The Union of Concerned Scientists is continuing its opposition to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, recommending in a report released yesterday that the controversial project be abandoned in favor of less expensive options. The report, “Excess Plutonium Disposition,” was authored by UCS physicist Edwin Lyman and urges NNSA to more strongly consider “immobilizing” plutonium that was slated to be processed in MOX or downblending it. The Obama Administration proposed putting the MOX project on cold standby last year due to rising cost estimates and analyzed a handful of options, including immobilization and downblending. The study revealed that estimated construction costs for the facility had risen to $10 billion, up from a previous estimate of $7.7 billion and an earlier baseline of $4.86 billion. A more detailed follow-on study is ongoing. “The Department of Energy has already wasted billions on this risky boondoggle,” Lyman said. “It’s time to pursue cheaper, safer alternatives.”
Lyman draws on the conclusions of a previously unreleased 2006 Department of Energy study on disposition options for 13 metric tons of plutonium deemed unsuitable for MOX. That study suggests can-in-canister immobilization, where plutonium is fashioned into hockey puck-sized ceramic discs and surrounded by vitrified high-level waste, is the best option for that material, which is different than 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium currently slated to go through MOX. “Immobilization had the potential to be faster and cheaper than MOX,” Lyman said. “However, in order for immobilization to be a viable option today, the DOE would have to invest heavily in its development to make up for lost time.”
Several other downblending options would also be quicker and cheaper than immobilization, Lyman said. Downblending, however, would rely on permanent storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which remains closed until at least 2016, when it is slated to partially open after a radiological release in February. “The MOX program has veered off on the wrong track,” Lyman said. “Immobilization or downblending are the only technologies clearly capable of handling the bulk of the current and projected future inventories of excess plutonium. The DOE should explore the full range of options before making a decision and revising its disposition plan.”