Photo: The heart of the MOX
boondoggle cover-up: $12 billion MOX plant under construction at Savannah River
Site (SRS), October 25, 2014.
"©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch" - photo can be used with this credit - photos not posted by DOE at www.srs.gov or www.energy.gov
DOE's Efforts to Carry Out the $51+ Billion Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project Have Failed
In photo, note rebar sticking out of external wall facing viewer - this is the unfinished Gabion security wall - as of March 25, 2016 this wall was still unfinished, proof that the outside of the MOX plant is not finished as has been claimed.
Business at its Ugly Usual with DOE and Congress: As of February 20, 2017 there is Still No Accountability to the Tax-Paying Public for the U.S. DOE's Grossly Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project, a Textbook Case of Big Government's Inability to Manage a Costly, Complex Project. When will Secretary of Energy Moniz and Congress act to hold those responsible accountable for the failed MOX project? When the 8-year old cost estimate for the project be updated (rebaselined)? Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham, top MOX protector over the last decade, walks free of any accountability for his blind allegiance to the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices.
SRS Watch requested in a letter hand delivered to US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on July 29, 2014 that he "Take immediate steps to hold managers in DOE, NNSA and Shaw AREVA MOX Services accountable for the massive cost overruns and schedule delays associated with MOX project." Will Secretary Moniz act responsibly and fulfill his obligations as a public servant? Will he hold specific individuals and companies - including CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work) accountable and make sure that their glaringly inadequate abilities in managing the MOX boondoggle are not applied elsewhere in DOE?
Let us know who you think must be held accountable: srswatch@gmail.com, tel. 803-834-3084.
1033: Days since Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson were requested by SRS Watch to help obtain and release AREVA’s MOX life-cycle cost estimate and days they have failed the American people in not getting the estimate or holding DOE, NNSA, CB&I AREVA MOX Services or Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC work) accountable for possible waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement & Corruption. Warning: We are dealing with big spenders who are protecting inept DOE officials and $pecial interest$ who are profiting
from the MOX mega-boondoggle.
--------
SAVANNAH RIVER SITE WATCH
--- working for the public interest by monitoring activities at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina and other DOE and commercial nuclear projects in the southeastern U.S. region and beyond ---
1112 Florence Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201 USA
tel. 1-803-834-3084, srswatch@gmail.com
- unsolicited documents informational in nature are welcome, particularly related to "waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement" with SRS projects -
"©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch" - photo can be used with this credit - photos not posted by DOE at www.srs.gov or www.energy.gov
DOE's Efforts to Carry Out the $51+ Billion Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project Have Failed
In photo, note rebar sticking out of external wall facing viewer - this is the unfinished Gabion security wall - as of March 25, 2016 this wall was still unfinished, proof that the outside of the MOX plant is not finished as has been claimed.
Business at its Ugly Usual with DOE and Congress: As of February 20, 2017 there is Still No Accountability to the Tax-Paying Public for the U.S. DOE's Grossly Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project, a Textbook Case of Big Government's Inability to Manage a Costly, Complex Project. When will Secretary of Energy Moniz and Congress act to hold those responsible accountable for the failed MOX project? When the 8-year old cost estimate for the project be updated (rebaselined)? Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham, top MOX protector over the last decade, walks free of any accountability for his blind allegiance to the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices.
SRS Watch requested in a letter hand delivered to US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on July 29, 2014 that he "Take immediate steps to hold managers in DOE, NNSA and Shaw AREVA MOX Services accountable for the massive cost overruns and schedule delays associated with MOX project." Will Secretary Moniz act responsibly and fulfill his obligations as a public servant? Will he hold specific individuals and companies - including CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work) accountable and make sure that their glaringly inadequate abilities in managing the MOX boondoggle are not applied elsewhere in DOE?
Let us know who you think must be held accountable: srswatch@gmail.com, tel. 803-834-3084.
1033: Days since Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson were requested by SRS Watch to help obtain and release AREVA’s MOX life-cycle cost estimate and days they have failed the American people in not getting the estimate or holding DOE, NNSA, CB&I AREVA MOX Services or Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC work) accountable for possible waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement & Corruption. Warning: We are dealing with big spenders who are protecting inept DOE officials and $pecial interest$ who are profiting
from the MOX mega-boondoggle.
--------
SAVANNAH RIVER SITE WATCH
--- working for the public interest by monitoring activities at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina and other DOE and commercial nuclear projects in the southeastern U.S. region and beyond ---
1112 Florence Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201 USA
tel. 1-803-834-3084, srswatch@gmail.com
- unsolicited documents informational in nature are welcome, particularly related to "waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement" with SRS projects -
|
Savannah
River Site Watch News and Comments 
It's
already 20 February in this new year of 2017 and Uncle Tom Cobleigh
informs us that he's had a dream that more information about the
"reinstallation" disaster and "rework
definitions" at the plutonium fuel MOX project will be
forthcoming....
Stand by for a sliver of insight into how commodities improperly installed in the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will somewhat be dealt with via classifying types of rework, ripping poor quality work out and reinstalling them. Tom nods in agreement that NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices should be fully informing the public about this dreadful situation but what can you say when there is a near total lack of accountability and almost no known oversight with the MOX boondoggle? (If accountability and oversight exists, he says, then prove it!) Neither Ole Tom Cobleigh nor anyone else can yet explain why supposed management and alleged oversight by DOE/NNSA and Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services was so poor for so many years. How could they have possibly allowed so many improperly installed commodities at the MOX plant at such great cost to hard working taxpayers? He's hoping investigations into waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption will one day tell the perplexing MOX Madness story As he ponders himself playing Mad Mox in the farcical MOX reality movie, no wonder Ole Tom smells a MOX rat over in the inky shadows..... photo: Uncle Tom Cobleigh after he considered the MOX mess for too long on a cold winter's night. Hmmm...is it waste....is it fraud...is it abuse...is it mismanagement...is it corruption...is it incompetence...so much to consider...is it all of the above? He goes deeper into thought and wonders how can workers be protected from taking most of the hit when it all crumbles down.....who is now acting on their behalf...? ----- 
WARNING: NRC FINDS MOX NUTS LOOSE at SRS! It's been a very bruising week in federal court for the debacle known as MOX and now this devastating news about MOX nuts! We edge ever closer to finding out about the true extent of the "rework" problems at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility... SRS Watch news - February 9, 2017 NRC Inspection Report Finds Violations at Plutonium Fuel MOX Plant, Cites Multiple Instances Related to Loose Bolts in Safety-Related Ductwork NRC Overlooks Looming Problems in MOX Plant Construction as "Rework" Problems Pose Challenges, Inspections Must Expand Columbia, South Carolina – An inspection of the $17 billion Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has resulted in issuance of a safety-related violation at the facility. The violation was communicated to CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the contractor in charge of design and constructing the MOX facility, on February 2, 2017 and made public on February 8. In the trend to keep information from the public about the problem-plagued project, neither MOX Services nor the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), in charge of the MOX project, publicized the violation. >>> full SRS Watch "MOX Nuts!" news release, with link to the NRC violation and inspection report --- linked here photo: April 2015, "@High Flyer, special to SRS Watch;" MOX plant in foreground at DOE's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, with Plant Vogtle, site of problem-plagued construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, in the background, across the Savannah River in the state of Georgia ----- 
February
7, 2017 - Apologies to our readers about the scope of needed
investigations into the MOX boondoggle
Concerning the mismanaged MOX project, we have continually called for investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement - terminology from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Based on what we hear about how financial affairs have been run with the project, we realize that we have failed to include something else that needs urgent investigation: CORRUPTION. Henceforth, we pledge to be more accurate in calling for what needs to be investigated with this debacle of epic proportions: waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement & corruption. Did we miss anything? ---- 
February
5, 2017: Attention MOX Trackers and MOX Fraudster$ (you know who
you are...)!
Let's hear a big OINK from MOX Fraudster$ and Profiteer$ who are Keeping those MFFF Construction "Work Packages" Open! ---- See "Fun" MOX Plant Construction Descriptive Terms Below for this Ugly Pig in a Poke ---- Apologies to pigs...... Notice how nobody is out there is substantively defending the MOX plant construction project? The usual politicians push for the wasteful spending to continue but can make no case for the project's viability. For the last many months, an eerie silence has fallen over the project as we monitor developments concerning investigations into possible waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption by DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC work) and others. CB&I AREVA MOX Services and CB&I Project Services Group may be scrambling to correct the construction damage done under its watch but it sounds like it may be far too little, far too late. While we never hear positive descriptions of the status of construction at the project, here's what we do hear - if you hear other descriptive terms, positive or negative, please pass them on: srswatch@gmail.com Scam project -- Dog and pony show -- Boondoggle -- Debacle -- Failed project -- Dead-end project -- Make-work project -- Jobs program -- Circus act -- Oz operation -- Pig in a poke -- Doomed project -- Not viable -- Unsustainable -- On termination track -- Fake project -- Fraudulent project More terms that have come in to describe the MOX project: Black hole -- Money pit -- Hopeless earmark -- Shameless rip-off -- Mismanaged project -- Mega-boondoggle -- Disgraceful -- Pathetic -- A major embarrassment -- In shambles -- @*## $&%! And more: Major rip-off -- Nightmare -- Milking-the-cow project -- MOX madness -- Mayhem -- Make-work project -- Abandoned project (by DOE/NNSA) -- Unsalvageable -- MOX Potemkin Village If you can make a well-documented case that the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) construction is a good, viable project and that the above terminology is inaccurate, please do so. So far we've seen no information, much less proof, making any case for project's viability. ---- 
Proposal
for Canadian High-Level Waste to SRS Poses Early Test of President Trump
& DOE Secretary Perry: Will it be Business as Usual at DOE or Will
Harebrained Dumping-for-Profit Schemes be Halted?
Will the DOE Swamp be Drained or Filled Up with More of Our $$$$$? Our readers will know that DOE has teamed up with Chalk River Labs in Ontario, Canada to pursue dumping of 6000 gallons of liquid high-level nuclear waste from Chalk River at SRS. DOE would be paid $60 million for the unprecedented transport and dumping of this high-level nuclear material, a byproduct of production of medical isotopes that contains some US-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU). Environmental and public interest groups, including SRS Watch, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to require DOE to at least prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposal, including an analysis of the viable and practical option of "downblending" the HEU in waste at Chalk River, solidifying it and managing it there. DOE has for four years refused to prepare an EIS or review the disposal-in-Canada option. (See Feb. 2013 memo to DOE on the matter.) A federal court hearing was held in court in DC on January 18 and a ruling is expected soon. But no matter what the court does, DOE can send a message to profiteers at DOE/SRS/Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and halt the scheme now. Drain the swamp, as pledged! See latest court filings from the plaintiffs and Department of Justice/DOE: 1. Filing by plaintiffs' lawyer, January 12, 2017: PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY TO DEFENDANTS’ OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD AND TO SUBMIT EXTRA-RECORD DOCUMENTS 2. Filing by DOJ, January 10, 2017: DEFENDANTS’ COMBINED REPLY IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION TO STRIKE AND OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD AND TO SUBMIT EXTRA-RECORD DOCUMENTS photo: Chalk River Lab, on the Ottawa River in Ontario ----- 
Time for President Trump to Drain the Swamp of the $17 Billion
MOX Lizard Men & Terminate the Big Spenders' MOX
Scam
Here is South Carolina we know a thing or two about Lizard Man (aka chupacabra) lurking down in the swamp, along with a cast of alligators and water moccasins (poisonous snakes). For too long the MOX Lizard Men at SRS and in France have abused the tax payer with the failed MOX project and their big spender pals in Congress have kept the plutonium fuel MOX boondoggle going. He tried but President Obama utterly failed in stopping the MOX debacle. Now, it's time for President Trump and DOE Secretary Perry to step up to the plate, apply force and terminate MOX. They must prove they will shake up the establishment and usher in fiscal conservatism and end the MOX boondoggle. We will be watching what happens to the the largest construction project in South Carolina and one of the largest ever in the US. Along with termination, must come in-depth investigations into waste fraud, abuse and mismanagement by DOE officials and managers at CB&I AREVA MOX Services and such contractors as Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched and exploited the HVAC work, causing massive cost overruns and negative impacts to other installations in the partially constructed MOX building). The political scene may have changed but the debilitating facts about MOX haven't and the project simply isn't viable, as SRS Watch outlined in December 2016. Thanks for your support in helping cage and terminate the MOX Lizard Men! ----- 
January
17, 2017 - Bonus Fee for MOX boondoggle? How can a bonus of any size
for CB&I AREVA MOX Services be justified for the failed MOX
project?
Why is DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration dragging its feet in releasing the Fiscal Year 2016 bonus fee assessment for the performance of CB&I AREVA MOX Services in designing and constructing the MOX plant at SRS? Knowing that NNSA would withhold the fee assessment determination - which should have been posted on line - we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for it, dated December 13, 2016. So far, all we have received is a January 12, 2017 acknowledgement from NNSA that our FOIA request was received. See the NNSA letter linked here. What gives? Why doesn't the NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services want the public to know how the work of CB&I AREVA MOX Services has been assessed? Is this part of the cover-up of problems with the MOX debacle? We call on both the NNSA and MOX Services to halt the information blackout and release the award fee documents now! ----- 
SRS Watch Garners Support from Rock & Roll
Community!
