Congressional advocates of the Savannah River Site’s controversial plutonium disposition project, known as MOX, are unfazed by reports that President Donald Trump intends to significantly reduce the Department of Energy budget, saying it’s too early to predict how Trump will handle the project.
Multiple news outlets this month reported details of apparent Trump administration plans to slash spending across the federal government. The Hill newspaper reported on Jan. 19 specifically that the Energy and Commerce departments “would see major reductions in funding, with programs under their jurisdiction either being eliminated or transferred to other agencies.” At DOE, that would include funding cuts for some research and eliminating agency branches such as the Office of Fossil Energy, according to the report.
The funding issue could be of concern to MOX supporters, as the project was already on the chopping block under former President Barack Obama. The program would honor a 2000 U.S.-Russian agreement that requires each country to dispose of 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium. To complete that mission, the United States originally chose the MOX process, which would convert the plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel using the still-unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at SRS, located near Aiken, S.C.
The Trump administration has not officially stated which DOE projects would lose funding, which is why U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is treading lightly when speaking about how the cuts might impact MOX and other missions at SRS. Earlier this month, Wilson said he is optimistic about the future of the project due to two recent Trump Cabinet nominations: U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as the director of the White House Office on Management and Budget (OMB); and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as energy secretary.
Both Perry and Mulvaney are awaiting final Senate confirmation of their nominations.
Leacy Burke, Wilson’s spokeswoman, said the congressman believes Perry will bring a “business-minded approach” to the DOE budget. “Based on the percent of completion and lack of a viable alternative, Rep. Wilson is optimistic about the future of MOX under President Trump,” she said, adding that the lawmaker won’t speculate on what the reports of budget cuts will mean for specific projects.
How far the MFFF is toward being finished is one of the controversies surrounding the project. The Department of Energy under Obama said construction was roughly 40 percent complete, based on the estimated cost to finish work. Meanwhile, MOX advocates believe the project is 70 percent complete based on physical construction.
The Trump administration is expected to submit its first budget proposal, for fiscal 2018, by the end of April. The next budget year begins on Oct. 1.
U.S. Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, both Republicans from South Carolina, are also stopping short of predicting what a MOX budget line, or lack thereof, might look like under Trump. Graham has met with Perry to discuss SRS and the MOX project, according to Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for the senator.
Scott, meanwhile, has had preliminary conversations about MOX with members of the Trump administration, said spokesman Sean Smith. “But without a budget document from the White House, OMB Director, Secretary of Energy, NNSA Director or multitude of other positions formally in place, it would be premature for us to comment further,” he said.
Plant contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services employs roughly 2,000 workers at the Savannah River Site. MOX detractors, such as antinuclear group SRS Watch, have said the project has become a jobs program to boost the economy around Aiken and nearby Augusta, Ga. Regional groups in the area say each job at SRS represents 2.5 jobs in the local community.
Obama tried twice to shut down the MOX project, citing rising costs highlighted in DOE reports. The department believes it will cost upward of $50 billion to complete the project, including the $5 billion already spent. When construction began in 2007, the MOX program’s life-cycle cost was projected at $17 billion. Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2015 included language to place the project in cold standby while the federal government reviewed other options to eliminate the plutonium. Eventually, Congress appropriated $345 million to keep building the MFFF – roughly the same amount it had appropriated the year before.
Then, in February 2016, Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2017 called for terminating MOX. But that effort proved unsuccessful, as the project is currently being funded at fiscal 2016 levels under a continuing resolution through April 28. Under Obama, the Energy Department sought to advance plutonium disposition efforts via an alternative option that would dilute the material using existing SRS facilities and store the resulting material at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
