Hill Heat

Hearing page

Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)

Witnesses

• Dr. Marvin Adams, Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• Admiral James “Frank” Caldwell, Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• Corey Hinderstein, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• Jill Hruby, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• William “Ike” White, Senior Advisor, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy

The FY2023 DOE budget request includes $21.4 billion for the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration to pursue five major national security endeavors: maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear weapons stockpile; reduce global nuclear threats and keep materials out of the hands of terrorists; strengthen key science, technology and engineering capabilities in support of certification, assessment, and current and weapon modernization programs; provide safe and effective integrated nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy; and modernize the Nuclear Security infrastructure. The request also includes $7.6 billion for the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management to continue cleanup of sites resulting from six decades of nuclear weapons development and production and Government-sponsored nuclear energy research. This sustains our investment in the EM mission to clean up World War II and Cold War nuclear sites.

11/05/2022 at 02:15PM

The open meeting will be held virtually. Members of the public may attend the open session. Commissioners from both agencies are expected to participate.

A free webcast of this event will be made available for viewing through the NRC’s Webcast portal. In addition, the event will be transcribed, and the transcription will be made available through the NRC web site approximately a week after the meeting.

All interested persons are invited to the open meeting. Pre-registration is not required and there is no fee to attend this joint meeting. Questions about the meeting should be directed to Lodie White at [email protected] or by phone at (202) 502-8453.

Agenda

Introductions and Opening Statements

Grid Reliability, Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) & Other Topics

NERC

Howard Gugel, NERC, Vice President, Engineering and Standards

• State of Reliability
• Long Term Reliability Assessment
• Energy Reliability Assessment Task Force Q&A

FERC

Elin Katz, Director, Office of Public Participation

• New initiative to assist the public navigating FERC proceedings

David Ortiz, Acting Director of the Office of Electric Reliability

David Huff, Electrical Engineer, Office of Electric Reliability

Heather Polzin, Attorney Advisor, Office of Enforcement

• Cold Weather Inquiry

NRC

Andrea Kock, Deputy Office Director for Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

• Current Fleet of Operating Reactors
• Advanced Reactors Update
• Subsequent License Renewal
• Decommissioning

Eric Benner, Director, Division of Engineering and External Hazards, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

• Recent weather-related operating experience impacting NPP availability
• Dam Safety Program Interagency Agreement
• Opportunities to leverage NRC and FERC (DOE) research activities on electromagnetic pulse

Cyber Security Activities

FERC

Barry Kuehnle, Energy Infrastructure and Cyber Security Advisor, Division of Cyber Security, OER

• Cybersecurity Updates (recent Orders/notices of proposed rulemaking)
• Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) * Audits Lesson Learned Report

NRC

Jim Beardsley, Acting Deputy Director, Division of Physical and Cyber Security Policy, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response

• NRC Cybersecurity Program Accomplishments
• Continued focus on risk-informing cyber security program implementation
• Continued innovation for the future

Participants

FERC Chairman and Commissioners

• Chairman Richard Glick
• Commissioner James P. Danly
• Commissioner Allison Clements
• Commissioner Mark C. Christie
• Commissioner Willie L. Phillips

NRC Chairman and Commissioners

• Chairman Christopher T. Hanson
• Commissioner Jeff Baran
• Commissioner David A. Wright

FERC Directors and Staff

• David Ortiz, Acting Director of the Office of Electric Reliability (OER)
• Elin Katz, Director, Office of Public Participation
• Barry Kuehnle, Energy Infrastructure and Cyber Security Advisor, Division of Cyber Security, OER
• David Huff, Electrical Engineer, Division of Operations and Planning Standards, OER
• Heather Polzin, Attorney Advisor, Division of Investigations, Office of Enforcement
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Staff Howard Gugel, Vice President, Engineering and Standards

NRC Staff

• Andrea Kock, Deputy Office Director for Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
• Eric Benner, Director, Division of Engineering and External Hazards, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
• Jim Beardsley, Acting Deputy Director, Division of Physical and Cyber Security Policy, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response

31/03/2022 at 09:00AM

The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:

S. 3699, to provide guidance for and investment in the research and development activities of the Department of Energy Office of Science and for other purposes (Department of Energy Science for the Future Act of 2022).

S. 3428, to require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to provide Federal financial assistance to support advanced nuclear reactors and associated supply chain infrastructure, and for other purposes (Fission for the Future Act of 2021).

