§2603 Plan for Deactivation and Decommissioning of Nonoperational Defense Nuclear Facilities

Summary

Every four years starting in 2025, the Secretary of Energy must make and carry out a plan for shutting down and cleaning up defense nuclear facilities that are no longer in use. The plan must name and rank the idle facilities by which ones will most reduce risks and save money, show the life‑cycle costs for each facility from the plan’s submission date until either 25 years later or the facility’s expected cleanup date, give time and cost estimates for cleaning each one, set a schedule for when the Office of Environmental Management will take responsibility for each site, and estimate costs that could be saved by speeding up cleanup or reusing sites. In 2025 the Secretary must also make a plan for the Administrator to transfer, by March 31, 2029, responsibility for cleaning up certain Administration facilities that were nonoperational on September 30, 2024. The Secretary must send a report to the listed congressional committees by March 31, 2025 and every four years after that with the plan, next‑year actions, the 2025 transfer plan, and a summary of actions taken. These duties end after the report due by March 31, 2033. Definitions: appropriate congressional committees (defense committees plus Senate Energy and Natural Resources and House Energy and Commerce), life‑cycle costs (all present and future costs to run and to deactivate/decommission a facility), nonoperational defense nuclear facility (a DOE national‑security production or use facility no longer needed).