Plutonium Pit Production

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday denied the Department of Energy’s request for a delay in proceedings for South Carolina’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the federal agency. DOE had requested that Judge J. Michelle Childs postpone a June 30 hearing on the state’s request for summary judgment in the civil case charging DOE with failing […]

A U.S. District Court Judge will consider several motions issued by parties in the lawsuit over plutonium processing at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina during a June 30 hearing in Columbia, S.C. The U.S. Justice Department’s confirmation of the hearing date also signals that Judge J. Michelle Childs will likely deny or ignore the […]

The Savannah River Site’s receipt of Japanese plutonium did not come without criticism from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is already fighting a legal battle with the Department of Energy over plutonium stored at SRS near Aiken, S.C. Following a Monday announcement that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had secured highly 331 kilograms of weapons-usable plutonium […]

It remained unclear at press time Friday whether the Department of Energy had delivered by its Monday deadline new details about the agency’s cost and schedule estimates for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to the Senate Armed Services Committee. In early May, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) requested more details […]

The Senate will consider its version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on June 6, but a provision in both the Senate and House versions of the bill calling for continuation of Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction is expected to pose problems in light of the Obama administration’s proposal to terminate the program. […]

The Energy Department and South Carolina traded barbed court filings this week in the state’s $100-million lawsuit over plutonium disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. DOE still wants the suit, filed in February, thrown out of court. South Carolina still wants Judge J. Michelle Childs to forgo a trial and order […]

The Energy Department and South Carolina traded barbed court filings this week in the state’s $100-million lawsuit over plutonium disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, S.C. DOE still wants the suit, filed in February, thrown out of court. South Carolina still wants Judge J. Michelle Childs to forgo a trial and order […]

The Energy Department will shed more light next week on the role industry is playing in crafting an updated cost and schedule estimate for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction at the agency’s Savannah River Site, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. The Senate Armed Services Committee requested an update on the latest […]

The Energy Department will shed more light next week on the role industry is playing in crafting an updated cost and schedule estimate for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) under construction at the agency’s Savannah River Site, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. The Senate Armed Services Committee requested an update on the latest […]

The House on Wednesday killed proposals from a California congressman that would have curtailed plutonium pit-production at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) PF-4 facility, and allowed the Energy Department to close the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) introduced both proposals late Tuesday as amendments to the 2017 […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants an update by May 31 on the Energy Department’s latest cost and schedule estimates for the multi billion-dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) — which the White House wants to close down, despite the facility’s prominent role in a major U.S. arms-reduction pact with Russia. “To better inform […]

Following two days of debate and consideration of scores of amendments, the House of Representatives late Thursday voted 277-147 to approve its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017. However, that vote count would not be sufficient to override a veto threatened by the White House over various measures in the legislation, including funding for […]

A long-running disagreement between the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Department of Energy resurfaced last week when DNFSB Chairman Joyce Connery forwarded a staff issue report with a transmittal letter warning National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz of unresolved safety problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility.  The issues concern […]

South Carolina and the federal government continue to disagree over what constitutes a mandate and what should be considered a goal, as it pertains to the state lawsuit over a missed plutonium disposition milestone at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). In the latest document filed in U.S. District Court for […]

Following two days of debate and consideration of scores of amendments, the House of Representatives late Thursday voted 277-147 to approve its National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017. However, that vote count would not be sufficient to override a veto threatened by the White House over various measures in the legislation, including funding for […]

The House Appropriations Committee late Tuesday afternoon brought Congress one step closer to a bicameral confrontation over whether to keep the mostly abandoned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility in Nevada on life support, and how strongly to protect the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility now under construction at Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site […]

The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee is proposing a requirement for the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility continue unless the secretary of energy reports to Congress on activities meant to address major points of contention on the project. According to the subcommittee’s […]

The $37.4 billion House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2017 prohibits the use of funds allocated for the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to place the plant in “cold standby,” a clear departure from the Obama administration’s proposal to terminate the project. The bill in total grants the Department of Energy $30 […]

Senate appropriators on Thursday passed their fiscal 2017 energy and water spending bill, including funding for the controversial mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. But they have asked the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold a hearing about the MOX approach that President Barack Obama nixed in his latest […]

The Senate and House fiscal 2017 energy and water appropriations bills meet President Barack Obama’s budget request to fund the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at $12.9 billion, agreeing on most major funding items with the exception of the mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel facility construction project. The House and Senate subcommittees moved their bills to full […]

House and Senate spending bills produced this week would provide more money for legacy nuclear waste cleanup in fiscal 2017 than the White House requested, but quash administration proposals to dispose of weapon-grade plutonium in New Mexico and change the way the Department of Energy funds cleanup of former uranium enrichment sites. DOE’s Office of […]

Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on Monday laid into a report commissioned by the Department of Energy’s lead MOX fuel facility contractor that questioned the suitability of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant as a storage site for downblended plutonium. In a commentary sent to media outlets, Domenici charged that CB&I AREVA MOX Services is using […]

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson wants a faster resolution and no trial in the state’s pursuit of $100 million and the removal of plutonium from the Savannah River Site – both of which are stipulations dating to 2003 when South Carolina agreed to house the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Department […]

Senate appropriators have asked the chamber’s Armed Services Committee to hold a hearing about the mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel approach that President Barack Obama nixed in his fiscal 2017 budget request in order to guide the Appropriations Committee on a path forward for a project that, for now, it plans to fund. Senate Appropriations energy and […]

The fiscal 2017 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill released Tuesday meets the Obama administration’s $12.9 billion funding request for the National Nuclear Security Administration, but aims to cut off the Department of Energy’s plan to cancel the project to turn surplus plutonium into mixed-oxide reactor fuel. The $37.4 billion bill in total provides $259 million […]

Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on Monday laid into a report commissioned by the Department of Energy’s lead MOX fuel facility contractor that questioned the suitability of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant as a storage site for downblended plutonium. In a commentary sent to media outlets, Domenici charged that CB&I AREVA MOX Services is using “junk science” […]

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson wants a faster resolution and no trial in the state’s pursuit of $100 million and the removal of plutonium from the Savannah River Site – both of which are stipulations dating to 2003 when South Carolina agreed to house the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Department […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week he disapproves of the Obama administration’s proposal to nix the MOX program and move forward with a downblending alternative for disposal of surplus plutonium. Putin said the switch, which was part of President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget, violates a bilateral 2000 agreement that requires each country to […]

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday she still expects the Department of Energy to pony up $100 million for missing a plutonium disposition milestone at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). South Carolina sued the federal government on Feb. 9 because DOE had failed for more than a month to […]

The Department of Energy on Tuesday said it would this year offer another 10 bus tours of cleanup operations at the Hanford Site in Washington state, after the originally planned 15 tours were filled. The added tour dates at the former plutonium production site are Aug. 2, 3, 10, 16, 17, 24, 30, and 31, […]