South Carolina has hit the restart button on a multimillion-dollar fine over a missed plutonium disposition deadline at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS).
A 2003 agreement between the state and DOE requires the federal government to process 1 metric ton of plutonium at SRS through the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), or remove a ton from the state, by Jan. 1, 2016. Since neither occurred, as the facility remains under construction, the department was supposed to begin paying $1 million a day to the state, which filed suit on Feb. 9 against DOE and others in pursuit of the money. That total capped off at $100 million on April 9, 2016 – another stipulation of the agreement.
Hayley Thrift Bledsoe, spokeswoman for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, confirmed by email Tuesday that the state has restarted the penalty period as of Jan. 1 of this year, again imposing $1 million a day for the missed deadline. The fines will max out at $100 million on April 10. Neither the state AG’s Office nor the Energy Department offered any other comments on the matter because the lawsuit remains open.
The plutonium covered under the South Carolina-DOE agreement is separate from 34 metric tons of U.S. nuclear weapon-usable plutonium that is to be converted into commercial nuclear fuel via the MOX program. Russia is supposed to dispose of the same amount of material, though the Kremlin in late 2016 suspended participation in the 2000 agreement mandating the effort. Together, the 68 metric tons would be enough plutonium to create 17,000 nuclear warheads.
The MOX project recently survived another year of funding uncertainty. The Obama administration’s fiscal 2017 budget request called for terminating the facility in favor of an alternative that would dilute the plutonium using inhibitor materials and dispose of the material at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and others applauded the cancellation plan, citing a DOE projection that the MOX life-cycle cost had risen from $17 billion to $51 billion. Meanwhile, the department stated, downblending would cost under $20 billion.
However, the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 23, allows for $340 million in spending on MFFF construction through Sept. 30. The actual amount that will be spent remains to be determined, as federal funding is frozen at fiscal 2016 levels under a continuing budget resolution due to expire on April 28 – by which time Donald Trump will have assumed the presidency.
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) lauded the funding measure during a trip to Aiken on Dec. 27. In a follow-up interview via email, Wilson said Monday the MOX project is 70 percent complete. That estimate, which originates with MFFF contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services, is at odds with the DOE assessment that the project is roughly 40 percent finished. The contractor based its figure on the amount of physical work remaining to complete the project, while DOE is focusing on its to-go cost to complete the facility.
Still, Wilson maintained that MOX must continue. He said he’s optimistic about the future of the project due to two recent nominations from Trump: U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB); and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as energy secretary. On the latter, Wilson wrote, “I have sent Governor Perry a letter of congratulations citing MOX and the Site and I look forward to working with Governor Perry in the coming months to discuss the Savannah River Site and other energy priorities of South Carolina’s Second Congressional District. He has a standing invitation to tour the site.”
