Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced an amendment Monday to the Defense Authorization Act that would give the Department of Energy a one-year extension on deadlines for disposition of plutonium in the Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility. Current law requires DOE to pay South Carolina a penalty of $1 million per day, up to $100 million per year, if by the start of 2014 a MOX production objective is not achieved. The same penalty would be applied if by January 2020 the MOX facility has not processed either three metric tons of plutonium total or one metric ton in any two consecutive calendar years. Graham’s amendment would change those years to 2015 and 2021, respectively, and grant a one-year extension to other corresponding milestones in the Atomic Energy Defense Act. The MOX plant is currently scheduled to begin operation in 2016, with plans to convert plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. The original deadlines were established after Savannah River agreed to accept plutonium from other DOE sites to assure the state that there was an ultimate disposition pathway for the material.
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