The Senate Armed Services Committee wants an update by May 31 on the Energy Department’s latest cost and schedule estimates for the multi billion-dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) — which the White House wants to close down, despite the facility’s prominent role in a major U.S. arms-reduction pact with Russia.
“To better inform our oversight activities, we request that you provide to us an update on the roles of DOE, the MFFF contractor, and other parties on the development of the update cost and schedule information,” reads a letter from Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.): respectively, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
A copy of letter, dated May 6, was obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
The White House proposed cancelling MFFF as part of the 2017 budget request it revealed in February. The facility, which even by the most conservative public estimates is about 50 percent complete, is designed to dilute some 34 metric-tons of weapons grade plutonium into fuel suitable for commercial nuclear reactors.
The White House maintains it would be cheaper to instead dilute the plutonium, mix it with an inert solid, and permanently dispose of the material in DOE’s underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.
However, studies commissioned by MFFF prime contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services say staying the course would be far cheaper and safer.
DOE and CB&I AREVA MOX Services did not immediately reply to requests for comment late Wednesday.
Congress has so far not gone along with the White House’s request to cancel MFFF. Spending bills produced by the House and Senate all would fund the plant in 2017, but some of the bills pending consideration call for closer studies of the facility’s costs.
A May 5 report by Greensboro, Ga.-based High Bridge Associates — the consulting firm repeatedly hired by CB&I AREVA MOX Services — said finishing the plant and processing surplus plutonium there would cost about $20 million and take fewer than 30 years. DOE says it would cost $45 billion and take more than 30 years.
