NNSA Budget
FY 2009
The FY 2009 Request for NNSA is $9.1 billion, a decrease of $35 million or 0.4 percent from the FY 2008 appropriation.
Within the Weapons Activities appropriation, the Defense Programs request of $5.2 billion shows an increase of $125 million over the FY 2008 appropriation, about 2.4 percent, and refocuses the work to support stockpile and complex transformation. Within the requested level, NNSA will continue all programs to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile, stockpile surveillance, annual assessment, and Life Extension Programs; will continue to move ahead with complex transformation, and increase the rate of warhead dismantlements. The Weapons Dismantlement activities increase $13.4 million, about 26 percent, reflecting an increased focus on dismantling retired Cold War warheads. Additionally, $10 million is requested to enable maturation of the Reliable Replacement Warhead design. The funding requested for Campaigns decreases by 13 percent from the FY 2008 appropriation, reflecting completion of major construction projects, including the National Ignition Facility and the Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications at the national laboratories, and the conclusion of the Pit Manufacturing and Certification campaign. Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities increases about 5 percent over the FY 2008 appropriation, primarily in the Construction account to cover project baseline funding requirements.
Other growth areas in the Weapons Activities appropriation include Cyber Security and Nuclear Weapons Incident Response. The Cyber Security activities increase $22.2 million, about 22 percent, to support the next step in a major five-year effort focused on revitalization, certification, accreditation and training across the NNSA complex. Funding for the Nuclear Weapons Incident Response program increases $63.3 million, 40 percent, supporting our increased focus on nuclear counterterrorism and defeating improvised nuclear devices. The funding increase results from two functional transfers and increased funding for two national security initiatives started in FY 2008. The request proposes a Transformation Disposition program at $77.4 million as a new initiative to begin to eliminate excess NNSA facilities consistent with complex transformation activities.
The FY 2009 budget request for the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation appropriation totals $1.2 billion. The appearance of a significant decrease is due to the final FY 2008 appropriations that added about $480 million in funding above the President’s Request to programs in this account. In addition, the FY 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 110-161) shifted the funding for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and funding for the related Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility/Waste Solidification Building (PDCF/WSB) project to the Weapons Account. This shift represents over $600 million in funding that would have been requested within the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation appropriation in FY 2009. In the out years, the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation appropriation budget projections remain relatively constant at about $1.1 billion; these out year estimates do not reflect funding for the MOX Project or the PDCF/WSB project. These shifts do not change or diminish in any way the importance of these projects to the nation’s nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and in total, the funding commitment to DOE’s nonproliferation activities is $1.853 billion in FY 2009. The budget describes a shift in emphasis from work completed under the Bratislava agreement to additional Second Line of Defense sites, including Megaports, and continued expansion of nuclear and radiological material removal under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.
The Office of the Administrator account is requested at $404.1 million, essentially level with the FY 2008 appropriation reflecting a leveling of staffing growth. The Naval Reactors program is requested at $828.1 million, supporting all naval nuclear propulsion work, beginning with reactor technology development, continuing through reactor operations, and ending with reactor plant disposal.
The NNSA budget justification contains information for five years as required by Sec. 3253 of P.L. 106-065. This section, entitled Future-Years Nuclear Security Program (FYNSP), requires the Administrator to submit to Congress each year the estimated expenditures necessary to support the programs, projects and activities of the NNSA for a five-year fiscal period, in a level of detail comparable to that contained in the budget.
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