SRS Plutonium Plant will be Completed on Time

February 25, 2004

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said that a 10-month delay in construction has not changed the schedule for a new plutonium plant at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, SC.

Abraham has written the House Armed Services Committee, saying the plant to convert plutonium from nuclear weapons to a fuel for commercial nuclear reactors called MOX, will be completed by 2009.

The Energy Department said earlier this month the MOX plant will be delayed because of a liability dispute over American contractors working on a similar plant in Russia.