CLEANUP
Hanford nuclear cleanup ‘on the cheap’ won’t work, Cantwell tells Biden’s energy secretary
Tri-City Herald | 6/16/2021
The proposed budget for Hanford nuclear reservation next year is about $900 million short of what is needed to keep environmental cleanup on track to meet legal deadlines.
That was the message from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the fiscal 2022 budget for the Department of Energy.
Cantwell also pressed Granholm on why millions of dollars of Hanford payments in lieu of taxes, or PILT, had been zeroed out of the Biden administration’s budget request. The payments, which have been made annually since 1994, provide money for Tri-Cities area schools, roads and other needs as the 580 square miles of the nuclear reservation have been removed from the tax rolls.
In January, Cantwell secured a commitment from Granholm during energy secretary’s confirmation hearing that she would put forth an administration budget proposal that would meet the Hanford environmental cleanup deadlines and requirements laid out in the legally binding Tri-Party Agreement.
The budget proposed in May by the Biden administration for Hanford is far more robust than the last budget proposed by the Trump administration, which would have cut $748 million from Hanford spending in the current year if Congress had not rejected those cuts.
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NATIONAL CLEANUP WORKSHOP
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"CAPITALIZING ON A NEW ERA OF CLEANUP SUCCESS"
September 8-10, 2021
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, Virginia
Join more than 700 attendees, including senior DOE officials, Congressional leaders, DOE contractors, and state, tribal and local government leaders for the largest EM-focused gathering in the D.C. area.
Scheduled sessions at this year's workshop include:
- A New Era for EM Cleanup
- Insights from Congress
- The Next Phase of EM Success
- Partnering with DOE on Priority Issues: Environmental Justice, Cleanup Engagement and Clean Energy Production
- Upcoming EM Acquisition Plans and Schedule
- Roundtable: Lessons Learned and Improving Project Performance
- Legislative Challenges and Opportunities for the EM Program
- Roundtable: The Future of Disposal
- The Future of the EM Workforce
- Roundtable: DOE Field Office Managers
- Congressional Staff Perspective
- Entering a New Era for Hanford Tank Waste
BUDGET
Cantwell Questions Energy Secretary Granholm About DOE Budget
U.S. Senator Cantwell Press Release | 6/15/2021
Today, at a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm on the President’s FY 2022 Budget Request for Hanford cleanup and expressed serious concerns about DOE’s proposal to eliminate Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding. The Energy Department’s PILT program provides payments to the
Hanford and Savannah River sites to compensate localities for hosting non-taxable federal land within their borders and to offset lost property tax revenue. The Department pays Benton, Franklin, and Grant Counties these payments.
“Many Washingtonians were also quite upset when DOE’s budget eliminated the Payment In Lieu of Taxes funding for the Hanford and Savannah River sites. As many of my colleagues know, PILT funding is intended to compensate local governments for taxes that they cannot collect from the federal government,” Cantwell said. “It's just kind of surprising why such a small percentage of the Hanford budget would be
eliminated. So if you could help me understand what eliminating the PILT funding is about?”
BUDGET
5 Key Takeaways from the Nuclear Energy FY2022 Budget Request
Office of Nuclear Energy | 6/14/2021
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released its Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Congressional Budget request which seeks a record $1.8 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). This is a historic level of commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration and it clearly recognizes the important role our current nuclear fleet and future reactors will play in combating the climate crisis, creating clean
energy jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union, and growing America’s economy through innovative science and technology.
The expansion of nuclear power will be critical to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and there’s an urgent need to bring new clean energy technologies to bear. This budget request puts a tremendous emphasis on scaling up the commercial deployment of smaller and more flexible advanced reactor designs, and to the advanced fuel that will be required to operate them.
Here are five key takeaways from DOE's latest budget request for the Office of Nuclear Energy.
- The budget request is up 57% from the FY21 request.
- The budget request emphasizes advanced nuclear.
- Fueling future reactors with HALEU.
- Optimizing the economics of the current U.S. nuclear fleet.
- Near-term storage solutions.
Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
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