WASHINGTON, D.C. - EM today rolled out its Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget request of $6.5 billion. This marks EM’s largest budget request in a decade, and provides the resources necessary to continue making safe, steady and significant progress in tackling the environmental legacy of decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.
“This budget request is a strong sign of the important value the Administration, under the leadership of Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, places on the EM program, and shows that we are a worthy investment with our record of progress and success," Acting EM Assistant Secretary Sue Cange said.
EM’s FY 2018 request provides the resources necessary to achieve progress on the facilities and capabilities necessary to tackle longer-term cleanup challenges, including:
* Continuing commissioning and startup of the Savannah River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility;
* Continuing progress on the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant ’s Low Activity Waste Facility, Analytical Laboratory and Balance of Facilities;
* Continuing commissioning and startup of the Idaho Integrated Waste Treatment Unit;
* Ramping up activities to increase shipments of transuranic waste from EM sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal; and
* Completing design and initiating construction of the Oak Ridge Mercury Treatment Facility.
The request also enables EM to continue moving forward with tackling aging and excess facilities across the DOE complex, such as:
* Continuing progress on deactivation and decommissioning activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant;
* Completing deactivation activities and initiating demolition of the large C-400 Cleaning Building at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; and
* Continuing demolition of the remaining facilities at the Oak Ridge East Tennessee Technology Park.
In addition, the request includes approximately $225 million in funding to allow EM to address specific high-risk excess contaminated facilities at two National Nuclear Security Administration sites - the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“Over the years, we have made a huge amount of progress across the EM program. The strength of those steady sustained achievements provides the solid foundation upon which we are building," Cange said. “We’re excited about the next steps of progress we’ll be able accomplish with the resources our FY 2018 budget request will provide, building upon our strong track record to date. We know how to do this work and we are getting the job done."
More information on EM’s FY 2018 budget request is available.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
