The $37.4 billion House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2017 prohibits the use of funds allocated for the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to place the plant in “cold standby,” a clear departure from the Obama administration’s proposal to terminate the project.
The bill in total grants the Department of Energy $30 billion, $245.6 million above the fiscal 2016 level and $1.5 billion below the president’s budget request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. Of that amount, $12.9 billion would be provided to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), $327.1 million above the fiscal 2016 amount and $22 million below the budget request. The bill’s NNSA provisions include $9.3 billion for weapons activities, $1.4 billion for naval nuclear reactors, and $1.8 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation.
The bill provides $340 million to sustain construction of the Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility project and prohibits the use of these funds to place the project in cold standby, or suspended with the option of resuming activity should the need arise. Meanwhile, the president’s budget requested $285 million for a different plutonium dilution and disposal method to fulfill U.S. obligations under a U.S.-Russian nonproliferation agreement. The bill also provides $5 million under the material disposition account to continue to develop conceptual plans on a MOX alternative.
“The Committee remains concerned that scuttling the MOX project prior to commencing negotiations on modifications to the agreement will limit U.S. options and will lead to further cost growth if the project is later restarted,” the bill report says. “Furthermore, without a legislative proposal that would describe the legal foundation needed for carrying out the proposed alternative, the Department may incur fines that were not accounted for in the NNSA’s cost analysis, costs which could surpass any savings assumed to be generated in this budget request by terminating construction in fiscal year 2017.”
The bill directs the NNSA to commission a National Academy of Sciences review of the secretary of energy’s plan to dispose of surplus plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico as part of the MOX alternative. The bill report says the amount of radioactive materials could exceed WIPP’s disposal limits, which necessitates an assessment of these plans and their compliance with environmental and safety regulations.
The Senate energy and water bill provides $270 million for MOX and gives the secretary of energy reprogramming authority to reallocate funds from one construction project to another, or to change the scope of an approved project. Senate appropriators said last week they have asked the chamber’s Armed Services Committee to hold a hearing on MOX to guide the Appropriations Committee on a path forward on the matter.
The House and Senate subcommittees moved their bills to full committee consideration last week, and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version on Thursday. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to conduct a full committee markup of the bill today, while the full Senate is expected to consider its version of the bill this week.
