Redacted DOE Plutonium Disposition Report Obtained, Gives Details of $47.5 Billion to $110.4 Billion Yet to be Spent on Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Boondoggle, Finished in 2059 to 2115

Savannah River Site Watch
www.srswatch.org
For Immediate Release
May 9, 2015

Redacted DOE Plutonium Disposition Report Obtained, Gives Details of $47.5 Billion to $110.4 Billion Yet to be Spent on Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Boondoggle, Finished in 2059 to 2115

Aerospace Report Affirms that MOX Project at SRS Not Sustainable at Current Funding Level

“Plutonium Disposition Study Options Independent Assessment” linked here:
http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/aerospace_final_redacted_plutonium_disposit
ion_tor_april13_f
inal_release_050815.pdf

Columbia, SC-- A long-awaited report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on costs for two methods of plutonium disposition was released to some members of the public by Congress late on Friday afternoon, May 8. The redacted report provides details on the skyrocketing cost estimate for the problem-plagued plutonium fuel (MOX) project now under construction at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, one of the costliest U.S. Government construction projects ever undertaken.

The report confirms what Savannah River Watch has been saying -that the current funding level of $345 million per year has placed the project on a shut-down track. The report, using the term “real year” (RY) for equivalent cost in future years, states that the MOX plant “construction cannot be completed at current (FY14) funding level (350M RY$/year cost cap on construction/capital) and the assumed escalation rates (4% construction and capital, 2% labor).”

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