There is no public timeline for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) to finish its assignment to support a plutonium disposition alternative to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site. Per the fiscal 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, SRNS, the site’s management and operations contractor, was directed to support the preconceptual design by defining the mission needs and developing the life-cycle baseline for downblending, – a method that, if implemented, would dilute the plutonium at SRS for shipment to a federal repository, most likely the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M.
A National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) spokesperson said last week the contractor will develop the life-cycle baseline for downblending by the end of fiscal 2017 with plans to perform an independent validation in fiscal 2018. The Department of Energy also plans to complete the preconceptual analysis process in fiscal 2017.
President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget request calls for terminating the MOX program, the current method of plutonium disposition, in favor of an alternative approach that is widely expected to result in diluted plutonium being sent to WIPP. Since construction of the MFFF began in 2007, DOE has planned to use the SRS facility to convert 34 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel under a deal in which Russia must dispose of the same amount of material. So far, the Department of Energy has spent $5 billion on the project, and DOE officials believe it will cost about $47 billion to finish.
When asked what new and/or current facilities would be used to execute the downblending approach, the NNSA said the method has been fully demonstrated with existing infrastructure and, as a result, will rely primarily on using current facilities as a cost-saving measure. SRS facilities used for downblending may include H-Area, the site of the H Canyon facility where nuclear materials are broken down for final disposition. Other possible sites include K-Area, where excess plutonium and other materials are stored. Other than the Savannah River Site, the NNSA reported that the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4, the nation’s most modern plutonium science and manufacturing facility, may also be used to complete the downblending method.
