Plutonium processingS.C. politicians want decision to halt work on Savannah River plutonium plant reversed

Three Republican lawmakers from South Carolina — Senator Lindsey Graham and Representatives Tim Scott and  Joe Wilson have — asked South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to “explore any legal avenues” to prevent the mixed-oxide fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site from shutting down. In the proposed 2015 budget sent to Congress last week, the administration has cut funding for the MOX project with the expectation of finding an alternative and more cost effective way to dispose of at least thirty-four metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium as directed by a U.S.-Russia nonproliferation agreement(see “Energy Department suspends work on controversial plutonium reprocessing project,” HSNW, 5 March 2014). .

The MOX project, managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), would be the first of its kind in the United States to create fuel from weapons-grade plutonium. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), site workers at the plant have logged in more than fifteen million consecutive work hours, but MOX has been unable to secure customers to purchase the fuel.

Herald Online reports that Shaw Areva MOX Services, the company contracted to build the plant, began construction in 2007, but after delays, cost overruns have averaged 60 percent higher than estimated.

The General Accountability Office (GAO) reported the project as being more than three years behind its 2016 completed deadline, and at least $3 billion over budget, at $7.7 billion.

In a letter to Haley, obtained by the AP, Graham, Scott, and Wilson said closing the MOX plant would leave the United States unable to fulfill its agreement with Russia. “This course of action will likely lead the federal government to violate the terms of the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Disposition Management Agreement,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter, dated last Friday.

Mark Powell, spokesman for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, the son of Representative Joe Wilson, said that “the AG’s Office is examining all possible avenues for legal action to address this, should legal action be necessary.”

Tom Clements, a critic of the MOX project who has monitored activities at the Savannah River Site for various environmental groups, has proposed other ways to dispose the thirty-four metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium, including encasing the plutonium in glass at a Savannah River Site factory whicht is currently operating. Clements also suggests that some of the plutonium could be sent to a disposal facility in New Mexico. “I don’t think there is a legal toehold on any front for the state to try to push the federal government to continue with the failed MOX program,’’ Clements said.