Five years after groundbreaking, a cornerstone of the nation's nonproliferation program continues to take shape in South Carolina -- but the $4.86 billion plan to dispose of material from dismantled nuclear bombs still faces major challenges.
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The mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility, or "MOX plant," is designed to blend plutonium from 17,000 old warheads into fuel for commercial power reactors.
The heavily fortified building is very much on schedule, but the government's quest for clients willing to use the plant's unusual product is proceeding more slowly.
Just a year after construction began, the outlook was promising. Duke Energy agreed in 2007 to use the fuel -- expected to be available in 2018 -- but quietly abandoned its efforts two years later.
The National Nuclear Security Administration later secured an agreement with Tennessee Valley Authority, which today remains the most promising prospect.
"We still have the interagency agreement with TVA by which they would put MOX fuel in up to five of their reactors," said Ken Bromberg, the NNSA's assistant deputy administrator for fissile materials disposition.
Those reactors alone, he added, could consume 80 percent to 100 percent of the MOX plant's annual fuel production.
Any formal agreement, however, is still a long way off and cannot move forward until the completion of a supplemental environmental impact statement that explores the impacts and consequences of using MOX fuel.
"At this point we're pretty positive about TVA, but we can't count on it yet," Bromberg said. "They haven't made a decision to use it yet, but we hope they will within a year-and-a-half."
TVA is evaluating the use of the fuel at its two Sequoyah reactors, located along eastern Tennessee's Chickamauga Reservoir 18 miles from Chattanooga; and at its Browns Ferry site, which houses three reactors on the shore of northern Alabama's Wheeler Reservoir.
Another possible user is Energy Northwest in Richland, Wash., which is considering the use of MOX fuel at its Columbia Generating Station.
The utility has been quietly exploring such options for more than a year and signed the first contract to formalize that interest just last month.
As part of that program, contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services has agreed to fund an 18-month study at the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The laboratory is also developing subcontracts with Energy Northwest and GE Hitachi.
Although critics of the program have voiced concerns over the suitability of MOX fuel for commercial reactors, Energy Northwest's engineers wrote in a company presentation that they found little reason to worry about the quality of the fuel.
"We believe the MOX pins will have little actual impact on the operation of Columbia Generation Station and this impact can be effectively monitored and managed," the summary said. "Rather, we see this as a management policy decision on whether or not to be one of the leaders in pursuing the use of MOX in a U.S. boiling water reactor."
Other potential clients are also being courted, but negotiations have not advanced to the point where any agreements can be made public, according to department officials.
At the construction area within Savannah River Site, workers continue to add steel and concrete to the main processing building and a final decision is expected soon on where the plutonium "pits" from dismantled nuclear bombs will be converted to a powdered form that can be used as raw material in the MOX plant.
The initial plan was to construct a freestanding Pit Disassembly & Conversion Facility adjacent to the MOX complex. An additional alternative in which existing buildings in the K Reactor area would house that process is also being studied. The Energy Department recently asked project officials to accelerate the decision making process to avoid further delays.
In March, the U.S. Government Accountability Office questioned whether the pit disassembly issue could be decided, and the facility built, in time to provide the flow of raw material needed for the MOX plant to begin fuel production on time.
The investigators wrote that it "seems unlikely that NNSA will be able to establish this capability in time to produce the plutonium feedstock needed to operate the (MOX plant) due to the amount of time and effort needed to reconsider alternatives and construct a facility." GAO also recommended an immediate plan to assess how much plutonium might be available from existing sources that could be used as feedstock for the MOX plant if the pit disassembly program was delayed.
Bromberg said officials are confident there will be ample plutonium available to ensure a steady supply of raw material for the MOX plant's startup.
"We have more than four tons of plutonium stored in K Reactor at SRS, that came from Los Alamos and Rocky Flats, so we could start supplying feedstock tomorrow if we were up and operating," he said. "Over and above that we have a program at Los Alamos Lab where they are demonstrating new technology for taking apart these pits, and that program will produce two tons over next several years."
