No Word on MOX Cold Standby, NNSA Still Looking to Congress

Just two weeks before the potential start of a ‘cold standby’ for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project, the National Nuclear Security Administration has not announced what plans for the project are at the start of the new fiscal year Oct. 1. “Until Congress gives us either a [Continuing Resolution] or a bill with numbers and direction, there’s nothing really I can say,” NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington told NS&D Monitor yesterday on the sidelines of a national labs review panel meeting. When asked if NNSA has given direction to the contractor on actions for the start of the fiscal year, Harrington said: “I can’t say anything about that.”

 

The Administration announced plans last spring to slow construction on the facility put the facility into ‘cold standby’ on Oct. 1. But after pushback from lawmakers in recent weeks DOE officials have softened their tone on a suspension of the project, and are looking to Congress to provide funding and direction on the future of MOX. Congress this week is continuing work on a Continuing Resolution that would fund the federal government largely at current levels into December, which would avoid any immediate major cuts to the MOX project.