Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
1/15/2016
Congress may soon have to decide if it will appropriate money to enable the Department of Energy to pay a multi-million dollar fine to the state of South Carolina for missing a key deadline at the Savannah River Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The facility, which would convert 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel, is part of the overall MOX project – the nation’s current pathway to dispose of the plutonium under an agreement with Russia.
Per a 2003 agreement drawn up by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was in the U.S. House of Representatives at the time, the department was supposed to process at least 1 metric ton of plutonium through the MFFF or remove a ton of plutonium from South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2016. Neither occurred, which means under the agreement the department is supposed to pay South Carolina $1 million a day until one of the actions happens. The 2003 also states fines can only be paid if funding is available.
There are at least 12 tons of plutonium stored at SRS, but site officials have said the exact number cannot be identified due to security reasons.
Graham said last week that he not only supports the agreement he authored, but he wants to see the MOX project move forward despite growing costs. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said last year that it would cost $1 billion a year to adequately fund the MOX project – an amount he does not think Congress will pay. But Graham said Friday that he is not convinced there is another way to meet the nation’s agreement with Russia, despite multiple studies in 2015 that compared the MOX method to other options for plutonium disposition. "I want to push very hard to enforce that statute and try to get an answer for the country and Savannah River Site," Graham said. U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) added that he would support a congressional appropriation and that it might just take a line item shift.
Discussions on whether Congress will appropriate funds came after Gov. Nikki Haley, in a Dec. 14 letter to Moniz, announced her intent to impose the fines, which would be capped at $100 million a year. "South Carolina cannot stand idly by while DOE violates federal laws and fails to fulfill its commitment to the State," Haley wrote. If DOE refuses to pay, Haley said South Carolina will "almost certainly" pursue litigation. Haley has yet to hear back from Moniz.
The MFFF is about 70 percent complete according to CB&I, the parent company of the MOX contractor. The company previously reported that it is basing its evaluation on how much construction is left to complete. But the Department of Energy reported the facility is closer to 35 or 40 percent complete, based on the to-go cost to complete the facility. Nearly $5 billion has been spent to date, and Moniz said the life-cycle cost of constructing the MFFF is more than $17 billion.
Funding the completion of the facility and the entire project will prove to be a struggle. The federal omnibus budget passed in December includes $340 million for continued construction, but also directs Moniz to head up a closer look at a downblending alternative. The method would include dilution of the plutonium at SRS by using inhibitor materials. The final product would then be sent to a permanent repository – most likely the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M.
