Fiscal Year 2012 Spending Bill Compromise Released

Published: Fri, 12/16/11

 
Late last night, the House Appropriations Committee released what is expected to be the final Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12) spending bill compromise (House Report 112-331). House and Senate negotiators have worked on the nine-bill spending package (including Energy-Water) behind closed doors for several weeks. The measure was anticipated earlier this week, however negotiations over separate legislation cause a delay.
 
Swift action expected on spending package
 
Congress is expected to quickly pass the spending package so that the President may sign the measure into law and thereby avoid a partial government shutdown. Funding authority for most government agencies would expire on Saturday morning without new funding legislation.
 
With a compromise in place, there is little chance of a shutdown. In the event that procedural matters slow down passage of the large spending package, Congress would likely pass a simple continuing resolution to extend government funding for several days while the compromise package is worked on. 
 
Defense Authorization Bill also poised for signature
 
The President is expected to sign the FY12 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1540) into law shortly, as both the House and Senate passed the measure this week. ECA reported on the contents of that legislation on Tuesday.
 
ECA will provide an update when the FY12 spending package and the FY12 defense authorization are signed into law.
 
Review the contents of the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act below:
 
 
Energy-Water Spending Bill Table of Contents
 
 
Report Language
Nuclear Energy (nuclear waste policy)
 
 
 
Fiscal Year 2012 funding table
 

 

Request

Authorization

House Approps

Senate Approps

Conference Approps

Defense Environmental Cleanup (DEC)

$5.41 billion

$5.02 billion

$4.94 billion

$5 billion

$5.02 billion

DEC--

Hanford site

$913.71 million

$953.25 million

$933.71 million

$953.25 million

$953.25 million

DEC--

NNSA sites--LANL

$357.94 million

$282.39 million

$185 million

$185 million

$188.56 million

DEC--

Oak Ridge Reservation

 

$176.1 million

$199.51 million

$156.1

million

$202.51 million

$199.51 million

DEC-- Office of River Protection

 

$1.36 billion

$1.19

billion

$1.15 billion

$1.21 billion

$1.19 billion

DEC-- SRS

 

$1.22 billion

$1.19

billion

$1.18 billion

$1.19 billion

$1.19 billion

DEC-- WIPP

 

$228.93 million

$215.13 million

$220 million

$200 million

$215.13 million

DEC-- Safeguards and Security

 

$248.83 million

$252.02 million

$248.83 million

$252 million

$252.02 million

Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup

$219.12 million

N/A

not subject to defense authorization

$254.12 million

$219.12 million

$235.72 million

Office of Legacy Management

$170.1 million

$169.6 million

$167.1 million

$169.74 million

$169.6 million

Nuclear Waste Disposal

$0

N.A

$25 million

$0

$0

NNSA

$11.78 billion

$11. 07 billion

$10.61 billion

$11.05 billion

$11 billion

NNSA-- Weapons Activities

$7.629 billion

$7.27 billion

$7.09 billion

$7.19 billion

$7.23 billion

Weapons Activities-- Readiness in technical base and facilities--Operations of facilities

$1.49 billion

$1.29 billion

$1.3 billion

$1.41 billion

$1.29 billion

Weapons Activities--Readiness in technical base and facilities--Construction

$620.51 million

$511.11 million

$510.63 million

$551.11 million

$511.11 million

Weapons Activities-- Safeguards and security

$849.47 million

824.62 million

$817.47 million

$828.37 million

$824.62 million

NNSA--

Office of the Administrator

$450.06 million

$382.7 million

$400 million

$404 million

$410 million

NNSA--

Defense Nuclear Nonprolif.

$2.55 billion

$2.33 billion

$2.09 billion

$2.38 billion

$2.32 billion

Other Defense Activities

$859.95 million

$823.36 million

$814 million

$819 million

$823.36 million

Uranium Enrichment

D & D Fund

$504.17 million

N/A

$449 million

$429 million

$472.93 million

Nuclear Energy

$754.03 million

N/A

$733.63 million

$583.83 million

$768.66 million

Nuclear Energy--SMR Licensing Technical Support

$67 million

N/A

$67 million

$0

$67 million

ARPA-E

$550.01 million

N/A

$179.64 million

$250 million

$275 million

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

$3.23 billion

N/A

$1.31 billion

$1.8 billion

$1.83 billion

DNFSB

$29.13 million

$29.13 million

$29.13 million

$29.13 million

$29.13 million

NRC

$1.03 billion

N/A

$1.04 billion

$1.03 billion

$1.03 billion

 
Report Language
 
Nuclear Energy
 
The conferees direct the Department to develop a strategy for the management of spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste within 6 months of publication of the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future.
 
 
Fuel Cycle Research and Development

The conference agreement includes $60,000,000 for Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition. Within available funds, $10,000,000 is for development and licensing of standardized transportation, aging, and disposition canisters and casks. Multiple geologic repositories will ultimately be required for the long-term disposition of the nation's spent fuel and nuclear waste; the Department should build upon its current knowledge base to fully understand all repository media and storage options and their comparative advantages, and the conferees direct the Department to focus, within available funds, $3,000,000 on development of models for potential partnerships to manage spent nuclear fuel and high level waste, and $7,000,000 on characterization of potential geologic repository media.
 
