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The conferees further expect that, if the site is approved, the Department will continue to analyze further design improvements and enhancements between that time

[Page: H8378]  GPO's PDF

   State oversight funding.--The conference agreement includes $2,500,000 for the State of Nevada. This funding will be provided to the Department of Energy which will reimburse the State for actual expenditures on appropriate scientific oversight responsibilities conducted pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. These funds are to be provided to the Nevada Division of Emergency Management for program management and execution and may not be used for payment of salaries and expenses for State employees.

   Local oversight funding.--The conference agreement includes $6,000,000 for affected units of local government. The conferees expect the Department to provide the full amount of funding allocated to the State and local counties for oversight activities. Any proposed reduction to the amounts identified by Congress for State and local oversight will require prior approval of a reprogramming request by the Committees on Appropriations.

   Limitation on the use of funds to promote or advertise public tours.--The conferees direct that none of the funds be used to promote or advertise any public tour of the Yucca Mountain facility, other than public notice that is required by statute or regulation.

   Departmental Administration

   The conference agreement provides $226,107,000 for Departmental Administration instead of $153,527,000 as proposed by the House and $210,128,000 as proposed by the Senate. Additional funding adjustments include a transfer of $25,000,000 from Other Defense Activities; the use of $8,000,000 of prior year balances; and a reduction of $18,000 for safeguards and security costs. Revenues of $151,000,000 are estimated to be received in fiscal year 2001, resulting in a net appropriation of $75,107,000.

   The conference agreement provides $5,000,000 for the Office of the Secretary as proposed by the House. All funds for the newly established National Nuclear Security Administration have been provided in the defense portion of this bill.

   The conference agreement provides $32,148,000 for the Chief Financial Officer, an increase of $1,400,000 over the budget request of $30,748,000. These additional funds are to support the DOE project management career development program.

   Working capital fund.--The conference agreement does not include statutory language proposed by the House prohibiting funding Federal employee salaries and expenses in the working capital fund. However, any proposal by the Department to transfer salaries and expenses to the working capital fund will require prior approval by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

   Cost of work for others.--The conference agreement includes a one-time increase of $40,000,000 in the cost of work for others program to accommodate safeguards and security requirements. It is anticipated that this amount will be offset by an estimated $40,000,000 in revenues derived from non-Department of Energy customers for the purpose of funding safeguards and security activities throughout the Department. In fiscal year 2002 and beyond, the conferees expect the Department to submit a safeguards and security budget that includes amounts obtained previously from other agencies or customers.

   Office of the Inspector General

   The conference agreement provides $31,500,000 for the Inspector General as proposed by the House instead of $28,988,000 as proposed by the Senate. The conference agreement does not include statutory language proposed by the House requiring a study of the economic basis of recent gasoline price levels.

   ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES

   National Nuclear Security Administration

   The conferees support the Administrator's efforts to establish and fill critical positions within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The conferees agree that the Administrator's authority should not be impacted by any action that would otherwise limit or preclude hiring which may occur as a result of a change of administrations, and that the Administrator should to the maximum extent possible under applicable statutes proceed with effecting appointments.

   WEAPONS ACTIVITIES

   The conference agreement provides $5,015,186,000 for Weapons Activities instead of $4,579,684,000 as proposed by the House and $4,883,289,000 as proposed by the Senate. Statutory language proposed by the House limiting the funds availability to two years has not been included by the conferees.

   Reprogramming.--The conference agreement provides limited reprogramming authority of $5,000,000 or 5 percent, whichever is less, within the Weapons Activities account without submission of a reprogramming to be approved in advance by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. No individual program account may be increased or decreased by more than this amount during the fiscal year using this reprogramming authority. This should provide the needed flexibility to manage this account.

   Congressional notification within 30 days of the use of this reprogramming authority is required. Transfers which would result in increases or decreases in excess of $5,000,000 or 5 percent to an individual program account during the fiscal year require prior notification and approval from the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

   The Department is directed to submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations by January 15, 2001, that reflects the allocation of the safeguards and security reduction, the use of prior year balances and the application of general reductions, and any proposed accounting adjustments.

   Directed stockpile work.--In stockpile research and development, additional funding of $19,000,000 has been provided for life extension development activities and to support additional sub-critical experiments. Additional funding of $10,000,000 has been provided to support activities required to maintain the delivery date for a certified pit. No additional funds are provided for cooperative research on hard and deeply buried targets.

   Funding for stockpile maintenance has been increased by $22,000,000 as follows: $13,000,000 for life extension operations and development and engineering activities; $5,000,000 for the Kansas City Plant; and $4,000,000 for the Y-12 Plant.

