Kenneth Fletcher
NS&D Monitor
10/3/2014
Despite a plan earlier this year to potentially put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into “cold standby” at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015, construction will continue for the time being at the current rate, the National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed. Citing rising costs for the project, the Obama Administration early this year announced plans to suspend construction while other options for plutonium disposition are explored. However, significant opposition has delayed the move. “Under the current continuing resolution, the contractor will continue construction of the MOX facility,” NNSA spokesman Derrick Robinson said in a written response late last week. “The Department is currently reviewing execution plans for FY2015 work submitted by the MOX contractor at various funding levels and will determine the best path forward taking into account direction from Congress when the current continuing resolution expires.” Contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services referred a request for comment to NNSA.
The MOX facility is currently the designated pathway inked in a deal with Russia for disposal of 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium in each country. But the NNSA announced the cold standby decision as part of its FY 2015 budget request released in the spring after a Department study of plutonium disposition alternatives found that estimated construction costs for the facility had risen to $10 billion, up from a previous estimate of $7.7 billion and an earlier baseline of $4.86 billion. The NNSA had planned to begin work in March to develop a detailed cold standby plan, but that was strongly opposed by some lawmakers and triggered a lawsuit from South Carolina. DOE said in early May it would hold off on cold standby until the start of FY’15 on Oct. 1 in order to give Congress a chance to address the issue with legislation.
However, the federal government is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution until Dec. 11, which largely keeps funding at current levels for federal agencies. So while no legislation has passed providing direction on MOX, the program’s construction is funded at the previous year’s level of $343.5 million, significantly more than the $221 million for project construction included in the Administration’s budget request. MOX is likely to see a boost above the request level in any omnibus spending bill passed for the remainder of the fiscal year. The House version of the FY 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act included $345 million for the project, while Senate appropriators have included $400 million to keep construction going.
Administration Softens Stance on Project
In July, Liz Sherwood-Randall, recently confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Energy, appeared to soften the Administration’s stance on the project, called MOX the Obama Administration’s “preferred solution” for plutonium disposition before squarely placing the onus for funding the project on Congress. “We should not take any steps that diminish the likelihood of Russia fulfilling its obligation,” Sherwood-Randall, the White House’s former arms control czar, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing on her nomination. “We have an obligation to fulfill, and we as a nation have a responsibility to figure out how to get it done in an affordable manner.”