The Department is directed to preserve all documentation relating to Yucca Mountain, including technical information, records, and other documents, as well as scientific data and physical materials.
 
The conference agreement includes $10,000,000 to expand the Department's capabilities for assessing issues related to the aging and safety of storing spent nuclear fuel, to include experimentation, modeling, and simulation for dry storage casks, as well as for spent fuel pools, as necessary.
 
The conference agreement includes $59,000,000 for Advanced Fuels, and directs that priority for the increase in funding be given to efforts to develop and qualify meltdown-resistant, accident tolerant nuclear fuels that would enhance the safety of light water reactors.
 
 
Nuclear Safety

Instead of the House direction for a safety review of all cleanup sites, the conferees direct the Secretary of Energy to review all Department of Energy nuclear facility construction projects with a total project cost greater than $1,000,000,000 to determine if those projects are being managed in a way which could pressure contractors or Department managers to disregard nuclear safety in order to demonstrate acceptable project performance. The review should investigate contract management, including the award of contractor fee, project management practices, and the framing of program and policy goals to evaluate if Department practices have complicated efforts to foster a positive nuclear safety culture or resolve nuclear safety-related design issues. The Secretary shall report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations no later than May 1, 2012, on improvements to contracting and other management practices which will assist Department managers in ensuring that design flaws and safety issues do not go ignored or unrecognized.
 
 
Defense Environmental Cleanup
 
Within the amounts provided, the Department is directed to fund hazardous waste worker training at $10,000,000. The conferees direct the Department to adhere to the House requirement to report all operating projects with a total project cost greater than $10,000,000 no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.
 
 
Defense Environmental Cleanup--Hanford Site
 
The conference agreement provides $953,252,000 for the Hanford Site, including $19,540,000 for Richland community and regulatory support. Within this amount, funding is provided for the Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response facilities. The conferees provide $68,458,000 to accelerate cleanup of the Plutonium Finishing Plant.
 
 
Defense Environmental Cleanup--Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
No funding is provided for voluntary payments of economic issues.
 
 
Small Modular Reactor Licensing Technical Support

The Department is directed to consider applications utilizing any small modular reactor technologies. The conferees expect the program to total $452,000,000 over five years.
 
 
Radiological Facilities Management

The conference agreement provides $64,902,000 for space and defense infrastructure, to include $15,000,000 for nuclear infrastructure at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The conferees provide no funds for the Plutonium-238 Production Restart Project.
 
 
Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup--Small Sites
 
The conference agreement provides $67,430,000 for Small Sites. In response to a lack of progress on addressing existing contamination and seismic deficiencies within buildings that are located in heavily used areas at some Department national laboratories, the Department is directed to use additional funds above the amount requested to improve health and safety by cleaning up existing contamination and improving the seismic standards of buildings within Department labomtory grounds. The conference agreement directs the Department to provide a report on Small Sites as directed in the House and Senate reports within 3 months of enactment of this Act.
 
 
Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund
 
This amount includes post closure contract liabilities, pensions, and community and regulatory program support. The conference agreement does not include the House provision restricting the Department's use of up to $150,000,000 in proceeds from the barter, transfer, or sale of uranium to carry out uranium enrichment facility decontamination and decommissioning and remedial actions.
 
The conferees are aware that the Department has yet to alter the contractual mechanism by which it has been transferring uranium to a contractor in exchange for additional cleanup services at Portsmouth in order to correct the violations of federal law cited in the Government Accountability Office's report "Clarifying DOE's Disposition Options Could Help Avoid Further Legal Violations" (GA0-11-846). This type of arrangement continues to be off-budget and inappropriately bypasses the congressional appropriations process. There is also considerable concern that the increasing amount of uranium being transferred could destabilize the uranium market and thereby adversely impact our domestic uranium mining industry.
 
The conferees request the Comptroller General to report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate, not later than March 15, 2012, on the progress the Department has made in resolving the concerns raised in GA0-11-846. To increase transparency into Department of Energy actions, the Department shall fully adhere to the reporting requirements in this Act and have a current determination by the Secretary that any barter, transfer or sale of uranium carried out by the Department will not have an adverse material impact on the domestic uranium mining, conversion, or enrichment industry. The Department is further directed to provide the full details of any proposed barter, transfer or sale of uranium in its fiscal year 2013 budget request.
 
 
NNSA--Maintenance and Operations
 
The conferees support the guidance in the House and Senate reports to establish standardized direct reporting for facility and infrastructure maintenance costs at each site and to identity separate maintenance funding by site in the fiscal year 2014 budget request for Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities.
 
 
NNSA--Human Capital
 
In order to meet human capital requirements for the NNSA sites and to support the NNSA's strategic efforts to strengthen its science, technology, management and engineering base, the NNSA should provide incentives for its management and operations contractors, including those at the production sites, to work with universities and other institutions of higher education to develop programs that support graduate research assistantships, implement educational programs that meet NNSA technical needs, and implement workforce development initiatives.
 