   Funding for stockpile evaluation has been increased by $23,000,000 as follows: $6,000,000 for the elimination of the testing backlog and joint test equipment procurements; $8,000,000 for the Pantex Plant; $6,000,000 for the Y-12 Plant; and $3,000,000 for the Savannah River Plant.

   Campaigns.--The conference agreement provides $41,400,000 for pit certification, the same as the budget request. Additional funding of $10,000,000 has been provided for dynamic materials properties to support the maintenance of core scientific capabilities, Liner Demonstration Experiments, and other various multi-campaign supporting physics demonstrations for the Atlas pulsed power facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Nevada Test Site.

   An additional $15,000,000 has been provided to support research, development and pre-conceptual design studies for an advanced hydrodynamic test facility using protons.

   Additional funding of $17,000,000 has been provided for enhanced surveillance activities as follows: $3,000,000 for the Kansas City Plant; $7,000,000 for the Pantex Plant; $4,000,000 for the Y-12 Plant; $1,000,000 for the Savannah River Plant; and $2,000,000 to support accelerated deployment of test and diagnostic equipment.

   Funding for pit manufacturing readiness is increased by $17,000,000. An increase of $2,000,000 is provided to initiate conceptual design work on a pit manufacturing facility. Additional funding of $15,000,000 is provided to support the pit production program which is now behind schedule and over cost. The conferees strongly support the Senate language regarding the Department's lack of attention to this critical program and the requirement for a progress report by December 1, 2000, and each quarter thereafter.

   An additional $5,000,000 has been provided to the Y-12 Plant for secondary readiness.

   Inertial Fusion.--The conference agreement includes $449,600,000 for the inertial fusion program in the budget structure proposed by the House.

   Additional funding of $25,000,000 as proposed by the House has been provided to further development of high average power lasers. The conference agreement includes the budget request of $9,750,000 for the Naval Research Laboratory and the budget request of $32,150,000 for the University of Rochester. The conference agreement reflects the transfer of $40,000,000 from National Ignition Facility (NIF) operations funding to the NIF construction project.

   The conference agreement provides $2,500,000 from within available funds to transfer the Petawatt Laser from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to the University of Nevada-Reno, as proposed by the Senate.

   National Ignition Facility.--The conference agreement provides $199,100,000 for continued construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The conferees have included a directed reduction of $25,000,000 in the Weapons Activities account which is to be applied to programs under the direction of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

   The conferees have included statutory language providing that only $130,000,000 shall be made available for NIF at the beginning of fiscal year 2001 and the remaining $69,100,000 shall be available only upon a certification after March 31, 2001, by the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration that several requirements have been met. These requirements include:

   A. A recommendation on an appropriate path forward for the project based on a detailed review of alternative construction options that would (1) focus on first achieving operation of a 48 or 96 beam laser; (2) allow for the full demonstration of a such a system in support of the stockpile stewardship program before proceeding with construction and operation of a larger laser complex; and (3) include a program and funding plan for the possible future upgrade to a full NIF configuration. The recommendation should include identification of available ``off-ramps'' and decision points where the project could be scaled to a smaller system.

   B. Certification that project and scientific milestones as established in the revised construction project data sheet for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000 and the first two quarters of fiscal year 2001 have been met on schedule and on cost.

   C. Certification that the first and second quarter project reviews in fiscal year 2001 determined the project to be on schedule and

[Page: H8379]  GPO's PDF

   D. Completion of a study that includes conclusions as to whether the full-scale NIF is required in order to maintain the safety and reliability of the current nuclear weapons stockpile, and whether alternatives to the NIF could achieve the objective of maintaining the safety and reliability of the current nuclear weapons stockpile.

   E. Certification that the NIF project has implemented an integrated cost-schedule earned-value project control system by March 1, 2001.

   F. A five-year budget plan for the stockpile stewardship program that fully describes how the NNSA intends to pay for NIF over the out years and what the potential for other impacts on the stockpile stewardship program will be.

   The conferees remain concerned about the Department's proposed budget increase and schedule delay for the NIF at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The conferees believe that previously the Department of Energy, and most recently the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), may have failed to examine adequately options for NIF that have fewer than the full 192 beams. For example, a preferred course for NIF may be to complete 48 or 96 beams as soon as possible (although block procurement of infrastructure and glass may be considered), bring the reduced NIF into operation, perform the necessary scientific and technical tests to evaluate whether a full NIF will work and its impact on stockpile stewardship, and then develop a path forward for NIF that balances its scientific importance within the overall needs of the stockpile stewardship program. To move on this path in fiscal year 2001, the conferees recommend that $199,100,000 be appropriated for NIF as follows: $74,100,000 as originally proposed for Project 96-D-111, $40,000,000 from NIF operations funding within the budget request for LLNL, $25,000,000 to be identified within the budget request at LLNL, plus an additional $60,000,000 in new appropriations.

