Bipartisan CLEAN SMART Act Introduces $58 Million Funding Package to Accelerate National Nuclear Waste Cleanup

DOE estimates more than $500 billion in nuclear waste cleanup work remains — on top of roughly $215 billion already spent since 1989

The CLEAN SMART Act's $58 million annual authorization equals roughly 0.7% of DOE's $8.1 billion FY2026 Environmental Management budget request

DOE's nuclear cleanup cost estimates grew by more than $75 billion across its most expensive operations activities in just the two years between 2022 and GAO's 2026 review

The CLEAN SMART Act targets the NNLEMS lab network — a 6-laboratory consortium established in 2017 and expanded in 2021 to include DOE's Office of Legacy Management

This is the second introduction of the CLEAN SMART Act — a December 2024 version did not advance out of committee