Senate Appropriations Language Calls for “Red Team” Review of MOX Project – Too Little, Too Late to Save Beleaguered Debacle
With $345 Million for MOX Construction, Committee Keeps Project on a Shut-down Track
Text of language from Energy & Water report:
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL, FY 2016 – funds DOE
MAY 21, 2015.—Ordered to be printed
Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted
the following
REPORT
page 102:
“Nonproliferation Construction.—The Committee recommends
$345,000,000 and adopts the budget request for the Mixed Oxide
Fuel Fabrication Facility [MFFF]. The Committee directs the Secretary
to form a Red Team, similar to the UPF Red Team, to review
the project and make recommendations. The Red Team review
should be completed in sufficient time to inform the fiscal year
2017 budget request.”
“The time for setting up a “red team” to review the MOX program, as supported by Senator Alexander, has passed,” said Tom Clements of SRS Watch. Congress has been chronically negligent in its oversight of the MOX program and while a red team’s input may have been appropriate a few years ago, things are to the point that MOX isn’t salvageable by such a review, which I suspect would be biased toward continuing the mismanaged MOX project. That Congress has neither provide proper oversight of MOX project nor demanded accountability of NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services managers is one of the main reasons that the project has run so badly off the rails. A Red Team review can’t fix the problems long ignored by DOE and Congress and winding down the MOX project and implementing alternatives plutonium disposition methods must now be the focus,” added Clements.
The Appropriations Committee approved $345 million for the MOX pant construction, the amount request by the Obama Administration. This level of funding, according to the Aerospace report means that the project will not be finished and is an amount which places the project on a shut-down track, according to SRS Watch. The report stated: “The MFFF construction cannot be completed at current (FY14) funding level (350M RY$ / year cost cap on construction/capital) and the assumed escalation rates (4% construction and capital, 2% labor).”
A DOE report on plutonium disposition options, as required by the defense bill of Fiscal Year 2015, is due in September, so any Red Team report could conflict with that report and the DOE’s Aerospace report released two weeks ago
Senate E&W report linked here
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MOX Boondoggle Update – May 20, 2015
Yet more problems for MOX: Senator Feinstein, ranking member of Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee, Comes out Strongly Against MOX During E&W Markup on May 19 – full bill to Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21
On May 19, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their version of the FY16 Energy and Water bill. E&W funds DOE programs, including the MOX debacle. A summary is available here: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/subcommittee-approves-fy2016-energy-water-development-appropriations-bill.
At the end of her opening statement Senator Feinstein, ranking member on the subcommittee, focused on problems with the MOX program. She basically said that the nation can’t afford the MOX project and at that the current funding level the project can’t be carried out and that the massive cost will negatively impact DOE’s non-proliferation and clean-up funding. She endorsed the cheaper “dilution option” recently reviewed in the Aerospace report sent to Congress.
Senator Alexander, chairman of E&W, responded and agreed that the subcommittee needs to look at the MOX facility and said the bill calls for a red team to evaluate the project.
Hear Feinstein comments on MOX at about 31+ minutes in the link below – she calls the MOX program “the apex of problems” – speaks in support of the “dilution option” – speaks of impact to South Carolina – mentions “final year,” I think referring to waste of money on MOX.
Chairman Alexander responds: “We do have to take a look at the MOX facility.” And, he mentions the “red team” to look into it.
Subcommittee Markup: FY16 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Act
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Full Appropriations Committee to take up DOE funding on May 21, 2015:
Description: COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS (Thad Cochran, Chairman) Consideration of 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations Markup of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 Markup of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 10:30 a.m., Room 216, Hart Senate Office Building Webcast: The webcast for the markup will be audio only. Coverage will begin when the markup begins, and it may be necessary for viewers to refresh their web browser at that time.
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SRS Watch news release – May 18, 2015
More problems for NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services with beleaguered MOX project
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Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Confirms Pursuit of Controversial Plutonium Fuel (MOX) in its Nuclear Reactors is on Hold Pending DOE Decision on Disposition of Surplus Weapons Plutonium
<strong “mso-bidi-font-weight:=”” normal”=””>As MOX Project Faces Funding Crisis, Proposal to Use Aging Browns Ferry & Sequoyah Reactors for MOX No Longer DOE’s “Preferred Alternative”
Columbia, SC – The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has confirmed in writing that it will not consider use in its reactors of experimental fuel made from surplus weapons plutonium until such time as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) determines disposition pathways for the weapons materials.
read full news release here
read TVA letter to SRS Watch here, received May 14, 2015 – text from letter:
“In 2010 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entered into an Interagency Agreement with DOE to investigate the potential for use of nixed oxide fuel in TVA reactors. TVA is a formal cooperating agency on the SEIS, which evaluates the potential use of mixed oxide fuel in certain TVA reactors as well as generic commercial reactors. However, there is neither a TVA obligation nor a decision at this time to use mixed oxide fuel. TVA will use mixed oxide fuel in its reactors only if it is determined to be operationally and environmentally safe, economically beneficial to TVA customers and licensed for use by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Prior to TVA’s consideration, the DOE must determine which alternative(s) to pursue.”