We are pleased to announce that end-of-the year 2016 donations to SRS Watch included $5000 from the Guacamole Fund and $2000 from the Morning Sun Foundation! We had earlier noted a donation of $2500 from the ARIA Foundation. These donations are to thanks our rock & roll music friends and we are proud to have your support! Thank you very much! Your gifts will be essential in carrying out our campaign work in 2017. Rock On Y’all!!!! ---- 
Gazing into our Plutonium Crystal Ball, we predict that MOX
Madness Faces a Debilitating Year in 2017
--- Congress will initially keep the plutonium fuel MOX project at the shut-down funding level (of $340 million/year); --- Reports will underscore that the $17 billion MOX plant construction at SRS is not viable due to cost challenges and chronic design and construction problems; --- Fiscal conservatives will wake up and realize the failure that MOX has become and that it has simply become a jobs program at SRS, pushing big spenders like Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson aside and formally terminate the MOX boondoggle; --- President Trump and Secretary of Energy Perry will act in the public interest and support MOX termination and alternative projects at SRS; --- Agency and court investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment by CB&I AREVA MOX Services and such subcontractors as Superior Air Handling will ramp up, with federal fraud charges likely. Of past and current employees at CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling and other MOX contractos, who do you think is most legally culpable for possible fraudulent activities? Let us know what you think: srswatch@gmail.com "Trial delayed in multi-million-dollar Savannah River Site MOX fraud case" - Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, January 6, 2017 - linked here ----- 
Check
out the SRS Watch twitter feed on the MOX $cam.
We'll be tweeting more in 2017 on the waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement with the CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices project. https://twitter.com/SRSWatch ----- 
Perhaps our best Christmas gift of 2016 -
Nuclear Ship Savannah commemorative first day cover & stamp,
postmarked in Savannah, Georgia on August 28, 1962.
The NS Savannah, though a beautiful vessel, failed in her mission to demonstrate successful use of nuclear power for a commercial passenger/cargo vessel. She now sits forlornly at an isolated dock in the commercial harbor of Baltimore, Maryland. Her fate is unknown but some still are working to make a floating musuem of the ship. Thanks to Beyond Nuclear for this thoughtful, historical gift! ----- HAPPY MOX-FREE NEW YEAR 2017 to our readers! It's going to be an interesting year watching the mismanaged MOX project at SRS flounder and die. MOX boosters have been content to let the project barely survive and still have not attempted to present any plan as to how the project can overcome daunting funding challenges, design problems and construction mistakes. The SRS Watch take on the status of the MOX debacle under a new US adminsitration is linked here. >>> Please keep sending comments and documents about the doomed MOX project and others SRS and DOE matters to SRS Watch: srswatch@gmail.com >>> Tax-exemopt donations to SRS Watch are always welcome: SRS Watch, 1112 Florence Street, Columbia, SC 29201 >>> Follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch ----- 
SRS Continues Drone Scare Confusion - Why?
On December 19, 2016, SRS released the bonus fee for Centerra-SRS, the private company providing security at SRS, for the period April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2016. But something is very odd with the bonus fee discussion: there is no mention of the SRS "Drone Scare" that SRS whipped up during the summer of 2016. Why isn't the SRS Drone Scare, which has never been resolved for the public, mentioned in the "Award Fee Determination Scorecard" for Centerra? If Centerra resolved the issue, which appears not to be the case, why wasn't this discussed in the bonus fee document? See the bonus fee narrative for the contract for "Protective Force Security Services" linked here. We find it amazing that Centerra received 96% of the total possible fee, or $2,844,119.50, yet perhaps the most visible "security" issue of the year - the SRS Drone Scare of 2016 - is simply swept under the rug. So, the issue is left hanging but Centerra is rewarded for that. As SRS Watch, on behalf of the public wants answers about the hyped up drone issue, we filed a FOIA request in November 2016 in order to get some answers. But will SRS comply with the law and provide requested documents and photos? SRS Watch, BTW, has never even seen a drone fly. This matter underscores a big problem with DOE's annual award fees, which are paid to company executives on top of contract costs just for doing what the contract stipulates. More SRS "award fees" for FY 2016 are posted here. photo: USGS drone ---- 
December
20, 2016 - SRS Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for
SRS documents in Fiscal Years 2016 & 2017 related to the import,
processing and dumping of German commercial spent fuel at SRS. The FOIA
request also seeks to obtain documents indicating payment by Germany to
SRS (Savannah River National Lab) for the scheme.
FOIA request filed by SRS Watch on Nov, 29 2016 - linked here SRS formal acknowledgement of FOIA request, December 7, 2016 - linked here Due to secuirty concerns, the proposal has stalled in Germany as there is little will to raise the spectre of transport of highly radioactive nuclear materials on German highways. As elections will be held in 2017 on the federal level and in North Rhine-Westfalia, the state in which the spent fuel in question is stored, politicians have backed off raising the transport issue. Germans are aware that the release of the final "environmentral assessment" being prepared by SRS on the import has been delayed for the entire year of 2016. We imagine that payments to SRNL for investigation into processing and dumping the high-level waste in the aging SRS waste tanks has dried up and will stay that way at least for the near future. photo: Castor casks containing AVR spent fuel - irradiated graphite balls - stored at the Forschungzentrum Jülich (FZJ) - the FOIA filed applies to SRS documents prepared for FZJ and the entity now in charge of the AVR spent fuel - Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagen mbH (JEN) ----- SRS Watch: Demise of Bungled MOX Project to Continue in 2017 Changes in 2017 at Helms of DOE and OMB Won’t Solve any of the Chronic Problems Facing the MOX Boondoggle – Mismanaged, Underfunded, Flawed Project to Remain on Unavoidable Shut-down Track Statement by Tom Clements,director of SRS Watch, December 19, 2016 Rick Perry as secretary of energy and Representative Rick Mulvaney as director of the Office of Management and Budget won't change any of the facts that are working in unison against continuation of the MOX boondoggle: significant lack of funding, chronic design problems, a multitude of uncorrected construction problems, lack of qualified workers, lack of MOX customers, total lack of accountability for massive cost overruns and significant schedule delays and no demonstration that the facility could ever be started and operate as earlier claimed. Throwing more money at the troubled project for political reasons may well only help drive up the debt and prolong what now appears to be inevitable: MOX project termination. full statement linked here ----- 
SRS Watch would like to thank the ARIA Foundation - Artistic
Resources in Action - and musician Bonnie Raitt for a tax-exempt
donation of $2500. The welcome donation was received on December 17,
2016.
We are proud to be supported by ARIA and Bonnie Rait and look forward to tabling again at one of Bonnie's concerts. Rock On, Y'all! ---- 
SRS Watch news, December 15, 2016 Internal DOE Documents Reveal Details of Highly Unusual Canadian Spent Fuel Dropping Incident at Savannah River Site; Squabbling Amongst SRS Officials over Follow-Up Meetings SRS Official States Delay in Shipment of Liquid High-Level Waste from Canada has DOE Headquarters “In a Lather” full SRS Watch news release linked here Documents obtained by SRS Watch on December 13, 2016, via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request - linked in news release and also linked here article: "Spent nuclear fuel dropped in Savannah River Site's L Basin" - Aiken Standard, December 16, 2016 article: "Report shows bundle containing canisters of radioactive spent fuel accidentally dropped at SRS," Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, December 18, 2016 photo: from SRS in FOIA documents to SRS Watch; NRX spent fuel assemblies in assembly basket - see documents linked above and in news release for more photos ----- 
Happy Holidays 2016 from SRS
Watch!
Get a good holiday break and then get your stop-the-MOX-boondoggle groove on with us in 2017! We aim to drain the DOE swamp of the MOX debacle in the new year and have fun doing it. Your cooperation in our fiscally conservative non-proliferation efforts are most welcome. Photo: Courtesy of friends at Hip*Wa*Zee in Columbia, South Carolina, https://www.facebook.com/hipwazee - Tom Clements, SRS Watch director is on the left Sees the SRS Watch facebook page for the above photo & lots more: https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch ----- SRS Watch news, December 9,
2016: Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Fined $17,650 by U.S. Department of Transportation for Two Violations for Improper Compliance with Hazardous Material Transport Regulations Columbia, SC – The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a monetary fine to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the main contractor at DOE’s Savannah River Site, for two violations related to improper transport of hazardous materials at SRS. A DOE “Occurrence Report” dated November 7, 2016 states the reason for a fine of $17,560 for the violations of federal transportation regulations. The Occurrence Report does not detail what hazardous materials were being transported on site but it appears that the violations were discovered by chance during a “compliance review” on October 27, 2016. full SRS Watch news release linked here "Worker transporting materials at Savannah River Site triggers fine for SRNS" - Aiken Standard, December 9, 2016 - article linked here On December 21, 2016, DOE issued a new requirements on "Hazardous Materials Packaging and Transportation Safety." "This Order of the Department of Energy (DOE), including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), establishes safety requirements for the proper packaging and transportation of offsite shipments and onsite transfers of hazardous materials, including radioactive materials." - linked here ----- 
January 1, 2017 - SRS Watch welcomes your tax-exempt donations throughout the year to further our important monitoring work of DOE and SRS in 2017! Mail checks of any size to: Savannah River Site Watch 1112 Florence Street Columbia, SC 29201 srswatch@gmail.com In your-end giving, be aware that SRS Watch is duly registered with the IRS as a “501c(3)” tax-exempt charitable organization. Your donation will be used, in part, for our “stop MOX” campaign and in the lawsuit to stop dumping of Canadian liquid high-level nuclear waste at SRS. See us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch ----- 
November
23, 2016
SRS Watch wishes everyone in the United States a Happy Thanksgiving! Together, we can make sure that the MOX Turkey ends up on the chopping block and that the feast of taxpayer money by CB&I AREVA MOX Services ends. Managers and decision-makers at DOE, NNSA, CB&I AREVA MOX Services (and contractors such as Superior Air Handling) must be investigated and held accountable for possible waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement with the failed MOX project. We pledge to work toward that end and encourage your partnership in that effort. Get in touch about the MOX Turkey at srswatch@gmail.com. ----- 
Update
of November 22, 2016 on SRS Watch "Freedom of Information Act" requests to
DOE
1. Initial confirmation response received from DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), November 22, 2016, on request for report on the MOX plant construction, including: 1) All “Monthly Status Reports” for the months of May through November 2016; 2) All “ Monthly Variance Reports” for the months of May through November 2016; 3) All “quarterly status briefings” for Fiscal Year 2016, May 2016 through September 2016; 4) All “PARS II information” prepared for May 2016 through November 2016; 5) Any attachments to the above documents. 6) Any DOE or NNSA reports, memos or assessments of the above reports. NNSA's initial response linked here Documents for earlier years have been obtained and are being analyzed, including mention of costly "reinstallation" activities at the bungled MOX project 2. SRS Watch request for CD-0 "mission need" documents on expansion of plutonium downblending operations at SRS, dated November 23, 2016 - FOIA request linked here see more here on some SRS Watch FOIA requests ----- 
SRS Watch news, November 21, 2016 - news release linked here SRS Watch Releases New Aerial Photos of Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant at Savannah River Site MOX Construction Worker Stand Down on November 17 Due to Safety Incidents? NNSA Won’t Confirm SRS Watch Files FOIA Request for Documents, Photos from SRS Drone Scare of Summer 2016 Columbia, SC – The public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) has obtained a news series of aerial photos of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plant construction site at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and is hereby releasing them. “As both DOE and the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, are failing to release MOX photos or inform the public about the status of the mismanaged MOX project, SRS Watch is providing a needed public service and releasing the photos,” according to Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. The photos, anonymously supplied to SRS Watch, can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer-2016.” full SRS watch news release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch news, November 17, 2016 - news release linked here NRC Reviewing Transport of Research Reactor Spent Fuel from Alberta, Canada to SRS; Route from US-Canada Border Approved; More High-Level Nuclear Waste coming in with no Exit Path from SRS SRS Watch Calls for Halt to Incoming Nuclear Waste Until an Exit Plan is Developed and Implemented Columbia, SC – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now reviewing the transport cask planned to be used for shipment of research reactor spent nuclear fuel from the University of Alberta, Canada to the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, according to documents reviewed by Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). The NRC approved the shipment route for the spent fuel, classified under US law as high-level nuclear waste, from the Alberta-Montana border to SRS on November 9, 2016. If the shipment were to go forward, the spent fuel from a “SLOWPOKE” research reactor at the University of Alberta (U of A) would be taken to the L-Basin storage pool at SRS, with no clear plans for its long-term disposition out of South Carolina. full new release linked here ----- The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) will meet in Aiken, South Carolina on November 14-15, 2016, to discuss "environmental management" issues at the site. agenda linked here ----- 
November
7: Gazing into our plutonium crystal ball, SRS Watch believes that the US
presidential election on November 8 will spell doom for the MOX
scam.
