Most Nonpro Programs See a Boost
Kenneth Fletcher
NS&D Monitor
12/12/2014
Despite the Administration’s plans for a shutdown of the project, construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility would continue at the $345 million funding level included in the Fiscal Year 2015 spending bill released by Congressional appropriators this week. That compares to the $196 million included in the Administration’s FY’15 budget request, which called for work on the plant to be ramped down as it moves into a “cold standby” mode while the Department of Energy examined alternatives to the facility. However, the proposed legislation “includes statutory language that prohibits the NNSA from using funds to place the project in cold standby in fiscal year 2015,” and instead directs continued construction, according to a report accompanying the legislation. The House passed the omnibus spending package late this week and the full Senate is expected to vote on the bill before the expiration of a short two-day extension on Dec. 13.
The proposed suspension of the MOX project has now been rejected by both the appropriations and authorization bills for FY’15. The compromise version for the FY’15 National Defense Authorization Act, which has been passed by the House but awaits Senate approval, also authorizes $345 million in funding and directs that the money be used solely for construction of the plant. The Department of Energy is now determining the path forward for the plant. “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,” National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Derrick Robinson said in a written response.
The MOX facility is currently the designated pathway in an agreement with Russia for disposal of 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium in each country. But due to cost increases, DOE announced the cold standby decision in the spring and said it would search for alternatives to MOX for surplus plutonium disposition. However, the cold standby plans were strongly opposed by some lawmakers and triggered a lawsuit from South Carolina. Subsequently, Administration officials said they would hold off on cold standby until given further direction by Congress.
Bill Would Require Report on Downblending & Disposal
The appropriations bill would also require the NNSA to further compare at least one alternative to the MOX plant. Within 120 days the NNSA would need to submit “an independently-verified lifecycle cost estimate for the option to complete construction and operate the MOX facility and the option to downblend and dispose of the material in a repository,” according to report language.
Boost for Most Nonpro Programs
Overall the bill would provide the NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation $1.64 billion, or $86 million more than the budget request. That includes $326 million for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, compared to $333.5 million in the Administration’s request. Within GTRI, the bill provides $68 million for domestic materials to go toward the goal of securing all U.S. buildings with Category 1 source materials by the end of 2016. Additionally, $36.6 million would go to international material protection for upgrades at international facilities, including projects in Turkey and Algeria. The GTRI funds do not include the $25.4 million requested for projects in Russia.
However, programs for International Material Protection and Cooperation would receive a cut at a $270.9 million funding level in the bill, compared to $305.4 in the budget request. That includes $148 million for the Second Line of Defense programs to install radiation detection equipment at international ports and border crossings. It does not include the $66.9 million requested for programs in Russia.
The legislation also includes $393.4 million for defense nuclear nonproliferation research and development, compared to $361 million in the request. Out of those funds, $66.9 million would go to the National Center for Nuclear Security “to accelerate efforts to develop the next generation of warhead monitoring technologies, improve low-yield nuclear test detection capabilities, and deploy long-range remote monitoring technologies for plutonium and uranium production detection,” according to the report language.
