U.S. Senate Passes Bill with Bunker-Buster Funding

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate yesterday approved $4 million in funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program, one of several nuclear-related measures contained in its version of the fiscal 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill (see GSN, June 17).

Before approving the $31 billion bill with a 92-3 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate in a 53-43 vote beat back a Democratic amendment to prohibit funding for the feasibility study of the earth-penetrating nuclear weapon.

The version of the bill already approved by the House denied any funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study. Differences in the two bills are expected to be resolved in a House-Senate conference later this year.

The Senate also froze funding for work on a Yucca Mountain facility for storing the nation’s nuclear waste and blocked funding to further construct a facility for producing nuclear fusion ignition using lasers (see GSN, June 16).

It also approved $25 million for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, to fund a study on designing replacement parts or warheads to add reliability and longevity to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. That is $15 million more than requested by the administration.

The bill fully funded the administration’s $339 million request for construction of a plant at the Savannah River Site in Georgia, which would convert tons of weapon-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

The $146 million cut to the National Ignition Facility program sustains a recommendation by the Senate Appropriation Energy and Water Subcommittee, which in a report last month criticized the Energy Department’s prioritization of the program over other research similarly related to maintaining the nuclear weapons stockpile.

The House in May approved full funding requested by the administration for the program, meaning lawmakers from both bodies will have to resolve the difference in conference.

Under the Senate plan, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory facility in California would still receive $314 million, enabling it to continue research using high-powered lasers already in place. The Energy Department’s goal is to produce fusion ignition by 2010.

The bill included $577 million for continued construction of a national nuclear waste storage facility in Yucca Mountain, Nev., which is $74 million less than requested by the Bush administration and the same amount the Senate approved for the current fiscal year (see GSN, June 20).

The underground storage site has experienced years of delay and difficulties in obtaining a license. The House provided $651 million, which was full amount requested by the administration, and its Appropriations Committee supported finding a temporary facility to store waste from the nation’s nuclear power plants until Yucca is completed.

The Senate bill contains no funding for a temporary government facility.

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