Defense Bill Includes MOX Funding, Awaits Trump Signature

November 30, 2017

The Aiken Standard

Thomas Gardinier

The House of Representatives celebrated the passage of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act today, which will provide a funding framework for the nation's defense activities if signed by President Donald Trump, including an increase in funding for Aiken's Savannah River Site.

House Republican leaders are looking to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next week and keep the government's doors open through Dec. 22.

With the additional time, the GOP hopes talks with Democrats over spending and immigration could produce a longer-term agreement into January of next year. Leaders want a bipartisan agreement on spending increases for the Pentagon and domestic agencies, whose budgets otherwise would be frozen.

The NDAA recently came out of a conference committee, where appointed members of the House and Senate sat down to negotiate variations of each chamber's version to create the final version of the bill.

MOX proponent and member of South Carolina's Congressional delegation U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., was a member of the conference.

"I was grateful to serve as one of Speaker Paul Ryan's conferees, and I strongly support the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act," Wilson said. "The bill is good for South Carolina. Vital national security investments were included in the NDAA, such as funds the Savannah River Site, including the continued construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility."

Proposed SRS funding
SRS funding in 2017 tallied more than $1.29 billion. Although requests from the Department of Energy came in around $1.28 billion, Congress allocated more than $1.3 billion for SRS in 2018. Those figures don't include funding for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility, or MOX, currently underway at SRS. MOX is funded under the NDAA separately from the rest of SRS as a project under the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA.
The 2018 funding for MOX remains at $340 million, consistent with recent years' allocations. The facility is years behind schedule and potentially tens of billions of dollars over projected life-cycle costs.
Cost estimates differ between the NNSA, the semi-autonomous branch of the DOE overseeing the facility, and CB&I Areva MOX Services, the contract company. The two entities are entrenched in an active lawsuit to iron out differences.

Funding for Salt Waste Disposal Facility
The NDAA authorized $160 million for the Salt Waste Disposal Facility in 2017; the 2018 figure is only $1 million less. That facility is designed for high capacity processing of the largest portion of liquid waste, primarily from Cold War weapons production. The facility's construction was completed in 2016 and is set to begin live chemical operations testing in coming months.
The waste processed through SWPF is slated for multi-million gallon waste vaults, called Salt Disposal Units. Unit 7, the next to be constructed at SRS, saw a large uptick in funding. Figures for 2018 rose to $40 million, roughly four times the funding from 2017.
The NDAA also funds tritium operations, which are necessary to maintain the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile. The nation's only tritium capture operation is housed at SRS. For the first time in its history, the tritium enterprise completed three capture cycles in 2017; it typically captures only one.
NDAA 2017 figures for tritium sustainment reached about $109 million. Funding for tritium sustainment in 2018 climbed to more than $198 million with an additional $6.8 million allotted for a project in "tritium production capability." It was not immediately clear what the project was designed for or how the funding increase might connect to higher tritium capture operations in 2018.
While Trump initially requested to cut funding for MOX construction, he has been a proponent of military spending and strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He is expected to sign the bill.

Battles of immigration loom
The government's spending runs out a week from Friday, with little time for negotiations.
Battles over immigration and Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall could still threaten to spark a government shutdown, either just before Christmas or in January.
The Associated Press contributed to the article.