The deadline has passed for the government-commissioned Red Team to present its determination to the Energy Department regarding a "best path forward" for disposing of 34 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium. DOE two weeks ago extended from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17 the deadline for the Red Team, chaired by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, to report whether the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, plutonium downblending or another disposal option would be the most feasible and cost effective path forward. DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration did not respond to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing questions about whether the Red Team had submitted its findings. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz commissioned the Red Team two months ago, and noted in a June 25-dated letter that DOE remains concerned about “cost increases associated with our plans to irradiate plutonium as mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in nuclear reactors." MOX contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services has estimated that construction on the MOX facility is about 70 percent complete.
According to a list obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, in addition to Mason, and Project Leader John Krueger, ORNL Isotope Production Manager, the Red Team comprises Navarro Research and Engineering employees Dale Klein, Steve Johnson, Tyrone Troutman, Dave Amerine, Christopher Gruber, Bob Merriman, Tom Burns and Tom Hunter; Savannah River National Laboratory employees Terry Michalske, Bill Bates and Alice Murray, Los Alamos National Laboratory officials Brett Kniss and Carol Burns, Tennessee Valley Authority official Dan Stout, Bob Logan of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Kelly Beierschmitt of Idaho National Laboratory, U.K. National Nuclear Laboratory Managing Director Paul Howarth, and Stanford University’s Siegfried Hecker.