S. 2733, to terminate the United States Enrichment Corporation Fund and transfer remaining amounts to the Treasury (United States Enrichment Corporation Fund Termination and Transfer Act).

S. 2896, to amend the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to clarify whistleblower rights and protections, and for other purposes (Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Whistleblower Protection Act).

S. 2232, to direct the Secretary of Energy to fund projects to restore and modernize National Laboratories, and for other purposes (Restore and Modernize Our National Laboratories Act of 2021).

S. 2302, to amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to assign certain functions to the Assistant Secretaries of Energy relating to energy emergencies and energy security, and for other purposes.

H.R. 3119, to amend the Department of Energy Organization Act with respect to functions assigned to Assistant Secretaries, and for other purposes (Energy Emergency Leadership Act).

Witness:

• Geraldine Richmond, Undersecretary for Science and Innovation, U.S. Department of Energy

01/03/2022 at 10:00AM

Legislative hearing to consider S.2373, to reestablish United States global leadership in nuclear energy, revitalize domestic nuclear energy supply chain infrastructure, support the licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, and improve the regulation of nuclear energy, and S.1290, to assist communities affected by stranded nuclear waste.

Witnesses:

• David A. Knabel, City Administrator and Director of Accounts and Finance, City of Zion, Illinois
• Armond Cohen, Executive Director, Clean Air Task Force
• Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Financial Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute
• Jeremy Harrell, Chief Strategy Officer, ClearPath Action

09/02/2022 at 10:00AM

In its reconciliation package, the House of Representatives restored some of Biden’s requested funding for climate justice measures that had been slashed by the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan deal, but massive cuts remain.

If the White House heeds the “no double dip” deal it made with Senate centrists, the House funds will be eliminated.

Two Build Back Better climate-justice programs that were cut in the Senate’s infrastructure package (known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, or BIF) are funded at or above President Biden’s requested levels:

• Building electric vehicle charging stations, raised $15 billion to $21 billion
• Replacing the nation’s lead pipes, fully restored to $45 billion

However, most face massive cuts, with no prospect for improvement:

• Reconnecting minority communities cut off by highway projects, cut 79% from $24 billion to $4.95 billion
• Investing in electric school buses, cut 63% from $20 billion to $7.5 billion
• Road safety, including “vision zero” programs to protect pedestrians, cut 45% from $20 billion to $11 billion (only $100 million added)
• Upgrading and modernizing America’s drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, cut 40% from $56 billion to $33.7 billion
• Repairing and modernizing public transit, cut 36% from $85 billion to $54 billion
• Broadband infrastructure, cut 31% from $100 billion to $69 billion
• Investing in passenger and freight rail, cut 5% from $80 billion to $76 billion

Furthermore, the House added on additional funding for the programs that act as bailouts for polluters:

• Capping orphan wells, increased to $18.5 billion, 16% over Biden’s request
• Brownfield and Superfund, increased to $20 billion, three times Biden’s request

The BIF includes the Civil Nuclear Credit Program, a $6 billion bailout fund for existing nuclear plants.

The Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) is a major climate initiative in the House reconciliation package, establishing a sort of carbon cap-and-trade system for electric utilities with the goal of increasing low-carbon electricity production to 80 percent of the mix by 2030. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has indicated his desire to modify the CEPP to lower its standards to support natural-gas plants.

The purpose of these meetings is to describe NRC staff efforts in assessing Environmental Justice in NRC’s programs, policies, and activities as directed by the Commission in Staff Requirements Memorandum (ADAMS Accession No. ML21113A070). The staff will provide an overview of current and planned activities and receive comments from members of the public.

There will be two meetings; one from 1:30 pm to 3 pm and one from 8 pm to 9:30 pm.

Comments will be accepted from members of the public and other stakeholders from 8:30 until meeting closing at 9:30 pm. NRC staff will also answer process-related questions after everyone has had a chance to provide comments during the meeting, time permitting. A transcript of the meeting will be available approximately 10 days after the meeting and a link to the transcript will be referenced in the meeting summary.

1:30 pm-3 pm: Webinar Link (Microsoft Teams)

Meeting Number: 8003692109

Password: 6976164#

NRC staff contacts are Allen Fetter, Office of the Executive Director for Operations, at [email protected] or (301) 415-8556, and Ed Miller at (301) 415-2481.

