§6194 Plan for deactivation and decommissioning of nonoperational defense nuclear facilities

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must make and carry out a plan every four years starting in 2025 for shutting down and cleaning up defense nuclear sites that are no longer used. The plan must give a prioritized list of those sites based on which cut risks to people, property, or the environment and save the most money. It must include a life‑cycle cost review for each site from when the plan is sent until either 25 years later or the site’s planned cleanup date, an estimate of how long and how much cleanup will cost, a schedule showing when the Office of Environmental Management will take each site, and an estimate of costs that could be avoided by speeding up cleanup or reusing sites. During 2025 the Secretary must also make a plan so the Administrator will transfer, by March 31, 2029, responsibility for cleaning certain Administration facilities that the Secretary finds were nonoperational on September 30, 2024, to the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management. By March 31, 2025, and every four years after that, the Secretary must send Congress a report with the plan, the cleanup actions expected next fiscal year, in 2025 the transfer plan, and a description of actions taken since the last report. These duties end after the report due March 31, 2033 is sent. “Appropriate congressional committees” means the congressional defense committees, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. “Life cycle costs” means the present and future costs to run, sustain, shut down, and clean a facility. “Nonoperational defense nuclear facility” means a production or use facility run for national security that is no longer needed.