The MOX plant's mission involves disposing of 3.5 metric tons of plutonium each year, eventually blending 34 metric tons -- and possibly more. The program is part of the U.S. nonproliferation strategy to eliminate weapons-grade materials and prevent their exploitation by terrorists. It is also part of an agreement in which Russia will dispose of similar amounts of bomb-grade plutonium.
From a construction standpoint, the program is proceeding on schedule, said MOX Federal Project Director Clay Ramsey.
"The major building -- the concrete structure that houses the project and processing activity -- is just past two thirds and they have already started putting the roof on in one corner. We still have a third of the way to go."
Ramsey said the current workforce is just more than 1,800, compared with about 2,100 last fall -- with the decline due to cold weather that made working at night more difficult. As the weather warms up, the number of workers is expected to grow.
In all, there are 16 buildings associated with the project, of which 11 are complete. "Our plan is to introduce material in October of 2016 or as soon as we are authorized."
The project is also subject to the regulatory authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which inspects the construction activities regularly.
Although testing could begin in 2016, it will take about two years before the plant is in standard production mode.
"There needs to be a long, rigorous amount of testing and certification of the process, both by us and the NRC -- and also by the utilities who ultimately certify the acceptability of the fuel they are purchasing," Ramsey said. "We expect to have material at the back end and available and ready to ship by fall of 2018."
Reach Rob Pavey at (706) 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/mox/faq.html
Questions about TVS's potential use of MOX:
http://www.spdsupplementaleis.com/qanda.htm
Fissile material disposition plans for 2011:
http://www.fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/02/us_fissile_material_dispo.html
American-Russian nonproliferation agreement:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/04/140097.htm
TVA's Browns Ferry Plant:
http://www.tva.gov/sites/brownsferry.htm
TVA's Sequoyah Plant:
About Russia's and the U.S.'s Plutonium Disposition Protocol:
Source: U.S. State Department
I keep saying we should put a sign on I-95 saying, "Cheap Reactor Fuel." Maybe give the buyers free SC tobacco containing cigarettes. We need a federal law to make the power companies, public and private, use the stuff. If not we wasted lots of money.
Why won't DOE reveal plans for testing MOX fuel in commercial reactors? Such NRC-licensed testing will take 5-6 years or more and the test fuel will have to be made in the MOX plant after starts. As the MOX could not then produce large amounts of fuel given unknowns about testing and licensing, it could sit inactive for a number of years. The ball is in DOE's court to explain a logical time line for this program as such does not now exist. But all we are getting is a very noticeable silence as to what's up with the troubled program.
Nothing more than an expensive welfare program for government contractors.
iletuknow, It could be but at least the welfare is given to those that work and employee people and not those that sit on the porch with a 40oz. in their hands.
A lot of you guys are missing the whole point of MOX. It is to get rid of some nasty stuff. It seems like those in favor of making the world a better place would be for this project. Yes, there are challenges but it is great project that will help get rid of some of the most dangerous material in the world. And you really cant call it a welfare program since the people on that project work, and oh yeah, PAY TAXES! Come on... find something better to waste your breath on!
There has already been MOX fuel reactors built and used. Although not under the "MOX" title. Also "regular" power reactors (Uranium Oxide) get more power from Plutonium fission than Uranium fission toward the end of the 18 month fuel cycle. The point is that this idea of mixing Pu and U is not something new but is well understood. What is new, and in my mind very cool, is using material that was intended for weapons for commercial power.
iletuknow, You may think this program is a welfare program, and a free checkbook for goverment contractors, and you may be right. But i can tell you personally this project has reached out to multiple states to keep honest working people from loosing thier homes and fending for the loved ones. If there is one thing this country knows how to do and is spend money like its water, but the people are free and can count on our goverment to keep us feed. So if a few crooks get rich and thousands keep food on the table so be it...
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