MOX plant at Savannah River Site will cost $12 billion more than initially thought [View all]

AIKEN, SC -- From an upper floor in the federal government’s hulking nuclear fuel plant, construction managers pointed at a section of concrete wall they said was installed incorrectly.

The wall had to be redone so key electrical work could be constructed inside the partially finished building. A few floors down, federal officials nodded at sloping pipes that didn’t meet specifications and unused equipment that had been ordered but never needed.

Those shortcomings are among a multitude of problems that today show how hard it has been to build a mixed oxide fuel factory at the Savannah River Site, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The fuel factory, known commonly as the MOX plant, is $12 billion over budget and potentially decades away from completion, according to the latest estimates, released Thursday by DOE officials. Workers began building the plant in 2007.

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