An open letter to Secretary Granholm

April 6, 2021, 9:09AMANS NewsCraig Piercy

Craig Piercy

Madam Secretary:

Congratulations on becoming America’s 16th secretary of energy! Welcome to one of the most misunderstood, confounding, yet important and underappreciated agencies in the federal government.

Even the name—the U.S. Department of Energy—is misleading. Given that the majority of its funding and operational focus is dedicated in some form or another to the splitting and fusing of atoms, the DOE should probably be called the Department of Nuclear Technology and Other Energy and Science Stuff.

To continue reading, log in or create a free account!

Related Articles

DOE releases 2025 NEUP and NSUF funding

March 6, 2026, 1:06PMNuclear News

On March 3, the Department of Energy announced the release of $52.8 million in funds through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)...

Washington legislators look to nuclear

February 26, 2026, 7:19AMNuclear News

It has been an unusually busy week in the world of West Coast nuclear legislative momentum. In California, a bill is aiming to effectively repeal the state’s nuclear moratorium, while in...

Hanford exhaust stack demolished

February 24, 2026, 1:12PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management recently announced that, with the help of contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company, it has completed the safe demolition of...

Ward250 reactor rides cargo to Utah

February 18, 2026, 9:42AMNuclear News

A public-private partnership between the Departments of Defense and Energy and Valar Atomics marked a milestone over the weekend when Valar’s Ward250 microreactor was transported (without...