New DOE cost study on plutonium disposal options gets fast House pushback

摘要

A new study commissioned by the Energy Department raises the estimated life-cycle cost of its Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabri­cation Facility to $47.5 billion while peg­ging an alternative method for disposing of surplus weapons plutonium through down-blending and burial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant at $17.5 billion-cost estimates that were immediately chal­lenged by the House Appropriations Com­mittee and the contractor building the so-called MOX plant.