Additionally, NRC is requesting comments as part of its systematic review for how NRC programs, policies, and activities address environmental justice. Specifically, the NRC would like input on how the agency is addressing environmental justice, considering the agency’s mission and statutory authority. The information will be used to inform the agency’s assessment of how it addresses environmental justice.

Submit comments by August 23, 2021. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Telephone: 301–415–3875.
• Email: NRC[email protected]
• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7–A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.

Please reference Docket ID NRC–2021–0137 in your comment submission.

15/07/2021 at 01:30PM

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), the chair of the Senate energy committee, has released the text of his Energy Infrastructure Act, which will undergo committee markup tomorrow.

An analysis by Friends of the Earth finds only $410 million in funding for renewable wind, solar, geothermal and tidal energy but nearly $30 billion for non-renewable energy programs.

Even the investments in storage and energy efficiency are less than half of spending in polluting energy.

The legislation proposes to make $95 billion in infrastructure investments mainly concentrated in the energy sector. But a close look at exactly where the money is going to go reveals an undeniable bet on dirty energy from the 20th century over clean energy from the 21st. In fact, the bill authorizes $28.8 billion in nuclear, carbon capture and dirty hydrogen over only $410 million in direct authorizations for wind, solar, geothermal and tidal. That’s a ratio of dirty to renewables of over 70-to-1. Even when combining the renewable provisions with the bill’s meager storage and efficiency programs, Manchin still proposes spending twice as much on dirty than he does on clean.

Most of the language for the carbon capture text was taken from the SCALE (Storing CO2 and Lowering Emissions) Act from Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.).

The nuclear provisions were drawn from the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

The fossil & polluting energy provisions include:

• $12.6 billion for carbon capture projects, including financing for carbon-dioxide pipelines used for enhanced oil recovery to extend the life of oil wells.
• $6 billion for subsidy payments to the nuclear industry to extend the lifetime of aging plants past economic viability.
• $7 billion in research and development from hydrogen programs; 95 percent of hydrogen production is from fracked gas.
• $1.9 billion in subsidies for commercial logging on public lands

On the storage and energy-efficiency side, provisions include:

• $6 billion for battery production: minerals mining, processing, manufacturing, and recycling
• $3.5 billion for the low-income energy efficiency efforts under the Weather Assistance Program

In addition, there is a further giveaway to the coal industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the text: a 20% cut to the Abandoned Mine Land fee paid by the coal industry.

Senior ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy revealed to a journalist posing as a corporate recruiter that Manchin holds weekly calls with Exxon. He named Coons and Barrasso as two other “crucial” allies to the oil giant’s agenda.

From the Wonk Room.

Senators are beginning to seriously tackle climate and clean energy reform, responding to the leadership of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with letters staking out positions and making specific demands. Here’s an overview of these letters:

The Udall Group: Twenty-two Senators Say Senate Should ‘Consider’ Climate Legislation ‘This Year’.
Led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), a moderate bloc of twenty-two Democratic senators “believe the United States should consider bipartisan and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year with a renewed focus on jobs and reduced dependence on foreign oil.” Critically, eleven of the signatories last year signed on to a Republican filibuster threat of green economy legislation, and seven are members of Sen. Evan Bayh’s (D-IN) Moderate Democrats Working Group . Bayh himself did not sign Udall’s letter.

Download the Udall Group letter. Signatories: Begich (D-AK), Bennet (D-CO), Brown (D-OH), Burris (D-IL), Cantwell (D-WA), Carper (D-DE), Casey (D-PA), Franken (D-MN), Hagan (D-NC), Harkin (D-IA), Kaufman (D-DE), Klobuchar (D-MN), Merkley (D-OR), Murray (D-WA), Shaheen (D-NH), Specter (D-PA), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), Udall (D-NM), Udall (D-CO), Warner (D-VA), and Wyden (D-OR).

The Nuke Group: A Bipartisan Group Of Eleven Senators Demand A Nuclear Energy Summit.
Five Democrats and six Republicans, from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), propose the White House hold a “nuclear energy summit” on the “development of a 50-year strategy” within “the next 3-4 months,” because “safe nuclear power must play an increasingly important role in meeting our rising energy demand and ensuring cleaner air.” They want Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Adminstrator Lisa Jackson, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, and Bill Gates to attend.

Download the Nuke Group letter. Signatories: Carper (D-DE), Landrieu (D-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Webb (D-VA), Warner (D-VA), Voinovich (R-OH), Crapo (R-ID), Vitter (R-LA), Sessions (R-AL), Alexander (R-TN) and Inhofe (R-OK).

