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South Carolina Lawmakers Push for MOX Funding By Jon Fox, Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers from South Carolina in recent weeks have cranked up their rhetoric in hopes of saving a jeopardized project in their state that would convert weapon-grade plutonium into nuclear power reactor fuel (see GSN, July 7). “The need for MOX is greater today than the day we awarded the project,” Graham said, according to the Associated Press. “MOX is the best form of disposition for the American taxpayer,” Representative Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said at the end of July. “Building this facility sends a clear signal to the international community that we are serious about maintaining our agreement to dispose of excess plutonium.” The United States and Russia in 2000 each committed to eliminating 34 metric tons of bomb-quality plutonium. Washington and Moscow were to construct parallel plants to convert the surplus weapons material to reactor fuel. Progress on the plan, however, suffered significant delays as the two nations walked through torturous negotiations on liability issues regarding the construction of the Russian facilities. More recently, Moscow has said it would only contribute financially to the project if it is permitted to burn the excess plutonium in an existing fast-neutron reactor and build an additional fast-neutron reactor. Critics of the Russian demand say that using fast-neutron reactors could actually lead to production of additional weapon-grade plutonium, eliminating any nonproliferation gains of the original agreement. Holdups with the MOX program and frustrations with Moscow have led to a significant funding question mark looming over the program for the coming fiscal year. A House version of the fiscal 2007 energy appropriations bill strips the program’s entire $368 million budget. The Senate version of the same legislation pulls U.S. financing for the Russian component but remains committed to full funding for the plant in South Carolina (see GSN, June 28). The differences between the two bills are due to be hashed out when Congress returns from its August recess. “We will get a number, I hope, that will keep the MOX program moving forward and viable,” Graham said. He said he hopes construction on the plant would begin before the end of the year, AP reported. The House Armed Services Committee, which also has a hand in MOX funding, cut support for the bilateral program by more than $100 million. The Senate Armed Services Committee supported full funding, while setting conditions on delivery of the money. In the western part of the state, there is a real concern that dried up MOX funding could spell the end of the Savannah River Site, which has conducted nuclear materials and weapons management since the 1950s, said Jim Hodges, former governor of South Carolina. The potential loss of jobs translates into local pressure on the state’s lawmakers in Washington. “I think the delegation realizes that if the feds don’t follow through on their commitment it will be a huge political liability for them,” Hodges said. There is also the concern that the site would become a long term plutonium storage facility — something it was never designed to be — if the MOX program ultimately falls through. “Without a MOX fuel fabrication plant, South Carolina is going to be stuck with tons, up to 34 metric tons, of weapons-grade plutonium with no clear pathway for disposal,” said Representative John Spratt (D-S.C.) late last month, at a hearing of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee on MOX funding. “When South Carolina agreed to take the nation’s plutonium, we did not agree to become the final burial place for that plutonium,” he said. Proceeding with the MOX program is worthwhile only if the 34 tons of plutonium eliminated is a first step in disposal of weapons material, said Matthew Bunn, senior researcher at Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom. “If we believe that we’re not going to go beyond 34 tons, I believe it’s not worth the effort to move forward,” Bunn said at the hearing. Linton Brooks, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration, bluntly told the subcommittee the administration remains committed to the MOX program. “Everything else is elaboration,” he said. “We will always spend money to guard plutonium until we transform it into a form where it doesn’t need to be guarded,” Brooks said. “And for us, burning it in reactors is the most effective way.” The design for the South Carolina facility is 85 percent completed and full costs, including design, construction and startup, are expected to total $4.7 billion, he said. Of that, about $800 million has already been spent. “We are ready to move,” Brooks said. “Site preparations are under way.”
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