STILL NO WORD ON MOX COLD STANDBY
NS&D Monitor
3/28/2014
More than three weeks after the Obama Administration announced plans to immediately place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in a ‘cold standby’ mode, the project’s contractor is still continuing work as normal without any direction on how to proceed. Construction contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services President Kelly Trice sought to update employees this week on the situation. “Another week has passed, and we still have not yet received any communication from DOE or NNSA regarding our technical direction related to President Obama’s FY2015 budget request to Congress, which could affect our construction status,” he said in a March 26 message to employees obtained by NS&D Monitor.
The Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, released earlier this month, says the National Nuclear Security Administration will engage with the contractor this month to develop a plan to immediately put the plant into cold standby, but that has not occurred so far. Trice said: “As we wait for direction, I want to let you know that we continue building the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility under our FY 2014 budget and direction. Until we are directed otherwise, we will continue working on this important nuclear nonproliferation project with a business as usual approach.” He noted that in this quarter so far employees have installed over 3,000 feet of pipe, 11,000 pounds of ductwork and 2,300 feet of cable.
