South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is urging the state’s congressional delegation to continue advocating for the MOX project at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site, which is again in danger of being defunded.
In a Sept. 14 letter, McMaster provided lawmakers with a recent report from the governor’s South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (SCNAC), which was highly critical of DOE’s ongoing efforts to kill the project.
“It is my understanding that Congress may soon review DOE’s budget for approval, which may include a proposal to terminate the MOX project at SRS. The information contained in this report may be beneficial to you,” McMaster wrote.
A few SCNAC members recently toured the site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), an unfinished plant intended to convert 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel. The project would meet the U.S. commitment under the terms of a 2000 agreement with Russia that requires each nation to dispose of the same amount of plutonium.
The Energy Department broke ground on the facility in 2007 and expected to spend $17 million through the life cycle of the entire MOX project, which includes construction, plutonium conversion, and other activities. But the department now believes the project will cost $51 billion, and DOE under both the Obama and Trump administrations has recommended abandoning MOX in favor of an alternative plan to dilute the plutonium and store the final solution at a permanent repository.
The SCNAC report says DOE’s latest cost estimate is based on an unreasonably high inflation rate and that the department is unjustifiably aiming to shutter the project. The House fiscal 2018 energy funding bill passed in July would provide $340 million to continue building the MOX plant, while the Senate version of the legislation — which still has not received a floor vote — would meet the administration’s request for $270 million to wind down construction.
McMaster applauded the South Carolina congressional delegation’s attempts to restore funding. “I appreciate the South Carolina congressional delegation’s leadership and persistence in fighting for completion of the MOX project and the over 2,100 local jobs it provides.”
