The last quarter of the U.S. Government’s Fiscal Year 2017 has arrived and we expect more action by DOE to start shutting down the bungled plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Though Congress has yet to decide what to do in Fiscal Year 2018 with the MOX albatross hanging around the budget-busting necks of Senator Lindsey Graham (r-SC) and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), the forces for project termination are growing. The most optimistic scenario for die-hard MOX boosters is that the projects gets $340 million, which means Congress will keep it on a shut-down track as this amount is inadequate to make to project viable. It is prudent for DOE now to start implementing shut-down plans.
While investigations into contract compliance with laws, regulations and accounting procedures at the MOX project will possibly document more fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, who is looking into the actual state of affairs with the MOX workforce and construction efforts by CB&I AREVA MOX Services? We suggest that shut-down planning, reviews and investigations consider:
– Morale of craft workers working on a dead-end project – has pride in the project been permanently lost?;
– Qualifications of craft workers given what appears to be a high turnover rate;
– Worker attitude at being held to 40-hour work weeks with no overtime;
– Attitude of salaried MOX employees – has dedication to the project eroded?
– Quality of tools provided to craft workers and safety and efficiency of working with inadequate or sub-standard tools;
– Are efforts being made to help relocate workers who would be lost on project shutdown?
– Are Temporary Construction Openings (TCOs) being sealed, an essential step to shut down?; Are pigeons and hawks still getting into the building?;
Has CB&I AREVA MOX Services been offered a fixed-cost or cost-plus-fee contract, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2017 – has MOX Services accepted this contract offer or is the contract drifting into oblivion?
– Has a budget been developed for project termination?
– When will DOE’s alternatives analyses for reuse of the abandoned MOX building and associated Waste Solidification Building (WSB) be released?