Contract loss leaves future of SRS plant uncertain

As the only commercial client who intended to buy MOX fuel from the $4.8 billion plant ends its contract, what will the ramifications be for the project and SRS?

In December, Duke Energy let its contract to use the fuel in its reactors lapse. This leaves the multibillion dollar facility currently under construction without a customer.

Duke Energy allowed its contract to buy the fuel expire Dec. 1, 2008, said Duke Energy spokesperson Rita Sipe.

The mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility is a federal project to build a facility that would dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium and create mixed-oxide fuel, commonly called MOX, at the Savannah River Site.

The facility is scheduled to open in 2016.

Though the contract has expired, contractor Shaw/Areva MOX Services does not see this as the end of MOX or even the end of its relationship with Duke Energy.

"While our contract with Duke has expired, Duke has expressed their continued interest in remaining a part of the nation's nonproliferation program through the irradiation of the DOE's Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel," MOX Services said in a statement Monday. "Duke has been a valuable partner, and we value their continued support for the MOX Project. MOX Services is continuing to work with Duke and other utilities that responded positively to the expression of interest for utilities interested in using DOE's MOX fuel."

"The way the contract was written, it automatically terminated Dec. 1 if new terms had not been agreed upon," Sipe said. "We more or less ran out of time. We sent MOX Services a letter saying we are still supportive of the program."

According to project opponent Friends of the Earth (FOE), DOE is speaking with three utilities about possible MOX use and Duke may reenter negotiations.

Environmental groups such as FOE would like Duke's withdrawal to be the death knell to what they call the "misguided and costly" MOX program and have called for the program "to be terminated once and for all."

"Given the lack of reactors to use the plutonium fuel and ongoing problems over the last decade with this program, it is past time for Congress to pull the plug and halt construction of the MOX plant under construction at the Savannah River Site," said Tom Clements, Southeastern Nuclear campaign coordinator with FOE. "The events around the loss of the Duke reactors should serve as a red flag to other utilities that their participation in the troubled plutonium program will be fraught with risks and obstacles."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.