The proposed cuts are part of what U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham called a move toward ``major reform'' in the U.S. Department of Energy.

``This budget begins to reflect our intention of serious reform in important programs,'' Mr. Abraham said during a news conference in Washington. ``Make no mistake: Change is coming.''

The secretary announced that he had ordered a ``sweeping assessment'' of his agency's environmental-management program. The division funds between 85 and 90 percent of SRS activities.

During his remarks, Mr. Abraham noted that cleanup of pollution and radioactive waste at the nation's nuclear-weapons sites will take an estimated 70 years and cost as much as $300 billion.

``In my judgment, that's not good enough,'' he said. ``The question is, do we follow that course or do we seek change? I seek change, and that requires some very serious study.''

The Energy Department released the figures Monday during its rollout of its proposed $19.2 billion budget for fiscal year 2002, which begins Oct. 1.

Congress still could raise or lower the budget. Some members of the local delegation expressed concern Monday about the proposed reductions at SRS.

``There are some problems with the president's proposal and its treatment of cleanup efforts at Savannah River Site,'' said U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in a statement. ``A reduction of this magnitude would be very harmful to the Site's cleanup efforts.

``I expect they're going to hear from quite a few members of Congress about this issue. Putting together the federal budget is a long and drawn-out process. We've got a long way to go.''

Energy Department officials at SRS said they had not begun to analyze whether the budget reductions would lead to job losses at the federal nuclear-weapons site.

The proposed budget does include a slight increase in funding for the planned mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel fabrication facility at SRS. That plant, which would manufacture nuclear-reactor fuel using surplus weapons-grade plutonium, could cost more than $1 billion and create more than 400 long-term jobs at SRS.

But the budget plan includes no money for an ``immobilization'' plant at SRS, another option for disposing of weapons-grade plutonium that many observers regard to be a safer, more prudent course than the MOX plant.

``If the immobilization funding is gone, that means they have once again wasted a tremendous amount of money on a project that was once a sure thing,'' said Don Moniak, an Aiken resident and community organizer for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

``How many times do they have to back off from something before people realize that the Energy Department is totally unreliable?''

Programs affected

The following is a look at how some Savannah River Site programs would be affected by the Energy Department's proposed budget for fiscal year 2002:

Defense Site/Project Completion account: Received $430.9 million in fiscal 2001; proposed 2002 reduction of $39.5 million, to $391.4 million. Funds environmental-cleanup projects scheduled for completion before 2006.

The proposed 2002 budget concentrates on stabilizing some volatile radioactive materials stored at the site and also building a plant to turn liquids containing radioactive americium and curium into a glass suitable for long-term burial.

Post-2006 completion account: Received $702.7 million in 2001; proposed 2002 reduction of $116.7 million, to $586 million. Funds environmental cleanup projects scheduled for completion after 2006.

The proposed 2002 budget calls for completion of design, and the start of construction, for a replacement to the failed $500 million In-Tank Precipitation Facility at SRS. The budget supports operation of a demonstration facility for a ``melt-and-dilute'' plant to treat spent nuclear-reactor fuel, and continued operation at the site's Defense Waste Processing Facility.

Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility account: Received $25.9 million in fiscal 2001; proposed 2002 increase of $37.1 million, to $63 million. Funds design of the plant, which would manufacture nuclear-reactor fuel using surplus weapons-grade plutonium.

But the budget would not fund design, research and construction of another plutonium-treatment plant that would bake the radioactive metal into ceramic pucks suitable for long-term storage.

Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or bhaddock@augustachronicle.com.