DC Think Tank Publishes President's Leaked FY2018 Budget Request ECA Staff May 19,
2017 Yesterday, DC-based think tank Third Way published a leaked version of what is believed to be the President's FY2018 proposed federal discretionary budget. Third Way received the budget request from an anonymous source; the request is dated May 8, 2017. While the White House has not confirmed the accuracy or authenticity of
the leaked document, many of numbers in the request appear consistent with recent comments from parties with access to the budget. The official budget request is expected to be publicly released on May 23rd.
View Third Way's statement on the leaked budget request HERE.
Download the complete spreadsheet with budget numbers by agency and account HERE.
The Department of Energy budget requests were included in the leak. The document shows NNSA as receiving a bump in funding for Weapons Activities over current FY17 levels. In contrast, The Office of Nuclear Energy is depicted as receiving a 30% cut and ARPA-E, rumored to be on the chopping block since the release of the White
House's "skinny budget" back in March, is defunded completely.
Below are some of the highlights* (numbers in thousands):
NNSA
Weapons Activities: 10239344
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation: 1793310
Naval Reactors: 1479751
Environmental and Other Defense Activities
Other Defense Activities: 815512
Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal: 30000
Defense Environmental Cleanup:
5537186
Energy Programs
Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program: -383433
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: 0
Fossil Energy Research and Development: 280000
Energy Information Administration: 118000
Strategic Petroleum Reserve: 180000
Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves: 5000
Science: 4472516
Energy Supply and Conservation: 0
SPR Petroleum Account: 8400
Clean Coal Technology:
0
Non-defense Environmental Cleanup: 218400
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability: 120000
Nuclear Energy: 703000
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: 636149
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program Account: -4311614
Energy Transformation Acceleration Fund, Recovery Act: 0
Advanced Research Projects Agency--Energy: -26367
Isotope Production and Distribution Program Fund: 0
Nuclear Waste Disposal: 90000
Uranium Enrichment Decontamination
& Decommissioning Fund: 752749
Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve: 6500
Elk Hills School Lands Fund: 0
Uranium Sales and Remediation: 0
Energy Security and Infrastructure Modernization Fund: 350000
*To compare these FY18 request numbers to the final 2017 omnibus bill, check out the chart on page 5 of the ECA Spring 2017 Bulletin. Senate Appropriations Cardinal Pushes Back on Pending Trump Energy Cuts Washington Examiner May 18,
2017 Senate appropriators pressed President Trump on Thursday to ensure adequate funding for the Department of Energy after a draft White House budget showed
it would gut the agency's renewable office by 70 percent, along with steep cuts to its nuclear and fossil programs.
"Government-sponsored research is one of the most important investments our country can make to encourage innovation, unleash our free-enterprise system to create good-paying jobs and
ensure American competitiveness in a global economy," the senators, led by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, wrote in a letter to the president. >>Continue readingNew CRS report on FY'17 Appropriations for Nuclear Weapons Activities Congressional Research Service May 10, 2017 The Congressional Research Service has published an updated report on funding for the nation's nuclear arsenal.
The omnibus funding measure for FY2017 has allocated $9.3 billion for weapons as part of the larger $12.9 billion in total funding for the
NNSA. >>View the reportUpcoming Hearings in Senate and House Committees ECA Staff May 19, 2017 A list of recently-announced hearings in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives is published below:
Westinghouse relinquishes control of Vogtle project E&E News May 15,
2017 Southern Co. will take over for bankrupt Westinghouse Electric Co. to finish its nuclear
project in Georgia, according to an agreement struck late Friday night. Southern's nuclear unit and Georgia Power Co. subsidiary will become the main contractor for the Plant Vogtle expansion project, which is being built with
Westinghouse's AP1000 technology. Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March because of significant financial pressures from Vogtle and a nuclear project in South Carolina. >>Continue reading NRC Staff hears comments on small nuclear reactor site Oak Ridger May 13, 2017 Supporters and opponents of the proposal by the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a small modular reactor (SMR) on TVA land in Oak Ridge presented their comments Monday to U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission staff.
Some comments focused more on concerns about nuclear reactors, the novelty and safety of the SMR design, costs and future TVA power needs, rather than on the suitability of the TVA site based on environmental and safety considerations. NRC will grant an “early site permit” only if a detailed analysis indicates the site is suitable for a nuclear power
plant. >>Continue reading'Hotspot' found in liquid uranium container at Savannah
River Site Aiken Standard May 15, 2017 A nuclear inspection team reported a "hotspot" was detected in special shielding used to protect Savannah River Site workers from liquid highly enriched uranium, according to a government
memo.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, or DNFSB, an independent federal agency, said in an April 21 memo that the breach occurred in a shielded "pig," which the memo says provides radiological shielding for handlers in H Canyon at the site, where the uranium is
processed.. >>Continue
readingHanford workers practicing for covering radioactive waste
tunnel Tri-City Herald May 17,
2017 Hanford workers are practicing how they will lay a 400-foot-long piece of heavy plastic over a partially collapsed tunnel
storing radioactively contaminated equipment.
“We need a very calm wind to work the cover,” said Ty Blackford, president of Department of Energy contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation
Co.
“It’s quite sizeable,” he said. “We don’t want it to sail and someone to get hurt with plastic tarp that is
flying.”
The first calm day in central Hanford may be Friday, allowing work to start then. The project, using industrial plastic that is heavier than a conventional tarp, could be completed in eight to 10
hours. >>Continue readingSavannah River Site watchdog group says MOX report past due Aiken Standard May 11,
2017 A nuclear watchdog group says a federally mandated report on the progress of a plutonium disposal plant at the Savannah
River Site in Aiken County is nearly three months past due.
Savannah River Site Watch said it filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request with the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA,
seeking a copy of a 2017 report on the Mixed Oxide, or MOX, Fuel Fabrication Facility.
Tom Clements with SRS Watch said in a news release that NNSA has no documents responsive to the request because the MOX report is on
hold. >>Continue readingWCS Spent Fuel Storage License ‘No Longer Probable,’ Owner Says Exchange Monitor May 10, 2017 The parent company of Waste Control Specialists (WCS) on Tuesday suggested deep doubts about the likelihood of securing a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to build and operate an interim storage facility for spent reactor
fuel.
Dallas-based WCS in April asked the federal agency to temporarily suspend review of the application for a facility
designed to hold up to 40,000 metric tons of nuclear waste at the company’s storage complex in West Texas. At the time management cited the company’s financial challenges while it awaits buyout by Salt Lake City-based rival EnergySolutions, the increasing cost of the NRC license review, and failure to extend a cost-sharing deal with one of the partners in the spent fuel
project. >>Continue
reading |
|
| May 2017 | | 24 | Senate Hearing on DOE Atomic Energy Defense Activities and Programs |
|
| May 2017 | | 25 | Senate Nomination Hearing for DOE Deputy Secretary, FERC Nominees |
|
| May 2017 | | 25 | House Hearing on Fiscal Year 2018 Priorities for Nuclear Forces and Atomic Energy Defense Activities |
|
| June 2017 | | 7 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Event |
|
| June 2017 | | 14 | INVITATION
ONLY
ECA High-Level Waste Committee Strategic Session |
|
| August 2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
|
| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
|
| September 2017 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
|
| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup
Workshop Alexandria,
VA |
|
| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
|
|
Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
|