We don't know who will win the presidency but it really doesn't matter and predict Congress will continue to keep the MOX boondoggle on a shut-down track and eventually terminate it. Well, after Senator Graham has sucked as much taxpayer money out of it as he can. Bottom like is that there simply is not enough money in the federal budget to keep funding the MOX debacle. Congress has funded MOX at the unofficial termination level of $340 million/year, far below the figure needed to continue construction of the $17 billion MOX plant. Despite rhetoric by political minions of CB&I AREVA MOX Services - Representative Joe Wilson and Senators Graham and Scott - there is not a shred of evidence that Congress will double or triple funding for the MOX scheme and take it off life support. Even if removed from life support we can see by gazing into our plutonium crystal ball that design and construction problems at the MOX project can't be overcome. We can also see that investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by CB&I AREVA MOX Servcies/Superior Air handling (HVAC subcontractor)/DOE-NNSA are urgently needed. Those responsible for this big-government boondoggle must be held accountable and fiscal conservatives should lead the way in that effort. ---- 
SRS Watch files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for SRS
"Nuclear Materials Management Plan," November 2,
2016
Release of the document will inform the public about management of uranium and plutonium at SRS. As it now stands, 13 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium have been stranded at SRS due to the failure of the mismanaged MOX project. see FOIA request here The requested report was mentioned in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Inspector General audit report (OAI-L-16-14) released on September 29, 2016 and entitled H-Canyon Processing at the Savannah River Site. The report states: The Savannah River Site has developed a Nuclear Materials Management Plan that integrates and documents the site-level activities required to disposition the enriched uranium and plutonium nuclear materials already stored or proposed for storage at the Savannah River Site. The plan is updated annually and establishes a planning basis for processing operations at the Savannah River Site. The 2015 Nuclear Materials Management Plan specifically notes that certain materials do not have a defined disposition path and that decisions are needed to plan for the future. The report, which SRS would not provide via a simple non-FOIA request, is evidently marked "Official Use Only" (OUO), which is a rather meaningless designation often used to keep information out of the hands of the public. The OUO designation should be deleted from the document and it should be released in whole. photo: DOE "3013" plutonium storage cans; cans are packaged in a larger "9975" drum for storage in the old K-Reactor at SRS ----- 
MOX Madness Halloween BOOndoggle! October 31, 2016: Has an adequate drug testing program finally been implemented at the MOX boondoggle? Or do problems continue? Due to reports that some workers for CB&I AREVA MOX Services (and subcontractors) at the MOX plant were faking urine tests in order to appear drug-free and that the contractor was not implementing a proper drug-testing program, we have heard that more stringent hair follicle testing has finally been implemented at the MOX boondoggle. Early this year, SRS Watch received rumors that MOX workers were using fake urine and that testing was "non-random" - clean workers were being more often tested in order to fudge overall statistics. We raised our concerns at that time and heard nothing back from the US DOE - National Nuclear Security Commission, CB&I AREVA MOX Services or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But DOE/NNSA affirmed drug testing problems at the MOX debacle in the Fiscal Year 2015 award fee determination for the project. See SRS Watch new release of April 21, 2016 linked here, with link to award fee narrative and other related documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. The award-fee documents clearly reveals that dug testing was "inadequate": During this assessment NNSA found that MOX Services is not implementing random drug testing in a manner that is compliant with the procedure and is therefore not appropriately providing assurance of a drug free workplace. NNSA found that the randomness of drug testing is not as random as it should be, as there is only one person authorized to administer testing and her work schedule is well known. This also results in no random tests being performed for workers on off-shifts such as night shift, weekends, holidays, or the test administrator's scheduled days off. NNSA also found there are too many allowable excuses for personnel to avoid being tested, such as failure by supervisors to notify personnel to be tested, employees located at the Barnwell warehouse and not required to report for testing, employees unable to locate the test administrator upon arrival, employees being away from the construction zone in a "Remote Worker" location though still on SRS property, to name but a few. For the period January through September 2015, these allowable excuses have resulted in the failure to test approximately 1/2 of the personnel selected for random testing, but more importantly they provide known reasons for use by personnel using illegal drugs to avoid testing. NNSA also found that MOX Services had failed to implement specific Dept. of Transportation drug testing requirements for teamsters. These issues have resulted in MOX Services' failure to comply with 10 CFR 707 and 53 FR 11970. An assessment of the Drug-Free Workplace Program showed that MOX Services does have a project procedure that is being followed to maintain a drug-free environment for the MOX Project. Two observations were noted as suggestions to 1) standardize the Drug-Free Workplace terms and conditions used in subcontracts and to 2) consider modifying subcontract terms and conditions to name specific drugs (including the failure levels) if MOX Services deems it appropriate. We have still not received a response from the NRC about this troubling drug-testing matter - see May 2, 2016 letter linked here. NOTE: SRS Watch expects the chronic problems with the MOX drug testing program to be addressed in the Fiscal Year 2016 award fee determination. Problems with drug testing, as it applies to CB&I AREVA MOX Services and all its contractors - including Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched HVAC installation) - must be fully resolved! If you have more information about drug testing at the mismanaged MOX project, including possible implementation of hair follicle testing, please let us know: srswatch@gmail.com ----- SRS
Watch had a great time tabling against nuclear waste import to SRS at the
Bonnie Raitt concert on October 28, 2016 in N. Charleston, South
Carolina! We interacted with many concert goers and got a lot of letters signed to Governor Nikki Haley (South Carolina) against more nuclear waste import to SRS and against the MOX boondoggle. (For a copy of the letter to sign and send in request it at srswatch@gmail.com.) Thanks to the volunteers who helped table and to The Guacamole Fund and Bonnie Raitt and her staff for arranging the tabling for for the financial support. Rock On, Yall! ---- 
October 28, 2016 - SRS Watch to table at Bonnie Riatt concert
tonight in N. Charleston, South Carolina.
If you're attending the concert please stop by to say hi and sign a letter to Governor Nikk Haley against dumping more nuclear waste at SRS. Thanks to the Guacamole Fund and to Bonnie Raitt for this tabling opportunity and for their support! photo: Bonnie Raitt and SRS Watch director Tom Clements Rock On Against Nuclear Dumping at SRS, Y'all! ---- S.C. Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC) meets on Thursday, Oct. 13 - the agenda includes: Update on MOX boondoggle, Barnwell nuclear dump "extended care" update, Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant and SRS high-level nuclear waste issues SOUTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING Gressette Building, Room #209, State Capitol complex, Columbia, South Carolina October 13, 2016, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm full agenda linked here Update: As DOE/NNSA failed to show up at the meeting to make a presentation on the MOX boondoggle SRS Watch gave an update in the public comment period. ----- 
SRS Watch letter of October 12, 2016 to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the proposal of the "Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group" to consolidate spent fuel from South Carolina reactors, with the goal to reprocess it is linked here. The letter and lengthy attachments was mailed to the NRC today. While consolidation of spent fuel at the old Barnwell site would do nothing to get spent fuel removed from the state, reprocessing, which nobody wants and which government will not pay for, would guarantee a huge volume of liquid waste would be left behind. If you think it sounds like nuclear dumping you'd be correct. News release of September 27, 2016 by SRS Watch, South Carolina League of Women Voters & the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club against the consolidated spent fuel storage scheme linked here - news article on the matter are to the right and in the SRS Watch letter linked here. Meanwhile, a top SCE&G official confirmed to SRS Watch on October 12 that they had never heard of the "Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group" (SFR Group) or the proposal. ----- 
SRS
Watch news - October 11, 2016:
NRC Affirms Two Welding Related Violations at MOX Plant, Waives $35,000 “Civil Penalty;” NRC Requires Contractor to Physically Inspect All Welded Equipment Installed in the MOX Plant Given the Current Violations and Persistent Rumors of Welding and Construction Problems, Will the NRC Demonstrate the Seriousness of its Inspection Program and Inspect All Welds in the MOX Plant? Columbia, SC – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that two violations holding potentially significant consequences have occurred during construction of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plant at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. full news release linked here Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle article, October 15, 2016: "MOX site contractor won't be punished for violations" ----- 
October 3: Unnecessary Shipments of Liquid High-Level
Nuclear Waste from Canada to Savannah River Site Suspended Until at Least
February 17, 2017!
As a result of discussions between lawyers for public interest groups demanding a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Department of Justice lawyers, an agreement has been reached to postpone shipments of liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada to the Savannah River Site until February 17, 2017, while the court ponders a way forward with the controversial matter. see full news release linked here, along with Canadian news release about letters to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama on the matter The liquid waste in question contains US-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) but DOE has resolutely refused for 3 years to analyze the requested option to "denature" the HEU in place, so as to render it LEU. DOE recently approved this method for similar liquid waste in Indonesia so why not apply it in Canada?! Uh, is it that SRS and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) hope to make $60 million off the dumping scheme to help keep the decrepit H-Canyon operable? ---- 
Savannah River Site Watch – South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra
Club – League of Women Voters of South Carolina Public Interest, Conservation Groups Oppose Effort by New Company to Consolidate Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel from South Carolina Reactors at Location Near the Savannah River Site News Release - September 27, 2016 Columbia, SC – Public interest and conservation groups in South Carolina have joined together to voice opposition to a fledgling, unprecedented proposal to consolidate highly radioactive spent fuel from in-state nuclear reactors at a single location near the Savannah River Site. The groups have become aware of an effort by a newly incorporated company called Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Group (SFR Group) to pursue licensing of spent fuel storage at the S.C. Advanced Technology Park on the eastern boundary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. The site is where the old, never-operated Barnwell reprocessing plant is located. The groups contend that moving spent fuel within the state to a single non-reactor site is unnecessary, would do nothing to solve the nation’s long-term spent fuel disposal problem, would pose worker exposure risks and would present a risk of the radioactive material being left for an indefinite period of time at the site of consolidation. full release linked here - see pertinent documents linked in "notes" section photo: abandoned Barnwell reprocessing plant in South Carolina Advanced Technology Park, on eastern boundary of Savannah River Site, proposed location for storage of South Carolina spent fuel by "Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group," photo by SRS Watch (can be used with credit) ----- 
Released on September 20, 2016, the SRS list of the status of environmental documents reveals that the release of the final Environmental Assessment (EA) on the processing and dumping of German spent fuel has once again been delayed. The document states that "A date for issuance of the final EA was not available at the time this status report was prepared." The delay has become predictably chronic and is no surprise given the technical, political and legal challenges the scheme faces in both Germany and the United States. see the SRS update of the status of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents, dated August 16, 2016 but publicly released on September 20, 2016, linked here photo: Greenpeace Germany action on the closed AVR reactor building at the Juelich research center (where some of the spent fuel is stored), September 2014, "South Carolina not a nuclear waste dump for Germany" ---- August 31, 2016: Why are the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and CB&I AREVA MOX Services dragging their feet in resolving the issue of potentially faulty welds in six plutonium-handling gloveboxes supplied to the bungled MOX project at the Savannah River Site? Likewise, it appears other problems with vendor-supplied components to the MOX project go unresolved. According to an "updated interim report," dated July 27, 2016, by MOX Services: "The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is evaluating a nonconforming condition associated with vendor non-adherence to standard welding procedure specifications during fabrication of six gloveboxes....Information related to the nonconforming welding procedures was provided to MOX Services by Byers Precision Fabricators on October 29, 2015." It's been 10 months since the problem was identified. Why is their no resolution by MOX Services and why isn't the NRC demanding a resolution of this matter? See July 26, 2016 cursory "Part 21" (on vendor problems) report linked here "Updated" interim report, April 26, 2016 linked here Another Part 21 report on faulty welds and construction of two other gloveboxes, January 7, 2016 Interim Report Relating to Internal Cross Bracing Welds on High Pressure Filter Housings Provided by Flanders / CSC, June 2, 2016 Interim Report Notification: Flanders Filter Housings, July 23, 2015 60-Day Interim Report Notification: SMCI Embed Plates, April 2, 2015 Why has the NRC not resolved these Part 21 reports and posted the results on line (on the Part 21 web pages)? We don't expect much of the NRC's inspection of the MOX debacle but at least how CB&I AREVA MOX Services vendor problems are dealt with should be posted at the above linked Part 21 website. & CB&I AREVA MOX Services responds on August 17, 2016 to NRC letter of July 25, 2016 on "apparent violations" at MOX plant: MOX Services letter linked here ----- 
SRS Watch is honored to participate in 71st anniversary activities from August 7-9, 2016 to remember the victims of the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. The Nagasaki bomb contained plutonium produced at the Hanford site located in Washington State. We made a presentation on plutonium proliferation and informed many Japanese about the management and technical failures of DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services in building a plutonium fuel (MOX) factory at SRS. The US plutonium disposition situation is instructive to the discussion in Japan about stockpiling of plutonium via operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. Japan should cancel efforts to start Rokkasho, halt the plutonium stockpiling program and pursue management of plutonium as nuclear waste. -----
Savannah River Site is honored to have director Tom
Clements participate in activities from August 3-9, 2016 in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan on the 71st anniversary of the bombings.