Coastal State Senators: Don’t Drill On Me.
In a letter to Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman, ten Democratic senators from coastal states – Florida, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, Oregon, and Ted Kaufman of Delaware – write that “our states are literally the front lines when it comes to the severe impacts we’ll see from sea level rise and stronger storms,” and express their concerns that “some interests are aggressively pursuing an effort to open the nation’s coasts and oceans for unfettered access to oil and gas drilling.” They reject “the concept of sharing revenue with states,” as “funds that belong to the American people should be shared equally and prioritized to reduce the federal deficit and to protect our oceans and coasts that provide this resource.” They call for use-it-or-lose-it language on oil leases. Increased offshore drilling won’t reduce the cost of gas, they recognize, saying “the only way for us to lower oil prices is to pursue and aggressive policy of energy efficiency and conservation.”

Download the Coastal Senators letter. Signatories: Nelson (D-FL), Menendez (D-NJ), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Reed (D-RI), Whitehouse (D-RI), Cardin (D-MD), Mikulski (D-MD), Merkley (D-OR), Wyden (D-OR), and Kaufman (D-DE).

Feinstein Drills Into Policy Details.
In a letter to Kerry, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) touches on several specific policy details for his “bipartisan legislation to address the pressing problem of climate change.” She wants heavy industry to be exempted from the initial cap, opposes pre-emption of California’s tailpipe emissions standards, supports the Waxman-Markey formula for electric utility permit giveaways, wants new offshore drilling to require state-level legislation, thanks Kerry for including the Snowe-Feinstein market oversight language, and wants the oil carbon fee to be indexed to an emissions target rather than a carbon market. Significantly, Feinstein recommends that “the legislation’s spending authorizations expire no later than ten years after enactment”—a major change from the forty-year permit allocation formulas in previous legislation.

Download Feinstein’s letter.

Begich: ‘Alaska Is Ground Zero For Climate Change,’ So Let’s Drill It.
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) penned a letter saying “Alaska is ground zero for climate change. We are feeling its near-term effects far more than the residents of any other state, including retreating sea ice, rapidly eroding shorelines, thawing permafrost, ocean acidification, and changing fish and wildlife migration patterns.” Despite this, Begich calls for “greater emphasis and expanded incentives for natural gas” and “sharing in revenue from oil and gas development” from federal waters off the Arctic coast. Citing the “billions of dollars” of “damage to Alaska public infrastructure alone due to climate change,” Begich also requests “a higher priority for domestic rather than international adaptation funding” and an increased investment in Arctic research.

However, Begich does not call for stronger emissions reduction targets, stronger renewable or efficiency standards, stronger investments in green technologies, or anything that would allow the United States to lead an international agreement to halt greenhouse gas pollution.

Download Begich’s letter.

Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman have been holding a marathon of meetings. On Thursday they met with representatives of oil majors Shell, BP America, and ConocoPhillips, yet again with the pollution lobbyists of the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, and also with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and later with members of the electric utility trade group Edison Electric Institute.

None of these senators’ letters call for stronger pollution reductions, stronger renewable or efficiency standards, stronger scientific review, stronger regulation of hydraulic fracturing, stronger action on coal ash waste, stronger mercury rules, an end to mountaintop removal, or greater auctions of pollution permits.

From the Wonk Room.

Global warming has “virtually wiped out” the most complex Caribbean coral reefs, “compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms,” a new study finds.

“Badly outnumbered and months behind in the debate on energy and climate change, House Republicans plan to introduce an energy bill” drafted by global warming denier Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) today, “setting a goal of building 100 reactors over the next 20 years.”

“China is planning a vast increase in its use of wind and solar power over the next decade and believes” it can achieve 20 percent renewable power by 2020,” even as the U.S. renewable standard in clean energy legislation has been whittled down to less than 15 percent by 2020.

From the Wonk Room.

“We really can’t say we’re the Saudi Arabia of coal anymore,” says Brenda Pierce, head of the USGS team that found the estimates of a 240-year supply of coal in the United States to be grossly inflated, as “relatively little of it can be profitably extracted.”

The Congressional Budget Office has released its cost estimate of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), finding that it would reduce budget deficits “about $24 billion over the 2010-2019 period.”

In a mock hearing today, Republican senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John McCain (R-AZ), and Jim Bunning (R-KY) “will propose building 100 new nuclear power plants over the next 20 years” instead of a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions.