Article: MOX plant will open as scheduled

["Bruce Bugg" <obbugg@dmvs.ga.gov>]

(Web Site Requires Registration) http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/022004/met_351438.shtml





MOX plant will open as scheduled





AIKEN - A $1.6 billion nuclear fuel conversion plant to be built at the Savannah River Site will open on schedule despite an ongoing liability dispute between the United States and Russia, the U.S. secretary of energy said in a report to Congress.



In a mandated annual report released Thursday on the mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, project, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the plant will start converting plutonium from deactivated nuclear weapons to be burned in commercial nuclear reactors by January 2009.



"While the start of construction will be delayed due to our ongoing disagreement with Russia regarding liability, we are confident we will be able to meet overall program objectives - the elimination of enough weapon-grade plutonium for thousands of nuclear weapons," Mr. Abraham wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.



Conversion plants are slated for construction in both countries as part of a plan to reduce plutonium from nuclear stockpiles in the United States and Russia.



But Russian Federation officials want the U.S. to pick up the liability tab for work done in Russia, delaying construction of MOX facilities in both countries, Mr. Abraham said.



"The liability problem remains unsolved," the secretary wrote in his letter.



"However, we are determined to resolve this issue in time to prevent slippages that will prevent us from meeting our 2009 commitments."



In 2002, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., authored legislation with Sen. Strom Thurmond that sets strict timelines for the project, including fines of as much as $100 million a year for delays and a legal requirement to remove plutonium from South Carolina should the mixed oxide fuel project fail.



"I'm very pleased with the secretary's certification," Mr. Graham said in a prepared statement.



"This is an important program, taking the weapons of the Cold War and turning them into fuel to make electricity," he said.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Capt. Bruce Bugg

Special Projects Coordinator

Law Enforcement Division

Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety

P.O. Box 80447 

Conyers, GA  30013-8047

voice:	678.413.8825

fax:	678.413.8832

e-mail:	obbugg@dmvs.ga.gov



"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." -- Charles Mingus (Musician, 1922- )



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