Savannah River Site is slated for $84 million less in environmental cleanup and energy money in President Bush's budget request for 2006, a 5.9 percent drop over last year's request, federal officials said Monday.
At $1.35 billion, the presidential budget request for environmental work at SRS reflects the gradual slowdown in the scale of Cold-War-legacy cleanup at U.S. Department of Energy facilities nationwide and an austere fiscal posture on energy.
President Bush will ask Congress for $23.4 billion in energy spending for the next fiscal year, federal officials said Monday, which is about $468 million less than what is being spent this year.
Driven by concerns about record-high deficits and the looming Social Security crisis, newly confirmed Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman painted a picture of a tight 2006 budget request. But he said the budget still held the promise of spending increases in several programs important to the fiscal health of Savannah River Site.
Specific SRS projects in the request include $400 million for the operation of SRS' Defense Waste Processing Facility, $70 million toward construction of a Salt Waste Processing Facility and $10 million for the early design of a plutonium waste processing plant that will handle weapons-grade material that can't be converted into fuel for nuclear power plants.
The budget request also includes $338 million for construction of the planned mixed-oxide plant at SRS that would convert plutonium into nuclear power plant fuel.
However, federal energy officials did not give details on the fate of several other projects considered essential to future jobs at SRS, including the proposed Modern Pit Facility, which would manufacture new triggers for nuclear weapons and money for the Savannah River National Laboratory.
And in the realm of accelerated cleanup of nuclear weapons waste, SRS is slated for a hit in the presidential budget request - $128 million, about 33.9 percent less than requested last year.
Reach Jim Nesbitt at (706) 828-3904 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.
• President Bush's proposed budget includes $61.5 million for construction of a new facility to house the Gordon Regional Security Operations Center at Fort Gordon. The center, operated by the National Security Agency in cooperation with the Defense Department, serves as a center for intelligence gathering for U.S. authorities in the war against terrorism.
• Augusta Mayor Bob Young said Augusta's Congressional delegation needs to understand the impact of any proposed cuts, so he has asked area agencies to outline in letters where the federal money they receive goes. About two dozen responded, including the CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority Inc., Golden Harvest Food Bank, Augusta Urban Ministries and Safe Homes of Augusta. "The letters clearly demonstrate the budget cuts are not just dollars, but they actually are services provided to people who live in this community," Mr. Young said.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.