Among the 2012 budget proposals rolled out this week by the Obama
administration, DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy emerged relatively
unscathed amid wider efforts to trim federal spending. At $852.5
million, the proposal comes in less than 1 percent below what Congress
appropriated for 2010.
The nuclear office would spend 52 percent of the 2012 budget on research, development, demonstration and deployment — one percentage point
less than last year. New research funds proposed in the 2012 budget
include $67 million for licensing and technical support for small modular reactors. Spending for fuel cycle R and D would
increase 17 percent compared to 2010.
The 2010 budget line items for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems
($213 million) and Nuclear Power 2010 ($102 million) are gone
in the 2012 budget highlights. As is funding for the office's Integrated
University Program, as the office argued expansion in the nuclear industry would prompt the private sector to encourage students to enter
nuclear-related professions.
Congressional Republicans have vowed to enact double-digit cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, so the legislative debate over DOE's future budget is likely just beginning.
An overview of the proposed 2012 budget for the Office of Nuclear Energy is available here.