French Ambassador Gerard Araud will visit the Savannah River Site today, touring the controversial Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project. Araud will be accompanied by several other French officials and will meet with AREVA Chief Executive Officer Gary Mignogna as well as French employees at the site. Along with CB&I, AREVA is part of the team building the MOX facility, having built similar facilities in France to turn plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. The visit comes on the heels of recent visits by two senior Department of Energy officials—Deputy Energy Secretary Liz Sherwood-Randall and National Nuclear Security Administration Principal Deputy Administrator Madelyn Creedon—and as DOE is preparing detailed analyses of alternatives to the multi-billion-dollar project. DOE attempted to put the project into cold standby a year ago, but Congress balked at the plan and forced construction to continue. DOE requested $345 million for the project in Fiscal Year 2016 as a placeholder until the reviews are completed.