Clements is making several presentations, including in Tokyo, on plutonium proliferation, with a focus on the U.S. plutonium disposition program and the failed MOX program of DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services. Given AREVA's role in the MOX debacle in the US, people in Japan need to hear about that as effort mount to halt start-up of Japan's Rokkasho reprocessing plant and construction of a MOX plant at the Rokkasho site. As is predictable, AREVA's self-serving hand is at play in Japan in the misguided, costly and failing plutonium programs. Recall that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was made from highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the Oak Ridge site and that the Nagasaki bomb was made from plutonium from the Hanford site. SRS produced about 36 metric tons of plutonium, enough to make thousands of nuclear weapons. Though plutonium production has stopped, SRS remains the site to process radioactive tritium gas used in all nuclear weapons to boost their explosive power. Thus, SRS is a key nuclear weapons site and is still The Bomb Plant, y'all! ----- 
SRS Watch
news, July 29, 2016:
CB&I AREVA MOX Services Issued Two Violations by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Improper Documentation for Safety-Related Components to Support Floor Panels in MOX Plant; NRC’s Office of Investigations Reviews Allegation of False Welding Documentation, Determines no “Willful Misconduct” by MOX Subcontractor (Specialty Maintenance Construction, Inc.) news release linked here, with links to NRC documents ----- 
Savannah
River Remediation (SRR) presentation to Institute for Nuclear Materials
Management (INMM) meting in Atlanta, July 26, 2016
"Savannah River Downblending Program for Surplus, Non-Pit Plutonium" (vs MOX debacle) -- from the presentation: •DOWNBLENDING PROJECT JUSTIFICATION •Downblending Pu oxide reduces safeguards attractiveness level •Pu oxide downblending previously demonstrated at SRS, Hanford, Rockflats •Prepares Pu oxide for disposition to WIPP or final repository •Supports removal of plutonium from State of South Carolina presentation linked here SRS presentation to SRS Citizens Advisory Board, July 26, 2016 - on plutonium storage & downblend: K-Area Status Update ----- 
Tom Clements, director of SRS
Watch, will be participating in panel discussions from August 2-10, 2016
in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagaski, Japan about plutonium proliferation and
the failure of the US plutonium fuel (MOX) project.
GENSUIKIN, the Japanese group sponsoring the trip discusses the purpose of the meetings: "Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (GENSUIKIN) is a nation-wide anti-nuclear organization supported by labor unions and Hibakusha, survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, established in 1965. It has branched in all the prefectures. It organizes commemoration activities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki every August, the month when atomic bombs were dropped on those cities. The focus of its international panel discussion to be held in Hiroshima on 5 August this year is the effects of Japan's policy of reprocessing spent fuel from nuclear power plants to separate plutonium, weapon usable material, on efforts to prevent proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Masa Takubo, convenor of the panel discussion, stresses that it's absurd for Japan to start its Rokkasho reprocessing plant, capable of separating 8,000 kg of plutonium annually, without a prospect of consuming it after having asked the people in South Carolina to keep its 331kg of plutonium and declaring with the US at the Nuclear Security Summit held in DC in the spring:"It furthers our mutual goal of minimizing stocks of HEU and separated plutonium worldwide, which will help prevent unauthorized actors, criminals, or terrorists from acquiring such materials." It is indeed an honor to participate in this trip! Thanks to GENSUIKIN for the invitation. ----- 
SRS Watch
news -
July 27, 2016 U.S. Department of Energy Advisory Panel Recommends Against Bringing AVR and THTR Spent Fuel from Germany to Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for Processing and Dumping SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) Rejects DOE Plan to Import German High-Level Nuclear Waste, Vote Not Binding but Reflects Public Opposition to Waste Import from Juelich and Ahaus news release linked here SRS CAB position statement of July 26, 2016 - against German spent fuel import linked here - on SRS CAB website (managed by DOE) photo: AVR spent fuel casks at Juelcih, Germany ----- July 28, 2016 news from Germany - a big Danke schoen to the exemplary work of the German colleagues of SRS Watch! "Schlag gegen US-Option: Erneut Schwierigkeiten für Export des Atommülls aus Jülich und Ahaus" "Blow to US-option: Again difficulties for export of nuclear waste from Jülich and Ahaus" blog also linked here ----- 
SRS Watch Alert: More
nuclear waste coming in to the Savannah River Site with no exit strategy?
Why consider U.S. Navy reactor disposal at SRS given the wet climate and
permeable soils and that SRS is a clean-up
site?
see SRS Watch alert linked here It is the initial assessment of SRS Watch that there is no justification for review of disposal of naval reactors at SRS, a site unsuited for this mission given the wet climate and sandy, permeable soils. Additionally, SRS is not a disposal site but rather a clean-up site. Assessing SRS as a disposal site for naval reactors underscores legitimate public concern about expanded use of SRS as a disposal site for nuclear waste and plutonium generated in the US or abroad. As DOE seems to continue to search for nuclear waste to bring to the site, the public and SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) must be vigilant in its oversight of SRS activities. Photo: from Project on Government Oversight (POGO), of the Naval Reactor Disposal Site East Hanford Site in 2009. ----- July 13, 2016 --- No surprise here: SRS confirms to SRS Watch that the release of the final "environmental assessment" (EA) on importing and umping German commercial spent fuel at SRS has been delayed. July 25 Update - Still no sign of the EA. SRS also confirms that the DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) won't conduct a nuclear non-proliferation impact assessment on the proposal. Given that EM is proposing to import other nuclear waste to SRS, that's not exactly a comforting statement. (DOE has already said in an August 2013 memo that there is no proliferation risk if Germany keeps the AVR and THTR reactor spent fuel. See DOE memo linked here.) Text of email from SRS, July 13: "The EA remains in internal DOE review with no specific release date at this time. We will provide you a copy of the document when it is released. As for your request for a nuclear non-proliferation impact assessment, you should write the NNSA with your request. This request is outside of the EM mission scope for the Department." ----- 
"Drones Over SRS or Not?" Update - July 2,
2016
As SRS/DOE/Centerra leaked the "news" about supposed drones over SRS and unknown SRS security personnel inexplicably involved SRS Watch in the matter - though we know absolutely nothing about it - when will documentation be provided? July 4th Update: Though it's been a full week since SRS/DOE/Centerra leaked information about "drones over SRS" no further clarification, documentation or photos have yet been released. Is letting an unsubstantiated rumor simmer for a week - a rumor that evidently stimulated concern in some corners - a professional way to approach to this matter? We still expect the rumors to be promptly documented and call on SRS to post photos. July 6, 2016 - Still silence from SRS/Centerra about the drone rumor. Why throw out a rumor, let it fester and not provide any documentation? On July 5, SRS emailed this to SRS Watch: "As the investigation remains open and involves other agencies, at this time SRS cannot provide you the more clarification, documents or photographs as you requested." Now we're wondering if SRS/Centerra actually has firm documentation about non-contractor use of drones. SRS Watch has requested substantiation from SRS about the "drones over SRS" information it leaked on June 30 but so far we have received nothing. If DOE regards this as a serious issue we will be expecting details. Of big concern to us, was there political motivation in attempting to involve SRS Watch, which engages only in legal, peaceful activities in our SRS and DOE oversight? SRS stated this on June 30: "The protective force at Savannah River Site (SRS) has confirmed several sightings of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flying in SRS airspace in June. SRS takes these reports very seriously and is coordinating with appropriate federal, state, and local authorities." Is Centerra the mentioned "protective force?" What is DOE's role? OK, SRS/DOE/Centerra, time to clarify your statement with more information and documentation. SRS employees who are drone hobbyists: You may want to look at the "Savannah River Site Policy Manual," dated September 2015 - see "CHAPTER XIII - Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Policy" - linked here. ----- 
SRS Watch media advisory, June 28, 2016 Federal Court Hearing on Thursday, June 30 on South Carolina’s Demand of DOE for Plutonium Removal from the Savannah River Site to Begin Citizens to Hold Banners Outside Court House Calling for Plutonium Removal and a Halt to the Failed, Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS, from 9-9:45 a.m., then proceed to the court room for the 10: 00 a.m. hearing Matthew J. Perry Courthouse, 901 Richland Ave., downtown Columbia, South Carolina 29201 advisory linked here ----- SRS Watch, June 28: MOX boondoggle reminder: Aerial photos of the construction of the grossly mismanaged MOX plant, legally shot on June 20, 2016, in accordance with pertinent Federal Aviation Regulations, are posted here. SRS Watch has been providing similar photos for several years, as a public service given the absence of up-to-date photos by NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services. For legal flight rules for aircraft over DOE facilities, see: Title 10, §862.6 Voluntary minimum altitude. "In addition to complying with all applicable FAA prohibitions or restrictions, aircraft are requested to maintain a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet above the terrain of a designated site. Applicable FAA prohibitions or restrictions take precedence over this voluntary minimum altitude." More important, where are the investigations by Congress and federal agencies into "waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement" into the MOX debacle? Are Congress and agencies dodging their moral and legal obligation to investigate endless rumors about design and construction problems and mis-spending? Is the FBI investigating? We've heard enough to know they should. Given the lack of such investigations, you wouldn't be wrong to think COVER-UP...... ----- 
SRS Watch news, June 23,
2016
DOE Reveals Moratorium since 2014 on Domestic Defense Plutonium Shipments to Savannah River Site (SRS) - in Documents Filed in Federal Case on Plutonium Removal from South Carolina Court Filings of June 21, 2016 by DOE also State No International Plutonium Shipments to SRS for the Next Two Years SRS Watch news release linked here >>>>> Join SRS Watch on Thursday, June 30, starting at 9 a.m. outside the federal courthouse in downtown Columbia, SC (901 Richland Street, 29201) in advance of the 10:00 a.m. court hearing on the State of South Carolina's demand for plutonium removal from SRS ----- Please attend the July 12th meeting of the Nuclear Materials Committee (of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board), in New Ellenton, South Carolina - where the following important position statements will be discussed: 1. Against import to SRS of highly radioactive German commercial spent fuel - draft linked here; 2. Against "interim storage" at SRS of commercial spent nuclear fuel - draft linked here. June 22, 2016 Federal Register notice, with meeting time and address, linked here ----- MOX
photos of June 20, 2016 - “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” - can be used with this
credit SRS Watch news, June 21, 2016 New Aerial Photos Released by SRS Watch of Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant at Savannah River Site; SRS Watch Challenges DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services to Release Photos and Videos Showing Inside of MOX Plant and Document “Reinstallation” Construction Problems news release and photos linked here & SRS Watch news, June 21, 2016: Federal Judge Denies Stay Motion by U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and Allows Case By State of South Carolina on Removal of Plutonium from SRS to be Heard on June 30 in Federal Court in Columbia, SC news release with judges ruling linked here ----- 
SRS Watch news - June 13, 2016 South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS), in response to Request by SRS Watch, Reveals Pay-in-Advance Nuclear Charge on SCE&G Bill is around 16.13%; Disturbing News Comes on Heels of Filing by SCE&G for $852 Million Cost Overrun and Days before the Ninth Pay-in-Advance Nuclear Construction Rate Hike Request since 2009 news release linked here See ORS News on 16.13% “BLRA Current Rate Impact” Here photo: South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), VC Summer site, with one existing reactor and two under construction, March 5, 2016, “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – can be used with credit ----- 
Important meeting of SRS CAB committee - agenda includes discussion on import of German nuclear waste, "interim" storage of commercial spent fuel and plutonium disposal. Please attend! Savannah River Site - Citizens Advisory Board. Nuclear Materials Committee, New Ellenton Community Center, New Ellenton, South Carolina, June 7, 2016 UPDATE, June 10: Time ran short at the meeting so the position statements against import of German spent fuel and against use of SRS to store commercial spent fuel were not discussed. A new meeting will be scheduled to discuss the statements. Thanks to the John Bachman Group of the Sierra Club, Conservation Voters of SC and SC League of Women Voters for submitting statements to the CAB against the import of the German high-level nuclear waste. agenda linked here 4:30 – 4:40 p.m. Committee Welcome Larry Powell, Committee Chair 4:40 – 4:50 p.m. Point of Contact Status Update Maxcine Maxted, DOE-SR 4:50 – 5:35 p.m. Plutonium: K-Area Status Update & Downblending Status Presented by Allen Gunter, DOE-SR 5:35 – 6:05 p.m. Committee Discussion • Draft Recommendation: “Improving H Canyon Throughput” • Draft Position Statement: “Interim or Long Term Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel & High Level Waste” • Draft Position Statement: “Proposed Acceptance and Disposition of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium from the Federal Republic of Germany” 6:05 – 6:20 p.m. Public Comment 6:20 p.m. Adjourn ----- 
S PLUTONIUM PROLIFERATION ALERT! ---June 6, 2016 SRS Watch statement on plutonium arrival at SRS - linked here As we have suspected for the last few days, SRS Watch can confirm that the ships carrying 331 kgs of plutonium from Japan have arrived. The ships have now departed Charleston, South Carolina and are out at sea, homeward bound (to the UK). The ships most likely arrived around 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 4 and it is assumed that the plutonium was transported by truck to SRS on June 4 or June 5. ----- Supporters of sound nuclear non-proliferation policies and against plutonium dumping at SRS: Has a secret shipment of plutonium from Japan arrived at SRS? Did you spot the Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron entering the Charleston, South Carolina harbor in the wee hours of Saturday night, June 4/5? Did you see them leaving the port or docked at military facilities there? The ships are carrying 331 kilograms of plutonium from Japan. If you saw the UK-flagged Egret and/or Heron or have information about them, please contact SRS Watch. Thanks! If the ships have arrived there is no longer any security concern and DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should announce the arrival if it believes in openness, good government and efforts to better US nuclear non-proliferation policies of the US. photo: Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron in home port of Barrow-in-Furness, UK, January 2016 (just before departure to Japan), ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), may be used with credit (this applies to US DOE and DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, too!) ----- 
Photo of VC Summer nuclear site: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” - March 6, 2016 - can be used with credit SRS Watch news, June 2, 2016 - linked here SCE&G Requests Whopping $852 Million Increase in Cost of VC Summer Nuclear Construction Project in South Carolina - Cost Increase, Filed with S.C. Public Service Commission on May 26, 2016, to Go on Top of 2015 Cost Increase; SCE&G to File Soon for Annual Nuclear Rate Hike Columbia, SC – The current cost for the construction of two new nuclear reactors by South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) has jumped a stunning $852 million, according to a request filed with the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC PSC) on May 26, 2016. The filing made by SCE&G states that “the capital cost estimate for which the Company seeks Commission approval in this proceeding is $6.8 billion in 2007 dollars and $7.7 billion with escalation.” As SCE&G is now a 55% owner of the project, with Santee Cooper owning the other 45% (set to go down to 40%), this means that the overall cost of the project is now around $14 billion. Expected schedule delays or construction problems will only add to that cost. full SRS Watch news release linked here ----- 
SRS Citizens Advisory Board committees to meet on June 7 to discuss: 1) plutonium "dilute and dispose" as alternative to the failed MOX project, 2) a position statement against the import of commercial spent fuel from storage sites in Juelich & Ahaus, Germany and 3) a position statement against commercial spent fuel storage at SRS. SRS Watch will be there. agenda: Nuclear Materials, 4:30-6:20 PM Topics may include: "Plutonium: K-Area Status Update & Downblending Update" and a draft recommendation discussion titled "Improving H Canyon Throughput". There will also be two draft position statements discussed titled "Interim or Long Term Storage of Spend Nuclear Fuel & High Level Waste" and "Proposed Acceptance and Disposition of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Containing U.S. Origin Highly Enriched Uranium from the Federal Republic of Germany" Waste Management, 6:30-8:20 PM Topics may include: "Liquid Waste System Plan Revision" and a draft recommendation discussion titled "Waste Management Milestones" link to draft position against import of the German nuclear waste and the conclusions of the draft statement: "CONCLUSIONS: 1) U.S. receipt and processing of the German SNF is not needed for US nuclear nonproliferation and risk reduction goals, therefore the purpose and need for the proposal is lacking. 2) All reasonable technological and siting alternatives have not been evaluated. 3) Even if predicted environmental effects may be small, they still represent an unwarranted additional environmental risk to citizens in the Central Savannah River Area. 4) The proposal will unnecessarily add to an already large burden of indefinite SNF and high-level radioactive waste storage at SRS with no established path for disposal. 5) DOE failures to faithfully keep pace with its SRS cleanup commitments impede the acceptability of this deficient proposal by the citizens of South Carolina and Georgia. CAB POSITION: The SRS Citizens Advisory Board opposes the proposal to receive the German SNF for treatment and storage in the U.S. and supports the “No Action” alternative." Draft position statement against "interim" storage of commercial spent fuel at SRS - linked here Meeting is at the New Ellenton Community Center 212 Pine Hill Avenue, New Ellenton, SC ------- A big thanks to the Guacamole Fund
for arranging our tabling on May 29 at the Jackson Browne
concert in Columbia, South Carolina! The Guacamole Fund, which sells blocks of tickets to
various concerts, financially supports SRS Watch and we're most
appreciative of that.
