FY 2015 budget request would put MOX facility on hold

摘要

After casting doubt last year on the future of the National Nuclear Security Administration's Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) with a fiscal year 2014 budget request that included a serious cut in funding for the project, the Obama administration is now calling for the facility at South Carolina's Savannah River Site to be put in "cold standby" while other avenues for plutonium disposition are explored. In its FY 2015 budget proposal, delivered to Congress on March 4, the administration cited cost overruns as the reason behind its decision to halt progress on the MFFF, the facility intended to play a key role in meeting the nation's commitments under the U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management Disposition Agreement, which calls for each nation to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium.