Senate releases FY 2023 appropriations bills

Following the House's passage of energy appropriations last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its version of the energy spending bill for FY 2023. The Senate's bill generally includes higher funding levels than the House bill, the President's budget request, and the FY 2022 bill.

How the Senate bill compares to FY 2022

  • $402 million increase for the Office of Environmental Management ($8.3 billion total);

  • $1.4 billion increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration ($22.1 billion total);

  • $110 million increase for the Office of Nuclear Energy ($1.8 billion total);

  • $625 million increase for the Office of Science ($8.1 billion total);

  • $17 million increase for the Office of Legacy Management ($196 million total)

Environmental Cleanup and Waste Issues

The Senate Appropriations Committee noted that it "continues to strongly support the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and believes that near-term action is needed to address the accumulating inventory of spent nuclear fuel. The Committee supports continued funding for consolidation of spent nuclear fuel from around the United States to one or more interim central storage facilities."

Additionally, the bill includes a provision that would create a pilot program for an interim storage facility for high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel. Prior to siting a facility, DOE would be required to obtain consent by the Governor of the host state, units of local governments, and affected Indian tribes.

Nearly across-the-board within EM, the bill would provide significant increases for cleanup sites in: Washington, Idaho, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Nuclear Energy

Explaining its increase in NE funding, the Committee noted that "funding continues to support the two advanced reactor demonstration projects and small modular reactors." Specifically, the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program would receive a $53 million increase for a total of $303 million in FY 2023.

More Information

The Senate's bill text is available here, and the bill report is available here.

To see how the House and Senate bills compare, visit ECA's federal budget tracker

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