The Trump administration has laid off between 1,200 and 2,000 workers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), cutting jobs across critical sectors, including power grid management, nuclear security, and energy loan programs. The sweeping reductions, first reported by three sources familiar with the matter, have sparked concerns about national security, energy infrastructure, and nuclear safety.
Among those impacted are employees at national laboratories, hydroelectric plants, and Cold War-era nuclear cleanup sites, some of which pose significant safety risks. The DOE, which employs roughly 14,000 federal workers and 95,000 contractors, has yet to issue an official statement on the layoffs.
One of the hardest-hit divisions is the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which manages the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and safeguards radiological materials worldwide. About 325 workers were initially let go from NNSA, but some of those firings have since been partially rescinded to retain essential personnel. It remains unclear how many workers have been reinstated, according to Reuters.
The layoffs come just days after three representatives from Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the agency. Musk, who has been advising Trump on eliminating waste in federal agencies, has been pushing for aggressive downsizing across multiple departments.
