DOE 2002 spending bill goes to House and Senate for approval
The House-Senate conference committee on the 2002 Energy and Water Appropriations bill completed its work on October 30. The conference report is expected to be approved by the House and Senate this week and ready for signature by the President before the current continuing resolution expires on November 16.
The total amount allocated in the bill is $24.5 billion. This is an increase of $573 million over the amount appropriated for 2001 and $2 billion over the Bush Administration budget request.
Within Title III, for the Department of Energy, $250.4 million is provided for the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, an increase of $26 million over the budget request. This funding includes:
NERI: $32 million (v. $18 million in budget request)
NEPO: $7 million (v. $4.5 million in budget request)
Nuclear Energy Technologies: $12 million (v. $4.5 million in budget request)
University Reactor and Research Program: $17.5 million (v. $12 million in budget request)
Within the amount provided for the Nuclear Energy Technologies program, $4 million is for completion of the Generation IV roadmap; $3 million is for outcomes of the Generation IV recommendations; $3 million is to support near-term deployment applicants for Early Site Permits; $2 million is to be used for fuel testing of new reactors.
The funding for the University program is to include supporting the recommendations of the NERAC Task Force to establish geographically distributed regional research reactor user facilities and training and education research reactor facilities.
For activities at Yucca Mountain, the conference report includes $375 million, $95 million from the civilian waste fund and $280 million from the defense side.
The NRC is provided an additional $10 million over the budget request.
