Nuclear leak: UCS releases private DOE report

Source: Fierce Energy

A new study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contends that it would be cheaper and far less risky to dispose of 34 metric tons of U.S. surplus plutonium at a federal nuclear waste repository in New Mexico than convert it into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for commercial nuclear power plants at the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina.

The study has yet to be officially released, but the results have been obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) who has made them public.

The report was produced by a team of experts from U.S. nuclear laboratories, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the commercial nuclear power industry. The team's analysis is consistent with the conclusion of a January 2015 UCS report, which recommended that the DOE shut down the MOX facility -- whose estimated life-cycle cost has gone from $1.6 billion to more than $30 billion -- and ship the surplus plutonium to the New Mexico facility.

The unreleased report describes in detail the "difficult, downward spiraling circumstances" that have plagued the MOX program and contributed to the delays and massive cost overruns at the half-built MOX facility, located at the federal Savannah River Site near Aiken. High staff turnover, the need to replace improperly installed equipment, and an antagonistic relationship between the local federal project director and the contractor are only some of the factors undermining the project. The new report also notes that there are "no obvious silver bullets" to reduce the life-cycle cost of the MOX approach.

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Read more: http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/nuclear-leak-ucs-releases-private-doe-report/2015-08-21