§6194 Plan for Deactivation and Decommissioning of Nonoperational Defense Nuclear Facilities

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must create and carry out a plan every four years starting in 2025 for shutting down and cleaning up defense nuclear facilities that are not in use. The plan must list and rank those facilities by how much they would cut health, property, or environmental risks and save money. It must include life‑cycle cost estimates for each site from when the plan is sent until either 25 years later or the facility’s estimated cleanup date, plus how long and how much cleanup will take. The plan must give a timeline for when the Office of Environmental Management will take each site and estimate money that could be saved by speeding cleanup or reusing sites. During 2025 the Secretary must also make and follow a plan to move responsibility from the Administrator to the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management for facilities the Secretary finds were nonoperational as of September 30, 2024, with that transfer finished by March 31, 2029. A report with the plan is due to the appropriate congressional committees by March 31, 2025 and every four years after, showing the plan, next year’s expected actions, the 2025 transfer plan, and past actions. The duties end after the report due March 31, 2033. Appropriate congressional committees: the congressional defense committees and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Life cycle costs: present and future costs to build, run, sustain, and to deactivate and tear down a facility. Nonoperational defense nuclear facility: a production or use facility run for national security by the Secretary of Energy that is no longer needed.