Congressional supporters are speaking out against a study that outlines the projected lifecycle cost of the nation's plutonium-disposition program, including the Savannah River Site's Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility.
The report, which has not yet been fully released to the public, states the lifecycle cost of the MOX project will be $51 billion. That cradle-to-grave figure includes the $4.4 billion that already has been spent, the completion of the main MOX facility, other construction, labor and related costs for the entire lifespan and two-decade planned operation of the project.
Three of the Palmetto State's congressmen, Republicans Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Rep. Joe Wilson, released a statement Thursday questioning the study, conducted by Aerospace Corp. - a California nonprofit that operates a federally funded research and development center.
The company was instructed to conduct a Congressionally mandated cost analysis of the MOX facility. The facility is an integral part of the nation's plutonium-disposition program. The program is headed up by contractor CB&I MOX Services and is part of a nonproliferation agreement with Russia that states each nation must dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has reported that it may take months before the study is released to the public.
Aerospace concluded that the $51 billion is based on whether MOX was to be funded at $500 million per year, closer to the level the Department of Energy has said it would take to make significant progress. If MOX was funded at $375 million per year - $30 million less than its current funding - Aerospace reported it would cost about $110 billion to complete.
But Thursday's letter from Wilson, Graham and Scott questions both the cost analysis and timeframe.
"Having already spent $4.4 billion on the project to achieve roughly 65 percent completion, we find it difficult to understand how completing and operating the project will cost another $47.5 billion," they wrote.
Bryan Wilkes, a spokesperson for CB&I Project Services group, said the group also vigorously disagrees with the numbers.
"By our calculations, it will take an additional $3.3 billion to finish the main building and five to nine years to complete, depending on the amount of annual funding," Wilkes said. "The biggest costs are going to be labor costs, and that's how we can be certain in our estimates."
The South Carolina Congressmen added in the statement that it's imperative for the contractor, the Department of Energy and Aerospace to collaborative on a final cost for the project.
"This is essential to ensuring the project is finished, and that taxpayer money is not squandered in the process," they wrote.
The MOX project employs about 1,700 people. The project is currently operating on $345 million in annual funding. President Barack Obama's most recent budget proposal aims to provide the same level of funding in fiscal year 2016. The House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees will consider appropriations for the facility next week.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.