   Furthermore, the conferees direct the Administration to prepare a budget request for fiscal year 2002 that fully reflects a balanced set of programs and investments within the stockpile stewardship program, and that the overall budget profile over the next eight years will accommodate a $3.4 billion NIF along with the other critical aspects of the program.

   Defense computing and modeling.--The conference agreement provides $786,175,000 for defense computing modeling and the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative in the budget structure proposed by the House. The recommendation is $10,000,000 less than the budget request, and the reduction should be taken against lower priority activities.

   Tritium.--A total of $167,000,000 is provided for continued research and development on a new source of tritium. Funding of $15,000,000 has been provided for design only activities in Project 98-D-126, Accelerator Production of Tritium.

   Readiness in technical base and facilities.--The conference agreement includes several funding adjustments transferring funds from this program to individual campaigns.

   For operations of facilities, $137,300,000 has been transferred to the inertial fusion program. An additional $36,000,000 has been provided to the production plants for replacement of critical infrastructure and equipment as follows: $12,000,000 for the Kansas City Plant; $12,000,000 for the Pantex Plant; $10,000,000 for the Y-12 Plant; and $2,000,000 for the Savannah River Plant.

   Additional funding of $10,000,000 has been provided for the operation of pulsed power facilities; $20,000,000 for microsystems and microelectronics activities at the Sandia National Laboratory; $7,000,000 for a replacement CMR facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory; and $3,100,000 to fund the transition period for the new contractor at the Pantex Plant in Texas.

   For program readiness, the conference agreement transfers $7,400,000 to the inertial fusion program and adds $6,100,000 for the TA-18 relocation.

   For nuclear weapons incident response, a new program established in readiness technical base and facilities, the conference agreement provides $56,289,000. Funding of $44,205,000 for the nuclear emergency search team and $12,084,000 for the accident response group was transferred from the emergency management program in the Other Defense Activities account.

   Special projects are supported at the budget request of $48,297,000. Additional funds have not been provided for AMTEX. From within available funds, $1,000,000 has been provided to support a program in partnership with university systems to meet the needs of the NNSA.

   For materials recycling, the conference agreement provides an additional $8,000,000 to maintain restart schedules for hydrogen fluoride and wet chemistry operations at the Y-12 Plant.

   For containers, the conference agreement provides an additional $4,000,000 to support the effort to repackage pits which is currently behind schedule at the Pantex Plant due to operational problems.

   Funding for advanced simulation and computing has been transferred to the defense computing and modeling campaign.

   The conference agreement does not provide additional funding to process uranium-233 as proposed by the Senate, but the conferees expect the Department to act expeditiously to process this material in a manner that would retain and make available isotopes for beneficial use. The Department should provide to the House and Senate Committees a report on the status of this project by March 1, 2001.

   Construction projects.--The conference agreement provides $35,500,000 for preliminary project engineering and design. Funding of $20,000,000 is provided for design and supporting infrastructure upgrades for the Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications facility at Sandia National Laboratory; $5,000,000 for proof of concept and completion of facility operational capability for the Atlas pulsed power machine at the Nevada Test Site; and $1,000,000 for initiation of design activities for the relocation of the TA-18 nuclear materials handling facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

   Safeguards and security.--Consistent with the Department's amended budget request for safeguards and security, the conference agreement includes $377,596,000 for safeguards and security activities at laboratories and facilities managed by the Office of Defense Programs. This is offset by a reduction of $310,796,000 to be allocated among the various programs which budgeted for safeguards and security costs in their overhead accounts.

   Program direction.--The conference agreement provides $224,071,000 for program direction as proposed by the Senate.

   Funding adjustments.--The conference agreement includes the use of $13,647,000 in prior year balances and a reduction of $310,796,000 that reflects the allocation of safeguards and security costs in accordance with the Department's amended budget request. In addition, the conference agreement includes a general reduction of $35,700,000 of which $25,000,000 is to be taken against programs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

   DEFENSE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION

   The conference agreement provides $874,196,000 for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation instead of $861,477,000 as proposed by the House and $908,967,000 as proposed by the Senate. Statutory language proposed by the House limiting the funds availability to two years has not been included by the conferees. Statutory language proposed by the Senate to earmark funding for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology has not been included. The conferees have provided a total of $53,000,000 for the long-term Russian initiative within this account.

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