The Department of Energy has notified Congress of plans for transferring $56.65 million to the American Centrifuge Project to fund a new contract through this fiscal year and into next, WC Monitor has learned. The funding will allow work to continue monitoring deployment of the technology under a new Oak Ridge National Laboratory subcontract to USEC. The money will come out of several National Nuclear Security Administration accounts: Under weapons activities, $37.4 million will come from unearned M&O contractor fee, the bulk of that coming from the B&W Y-12 contract; $16.2 million will come from DOE and NNSA Assessments that did not fully materialize. Under Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, $1.94 million will come from Assessments and $0.98 will come from unearned fee.
Congress approved the transfer authority in the spending bill it cleared earlier this year, making it contingent on delivery of a cost-benefit analysis on enrichment options for the government. DOE presented a report on enrichment technologies to Congress last week. The new subcontract is worth $34 million through the end of this fiscal year, and has two six-month $42 million option periods that would take it through Fiscal Year 2015 for a total potential value of $118 million. DOE has not yet requested FY’15 funding for the program. DOE did not respond to request for comment Friday.
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