Columbia, SC – The controversial plutonium fuel (MOX) plant under construction at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) now faces up to a 10-year delay in construction… The NRC, …. has approved an extension in the construction authorization for the MOX plant from March 30, 2015 to March 30, 2025… it is unknown if the project can ever be completed or if the plant will operate… DOE has stated that the project is not “sustainable.” Funds are not available to complete or operate the MOX plant and still there are no customers – electric utilities that own nuclear reactors – willing to use the experimental plutonium fuel that might be made at the plant. MOX fuel made from weapon-grade plutonium has never been used on a commercial basis anywhere worldwide and only one test of the new type fuel was conducted in a reactor (Catawba) owned by Duke Energy but the test was halted in 2008 before it was completed… The cost of the MOX plant construction has risen from around $1 billion in the year 2000 to an official $7.7 billion today but DOE officials have publicly stated that the cost of construction alone could be closer to $10 billion. DOE has stated that the overall project cost is $30 billion or more, a figure that DOE has said is unsustainable…
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 07:08:19 +0000