“We have an effort to make the federal government more efficient. That means, deliver more services more efficiently,” he said. “Of course you’ll see some reduction in total headcount. I don’t think here at a cutting-edge national lab that that’s an issue at all. I wouldn’t worry about that.” He called Trump “passionate” about nuclear defense even amid his call to spend less on it.

Wright, like his predecessor Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, promoted nuclear power as part of an overall strategy. Wright, like Granholm, visited the future site of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Small Modular Reactor a new type of nuclear power plant.

The Sept. 26 update of the original story continues here:

Diversity efforts slashed; full range of federal defunding consequences still unclear in Oak Ridge

The full impacts to scientific research at one of the top federal labs in the nation remain uncertain following a rash of executive orders and legal permutations. It can be noted, however, that the Trump administration is definitively ending programs meant to encourage racial diversity in Oak Ridge National Laboratory research projects.

The Department of Energy Office of Science discouraged people looking for grants from measures meant to include minorities and members of disadvantaged groups publicly and in an email. Meanwhile, the DOE site office for Oak Ridge National Laboratory is reportedly down from 46 billets to 30, and an anonymous source confirmed staff are trying to figure out the Trump administration’s research priorities.

“Apparently the new administration's directives are not cut and dry,” the source, who works for ORNL, said.

The source confirmed that ORNL director Stephen Streiffer told employees not to be concerned during an all-hands-on-deck meeting Feb. 24. Streiffer reportedly said that apart from a disagreement over liquified natural gas exports, the new administration’s priorities line up with the lab’s specialties. However, he reportedly said people may need to shift focus, without giving specifics.

“At one point, he emphasized that scientists are limited to study what is funded,” the source said. The source said another person in the meeting involved in environmental and biological sciences reportedly implied his directorate might focus less on climate change. 

The employee source confidentially forwarded an email they received, and the wording is the same as on a public website.  The Office of Science announced ending its requirement to include Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) plans in any proposals to the office. These plans can, for instance, include involving people from backgrounds that typically aren’t involved in the project’s research field. The email and page state the office will simply ignore these plans when choosing whether to fund proposals that have already gone out.

Both the email and the website, however, go further, stating DOE is ending, “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, procedures, programs, activities, and reviews involving or relating to DEI objectives and principles until further notice.” Specifically, DOE will no longer use Justice40 priorities when deciding on loans or contracts. Justice40 was a Biden-era goal that 40 percent of “the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution” as per an archived official website.

The Office of Science stated in the email it will also no longer use or require Community Benefits Plans, another change that will possibly affect environmental, labor, workplace safety and other issues.

A Biden-era presentation lays out that those plans involved formal agreements among “community, labor and tribal partners” and tracking the benefits and costs the measures have for the relevant communities. Such a plan should “describe both positive and negative impact on local air, water and/or land quality.”

Other aspects of a Community Benefits plan involve creating “good-paying jobs to attract and retain skilled workers” with workplace health and safety plans and creating “equitable access to wealth building opportunities” for disadvantaged groups. The plan involved relevant agencies having milestones to achieve these goals.

More of the original Feb. 23 story:

Streiffer in turn, has reportedly met with Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright. One source said that a companywide email had told employees not to mention a specific diversity program when applying for grants; another said a diversity and inclusion program had ended. Neither said they knew if any research programs or funding had been suspended.

The University of Tennessee and Batelle run Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, meaning that it’s not as tightly controlled as some other federal programs. Recent research there has included quantum internet, nuclear energy technologies, alternative fuels for boats, plastics recycling, and absorbing lithium that’s leached from used batteries and mine sites out of wastewater.

The upcoming meeting comes amid an uncertain time for federal programs, including environmental research. President Donald Trump issued the executive order “Unleashing American Energy” on Jan. 20, ordering all federal agencies “immediately pause” all funds earmarked from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2021, both of which are laws that Congress passed and funded and President Joseph Biden signed. The order demands a review of the relevant programming to ensure it is in keeping with Trump’s priorities.

The Inflation Reduction Act provided ORNL a total of $497 million in funding in 2022, which came through the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, including for programs related to climate change and nuclear energy. US District Judge John McConnell Jr. ordered the administration release the grant funds from the IRA at least through Feb. 21. None of the official sources confirmed changes due to the executive order or the judge’s action, and the two anonymous sources said they did not know of any effects it had.

ORNL and the University of Tennessee have directed Hellbender’s questions to the DOE, which has not commented as of press time. Public information officers or spokespersons on a national scale have not responded to reporter queries on DOGE’s direct or pending impacts at multiple federal agencies and departments.

While people often discuss the two together, ORNL is separate from Y-12 National Security Complex on the other side of town, where people have noticed the new administration’s actions more blatantly. It’s also tied to the Department of Energy, but through a different branch, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and a different contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security. While the lab focuses on civilian technologies, Y-12, maintains the USA’s nuclear weapons.

USA Today network and Reuters have reported the Trump Administration fired workers at Y-12 along with other NNSA workers before trying to hire them back.