The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee is proposing a requirement for the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility continue unless the secretary of energy reports to Congress on activities meant to address major points of contention on the project.
The subcommittee on Thursday passed the mark and accompanying amendments to the full committee, which will hold its markup next Wednesday. None of the subcommittee amendments offered any changes to MOX-related or other major provisions in the bill.
According to the subcommittee’s mark released Tuesday, the secretary of energy would only be allowed to waive the requirement to continue MOX construction by submitting to the congressional defense committees an updated performance baseline for the project; notification of the initiation of consultations with the “government of a foreign country” – presumably Russia – on an alternative plutonium disposition option; a commitment “to remove plutonium from South Carolina and ensure a sustainable future for the Savannah River Site”; and either a notification that the MOX contractor has not submitted a proposal for a fixed-price contract to complete construction, or a certification that an alternative option exists for plutonium disposition, the life-cycle cost of which “would be less than approximately half” of the estimated MOX life-cycle cost.
These conditions reflect lawmakers’ calls for proper justification for the administration’s proposal to terminate the MOX project in favor of an alternative dilute and dispose method for surplus weapon-usable plutonium, including 34 metric tons covered by a nonproliferation deal with Russia. Congressional disagreements with the administration’s decision have primarily centered around the need for updated cost estimates for the project, as well as negotiations with Russia to reach agreement on any alternative plutonium disposition method. While some – among them South Carolina lawmakers – oppose changing the method under any circumstance, others believe negotiations with Russia should result either in the modification of the agreement currently governing MOX or the creation of a new deal.
The mark would also cap the NNSA’s weapons dismantlement spending from fiscal years 2017-2021 at $56 million annually, prohibiting any of these funds to be spent on the acceleration of weapons dismantlement activities beyond the rate set out in the agency’s fiscal 2016 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan. House Armed Services Committee Democrats said this week in response that the funding cap “unnecessarily restricts nuclear weapons dismantlement.” The NNSA’s fiscal 2017 budget request includes $69 million to meet a commitment to accelerate dismantlement. For fiscal 2016 the Obama administration requested $48 million for dismantlement, $1.95 million less than the previous year’s funding level. Weapons dismantlement and disposition received $52 million that year. Overall, dismantlement funding levels have been estimated to remain relatively flat through fiscal 2020.
Secretary of State John Kerry said last year the U.S. plans to accelerate its rate of weapons dismantlement by 20 percent over the next few years, something that House Armed Services Committee Republicans immediately opposed, saying nuclear arms modernization, not dismantlement, should be the highest priority. Despite the opposition, the fiscal 2017 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan included the increased dismantlement rate and said the NNSA expects to successfully complete dismantlement of all nuclear weapons retired before 2009 a year earlier than planned, by fiscal 2021.
The mark also would authorize $5 million for the NNSA deputy administrator for naval reactors to conduct “early R&D of an advanced naval nuclear fuel system based on [low-enriched uranium] for aircraft carriers and submarines.” Another provision would allow the Department of Energy to take measures to mitigate the threat from unmanned aircraft to nuclear facilities and the transport of special nuclear material to and from these facilities.
The Senate will begin considering its version of the bill on May 9. The House Appropriations energy and water bill provides $340 million to continue MOX construction, while the Senate version provides $270 million and reprogramming authority for the potential reallocation of those funds. President Barack Obama’s budget requested $285 million for a different plutonium dilution and disposal method.
The fiscal 2016 NDAA that President Barack Obama signed last December authorized $607 billion in defense spending, including $12.5 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), $345 million for Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility construction, and $5 million for an analysis of MOX alternatives.