We got a number of letters and signatures on petitions to Gov. Haley against bringing more nuclear waste and plutonium to SRS and in support of terminating the MOX boondoggle of DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services. And, thanks to the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club for tabling beside us. A special thanks to Jesse Colin Young - The Youngbloods: "Come on people now smile on your brother..." - and wife Connie Young, violinist extraordinaire, for stopping by the table. They live in Aiken, SC, by the Savannah River Site, and support SRS Watch. The music was great and interactions with the public very positive. Rock on, yall! ----- May 21, 2016: Based on activity this week in the US
Congress, it looks like the US Senate Armed Services Committee and the
House Armed Services Committee are working in unison to terminate the MOX
project. The National Defense Authorization Acts - authoring defense and Department of Energy activities - require various steps that pose obstacles to MOX. Neither piece of legislation is yet law, but the Senate legislation requires a new MOX cost study by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the House legislation allows spending on MOX to be "waived" and alternative disposition pursed. See the legislation linked here: Senate version - see "SEC. 3114. CONTRACT FOR MIXED-OXIDE FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT" House version - see "SEC. 3113. DISPOSITION OF WEAPONS-USABLE PLUTONIUM," page 990+ Also, search for "MOX" in both versions. ----- 
Stay tuned: SRS is set to soon
release "Liquid
Waste System Plan, Revision 20." It could be posted on line during the
week of May 16, 2016.
The plan will outline DOE's approach to managing high-level waste at SRS and could reflect more slippages in the closure schedule for high-level waste tanks and the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant. The last plan was "Liquid Waste System Plan, Revision 19," issued in May 2014 and linked here. The SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB), which advises on SRS clean-up, meets on May 23-24 in Savannah, Georgia, and we anticipate "Rev. 20" to be public before that meeting, which SRS Watch will attend. UPDATE - May 26 - "Liquid Waste System Plan, Revision 20" has now been posted on the SRS website: http://www.srs.gov/general/pubs/srr-lw-systemplan.pdf ----- 
Drugs and Plutonium MOX Don't Mix or Does the NNSA and CBI AREVA MOX Services Think They Do....? Who me?! The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has clarified that it does not regulate drug testing or drug use at the MOX plant at the Savannah River Site. In response to a May 2, 2016 inquiry by SRS Watch to the NRC about it's regulation of drugs at the NRC-licensed MOX construction project, a NRC official stated: "The NRC’s regulations for Fitness for Duty, 10 CFR Part 26, do not require a Fitness for Duty Program for 10 CFR Part 70 fuel facilities under construction. However, MOX Services is required to have a Fitness for Duty Program as promulgated under 10 CFR 707, Contractor Workplace Substance Abuse Program at DOE Sites. This rule establishes policies, criteria, and procedures for developing and implementing programs to maintain a workplace free from the use of illegal drugs. It applies to DOE contractors performing work at sites owned or controlled by DOE and to individuals with unescorted access to the control areas of certain DOE reactors." (emailed follow-up to phone conservation, May 4, 2016) In a stunning admission in the Fiscal Year 2015 award fee documents for the MOX project - linked here and below - the NNSA stated that "MOX Services is not implementing random drug testing in a manner that is compliant with the procedure and is therefore not appropriately providing assurance of a drug free workplace." So, now that NRC has said it has no legal responsibility concerning drugs at MOX it's up to the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration to demonstrate that it will do what it takes to force CB&I AREVA MOX Services to implement an adequate drug testing program. Keep us posted if you become aware NNSA wakes up and takes necessary action, including testing of all managers. Given that the MOX plant has been under construction for almost nine years, when will the NNSA get around to properly regulating drugs at its bungled project? ------ 
REQUEST: Let us know if mere possession at a DOE construction
site of synthetic urine is sufficient grounds for dismissal. Are NNSA and
CB&I AREVA MOX Services checking for both possession and use of
synthetic urine at the mismanaged MOX project
at SRS?
----- 
More stark proof of how poorly and
unacceptably the MOX project has been managed by DOE...
The DOE's Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments' "project dashboard" of April 25, 2016 still has the "project budget" for the MOX plant listed at $4.86 billion dollars, a totally unrealistic cost estimate frozen in place for eight years. When will an accurate, updated cost be presented for all aspects of this project? A new, rebaselined estimate should have been prepared and presented years ago. And, given how costs are skyrocketing, new estimates must be prepared yearly. Besides management incompetence by DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the hand of Senator Lindsey Graham is likely at play in hiding the true cost of the MOX debacle. Graham's actions have aimed to keep the true cost of the project and construction and design problems hidden from public scrutiny. But Graham's scheme is showing ever larger cracks... When will the Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments get to work and release the new rebaselined cost estimate for the MOX boondoggle? How can DOE get away with not providing a new rebaselined cost estimate as requested by Congress? More evidence that Congress is not providing proper oversight for this bankrupt project. ----- 
MOX Project Drug-Use Cover-up? Or Not? Faked tests
or faked testing? Or not? Use of synthetic urine or not?
Attention CB&I AREVA MOX Services and NNSA: for the sake of
worker and public safety, please publicly explain and defend your drug
testing program at the MOX site. MOX workers and members of the public,
let us know what you think: srswatch@gmail.com,
tel. 803-834-3084 A new MOX worker shows up in Aiken and is approached by a dodgy guy.... "Hey, man, want to buy some syn?" "Sin?!" "No, man, syn. Synthetic urine. You may be needing it out at the MOX project...."* (*imaginary conversation....or not...) Did drug testing take place at the MOX project on April 27, 2016? Did security do a check of cars going into the site? Were various drugs seized? Has NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services instituted a policy of checking for synthetic urine, observing workers giving samples, full body searches for stashed urine, hair follicle testing, etc? Nine years into this project and the drug testing program, according to NNSA, is inadequate? Unbelievable! Something is very fishy with that and CB&I AREVA MOX Services/DOE/NNSA are responsible for this situation. As NNSA is letting this situation continue, are Congress or oversight agencies investigating? They should be but as the MOX boondoggle cover-up collusion continues we doubt it.... 
SRS Watch
news, April 26, 2016
Are improperly qualified stoned MOX zombies causing construction and reinstallation problems at the MOX site? Worker Injury at Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant Construction Site Resets Accident-Free Clock to Zero; MOX Contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services and DOE Fail to Inform Public MOX Site Drug Investigation Needed by Congress & Oversight Agencies Columbia, SC – An accident resulting in a worker injury at the U.S. Department of Energy’s plutonium fuel (MOX) project caused the number of injury-hours at the MOX project to fall from 24.6 million to zero. The accident, confirmed by DOE, involved a worker who suffered a broken leg on February 15, 2016 while working on the MOX building, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch. SRS Watch, which had been informed about more than one worker accident at the MOX project, was able to get confirmation about the single accident from SRS public relations officials on April 21. Efforts to get a response directly from DOE’s MOX project manager and the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, failed. .... Of special concern, the award fee evaluation states that “NNSA found that MOX Services is not implementing random drug testing in a manner that is compliant with the procedure and is therefore not appropriately providing assurance of a drug free workplace.” It is rumored that up to 45 workers will be subjected to drug testing this week and there are rumors that the use of synthetic urine is not being adequately detected. "The matter of inadequate drug testing at one of the largest and most expensive U.S. Government construction projects in history merits a full investigation by Congress and oversight agencies," according to Clements. "The public does not have assurance that the MOX work site is free from workers using drugs and possibly posing risk to themselves and other workers or negatively impacting the quality of construction of the mismanaged project." full news release linked here ----- 
"Trillion Dollar Trainwreck:
Out-of-control U.S. nuclear weapons programs accelerate spending,
proliferation, health and safety
risks"
-- report on the US DOE's Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to Congress, by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, with MOX section by SRS Watch - April 2016 Trainwreck report linked here ----- SRS Watch news, April 21, 2016 SRS Watch Obtains MOX Fiscal Year 2015 Award Fee Documents for CB&I AREVA MOX Services via FOIA request, Publicly Releases them as DOE’s NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services Fail to Do So MOX Services Rated “Satisfactory” for Bonus Fee Award for FY 2015 NNSA Determines “Overall performance below the level needed for successful project execution” and Drug Testing Inadequate!!!! Award Fee Documents Linked in “Notes” Below and Posted in SRS Watch document library linked here news release linked here ----- SRS Watch news, April 19, 2016 - media
advisory linked
here
A Peek Behind the Unjustified Veil of Secrecy: New Aerial Photos Released of Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant Under Construction at U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina To view all photos, go to link in media advisory and request permission to view all the photos Columbia, SC – New aerial photos of the construction site at plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the US DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina have been publicly released. The photos of the MOX plant, dated March 25 and taken in full compliance with applicable air flight regulations, can be used with credit. The photos revel that the external security wall (“bastion wall”) has still not been finished and that a host of openings into the MOX building remain. The photos of the concrete shell of the MOX plant reveal minor changes since the last set of photos, taken on October 14, 2015, were released by SRS Watch. “As DOE, the National Nuclear Security Administration and contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services have failed to provide photos of the partially finished MOX plant, we feel responsible to let the public see what’s going on at the site,“ said Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. “Our photo documentation of MOX project over the last few years is the best-available visual documentation of the project. As the MOX project is likely to wind down and be terminated, we will continue to provide photos to the public so that work at the site and shut-down activities can be observed.” MOX plant photos above can be used with credit: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch.” full media advisory linked here ----- On April 18, 2016, we're wondering what will be the next mission
be of the UK-flagged Oceanic Pintail? Will it be headed to the US with a
nuclear cargo to be taken to SRS? The Pintail secretly brought plutonium from Germany and Switzerland to SRS, via the military port in Charleston, South Carolina, with arrival on February 14, 2016. Could the Pintail, which is not armed, be tapped to carry highly enriched bomb-grade uranium (HEU), including in the spent fuel from research reactors (e.g. material originating in the Republic of Georgia) to SRS? As those materials should stay in the UK and are planned to be shipped for nuclear waste-dumping purposes in order to clean out from the UK's Dounreay nuclear site, you can bet the unnecessary shipment of 700 kg of HEU will be done as secretly as possible. The HEU shipment from Dounreay may be more likely on the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret, both of which are armed. Those ships are now engaged in the transport of 331 kg of plutonium from Japan to SRS. The Pintail is operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) and is based in Barrow-in-Furness, England. photos ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), based near the UK's Sellafield nuclear site, taken on Germany 15, 2016, just days before the ship departed to pick up the Swiss and German plutonium in the German port of Nordenham. ----- 
SRS
Watch news - April 12, 2016 - linked
here
House Appropriations Committee Plans to Keep MOX Funding on Shut-Down Track/Life support; Fate of MOX Project Kicked Once Again Down the Road The dark MOX heart may continue beating for now but it's on life support being administered by Senator Lindsey Graham...over to the Senate to deal with the boondoggle Columbia, SC -- The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has issued a news release - linked below & with text - recommending a funding level of $340 million in Fiscal Year 2067 for the problem-plagued plutonium fuel (MOX) facility under construction at the Savannah River Site. The full committee has yet to vote on the recommended funding, which may be challenged by members in the committee discussion. Tom Clements, director Savannah River Site Watch, who has been tracking DOE's plutonium disposition program since its inception in 1994, had the following statement: With this funding level it's clear that the House aims to keep the MOX project on a shut-down level and is merely postponing the inevitable. Though the House Appropriations Committee appears to be rejecting the administration's request for termination of the MOX project in 2017, MOX is doomed in the long-run and the approved funding level will only keep the project on life-support. It's clear that the committee intends to avoid hard choices and wants to kick the fate of the troubled MOX project down the road to a new administration. Continued funding of the MOX plant construction is having a significant negative impact on essential DOE nuclear non-proliferation programs and is resulting in the country being less safe. full news release linked here photo: MOX plant at SRS, March 6, 2016, "©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch" - can be used with credit ----- Important Congressional Meetings on DOE, SRS and MOX Funding - Energy & Water Subcommittees Scheduled to Meet the Week of April 11 Funding for DOE programs, including for clean-up of the Savannah River Site and MOX, will be set on track in the coming days. Here are import upcoming congressional E&W meetings: U.S. House Appropriations Committee Wednesday, April 13, 2016 House Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee will consider the DOE spending bill, starting at 1:30. It may be webcast. http://appropriations.house.gov/ http://appropriations.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=394479 http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hmkp-114-ap10-20160413-sd001.pdf U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016 ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE (Lamar Alexander, Chairman) Markup of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017, 2:30 p.m., Room 124, Dirksen Senate Office Building NOTE: The webcast will be audio-only. http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/hearing-and-markup-schedule-for-the-week-of-april-11-2016 THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS (Thad Cochran, Chairman) Consideration of 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations Markup of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017 Markup of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017, 10:30 a.m., Room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building NOTE: The webcast will be audio-only. http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/hearing-and-markup-schedule-for-the-week-of-april-11-2016 ----- 
The DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) delivered its 2015 report to Congress on
April 1, 2016 and affirmed termination of the MOX
boondoggle.