 
NNSA--Weapons Activities--Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities
 
The conference agreement provides $2,009,155,000 for Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities. No funding is provided for Institutional Site Support. Historically, the NNSA has used this funding line to mask underfunding in the request for individual site facility operations. More recently, it has pushed the costs of contractor pensions into this activity. Since the conference agreement fully funds operations and maintenance at each site and separately budgets for legacy pensions, this activity is no longer required. Infrastructure activities that are not site specific, such as headquarters contractor support and assessments, may be funded under Program Readiness.
 
 
NNSA--Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation--Fissile Materials Disposition
 
The conferees provide no construction funding for the Pit Disassembly and Conversion (PDCF) project because the NNSA has not completed a study of alternatives or a conceptual design report with a cost and schedule estimate that is required under Department of Energy guidance. Instead of the Senate requirement for an update of the costs for the PDCF and the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility, the conferees direct the NNSA to provide a report on the status of plans to provide adequate plutonium feedstock to operate the MOX facility to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 3 months of enactment of this Act. The conferees direct the use of $20,500,000 in prior-year uncommitted balances within U.S. Plutonium Disposition to prepare plutonium feedstock at H-Canyon in fiscal year 2012 and to identify funding for both H Canyon and ARIES within the fiscal year 2013 budget request.
 
 
NNSA--Office of the Administrator
 
The conferees are concerned with overlap and duplication between the NNSA Office of Congressional Affairs, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Congressional Affairs, and the DOE Chief Financial Officer's External Coordination office (CFO ExCo). The conferees believe that the CPO ExCo can provide appropriate liaison support to the Committees on Appropriations and that one consolidated Congressional Affairs office can provide adequate support to the rest of the legislative branch. The conferees direct the Department to propose a consolidation of the NNSA Congressional Affairs functions into DOE's CPO ExCo, Office of Congressional Affairs , or a combination of both, within 60 days of enactment of this Act. Such consolidation should provide $1-2 million in budgetary savings.
 
 
NRC

The conference agreement does not include $20,000,000 to be made available from the Nuclear Waste Fund to support the geological repository for nuclear fuel and waste, as proposed by the House. The Senate proposed no similar provision.
The conference agreement includes a National Academy of Sciences study of the lessons learned from the events at the Fukushima nuclear plant, as proposed by the Senate. The Commission is directed to transfer $2,000,000 to the National Academy of Sciences for this study within 30 days of enactment of this Act.
 
The conferees recognize the progress that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made on the recommendations of the Near Term Task Force. Commission staff has proposed a prioritized list of the Task Force recommendations that reflects the order regulatory actions are to be taken. The conferees direct the Commission to implement these recommendations consistent with, or more expeditiously than, the "schedules and milestones" proposed by NRC staff on October 3, 2011. The conferees direct the Commission to maintain an implementation schedule such that the remaining recommendations (not identified as Tier I priorities) will be evaluated and acted upon as expeditiously as practicable. The conferees request that the Commission provide a written status report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on its implementation of the Task Force recommendations on the one year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster.
 

H-Canyon

Instead of the House requirement to provide funding to the National Academy of Sciences, the Department shall conduct its own review to explore the full range of potential uses for the chemical processing areas of H-Canyon at the Savannah River Site and report back to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 3 months of enactment of this Act. The options considered should not be limited to uses by the Office of Environmental Management, but should incorporate uses which may contribute to meeting the goals of other program offices within the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
 
 
Multi-year awards

The conferees are concerned the Department is over-committing future budgets by announcing multi-year awards subject to future appropriations for a substantial portion of activities within Energy Programs. The Department is directed to transition to a model in which it fully funds multi-year awards with appropriated funds, except in the cases of major capital projects, management and operating contracts, and large research centers which require multi-year awards subject to appropriations. As part of that transition, the conference agreement includes a provision requiring that any multi-year award must be subject to appropriations and the Department must notify the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations at least 14 calendar days prior to public announcement of the award. The Department shall deliver each notification as a cumulative list of all notifications under this subsection, to include: recipient; appropriations account, program, and activity; award date; total amount of award; amount awarded from fiscal year 2012 appropriations; amount awarded from prior appropriations; amount awarded subject to future appropriations; and an explanation of the special circumstances justifying commitment of future funds. The conferees do not include a House provision prohibiting the use of multi-year awards, but will reconsider this legislative prohibition in future years depending on the Department's performance in transitioning to fully funding its multi-year awards.
 

PCAST Recommendations

The conferees direct the Secretary of Energy, within 6 months of enactment of this Act, to submit a report detailing how the Department has or will implement in all Energy Programs the following features that have been used successfully in ARPA-E and highlighted by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology:
  • a rigorous review process;
  • contract or grant negotiations completed in just a few months;
  • co-location within the program offices of such support functions as procurement, contracts, human resources, and information technology services; and
  • an agile and innovative workforce.
 
 
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