By MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal company tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing staff as a part of the continuing federal authorities shutdown, Vitality Secretary Chris Wright mentioned Monday.
In a go to to Nevada, Wright mentioned the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration is furloughing 1,400 federal employees as a part of the shutdown, which started Oct. 1. Almost 400 federal employees will stay on the job, together with 1000’s of NNSA contractors, the Vitality Division mentioned. The NNSA, a semi-autonomous department of the Vitality Division, additionally works to safe nuclear supplies all over the world.
“Tough day today,″ Wright said in Las Vegas before a scheduled visit to the Nevada National Security Site in Mercury, Nevada. ”We’re working exhausting to guard everybody’s jobs and preserve our nationwide stockpile safe,” Wright mentioned.
The furloughs don’t pose an instantaneous risk to nationwide safety, Wright mentioned, including: “We have emergency employees and the current nuclear stockpile is safe.”
President Donald Trump’s Republican administration fired tons of of NNSA staff earlier this yr, earlier than reversing course amid criticism the motion may jeopardize nationwide safety. Comparable criticism emerged Monday after Wright’s announcement.
Wright mentioned the disruption would have an effect on staff and their households and can delay testing of economic reactors, together with some small modular reactors that the Trump administration has pushed as a less expensive different to pricey nuclear crops that may take years and even many years to deliver on-line.
“These are jobs of great gravity,” Wright mentioned, urging congressional leaders to reopen the federal government as quickly as attainable.
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts mentioned it was “dangerously unacceptable that the Trump administration claims it will have to temporarily suspend certain nuclear security programs because of the ongoing government shutdown.”
“There is no justification for relaxing security and oversight when it comes to our nuclear stockpile,” Markey mentioned.
Home Armed Companies Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., mentioned lawmakers had been knowledgeable of the pending furloughs late final week.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Senate Armed Companies Committee, known as the furloughs unacceptable.
“We cannot allow delays or interruptions to our nuclear programs during this shutdown. This is not a partisan issue, and for the sake of our national security” Congress ought to instantly reopen the federal government, Wicker mentioned in an announcement. “In the interim, it is incumbent upon Secretary Wright to work with Congress, OMB and the White House to ensure our nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe, secure and capable of deterring our adversaries.”
On the coronary heart of the federal government shutdown are looming medical health insurance spikes for hundreds of thousands of individuals. Democrats are searching for negotiations on expiring well being care subsidies whereas Republicans say they received’t talk about it, or some other coverage, till the federal government reopens.
The February firings, which initially included NNSA employees, had been a part of an enormous purge of federal employees led by then-Trump adviser Elon Musk and his Division of Authorities Effectivity.
One of many hardest-hit places of work on the time was the Pantex Plant close to Amarillo, Texas. These staff work on reassembling warheads, among the many most delicate jobs throughout the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the very best ranges of clearance.
Staff obtained furlough notices dated Sunday for 30 days or much less, with an expiration date of Nov. 18. Staff who usually are not concerned in performing vital features resembling these associated to the protection of human life and the safety of property or engaged on the orderly suspension of operations had been being positioned in a furlough standing with out pay.
Jennifer McDermott in Windfall, R.I., and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas contributed to this story.
Initially Printed: October 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM PDT
