Longtime critics of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility are taking to Capitol Hill today in a set of briefings targeting the project under construction at the Savannah River Site. Representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Project on Government Oversight and the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability plan to discuss a number of the groups’ often-cited complaints with Congressional staff. Topics on the agenda include rising costs for the program, nuclear proliferation concerns and technical and scheduling issues. The meetings come as the MOX project is in the midst of putting together a new baseline that is set to come out later this year and is expected to result in significant increases in total project costs from current estimate of $4.86 billion. The potentially soaring costs have already caught the attention of House appropriators, who cut $152.8 million in the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water spending bill from NNSA’s plutonium disposition account, the bulk of which would come out of MOX-related programs. The groups will present today at 11:15 a.m. in the Capitol building and at 4:00 p.m. in the Cannon House Office Building.