Congress releases spending package for FY 2023 with $1.4 billion increase to DOE budget

This morning, Congress released an omnibus spending package to fund the government through September 2023. The agreement, negotiated by a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders, must be passed by Friday, December 23, when current fiscal year funding expires.

The omnibus would provide $46.2 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE), a $1.4 billion increase above last year’s funding level. However, the agreement falls short of President Biden’s request of $49 billion for DOE.

Within the total DOE budget:
- National Nuclear Security Administration: $22.2 billion (1.5 billion increase)
- Office of Environmental Management: $8.2 billion (+333.7 million increase)
- Office of Science: $8.1 billion (+625 million increase)
- Office of Nuclear Energy: $1.5 billion (181 million decrease)
- Office of Legacy Management: $191 million (12 million increase)

Office of Environmental Management

Within the Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) budget, the agreement would fund Defense Environmental Cleanup at $7.03 billion, a $315 million increase above FY 2022. Each cleanup site would receive increases funding except Nevada and Sandia National Laboratories.

In the bill report, legislators specifically addressed funding at Hanford, explaining, “As a signatory to the Tri-Party Agreement, the Department is required to meet specific compliance milestones toward the cleanup of the Hanford site. Among other things, the Department committed to provide the funding necessary to enable full compliance with its cleanup milestones. The agreement recognizes that significant progress has been made at the Hanford site, but greater funding will be necessary to meet compliance milestones.”

Office of Nuclear Energy

While the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) has received steady increases in recent years, the omnibus would cut NE’s funding for FY 2023 by $181 million, for a total funding level of $1.5 billion. This cut is mostly due to a significant decrease in funds for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

The bill report explained, “The Department is directed to continue to ensure the ARDP moves forward expeditiously and to clearly articulate future funding needs for the programs within the ARDP in future budget requests. The Department is directed to continue to focus resources on partners capable of project delivery in the next four to six years.”

Additionally, the omnibus addresses the potential supply issues for HALEU, the fuel used in most advanced reactors.

The report notes, “The Department is direct to conduct [Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability] activities in a manner that will encourage, rather than discourage, the private sector commercialization of HALEU production.”

The bill would also provide $51 million to “pack and ship material from Y-12 to a domestic commercial processor to begin production of limited quantities of HALEU” (within the NNSA budget).

National Nuclear Security Administration

NNSA’s budget would reach another record level at $22.2 billion, a $1.5 billion increase above the FY 2022 level.

Congress addresses the ongoing cost and milestone issues with the plutonium pit production plan by directing the agency to “establish a two-site Integrated Master Schedule covering the entirety of the work required to produce 80 pits per year and a timeline that NNSA has high confidence will achieve this critical requirement.”

The omnibus also addresses another key NNSA issue—the workforce—by providing $10 million for workforce and training partnerships with “Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges in South Carolina and New Mexico to support plutonium pit production.” The bill provides an additional $45 million for NNSA’s Academic Programs budget.

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