The Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently released a report on the FY2022 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill. The House of Representatives passed the bill on July 29 as part of a seven-bill minibus by a vote of 219-208. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the
funding bill on August 4; the legislation currently awaits passage by the full Senate.
Administration’s request
The Biden Administration’s request included $55.47 billion for agencies included in the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. The Department of Energy (DOE) would receive $46.98 billion, including $8.01 billion for the Office of Environmental Management (EM), $1.85 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), and $19.74 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Among the independent agencies funded by the bill, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) would receive $888 million in total appropriations.
House and Senate-Committee bills
The bills approved by the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee would provide overall funding increases slightly above the Administration’s requested levels.
The House-passed version of the bill includes total funding of $56.21 billion, which is reduced by $2.98 billion in budget scorekeeping adjustments to $53.23 billion. DOE would receive $45.46 billion, which is $1.53 billion below the Administration’s request. NNSA would receive $20.16 billion in the House bill, $412 million above the Administration’s request.
The Senate Committee’s bill recommends a total of $56.42 billion, excluding emergency spending but including rescissions. That total is further reduced by budget scorekeeping adjustments to $53.63 billion. The legislation would give DOE $45.32 billion (excluding rescissions), which is $1.66 billion below the Administration FY2022 request. NNSA would receive $20.04 billion under the Senate committee bill, slightly above the request and slightly below the House
amount.
Environmental Management
The House-passed bill includes $7.76 billion for EM, while the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $7.71 billion. The budgetary components of the EM program are Defense Environmental Cleanup and Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup, both proposed by the Administration for an increase over their FY2021 enacted levels, and the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund, for which the Administration request includes an offset of $416
million.
The Administration’s proposed reduction of $104 million for cleanup of the Hanford (WA) nuclear site drew criticism from a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on DOE’s FY2022 budget request. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) told Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that the DOE budget request for Hanford cleanup was at least $900 million below the amount needed for DOE to keep its commitments to state and federal environmental regulators. Granholm
responded that DOE was negotiating within the Administration for additional funding.
The FY2022 request also includes a proposal to transfer management of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from USACE to the Office of Legacy Management, the DOE office responsible for long-term stewardship of remediated sites. The transfer had also been proposed for FY2020 and FY2021; it was not approved by Congress. Neither the House-passed bill nor the Senate Appropriations Committee bill includes the proposed FUSRAP
transfer.
Nuclear Energy
The FY2022 DOE budget justification calls NE “a key element of the Administration’s plan to put the United States on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050.” The Reactor Concepts program area comprises research on advanced reactors, including advanced small modular reactors, and research to enhance the “sustainability” of existing commercial light water reactors.
The Fuel Cycle Research and Development program includes generic research on nuclear waste management and disposal. The program is also developing sources of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), in which uranium is enriched to between 5% and 20% in the fissile isotope U-235, for potential use in advanced reactors. HALEU would be required for several designs currently receiving cost shared support by DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
National Nuclear Security Administration
NNSA’s four main program areas, each with funding over $2 billion for FY21, include: Stockpile Management; Stockpile Production; Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering; and Infrastructure and Operations.
DOE, in coordination with NNSA, is requesting $33 million for a program authorized by the Energy Act of 2020 to provide HALEU for advanced reactors. Many advanced reactor technologies would require fuel made with HALEU. According to DOE, “This subprogram will work to make available small quantities of HALEU from limited DOE uranium inventories and leverage the HALEU enrichment demonstration capability in the short term, …and support the private sector in its
building out of commercial HALEU production and supply chain capability in the U.S. for the long term.”
The House-passed bill includes nearly the full request for the two advanced reactor demonstrations and an additional $25 million for the five possible future demonstrations. The bill includes $33 million for HALEU availability. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended the full request for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program and $47 million for HALEU availability.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The NRC’s largest program is Nuclear Reactor Safety, which received the requested $477.4 million in both the House and Senate-Committee bills. The program is responsible for licensing and regulating the U.S. fleet of 93 power reactors, plus two under construction. NRC is also responsible for licensing and regulating nuclear waste facilities, such as the proposed underground nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV (for which no funding was requested or provided
for FY21).
NRC is required by law to offset its total budget, excluding specified items, through fees charged to nuclear reactor owners and other holders of NRC licenses. Budget items excluded from fee recovery include prior-year balances, development of advanced reactor regulations, international activities, and nonsite-specific homeland security. As a result, NRC’s net appropriation request for FY22 is about 15% of the agency’s total budget.
Nuclear Waste Storage Pilot Program
The Senate Committee-approved bill includes language to establish a DOE pilot program for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Priority would be given to spent fuel currently stored at closed nuclear plant sites. Any proposed storage facility would require agreement by the governor of the host state, as well as by units of local government and affected Indian tribes. Funding for the pilot program would be authorized from the Nuclear
Waste Fund, subject to appropriation. Similar language has been included in previous years’ Energy and Water funding bills by the Senate Appropriations Committee but not enacted.
Both the House-passed and Senate committee bills include $20 million for nuclear waste interim storage planning and $7.5 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund for oversight activities related to the fund. The House bill also includes an unspecified amount of funding within the Nuclear Energy account for spent fuel transportation preparations, as part of an integrated waste management system.
