The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its contractor MOX Services have failed to control the cost and construction schedule of the Savannah River Site Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) Fabrication Facility near Aiken, South Carolina, a new audit by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General concludes. The audit, released last week, finds that both the cost and time necessary to complete the MOX Facility were “significantly underestimated” due to flaws contained in the original cost estimate approved by the NNSA back in 2007, when facility construction began.
This estimate contained incorrect assumptions regarding such factors as engineered equipment needs and labor availability, leading to a greater than expected staff turnover, a higher than anticipated level of effort to install equipment, and issues with project subcontractors meeting nuclear quality assurance requirements, among other factors. As a result, the total cost to build the MOX Facility, which is currently about 60 percent complete, rose from $4.8 billion to $7.7 billion with the original September 2016 completion date being pushed back to November 2019.
These developments, combined with the existing budget environment, have resulted in DOE placing the project on “cold stand-by” while other options for plutonium disposition activities are explored – a logical response given the significant project oversight flaws highlighted in the audit. However, given the popularity the MOX Facility enjoys, particularly among members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation, discontinuing the project altogether appears out of the question.
The threshold at which MOX became fiscally irresponsible was crossed long ago. Congress should squash this parasite before it sucks taxpayers dry.
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