NNSA report Prevent, Counter, and Respond—A Strategic Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats (FY 2016–FY 2020) is linked here "Although the current U.S. approach has been to dispose of this plutonium by fabricating it into MOX fuel and irradiating that fuel in light water reactors, as a result of a number of cost and program reviews it is now clear that this will cost more and take longer than initially anticipated. As a result, the Administration has proposed in its FY 2017 Budget Request to terminate the MOX approach to plutonium disposition and pursue the dilution and disposal approach. Under the new approach, the plutonium can be disposed of decades sooner than the MOX approach, at less than half the cost and with far lower technical risks. The new approach will enable to Department to be more responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars while upholding our commitment to dispose of surplus plutonium." (page 2-2) ALERT: The House and Senate Energy & Water Development Subcommittees (of the Appropriations committees) fund DOE. The subcommittee reports (mark-ups) on DOE finding are likely coming in the next two weeks, during the weeks of April 11 and April 18. MOX, a lead albatross around the neck of the top MOX booster (Senator Lindsey Graham) has rightly had a rough ride through the process but the MOX debacle could once again barely survive, to be terminated next year. But watch for possible action by the Senate E&W to deal MOX a well-deserved blow. ----- SRS Citizens Advisory Board informs DOE of funding priorities in preparation of the Fiscal Year 2018 budget: The highest priority is "PBS 14C, Radioactive Liquid Tank Waste Stabilization and Disposition," and the other top priorities are: PBS 11C, Plutonium down-blend processing for disposition to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant; PBS 41, 235-F Risk Reduction Project; and PBS 11C, Spent Nuclear Fuel down-blend processing for disposition to the Tennessee Valley Authority. (PBS = Project Basline Summary, teh various specuific projects needing funding from DOE) See SRS CAB letter to DOE, March 29, 2016, linked here ---- National
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) releases signed "Record of
Decision" (ROD) on disposing of 6 metric tons of plutonium located at SRS
in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), March 30, 2016 April 5 Update: ROD printed in Federal Register: linked here Statement on ROD signed on March 29 by NNSA Administrator Klotz - linked here Accompanying fact sheet from NNSA - linked here "Preferred Alternative" to blendown 6 MT of plutonium - Federal Register, January 24, 2016 - on which the ROD is based - linked here Federal Register notice making ROD official likely to appear by April 1 This decision is in part designed to convince the State of South Carolina that some of the 13 MT of plutonium stored at SRS will be leaving the state. But there is no funding to carrying out the downblending and plans are only now being developed to carry this out. (See page 476 of Fiscal Year 2017 NNSA budget request to Congress, Feb. 2014.) Blenddown capacity at SRS is now for less than 500 kgs/per year, in one glovebox, and WIPP is still closed so the plan has obstacles to overcome. Likewise, the ROD affirms that the 900 kg of foreign "gap" plutonium to SRS will be disposed of as waste but no facilities are present or planned to do this. Will Governor Haley buy what NNSA has presented, which isn't a lot? photos: containers into which plutonium is downblended with secret material called "stardust"; 260 containers in storage in concrete culverts at E-Area at SRS (awaiting shipment to WIPP) and some of 97 drums containing packaged plutonium from SRS, on the surface at WIPP; 125 drums with "Pipe Overpack Containers" holding plutonium have already been taken underground at WIPP. Thus, about 482 containers have been packaged at SRS, holding up to ~75 kg plutonium. ----- 
Pre-Nuclear Security Summit Briefing on Plutonium Disposition and "Alternatives to MOX" at US DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS), Augusta, Georgia (near SRS), 10:30 a.m., March 29, 2016, at SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting - "Alternatives to MOX" presentation by Dr. Frank von Hippel & Dr. Edwin Lyman - linked here media advisory linked here photo: MOX plant under construction at SRS, March 6, 2016, ©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch - can be used with credit ----- Want to learn about plutonium disposition alternatives to the US DOE's failed plutonium fuel (MOX) project at SRS? Attend the SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting, Tuesday, March 29, 2016, Hilton Garden Inn, 1065 Stevens Creek Road, Augusta, GA 30907 10:30 a.m. Informational Presentation: • Plutonium Disposition: Alternatives to MOX by Dr. Frank von Hippel (Princeton Univ., International Panel on Fissile Materials & Dr. Edwin Lyman (Union of Concerned Scientists) 11:00 a.m. Question & Answer Session on Informational Presentation The SRS CAB will meet on March 28 & 29 - see draft agenda here ----- Exclusive Photos of Not-So-Secret Plutonium Operation in Japan!
Mission has been badly bungled, backfires "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" -- Stimulating Plutonium Shipment from Japan to US Slideshow is of PNTL's UK-flagged Pacific Egret arriving and docking in the port of Tokaimura on March 21, 2016, accompanied by Japanese Coast Guard vessels, including the infamous Shikishima. >>> Photo credit: ©Kano Hidemichi, with the Japanese nuclear non-proliferation and information organization Kakujoho. Please visit the Kakujiho website in English or Japanese. Kakujoho is a leading Japanese group working on issues of proliferation concern about Japan's plutonium stockpiling and plutonium fuel (MOX) programs. 核情報 核問題に関連した情報を正確に分かりやすく、情報源へのリンクを含め掲載 An important document linked on the Kakujoho website, which should be read by all participants in the Nuclear Security Summit (March 31 - April 1, Washington, DC):: Ending reprocessing in Japan: An alternative approach to managing Japan's spent nuclear fuel and separated plutonium (pdf), Masafumi Takubo and Frank von Hippel, IPFM report, November 2013 Loading of 331 kilograms of plutonium from the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) took place a short while after the photos were taken. The plutonium is now being transported to the military port in Charleston, South Carolina USA and will be taken by truck to the US DOE’s Savannah River Site (near Aiken, South Carolina), where it will be stranded as there is no viable disposal plan for the material. The US DOE and White House are still totally unable to explain or justify why 236 kg of British-origin FCA plutonium are being dumped at SRS. ----- SRS Watch news - March 21, 2016 - release linked here Pacific Egret docks in Tokai-Mura, Japan to pick up 331 kgs of plutonium; Egret departed at about 3 p.m. Japan time on March 22, 2016, bound for SRS, expected to join with Pacific Heron off shore for the ~50-day journey to Charleston, Sough Carolina Shipment by Sea of Plutonium from Japan to US DOE’s Savannah River Site Gets Under Way Shipment being Conducted as Part of Upcoming Nuclear Security Summit Sends Troubling Signal that Foreign Plutonium can be Dumped at SRS, in South Carolina, with No Disposal Plan and Absent Adequate Nuclear Non-Proliferation Justification UK-Flagged Ship Pacific Egret Spotted at Plutonium-Loading Dock in Tokai, Japan; Location of Pacific Heron Unknown but Key Part of Semi-Secret Operation Columbia, South Carolina, USA – Despite questions raised about the justification for the shipment, a sea transport of plutonium from Japan to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) has begun. The loading for the shipment of 331 kilograms (730 pounds) of plutonium aboard the British-flagged ship Pacific Egret, and accompanied by the Pacific Heron, began on the morning of March 21, Japan time. Both ships are armed and it is unknown if military vessels will also accompany the two vessels in the 50+-day transport to the military port in Charleston, South Carolina. From Charleston, the plutonium will be carried by truck to SRS and will be added to the 13 metric ton plutonium already stranded at SRS with no viable disposal path out of the site. The shipment is being conducted in advance of the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit - March 31 to April 1 in Washington - but does nothing to address the growing plutonium stockpiling crisis in Japan and only exacerbates the plutonium storage and disposition problems at SRS, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch. full release linked here ----- 
March 20 - 12:15 a.m. - "Nuclear Security Summit Effect:
Plutonium Transport Update
Operation to Dump Plutonium on Savanna Rive Site Under Guise of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Getting Underway. Stay tuned for more information. photo: Japanese Coast Guard ship Shikishima, departing Kobe - she later turned up in Tokai on March 21. Ah yes, it was the Shikishima that attempted to illegally ram the Greenpeace ship Solo off the coast of France during the 1992/1993 shipment of 1.8 MT of plutonium from France to Japan. (A shipment sanctioned by the US, as part of Japan's plutonium stockpiling program.) The captain went berserk and the Shikishima ended up with a dent in her hull and railing and stairways ripped off in the collision. The captain was relieved of duty and it is unknown if he was punished for his outrageous and illegal behavior. So strange that the Shikishima gets escort duty for the current plutonium shipment. Will she attempt to ram vessels again?! ---- Obama & the "Nuclear Security Summit Effect": Nuclear
Shipments to the Savannah River Site and Non-Proliferation
Theatrics?
This week in Washington, the SRS Watch director, Tom Clements, aimed to meet with President Obama in the West Wing to inform him about the negative nuclear non-proliferation impacts associated with the host of plutonium and nuclear waste shipments to the Savannah River Site being done under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation. Though the meeting did not come off and the Nuclear Security Summit may proceed without revealing the full story associated with the shipments, we will continue to inform the public about the shipments to SRS as we work for sound nuclear non-proliferation policies. Nuclear Security Summit Effect shipments to SRS: - Canadian liquid high-level waste to SRS: Why has DOE staunchly refused to analyze the viable option of denaturing the HEU contents in Canada? - German graphite spent fuel to SRS: Why proceed with the import plans of the AVR & THTR gas-cooled reactor spent fuel when the NNSA has determined that there is no there is no proliferation risk of it staying in Germany? - Swiss plutonium - 20 kg - to SRS: Why was this non-US-origin material imported when it was of low risk for nuclear weapons and should have stayed in Switzerland or gone to the massive plutonium stockpiles in France or the UK? - Import of 331 kilograms of plutonium from Japan to SRS: What will be said at the summit about the stockpile of 10.8 MT of weapon-usable plutonium in Japan, efforts to stockpile more plutonium by operating the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and why 231 kg of UK-origin plutonium is being dumped on SRS? Is the Nuclear Security Summit being used by some in DOE/NNSA and the White House to engage in commerce of plutonium and nuclear waste even when non-proliferation justification is weak? Have White House officials looked more deeply into the shipments and that plutonium is being stranded at SRS with no disposal plan or is the summit pat-on-the-back news release of paramount importance? ---- March 16 Update - Plutonium-transport ships still sit at dock in
Kobe, Japan awaiting movement to transport 331 kilograms of plutonium from
Tokai-Mura, Japan to SRS. NNSA/White House still set to strike blow
in advance of Nuclear Security Summit to international nuclear
non-proliferation norms by engaging in trade in 236 kg of UK-origin
plutonium for nuclear dumping at SRS. The summit is being set up for
failure if it does not call for Japan to halt its plutonium-stockpiling
(reprocessing) program. Why are summit-related theatrics over the world's
largest plutonium shipment since 1993 Trumping the UK's taking
responsibility for its own plutonium and backing off NNSA/White House in
calling for a halt in start-up operations of the long-delayed Rokkasho
reprocessing plant in Japan?
