One option that could be on the table for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site should the National Nuclear Security Administration decide to move forward with the plant after an ongoing review of alternatives would be to stretch out the construction over a much longer period of time to manage the yearly cash flow, former NNSA Acting Administrator Neile Miller said yesterday in remarks at the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management annual meeting in Palm Desert, Calif. The future of the MOX plant has been hotly debated in Congress as the growing price tag for the project has made it a target for cuts by the Administration in the FY 2014 request. The Administration is examining other options for disposition of the material that is set to be turned into MOX fuel, a move that has been met with vehement opposition by the South Carolina Congressional delegation. “It is absolutely necessary and appropriate to pause that program and consider whether that’s the correct course, and if it is the correct course, how are we going to fund that and anything else we decide to do?” Miller said. “We are in a very difficult situation and that project, as I’m sure you’re aware, is extremely expensive.”
Miller added that if NNSA decides to move forward with the MOX plant, “it may be that a way forward is one where we manage the cash flow, to put it in street terms, which doesn’t build you something in a cost effective way but it does get something done and it allows you to fund that and all your other competing priorities. What that number would be, I have no idea—that would have to be examined. The ramp that that project was on was not sustainable in the current budget environment.” As far as the Plutonium Disposition Alternatives Study that is being completed by NNSA, Miller said some work had been completed before she left NNSA at the end of June. “What was going on right up until the time I left was what I refer to as an analysis of options—What’s the universe of what needs to be look at carefully? Because as it turns out—and this is not going to come as a surprise to anybody—there are things that might have been on the table back at the beginning of the program in 2000-2001 that frankly would be impossible or are clearly cost-prohibitive at this point. … Some of these things that might have been on the table 10 or 15 years ago, they’re not there anymore. So the first thing has pretty much been an analysis of options and that was pretty much complete before I left. With respect to the actual study of the options that are reasonable to study, that I would defer to the people that are there right now.”
Miller also hinted at what her future could hold as she moves on from her time in government. While she said she plans “to take some time off and get rid of the dark circles under my eyes,” she said she expects “to stay involved” in some capacity. “For better or worse over the years I’ve had the opportunity to gain a ridiculous amount of knowledge about how the money all works. I have a bias—I think that not much happens without the money and understanding how it works is very helpful. And so I absolutely intend to stay supportive.”
