HOUSE E&W LAWMAKER CONCERNED MOX CUTS WOULD PAY FOR WEAPONS

Leading up to the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this Thursday, one lawmaker on the pointed posed some pointed questions on how cuts from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility may be used to fund weapons programs. In a Feb. 8 letter to NNSA Acting Administrator Neile Miller, who is set to testify Thursday, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) expressed concern over that possibility that the NNSA may cut funding for the MOX project and instead use some of that money to pay for weapons programs. He emphasized that the MOX program is part of an agreement with Russia to dispose of surplus plutonium. “I am a firm believer that if a nuclear weapons budget is being built to maintain a large stockpile, which is contrary to what the President has promised, that budget should not raid any nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear counterterrorism, or emergency response budget,” Alexander wrote. Alexander hails from the same state as Baton Rouge-based The Shaw Group, one of the parent companies of MOX contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services. 

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In the letter, Alexander raised numerous questions about cost increases and schedule delays with several NNSA weapons programs, including the W76 and B61 life extension programs. “What would the effect be if money were effectively transferred, or viewed as being transferred, from nuclear nonproliferation and threat reduction accounts or programs to nuclear weapons accounts?” Alexander asked. NNSA declined to comment yesterday. “We don’t comment on our conversations with Congress,” spokesman Josh McConaha said in a written response.

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