Analysis of the President's FY2009 Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear-Related Budget
The federal budget is a key indicator of national priorities. In February 2008, the Bush administration announced its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09), which begins on October 1, 2008. The budget is broken into separate government departments, each of which are responsible for the budget's respective areas of focus. The Department of Energy (DOE), which carries out nuclear weapons design and production and nuclear power research and development, is a primary focus for the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security program.
After examining several detailed budget documents, the Global Security program produced an analysis of key aspects of the DOE's FY09 budget request. The analysis covers nuclear weapons, non-proliferation, environmental clean-up, and nuclear energy research programs. It explains:
- the $40 million linked to the so-called Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program, the administration's proposal to build a new generation of nuclear weapons;
- the elimination of a proposed major new facility to produce critical components of nuclear weapons and what the DOE plans to do instead; and
- significant changes to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), the administration's proposal to reprocess spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors.
The six-page budget analysis is primarily designed to assist congressional staff and members, people who are ultimately responsible for shaping and approving the U.S. budget and who are familiar with detailed and sometimes arcane budget analysis language.
