Department of Energy Budget Request Deals Budget-Cutting Blow to Plutonium MOX Project, $270 Million Request for Project “Termination” is $70 Million less than Current Spending Level; Cut would Speed Orderly Termination of Mismanaged MOX Program
Washington, DC – The U. S. Department of Energy budget request for Fiscal Year 2018 presented to Congress and the public today holds a big surprise for the MOX project at the Savannah River Site (SRS) – a cut of $70 million to $270 million for MOX plant construction. This funding is specified to be for termination of the problem-plagued project and is welcome by the non-proliferation advocates and fiscal conservatives alike, according to Savannah River Site Watch.
full SRS Watch news release linked here
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Week of May 22: A representative of SRS Watch will be in Washington to advocate for SRS clean-up issues and termination of the MOX boondoggle. The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) report Accountability Audit will be widely distributed by SRS Watch and colleagues with ANA. (see page 19 of the report for brief comments and recommendations on the MOX boondoggle)
The pro-MOX propaganda machine has been very quiet for an extended period of time. Could it be that the Trump budget request is bringing no good news to the MOXsters concerning the fate of the MOX debacle? We think that will be the case for the doomed project.
While the administration has changed the failed MOX project is still faced with massive cost overruns, significant schedule delays, construction and design problems, no customers , total lack of accountability by DOE/NNSA/Superior Air Handling (now departed, rumored to have botched the HVAC work)/CB&I AREVA MOX Services, and insufficient funding by Congress that has kept the project on a termination track. All that looms over the MOX debacle like the Nuclear Sword of Damocles. Even continuation of funding at the Fiscal Year 2017 level – $340 million – brings eventual DOOM. The project thus remains ripe for step-by-step termination. Stay tuned for the budget request to Congress on May 23.