All the recent headlines have been about the Administration's decision to place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) in "cold-standby". It all started with the President's FY15 budget proposal. The White House Management and Budget Office said in a briefing document that "This current plutonium disposition approach may be unaffordable ... due to cost growth and fiscal pressure."

As a result of this action, South Carolina's Governor Haley decided to file a lawsuit against the Department of Energy. The lawsuit states "DOE decided not to proceed with the immobilization portion of the hybrid strategy, leaving the construction and operation of the MOX facility as the only strategy to dispose of surplus plutonium in the United States.,"

What is not being discussed in the "main stream" media, although potentially key to the lawsuit, is the plutonium, more specifically, the plutonium already being stored at SRS. There is the potential for more to come and the very good likelihood that it will stay at SRS indefinitely. With MOX, even at the high price tag, there is a disposition path which could be achieved in 5-6 years given the 60-70% construction status. Even if an alternative being proposed or studied by DOE is cheaper than MOX, will it achieve the removal of plutonium faster?  It is surprising that the media, anti-nuclear special interests groups and the general public is not making the removal of plutonium the primary driver in the MOX discussion.

As indicated in a 2005 GAO report, SRS has already received nearly 1,900 containers of plutonium from the Rocky Flats site in Colorado, and stabilization and packaging is still ongoing at other DOE sites. DOE estimated it will have nearly 5,700 plutonium storage containers that could eventually be shipped to SRS.

Overall the US has declared 61.5 MT of plutonium to be excess to potential use in nuclear weapons, out of the inventory of 99.5 MT held by the US Government in 1994 after the end of the Cold War. Click here for the Plutonium Balance.  From the 61.5 MT of excess plutonium, at least 41.1 MT is likely to prove suitable for MOX fuel fabrication. Up to 9 MT of non-weapons-grade plutonium and very impure plutonium (non-"MOXable") will be disposed by other methods, including disposal to WIPP as TRU waste or by co-disposal with High Level Waste. DOE is currently evaluating optimum pathways for approximately 6 MT of non-pit metal and oxide, which could include processing to meet MOX requirements or processing.

Governor Haley's lawsuit is not the only attempt to ensure plutonium leaves the state of South Carolina.  Back in 2002, then Governor Hodges suggested that the state of South Carolina would likely sue DOE over its decision to begin plutonium shipments to SRS. He sought legally binding obligations from DOE that the plutonium will not remain indefinitely in South Carolina. 

In an April 12, 2002 letter, then Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, promised Hodges that DOE would incorporate assurances into a revised Record of Decision, but refused to enter into a consent decree with the state that would give his pledge the binding force of a court order. He further claimed that judicial intervention into the pending shipments would be wholly irresponsible, especially at a time when we have clear evidence that terrorist groups are seeking access to nuclear materials. He further admonished the potential South Carolina lawsuit, by saying it would amount to "an attempt to conduct national security and foreign policy affairs through the judicial process" and "goes beyond what we can do."

He also outlined what he called a string of concessions to ease the governor's concerns. Among them is a formal commitment to take the plutonium back if the MOX conversion plant falls behind schedule or runs into funding trouble. Click here for a copy of the Hodges/Abraham correspondence.

The national security and terrorist situation has not changed and may even be more heighten in 2014. Plutonium promises need to be kept!