March 13 Update - Pacific Egret has returned to Kobe after sea maneuvers and testing of loading operations at Tokai. Plutonium-transport operation expected to get under way soon. Still stunned silence from NNSA/White House as to why UK-origin plutonium would be dumped at SRS and still no explanation of any sort as to why such plutonium commerce benefits nuclear non-proliferation. March 4 - "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" Update (resulting in a flurry of dead-end nuclear shipments to SRS) Confirmed: Ships are Docked in Kobe After 45-Day Trip from England Ships to Carry Plutonium from Japan to Savannah River Try to Site Sneak into Port of Kobe, Japan but Fail to Avoid Detection; Ships to Soon Depart Kobe to Pick Up Plutonium at Tokai-mura Still No Explanation from the National Nuclear Security Administration or White House as to Why Non-US-Origin Plutonium is Coming to SRS - Nuclear Dumping Under Guise of Nuclear Non-Proliferation? Anser: Yes. Will full details about plutonium import and disposition plans be revealed at the Nuclear Security Summit? That's wishful thinking given how plutonium disposition at SRS has been so very badly bungled by the DOE/NNSA & CB&I AREVA MOX Services and that unjustified secrecy trumps sound non-proliferation policies. Will the summit communique demand Japan halt its plutonium stockpiling program? Only in our nuclear non-proliferation dreams..... full SRS Watch "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" news release linked here ----- March 4, 2016: Plutonium Ghost Ship Update - Stay Tuned for Information on Arrival of the UK-flagged Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron in Kobe, Japan, on their way to pick up 331 kilograms of plutonium at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) in Tokai-mura. 236 kg of the FCA plutonium are of UK origin and that material, under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation, is slated to be dumped at SRS with no viable disposition path out of South Carolina. As the "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" plays out - which has resulted in various shipments of fissile materials to the US - a stunned NNSA and White House are bungling the shipment as they can't explain 1) why UK-origin plutonium will be stranded at SRS, 2) what will be done about the 10.5 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium in Japan and 3) why Japan's spent fuel reprocessing program, which will result in yet more plutonium stockpiling, will not be roundly condemned at the summit. Reprocessing in Japan should be immediately terminated but will the White House and NNSA gather the nuclear non-proliferation courage to lead a full-scale, international effort to that end? That would be a big non-proliferation victory to claim at a Nuclear Security Summit so why settle for less? We've watched Japan implement its plutonium stockpiling program over the last 25 years, with US collusion, so the actors are fossilized in their actions. It will take a jolt of energy and new approaches to spent fuel management to get them to act differently but our non-proliferation fingers remain crossed. --- March 3 Update: NNSA Cracks, Finally Admits Plutonium Import from Switzerland to US (SRS)....Like We've Been Saying for Weeks National Nuclear Security Administration U.S Department of Energy For Immediate Release - linked here March 3, 2016 Contact: NNSA Public Affairs, (202) 586-7371 United States Collaborates with Switzerland to Remove Last Remaining Separated Plutonium (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), working in collaboration with the Government of Switzerland, announced that approximately 20 kilograms of separated plutonium have been transported from Switzerland to the United States. The successful transport of this plutonium was completed through a multilateral effort that included NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN), Switzerland’s Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). With this removal, Switzerland is now free of all separated plutonium. full release linked here ----- March 2 Plutonium Transport Alert! Yes, another shipment to the Savannah River Site... "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" (NSSE) = Foreign-Origin Plutonium Dumping at SRS with No Justification or Explanation Another Plutonium Transport to the US DOE's Savannah River Site, from Tokai, Japan, is about to get underway What we have dubbed the "Nuclear Security Summit Effect" (NSSE) continues to result in foreign-origin plutonium dumping at SRS. The DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and White House have rendered themselves speechless and unable to publicly justify the upcoming shipment. Two angry birds - the UK-flagged Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret - are due to arrive in Tokai, Japan to take of a load of 331 kilograms of plutonium from the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) and transport it to the military port at Charleston, South Carolina. The plutonium would then be taken by trucks to the K-Area plutonium storage facility - where 13 metric tons of plutonium are stored - and be stranded with no viable, defined & funded disposition path out of the state. The shipment contains 236 kg of UK-origin plutonium but the NNSA and White House have buckled at the knees and can't offer any justification whatsoever as to why this plutonium would be dumped at SRS and not go into the 125+ metric ton plutonium stockpile at the UK's Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England. NNSA & White House Officials: We recognize security concerns with the shipment but we urge you to muster some courage and explain why foreign-origin "gap" plutonium is coming to SRS. There is no security concern about telling the public why foreign plutonium is coming here. Rather, it seems that the silence stems from to be abject fear of transparency and openness by a few parading as public servants. We know that for PR reasons that you want to have this shipment underway during the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit, in order to claim some kind of pending non-proliferation "success." But will you likewise reveal at the summit how the material will be managed at SRS and promptly removed from South Carolina? Sadly for sound nuclear non-proliferation and environmental policies, the Nuclear Security Summit Effect (NSSE) = Foreign-Origin Plutonium Dumping at SRS with No Justification or Explanation --- photos of Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron - ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), can be used with credit ----- SRS Watch Plutonium-Import News,
March 1, 2016
NNSA Gobsmacked Over Losing Control of Plutonium-Shipment News - Allegiance to Nuclear Security Summit PR Rather than Transparency with the Public Catches Officials Flat Footed - Plutonium-Shipment Cat Jumps Out of the DOE Nuclear Bag as NNSA Maintains a Bumbling Silence Swiss Government Forced to Admit Shipment of 20 Kilograms (44 Pounds) of Plutonium to the United States – to US DOE’s Savannah River Site, in Advance of Nuclear Security Summit As SRS Watch has publicized for Over a Month, the Shipment Took Place on the UK-Flagged Ship Oceanic Pintail, which Discharged its Cargo in Charleston, SC on February 15; Pintail Arrived in its Home Port of Barrow-in-Furness, England on February 29 (see photos above, ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment - CORE) Statement of Swiss Government: “Transport von aufgelösten Plutoniumlager des Bundes in die USA ist erfolgt” linked here: https://www.news.admin.ch/message/index.html?lang=de&msg-id=60791 Columbia, SC – After much publicity and government secrecy over the past month about a plutonium shipment from Germany and Switzerland to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS), the Swiss government has formally admitted that the shipment took place. In a news release forced out of the government by public interest groups, the Swiss have admitted that 20 kilograms of plutonium from the Paul Scherrer Institut were shipped to the U.S. in January/February 2016. “This admission is a victory for nuclear non-proliferation, transparency and contributes to the increasingly difficult discussion about the fate of yet more plutonium being imported to the Savannah River Site,” according to Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. “As the US Government has refused to talk about the arrival of this plutonium at SRS and deployed a secrecy-for-secrecy’s-sake strategy, it fell to public interest groups to alert the public that more plutonium was being brought into SRS without any disposition path out of the site.” full SRS Watch news release linked here ----- Ahoy Matey! Plutonium Ghost Ship Due Home in UK! February 29 (Leap Year) Update: The Oceanic Pintail is expected back in its home port of Barrow on the Monday afternoon, February 29, high tide. US DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration maintains its unjustified and stunned silence about the shipment to SRS of German and Swiss plutonium on board the Pintail. NNSA's silence is driven by some unknown PR reasons, likely that it wants to "announce" the "news"of the plutonium shipment at the Nuclear Security Summit. But, uh, NNSA officials and summit planners, that plutonium-shipment cat is already out of the nuclear bag. February 26, 2015 The Oceanic Pintail, the UK-flagged ship that just carried plutonium from Germany and Switzerland to the Savannah River Site, is due back in its home port of Barrow-in-Furness, England. The US DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is still mum about the shipment, not due to security reason (as the shipment has arrived) but for some unknown PR reasons. NNSA is letting PR trump security and openness, but why? The answer may well be that the plutonium-shipment operation is part of PR efforts associated with the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington at the end of March. ship photos above: Oceanic Pintail departs port of Charleston, South Carolina on February 15, 2016, after off-loading its plutonium cargo at a secure military port upstream, photo can be used with credit ©Savannah River Site Watch ----- 
"Activist group praises ORNL’s reactor report" - in Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground blog (Knoxville, Tennessee), February 26, 2016 - linked here SRS Watch alert, February 25, 2016 - linked here New Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) Document Important as it Outlines Status of Worldwide Research Reactors Using and Converting from Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) "NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH REACTORS (ORNL PERSPECTIVES)" Helps in Understanding of Use of Bomb-Grade Uranium and Efforts to Curtail its Use - Document Linked here: http://info.ornl.gov/sites/publications/files/Pub59842.pdf Columbia, SC -- The Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) has just released an important and useful document documenting worldwide use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in research and test reactors, according to the public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch. The document, dated February 10, 2016 and released publicly this week, affirms the goal of the National Nuclear Security Administration's admirable goal to convert reactors: "Under NNSA support, feasibility studies are under way to study the conversion of the US high performance research reactors (HPRRs) and the US-supplied high flux European research reactors still operating with HEU fuel. The main limitation in this endeavor is the lack of an appropriate, robust, licensed LEU fuel. The LEU fuel would also need to allow a safe, reliable, affordable conversion with no significant impact on the reactor’s performance or its ability to perform its scientific missions, and with no major changes to reactor infrastructure." "Documenting the reactors that use so-called "bomb-grade uranium" and outlining efforts to convert them away from weapon-usable uranium is an important contribution to nuclear non-proliferation," according to Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, an organization concerned about HEU and plutonium proliferation and DOE's role in such programs (including at the Savannah River Site). "The NNSA program to convert reactors away from use of bomb-grade uranium merits positive assessment and the release of this document is a step in that direction," said Clements. full alert linked here ----- February 25, 2016: ATTENTION International Non-Proliferation and
Environmental Community: The count-down on the arrival of the UK-flagged Pacific Egret and
Pacific Heron to pick up 331 kilograms of plutonium at Tokai, Japan has
begun. The U.S. Department of Energy is still staunchly refusing to make any nuclear non-proliferation case for dumping 236 kilograms of UK-origin plutonium - now stored in Japan - at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Egret and Heron passed through the Panama Canal on February 5/6 and then "vanished" from the map but will soon arrive in Japan to pick up 331 kilograms of plutonium at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) at Tokai. In South Carolina, the position remains the same: no dumping of UK or French plutonium at SRS. The UK is a nuclear weapon state and has a plutonium stockpile of over 125 metric tons and must take care of its own plutonium. Ditto for France. Dumping of 236 kilograms of UK plutonium and 2 kgs of French plutonium at SRS, with no viable exit out of the site, will be a blow to sound nuclear non-proliferation and environmental policies. Looks like this material is going to SRS for questionable and bizarre theatrics related to the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit. And, who is making money off the deal? --- Map images above courtesy of our Japanese colleagues: http://kakujoho.net/npp/pu_ghost-ship.html ----- 
SRS Watch
news, February 17, 2016 - linked
here
Ship Arrives in Charleston, South Carolina with Nuclear Cargo Destined to be Stranded at the Savannah River Site; Cargo of Plutonium from Germany (Karlsruhe) and Switzerland (Paul Scherrer Institut) in Advance of Nuclear Security Summit (Washington, March 31-April 1, 2016) UK-Flagged Oceanic Pintail Arrives from Europe on February 14, Departs February 15 Now that this Plutonium Cat has been let out of the Nuclear Bag the Wind has been Knocked Out of any Claim of this being a Non-Proliferation Success at the Nuclear Security Summit Meanwhile, the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret are Nearing Japan, to Pick Up 331 kg of Plutonium to Take to SRS, where it will also be Stranded - see most recent news here Photo: Oceanic Pintail, aka the "Bobtail," departing Charleston on February 15, ©SRS Watch (can be used with credit) Columbia, South Carolina – A ship dedicated to transport of nuclear materials arrived in the port of Charleston, South Carolina on February 14, with a secret cargo of nuclear materials bound for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS), according to Savannah River Site Watch, which witnessed the departure of the vessel. (See photos linked in “notes” below and at http://www.srswatch.org/photos.html). The U.K.-flagged Oceanic Pintail delivered its cargo to the non-public dock in the Joint Base Charleston and departed on February 15 after 12-hour layover at a South Carolina Ports Authority pier. The Pintail is one of but four specialized ships dedicated to nuclear cargo transport and which are based in Barrow-in-Furness, U.K., near the U.K’s Sellafield nuclear site. The cargo remains officially secret but is believed to consist of U.S.-origin plutonium from Germany and Switzerland, possibly in the form of unirradiated plutonium fuel (MOX). DOE is likely bringing the material into SRS at this time in order to make an announcement about it at the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington, DC from March 31-April 1. That announcement will avoid to touchy issue of there being no viable or funded manner for disposal of the material at SRS, meaning it has come into South Carolina with no plans for its exit, making the shipment a hollow nuclear non-proliferation “success,” according to SRS Watch. full news release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch to table at Graham
Nash concert at the Newberry, South Carolina opera house on February
11,
2016.
