HOUSE PANEL SEEKS TO EXTEND MOX DEADLINES FOR TWO YEARS

The House Armed Services Committee is moving to extend key milestone deadlines related to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility that would result in massive fines against the National Nuclear Security Administration if not met. The committee included language to extend MOX-related milestones by two years in its version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act that was unveiled yesterday, which would give NNSA until 2014 to begin producing MOX fuel at the $4.86 billion facility. Current law requires the facility to meet production requirements it has no chance of meeting: one metric ton of MOX fuel must be produced by the end of 2012, or, failing that, one metric ton of plutonium must be removed from South Carolina. Fines of $1 million per day, and up to $100 million a year, kick in if the production objective is not met by the start of 2014. The MOX project isn’t anticipated to begin converting plutonium to MOX fuel until 2016 at the earliest, but that date is likely to slip when the project is rebaselined this summer. NNSA officials pushed for a five-year extension to the milestone deadline, but the committee balked at more than an extra two years due to uncertainty about the project.