Sen. Feinstein Opposes $345 M in MOX Funding in Senate E&W Bill

Calling the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility the “apex of problems,” Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is opposing the $345 million in MOX funding included in legislation that cleared the subcommittee yesterday. That funding level would allow construction to continue at the beleaguered project, and matches the House level. “We have already spent $4.5 billion on this project, and I don’t believe we can afford to proceed,” Feinstein said at the subcommittee markup. “The $345 million is almost optimizing the amount of money to be wasted. At this annual level the project will never be completed.”

Feinstein cited a recent report by Aerospace Corp. on plutonium disposition stating that the total lifecycle cost of the facility would be about $47 billion at a $500 million per year funding level. “Actual funding to make real progress on the project is $500 million to $1.3 billion per year just for construction and $1 billion per year for operations,” she said. “These funding levels will quickly crowd out other priorities in the defense portion of the bill, including nuclear nonproliferation activities, environmental cleanup and rehabilitating our nuclear weapons infrastructure.” Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted the legislation would support and fund a “red team review” to look at reducing MOX costs, similar to a review that has been performed on the Uranium Processing Facility.