Cost overruns at the National Nuclear Security Administration incurred the wrath of Senate appropriators yesterday.

"At a time of fiscal constraints, NNSA must be more cost-conscious and do a better job developing realistic and credible cost estimates for major projects," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

Otherwise, she warned, cost overruns and scheduled delays will undermine nuclear modernization and nonproliferation goals.

Citing examples from a list of project cost overruns, Feinstein pointed to the uranium processing facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, whose cost has grown tenfold from $600 million to $6 billion; the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is now on hold; and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where work is four times more expensive than projected.

Feinstein spoke at a hearing that examined President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposal for NNSA. The administration is requesting a nearly 5 percent boost in agency spending levels to $11.5 billion (E&E Daily, March 5).

NNSA got hit with the same criticisms at the subcommittee last year, when the administration sought $11.8 billion for fiscal 2012, a 10.2 percent increase from 2011 levels (E&E Daily, May 5, 2011).

Thomas D'Agostino, NNSA administrator and Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security, emphasized that his agency was becoming more efficient amid the fiscally austere environment. He made similar remarks to a another Senate panel a week before (E&E Daily, March 15).

At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he said, the radiation building that was expected to be able to handle small amounts of plutonium can handle far larger amounts, based on more modern safety factors.

"That one change alone will allow us to do the analysis in the radiation building that we didn't think we could do there," he said.

As a means of addressing budget overruns, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the subcommittee's senior Republican, recommended that he and Feinstein meet with D'Agostino quarterly to discuss the status of the uranium processing facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as well as other major projects.

At the end of a 30-minute line of questioning, Feinstein paused, and said, "Well, Mr. D'Agostino, you certainly have a difficult portfolio."

"Yes, ma'am, I'd agree," D'Agostino said.

"I don't know why any nation would want to go nuclear," she replied.