More funding will go to MOX facility

AIKEN --- A national focus on nuclear waste cleanup could mean millions of additional dollars for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Site at the Savannah River Site.

In the fiscal 2009 federal budget President Bush unveiled Monday, allocations for the MOX facility would increase by $208.8 million to $487 million.

The MOX facility, which is expected to open in 2016, would dispose of 34 metric tons, or about 75,000 pounds, of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium for fuel use in commercial nuclear reactors. The cleanup effort is part of a nuclear nonproliferation agreement between the United States and Russia to protect, secure and dispose of nuclear weapons material.

As one of the biggest money winners in the first trillion-dollar budget, the U.S. Department of Energy's $25 billion budget increased $1.073 billion from 2008 appropriations. The increase reflects Mr. Bush's focus on alternative energy forms and clean fuel sources, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he was "pleased to see DOE has reaffirmed its commitment to the MOX program. However, it is still early in the process and there is much work to be done on the SRS budget. I look forward to working with Jim DeMint, Gresham Barrett, Joe Wilson, and other members of the congressional delegation to fund missions at SRS."

About $5.5 billion of the $25 billion budget will be available for environmental management, which includes nuclear-waste cleanup at the Savannah River Site.

Money for research at the Savannah River National Lab will more than likely decrease. The president's proposed budget cuts the lab by $5.5 million to $66 million in fiscal 2009.

Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett was not immediately available for comment about budget allocations.

Allocations for the Savannah River Ecology Lab were also excluded. The lab has been weened from DOE funding in the past few years.

Carl Bergmann, a University of Georgia associate research scientist who became SREL's director in June, said the lab continues to seek funding through grants, contract work and other outside sources, both within and outside DOE.

At one time, the lab received as much as $8 million a year in DOE support, but that figure fell to just $1 million in 2006 and the lab reduced its staff from 110 to 68, with anticipated attrition reducing the staff to about 40 positions later this year.

Dr. Bergmann said the lab's future depends on its ability to compete for specific projects that will bring dollars on a case-by-case basis.

"That seems to be happening very well right now," he said. "What we have found is, there is a great willingness among all the parties on site to work with us."

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