Years after the Department of Energy cancelled the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, a company based in France is making ambitious plans for MOX at the nuclear complex.
The original multi-billion-dollar MOX project, meant to convert weapons grade plutonium into mixed-oxide fuel that could be used in commercial reactors, was terminated in 2018.
But in a September appearance before the South Carolina Governor Nuclear bAdvisory Council, Dustin Greenwood, the vice president of operations for Paris-based newcleo, said the company submitted earlier this year to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission initial paperwork for a reactor that could use MOX.
In a pre-application filing with NRC, Newcleo Americas said its planned 200-MW small modular reactor would be fueled by MOX from a MOX fabrication facility. Newcleco held a closed meeting with several NRC officials on the topic in March.
Greenwood told the South Carolina nuclear advisory group last month that Newcleco is responding to President Donald Trump’s May 2025 executive order, that tasks DOE with stopping the Savannah River Site’s dilute and dispose method of plutonium removal, and instead “establish a program to dispose of surplus plutonium by processing and making it available to industry in a form that can be utilized for the fabrication of fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.”
Greenwood added that in May, DOE selected California-based Oklo for advanced negotiations on converting surplus plutonium into nuclear fuel. According to the May news release, Oklo and Newcleo are working together. “We are proud of this transatlantic partnership with Oklo to deliver on our promise of reducing nuclear liabilities through our fuel and reactor technologies,” said Newcleo CEO and founder Stefano Buono in the release.
DOE has not yet responded to multiple calls and emails on if agreements have been made with Newcleo or any other company regarding a new MOX facility. Its semiautonomous branch, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), deferred to DOE on the matter.
Today, the structure initially planned for the DOE’s terminated MOX facility is being repurposed for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.
