG
- Chuck Hope, Council Member, City of Oak Ridge, TN; Chair, ECA
- Mark Bollinger, Manager, Carlsbad Field Office, DOE-EM
- Ray Geimer, Manager, Hanford Field Office, DOE-EM
Schedule: Tuesday, September
15: Full-Day Programming, Evening Networking Reception Wednesday, September 16: Full-Day Programming
Thank you to our Sponsors!
FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS & AUTHORIZATIONS UPDATEAs Congress prepares to end the fiscal year with the movement of appropriations bills and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) among other bills, we have to remember that there are only 7 legislative days left before August recess, and 23 legislative days left before the November midterm elections - view the House Legislative Calendar and Senate Legislative Calendar. The Senate brought the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - which impacts DOE defense
activities including NNSA and EM - through the full chamber. However, the procedural vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance to the Senate floor for debate. Meanwhile, the House currently has no current plans to bring their draft of the NDAA to the floor
this week. For appropriations, the House draft of the Energy and Water Bill (which funds DOE and NNSA) has yet to be rescheduled for debate on the House floor, and with only a hand full of legislative days before August recess, it is unclear whether it will reach the floor before the House reconvenes in September. The Senate bill has not moved forward yet. As a reminder, a
continuing resolution will be required to fund the government if appropriations bills, including Energy and Water, do not pass by September 30. Following the midterm elections, this Congress will be a “lame duck” Congress which is the time that many difficult bills proceed ( as there will be two years before the next election). Keep an eye on the Nuclear Waste Policy Act amendments and potentially other nuclear
focused bills. ECA will continue to monitor these bills and provide updates as they progress through Congress. Stay up to date with the latest federal appropriations updates by visiting our updated Federal Budget Tracker
here.
NUCLEAR PUSH IS REVIVING A MORIBUND DEBATE OVER WASTE
The push for a new wave of nuclear power plants has sparked optimism that the technology may be ready to rejoin the buildout of new electricity generation — and finally prod the federal government to address the spent fuel that has built up over decades. That spent fuel has accumulated mostly from the fleet
of reactors built decades ago, and its disposal has posed a problem for the federal government since the dawn of the nuclear age. Now, the White House is pressing for U.S. companies to invest in the full nuclear lifecycle. In January, it issued a request for Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, calling for states to submit proposals that would see them handle the spent fuel housed at dozens of plants around the country
and either reprocess it or manage its disposition. Congress sought to address the nuclear waste issue in 1987, recommending the federal government carve out a permanent repository in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain about 80 miles from Las Vegas. It took another 15 years for Congress to formally approve the Yucca project —before it ultimately pulled the plug in 2012 by defunding the work amid sharp opposition from Nevada lawmakers,
voters, and tribal groups. Under the law, the Yucca Mountain repository remains the only option for permanently storing the waste, but the White House has sought to attract interest from other states who could see the benefits of hosting multi-billion dollar investments under its plan to develop those new Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. Rep.
Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), co-chair of Congress’ Spent Nuclear Fuel Caucus and a key House appropriator on energy, said DOE is taking the right strategy in gauging states’ interest since “Yucca will politically never happen” so long as Nevada remains a swing state. “Biden didn’t want it. Trump didn’t want it, so it’s not going to happen,” he said. DOE’s pitch for the innovation campuses is also drawing rare bipartisan praise. Fleischmann’s co-chair on the caucus, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), told POLITICO in an interview that the U.S. is “getting closer to a reasonable disposition for this spent fuel in a way that frankly has exceeded my expectations from this administration.” Without a
working geologic repository, high-level radioactive waste is currently stored at 80 sites around the country, including 57 sites that are also home to working nuclear reactors. The Energy Department has long maintained that “most of the nation’s spent fuel is safely and securely stored.” Recently, DOE has taken interest in reprocessing this spent nuclear fuel, with a goal of recycling it to produce power again. That
recycling has been used in France, which depends on nuclear power for the majority of its power. There’s another incentive to develop that reprocessing capacity: The U.S. is facing a substantial domestic nuclear fuel supply shortage. That gap has inspired some U.S.-based companies to pursue nuclear fuel recycling projects, which DOE included as potential options in its “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses” inquiry. “DOE sees reprocessing as a way out,” Judson said. “At least for the time being.” Still, any effort to designate a spot other than Yucca Mountain as the site for long-term nuclear waste disposal would have to go through one major obstacle: Congress. When it amended the Nuclear Waste
Policy Act in 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the only site that DOE could look toward for a repository. Then in 2002, Congress and then-President George W. Bush declared the Nevada site as the nation’s sole repository for high-level nuclear waste and nuclear spent fuel. But the Yucca Mountain project has been frozen since FY2010, the last year that Congress appropriated funding to it. “There has not been any real progress in the spent nuclear fuel management program in the United States since arguably 2010 or so,” said Matt Bowen, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, first enacted in 1982, would need to be overhauled to open the door for a repository in a location besides Yucca
Mountain. The National Association of State Energy Officials also urged action, writing in a March letter to DOE that “congressional action is needed to modernize and clarify the national nuclear waste strategy, enabling stronger federal-state alignment on nuclear lifecycle management.” A spokesperson from DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy said the
department expects it’ll make a selection announcement on its nuclear lifecycle innovation campuses inquiry “later this summer.” Read the full article from POLITICO here.
