[ RadSafe ] Proposed FY06 DOE Budget Cuts Sandia National Laboratories Budget, Gives Small Boost to Los Alamos

[Gerry Blackwood]

Proposed FY06 DOE Budget Cuts Sandia National Laboratories Budget, Gives Small Boost to Los Alamos



The U.S. Energy Department’s proposed budget for fiscal 2006 reduces funding at the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico while offering a slight increase for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 10).

Sandia’s next budget is now set at $1.4 billion, $121 million down from fiscal 2005. Los Alamos is expected to receive $1.83 billion, a 1.6-percent increase from this year.

Budgets for both facilities call for cuts in computer simulation work used to ensure the viability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without testing, the Journal reported. The Los Alamos simulation budget is proposed to fall by $46 million, a 24-percent cut, while Sandia would lose $48.5 million, or 28 percent.

“I am concerned about the impacts that these reductions will have on our ability to carry out the life extension program with our nuclear weapons systems that are so critical to monitoring the safety and reliability of our stockpile,” Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said in a statement.

Funding for nuclear nonproliferation activities at Los Alamos would increase by $78.8 million to $220 million, while funding for that work at Sandia would drop from $145 million this year to $137 million in fiscal 2006.

The nuclear weapons research budget at Los Alamos would drop by $63.3 million, a 4.5-percent reduction from this year, the Journal reported.

Federal fiscal 2006 begins in October (Adam Rankin, Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 10).