The Energy Department has listed thousands of federal employees as “nonessential” and says they wouldn’t be protected if there’s another wave of major job cuts, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

This includes over 8,500 jobs in the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for maintaining and upgrading the country’s nuclear weapons. These positions were marked for possible elimination to meet President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a large reduction in the federal workforce. "It was not clear if every position identified as nonessential would be eliminated. All federal agencies had until March 13 to identify what departments and positions could be consolidated in a planning process to streamline the agencies and ready them for potential large-scale reductions in force," Trump's February 26 order directed. When asked whether large-scale job cuts are on the way, the Energy Department—through spokesperson Ben Dietderich—said that several options are being looked at, but no final decisions have been made yet.

Senator Patty Murray from Washington and Representative Marcy Kaptur from Ohio said that making big cuts to the department could lead to higher energy costs for families and businesses, slow down innovation, and threaten both national and global security. "It is extremely concerning that the department is reportedly considering firing the very experts tasked with maintaining a safe, secure and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile," the two Democrats said in a joint statement to The Associated Press. "These dangerous cuts should not transpire. We call for this foolishness to be set aside." The department has around 17,500 federal employees and handles many duties besides managing nuclear weapons. These include running hydroelectric dams, cleaning up radioactive waste sites, maintaining and upgrading the power grid, and giving grants for things like weatherproofing homes. Out of all these positions, only 9,004 were considered essential, as stated in the document.

Most workers in the National Nuclear Security Administration were marked as essential. Also, most of the national labs managed by the Energy Department are run by contractors, so they wouldn’t be affected.

In February, the Trump administration had to quickly rehire hundreds of workers from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). These employees had been laid off by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, but it turned out that many of them were essential for managing the country’s nuclear weapons. Around 3,000 employees in the Energy Department work directly with the NNSA, which takes care of the national security sites where nuclear materials and warhead parts are kept and maintained to ensure the nuclear weapons stockpile stays ready.

A report showed that about 500 jobs at the NNSA and around 8,000 positions across the Energy Department were labelled as nonessential. Some of these jobs had already been cut through delayed resignations.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the Department of Energy became too large during the last four years under the Biden administration, and now he’s working to reduce its size to a more appropriate level. He also admitted that it was a mistake to lay off workers from the nuclear security agency back in February. Unlike some other federal agencies where budget cuts have significantly affected jobs in the national capital area, most of the Energy Department’s employees are spread out across the country, working in various parts of the energy sector. A previous attempt to lay off probationary employees was blocked by a federal judge.