Letter to Secretary Moniz - "Insurmountable' Problems with DOE Plan to Scrap MOX Program

Letter

Dear Secretary Moniz:

We have long held that your current idea to terminate the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) faces insurmountable problems both at home and abroad. Our concerns were further validated this week in comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to Russian regional and local media on April 7, President Putin harshly criticized your attempt to deviate from the terms of the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) stating that, "[The United States] announced that they plan to dispose of their accumulated highly enriched nuclear fuel by using a method other than what we agreed on," and expressed concern that the dilute South Carolina Senators Noteand dispose alternative endorsed by the Obama Administration, "preserve[s] what is known as the breakout potential, in other words it can be retrieved, reprocessed and converted into weapons-grade plutonium again." Putin concluded his assessment of the current state of the PMDA by stating that "[o]ur partners must understand ... that they should be able to meet their obligations." Putin cited the abandonment of this agreement as a reason why he chose to skip the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, one of President Obama's top priorities.

During a Senate Appropriations hearing before the Energy and Water subcommittee, you testified that, "[we] have had informal discussions [with the Russians] which have been positive." Clearly, this is not the case and unfortunately fits a pattern when it comes to dealing with DOE. DOE has thus far been unable to answer the most basic of questions relating to the path forward with a MOX alternative. Additionally, DOE has yet to answer the policy and technical questions included in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act. Any effort to pivot away from the MOX program should be closely scrutinized to ensure the mistakes endemic in all major DOE programs are not repeated.

Despite the many potentially insurmountable domestic and international obstacles to changing the terms of the PMDA, DOE decided to cancel the MOX program in the President's FY17 budget request. Again, we reiterate your current plan has not been fully vetted, does not have validated cost estimates, has numerous unanswered technical questions, and leads to the permanent orphaning of at least 27 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium, enough for thousands of warheads. This is why we will pursue all the tools at our disposal to ensure that construction on the MOX program proceeds until all questions about alternatives are favorably resolved.

Finally, President Obama has put a lot of time, energy, and effort into hosting these nuclear security and nonproliferation summits. We find it unfortunate that DOE's short sighted efforts to kill MOX have allowed President Putin -- who is no friend of the United States and our foreign policy objectives -- to claim the high ground about living up to international agreements. We fear this Administration's recent words and actions on MOX have unnecessarily harmed our nation's long-time leadership role when it comes to nuclear nonproliferation.

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