ENERGY SUBCOMMITTEE ADVANCES SIX BILLS TO SUPPORT SAFE AND RELIABLE NUCLEAR POWER
Today, the Energy & Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing on six bills to improve the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing process and Department of Energy nuclear reporting. All six bills considered during the markup were forwarded to the Full Committee. The list of bills considered and their results are listed below: - H.R. 3978, Nuclear REFUEL (Recycling Efficient Fuels Utilizing Expedited Licensing) Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, as amended, by voice vote.
- H.R. 9612, American Enrichment Deployment Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, by voice vote.
- H.R. 5549, Efficient Nuclear Licensing Hearings Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, by voice vote.
- H.R.
9613, Nuclear Advisory Committee Reform Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, by voice vote.
- H.R. 9614, NRC Staff Pay Alignment Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, by voice vote.
- H.R. 9084, Department of Energy Nuclear Transparency Act, was forwarded to the Full Committee, as amended, by voice vote.
Read the full press release here.
BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS HEARING SCHEDULEOn
Capitol Hill, FY 2027 appropriations hearings are in full swing as both House and Senate committees hear testimony regarding the President's Budget Request. Incase you missed it! Here are recordings of recently passed hearings: As the FY27 appropriations and authorization process continues, stay up to date by visiting the recently updated ECA Federal Budget Tracker!
NEW! The Department of Energy published a meeting announcement on Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford. The meeting will take place on Thursday, August 12, 2026; 8:00am - 4:30pm PDT at the U.S. Department of Energy, 2420 Stevens Center Place, Conference Room 153, Richland, Washington 99354. To receive the virtual access information, please contact the Deputy Designated
Federal Officer, Meegan Tripp at (509) 376-2403 or [email protected]. Read the entire announcement here. The Department of Energy published a meeting announcement on Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah. The meeting will take place on Thursday, July 16, 2026; 5:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m. CDT at the West Kentucky Community and
Technical College (WKCTC), Emerging Technology Center, Room 215, 5100 Alben Barkley Drive, Paducah, Kentucky 42001. and streamed on YouTube (link here), no registration is necessary. Read the entire announcement here. The Department of Energy published a meeting announcement on Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah River Site. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 21 from 9:00 am - 4:00pm EDT at the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative at 4345 Trolley Line Road, Aiken, South Carolina 29801 and streamed on YouTube (link here), no registration
is necessary. Read the entire announcement here. The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and Department of Transportation (DOT) published a request for comment on the Development of a Commercially Viable System-Centric Small Modular Reactor Concept for Deployment in the Marine Transportation System to support the development of a U.S.-built scalable, repeatable, commercially viable, system-centric, small modular reactor (SMR) and their deployment within the marine transportation system.
This Request for Information (RFI) for a single vessel or technology demonstration seeks public feedback on proficient system architecture, including liability frameworks, insurance pathways, port acceptance, workforce development, and standards integration for vessel deployment. The request for comment will be open to public comment until midnight on August 5, 2026. Comments can be submitted here. Read the entire
request for comment here. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a proposed rule on Modernizing Materials Licensing. The NRC is proposing to amend its regulations for byproduct, source, and special nuclear material to modernize the NRC’s materials licensing requirements. The proposed rule will be open to public comment until midnight on
August 10, 2026. Comments can be submitted here. Read the entire proposed rule here. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a proposed rule and draft guidance; public meeting;
request for comment on Integrated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal. The NRC is proposing to amend its regulations that govern the land disposal of low-level radioactive waste to expand regulatory coverage to include certain transuranic wastes. The proposed rule will be open to public comment until midnight on August 17, 2026. Comments can be submitted here. Read the entire proposed rule here.
CATCH UP ON RECENT HEADLINES:
National Cleanup Workshop 2026 Arlington, VA | September 14-16 Learn More Here
CATCH UP ON PAST WEBINARS Click the button below to visit ECA's YouTube Channel to rewatch past webinars, and
find the recordings from our most recent webinars on our YouTube channel!
|
|