Thanks to the Guacamole Fund for this opportunity to spread the word about "No More Nuclear Waste Import to SRS" and "Stop the MOX Boondoggle" and for financial support. We tabled at the Jackson Brown concert in Savannah, Georgia on January 14, where there was a huge crowd, and will do so again at Jackson's concert on May 29 in Columbia, South Carolina. Rock On with no more foreign nuclear waste to SRS! ----- SRS Watch news on US DOE Budget Request to Congress - February 9, 2016 MOX gets MASHED! DOE, After All the Painful Years of the MOX Mess Dragging On & On, Says MOX Boondoggle is to be Terminated DOE Budget Calls for Termination of for Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at DOE’s Savannah River Site; Secretary Moniz says MOX Plant Cost will be “Written Off” Will Senator Graham Again Protect Special Interests and Continue to Cover-up Construction Problems or Finally Demand Accountability of DOE, NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services for the Boondoggle? Columbia, SC – To no surprise of those closely tracking the myriad of cost and construction problems with the project, the U.S. Department of Energy has proposed that the plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site (SRS) n South Carolina be terminated. The DOE’s MOX project, far over budget and far behind schedule, is proposed to be halted in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request sent to Congress on February 9, 2016. The budget request is for $270 million for MOX plant construction, just enough to being the process to shut the project down. full release linked here Please help SRS Watch in its on-going effort to demand accountability of DOE, NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services personnel for allowing this abuse of the tax payer to develop and to continue for far too long. ----- 
SRS Watch
news, February 6, 2016
news release linked here UK-Flagged Ships Set to Transport Plutonium from Japan to US Located in Panama Canal! Ships on Secret Mission to Carry 331 Kilograms of Plutonium to US DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina as Part of Nuclear Security Summit Preparation; Plutonium to be Stranded at SRS Photos and Screen Shots of Vessel Tracking Linked at Bottom, Right of SRS Watch Photo Page Columbia, South Carolina – Two armed transport vessels on a secret mission to retrieve weapons-grade plutonium in Japan and transport it to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina have been located in the Panama Canal. The spotting of the ships confirms their route to Japan and that their mission is plutonium transport, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch, whose personnel have tracked such ships for more than 20 years. The specialized nuclear transport ships are slated to carry 331 kilograms of plutonium to the U.S. as part of alleged nuclear non-proliferation efforts in connection to the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit. The ships had vanished from the public eye on their departure on January 19 from the United Kingdom. full release linked here ------ Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) news release of 6 February linked here Barrow-based plutonium ships pass through ‘blacked out’ Panama Canal. The two Barrow-based nuclear ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret, armed with naval canon and carrying security crew, were located transiting the Panama Canal from the Atlantic in the early hours of this morning 6th February. On exiting the Canal, the ships are expected to reach Japan around 29th February where they are likely to load a consignment of 331 kg of plutonium from the Tokai Research Establishment. SRS Watch news - January 19, 2016 - news
release linked here
Transport Ships Involved in Controversial Plutonium Shipment from Japan to US DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) Depart Port in Great Britain, Transport Completion Doubtful before Nuclear Security Summit in March Bulk of 331 Kilograms of Plutonium is of UK Origin and Must Not be Dumped at SRS - via Port of Charleston, South Carolina; No Viable Plan for its Disposition or Removal from South Carolina Linked in News Release and at SRS Watch Photos: Recent Photos of Transport Ships in Port of Barrow, UK, Including Loading Ammunition and Deck-Mounted Guns Columbia, South Carolina, USA – A controversial plan to remove plutonium from Japan for shipment to the United States has now begun with departure of two empty transport ships from the United Kingdom. The transport mission begins under intense pressure to complete the shipment before the Nuclear Security Summit begins in Washington, DC in late March. The UK-flagged transport ships Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron, both outfitted with deck-mounted weapons, departed their home port of Barrow-in-Furness, UK in the early morning of January 19, as informed by the UK group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE). The ships, operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport limited (PNTL), are bound for the Tokai nuclear facility, north of Tokyo. At Tokai, 331 kilograms of plutonium that has been used for nuclear reactor research at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) will be loaded onto the vessels for shipment to the US. The cargo may also contain highly enriched uranium (HEU) now stored at the FCA. “As there is no non-proliferation or security justification for UK-origin plutonium to be taken to the Savannah River Site, the UK must deal with its own plutonium and not dump this problem on SRS,” said Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. full release linked here ---- January 19, 2016 "UK ships involved in highly contentious plutonium shipment from Japan to the United States" news release from Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), Cumbria, United Kingdom (location of Sellafield nuclear site) 
Statement by Tom Clements, Director,
Savannah River Site Watch on DOE’s DRAFT
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE ACCEPTANCE AND DISPOSITION OF SPENT
NUCLEAR FUEL CONTAINING U.S.-ORIGIN HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM FROM THE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, released on January 15, 2016
This woefully inadequate document on a highly speculative project that would result in German nuclear waste being dumped on South Carolina should put the scheme to bed. It is surprising that this rather cursory document was released as it clearly confirms that no technologies or facilities exist to handle any graphite spent fuel that might be imported from Germany. My impression is that the document was released as part of a face-saving effort to close the books on the far-fetched proposal in order to somehow reduce the embarrassment that the proposal has already caused DOE. The document affirms that the growing concern in South Carolina that SRS is becoming an international nuclear waste dump is legitimate as the document presents no pathway out of SRS for any of the German waste if brought into SRS for reprocessing. The draft EA confirms that neither the technology nor the facilities exist to process the graphite balls at SRS and thus there is no way that the proposal could go forward. The proposed methods of processing the material at SRS are only at the research and development stage and even if that moves forward construction of unfunded pilot-scale and full-scale facilities is highly speculative at best. The draft EA does nothing to resolve the open question if the speculative processing technologies would even work or if they would generate waste forms detrimental to on-going closure of high-level waste tanks at SRS. Timelines presented in the document reveal that proposal to process the material at SRS is totally out of sync with the timeline for decision-making in Germany, where decisions are being made right now about how the material will be managed. Germany is simply not going to base its decisions on a highly speculative research program at SRS based on technologies that don’t exist. The draft EA makes a brief and unsubstantiated claim that the proposal is being pursued for nuclear non-proliferation reasons but DOE itself determined in 2013 that there was no proliferation risk associated with the graphite spent fuel remaining in Germany. The DOE’s determination that there is not any proliferation risk associated with this nuclear waste remaining in Germany essentially ends the discussion on this matter. (DOE document obtained via a FOIA request by SRS Watch linked here.) ----- Keep you eyes open for transport of nuclear waste or nuclear materials to SRS by Edlow International According the the Edlow website: "Edlow International provides a full spectrum of services in transportation management and material procurement spanning the entire nuclear fuel cycle. We serve clients on six continents and transport all forms of radioactive material - from uranium ore concentrates, low enriched uranium, and fuel assemblies to high enriched uranium, spent fuel, and plutonium. Additionally, we manage the transport of research and industrial isotopes, ensuring that these delicate and critically important materials are expertly handled. From rate negotiation to packaging and security, Edlow International can meet all of your transport needs." Please contact us at srswatch@gmail.com about nuclear waste and plutonium shipments to SRS ----- 
January 8, 2016: Pee-Yew.... Something
Smells Fishy in Aiken, South Carolina as the MOX Cover-Up Drags On and
On...
Why won't DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) release documents on the financial bonus awarded to CB&I AREVA MOX Services for Fiscal Year 2015? What are they hiding? A claim that posting them is being worked on at some unknown date is an insufficient response. Just do it now! Most people tracking the MOX boondoggle may be shocked to learn that CB&I AREVA MOX Services would be given even 1¢ on top of the huge amount that has been wasted on them by Congress for the abysmally poor job its done in the design and construction of the MOX plant at SRS. But DOE and the NNSA have a way of rewarding poor work, which makes contractor management fat and happy as they count our money. NNSA: Stop the stonewalling and Release the FY 2015 Performance Evaluation Report (PER) and Award Fee Determination for MOX construction and other NNSA site! Just POST the PERS! SRS Watch has requested the documents via email but received no response. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for "NNSA Performance Evaluation Report and Award Fee Determination for CB&I AREVA MOX Services for Fiscal Year 2015, for Design and Construction of MOX Plant at the Savannah River Site." As the MOX cover-up drags on and on, what are the odds that NNSA will serve the public and promptly release the documents? You can see here that NNSA's stonewalling on the MOX award fee documents is their normal operating procedure. Meanwhile, NNSA continues to stiffarm us for MOX monthly reports for FY 2014, requested via a FOIA request filed over a year ago. So much for the openness and transparency that President Obama touted when he went into office in 2009. ----- 
January
1, 2016 - Happy New Year!
SRS Watch has high expectations for the Savannah River Site (SRS) in the new year, including a termination of the MOX boondoggle (along with investigations into waste, fraud, abuse & mismanagement) and a halt to dodgy projects aimed at importing more nuclear waste or foreign-origin plutonium under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation. photo above: December 20, 2015 rally at the spent fuel storage facility at Ahaus, Germany. Opposition was voiced by groups allied with SRS Watch against taking AVR spent graphite fuel from the Juelich research center to either Ahaus or SRS. The AVR spent fuel needs to remain at Juelich until Germany figures out what to do with high-level nuclear waste. Above all the AVR spent fuel must not be imported via Charleston, South Carolina and taken to SRS for processing and dumping into the aging high-level nuclear waste tanks! ----- December 31, 2015: Another potential ship that could be used to
carry UK-origin and US-origin plutonium from Japan to SRS: UK-flagged
"Pacific Grebe," now in Kobe,
Japan.
photos: ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), special to SRS Watch” – may be used with credit The "Pacific Grebe is currently berthed in Kobe, Japan following the successful completion of the 17th transport of High Level Waste to Japan. The vessel is due to return in Spring 2016." ---- from "Ramsden Dock Terminal Stakeholder Group Minutes of the 15th meeting, Barrow Town Hall, Barrow-in-Furness, 1030hrs14th December, 2015" : http://www.pntl.co.uk/about-us/stakeholder-group/ "The Pacific Grebe, delivered in 2010, is an INF 3 certified vessel under the INF Code of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). She is the third of the new generation of PNTL vessels and, like her sister ships the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret, her design builds on the experience of operating purpose-built nuclear carriers since 1979. The Pacific Grebe is primarily designed for shipping conditioned nuclear waste. Pacific Grebe entered full service in 2011." - Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. website: http://www.pntl.co.uk/our-fl…/pntl-ships/pacific-grebe-2010/ ----- More photos just released of possible ships
to be used to transport plutonium from Japan to Charleston, South Carolina and on to SRS, where
there is no viable disposal path for the material
Photos of Pacific Egret, Pacific Heron & Oceanic Pintail taken on December 29, 2015: “©Cumbrians Opposes to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), special to SRS Watch” – can be used with credit SRS watch will take some credit for forcing DOE to release the final Environmental Assessment on plutonium import/dumping at SRS: http://energy.gov/nepa/downloads/ea-2024-final-environmental-assessment EA-2024: Final Environmental AssessmentGap Material Plutonium - Transport, Receipt, and Processing "The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, has prepared this environmental assessment to evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with transporting up to 900 kilograms of plutonium from foreign nations to the United States, storing the plutonium at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and processing it for disposition. This action would be pursued only if it is determined that there is no other reasonable pathway to assure security of this plutonium from theft or diversion." For more information: http://energy.gov/nepa/ea-2024-gap-material-plutonium-transport-receipt-and-processing EA-2024: Final Environmental Assessment http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/12/f27/EA-2024-FEA-2015.pdf ----- SRS Watch news, December 29, 2015 BREAKING NEWS: US DOE rammed through a decision to bring the 900 kg of "gap" plutonium to SRS, including 236 kg of UK-origin plutonium at the FCA in Japan. No public input solicited - so much for government openness and transparency.... EA-2024: Finding of No Significant Impact "Gap Material Plutonium - Transport, Receipt, and Processing" - December 28, 2015 - posted Dec. 29 http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/12/f27/EA-2024-FONSI-2015.pdf Looks like the decision is for sea shipment but a "national security exemption" could still be issued for air transport Nuclear transport ships Pacific Egret & Pacific Heron still in Barrow, UK today, according to a contact there. ---- SRS Watch news release, December 29: As US DOE Refuses to Act in Public Interest and Release “Draft Environmental Assessment” on Import of Up to 900 Kilograms of “Gap” Plutonium to Savannah River Site, SRS Watch Releases Document Public has Right to Know Plans to Import Plutonium to SRS in Conjunction with Upcoming “Nuclear Security Summit;” Plutonium Will be Stranded with No Clear Disposition Path Out of South Carolina Draft “ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR GAP MATERIAL PLUTONIUM – TRANSPORT, RECEIPT, AND PROCESSING” linked here full news release linked here photos: UK-flagged PNTL nuclear-transport ships Pacific Egert & Pacific Heron, and Oceanic Pintail (owned by UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NDA), Barrow-in-Furness, UK, October 13, 2014, ©Savannah River Site Watch - may be used with credit; note Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron have decked-mounted guns but Oceanic Pintail does not ----- 
ALERT! --
December 28, 2015 -- Please report any movement of the UK-flagged
nuclear-transport ships Pacific
Egret and Pacific Heron and
Oceanic Pintail to SRS Watch at
srswatch@gmail.com.
Photo above: On December 27, 2015, the two Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) ships were seen docked in their home port of Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom. The port is located just south of the Sellafield nuclear site, where the UK holds a massive stockpile of "civilian" plutonium - 126 metric tons (see report to IAEA linked here). Photo "©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), special to SRS Watch" - can be used with credit. Will these ships be used to carry plutonium now stored at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) in Japan, or will the US declare a security threat at Tokai and issue a "national security exemption" so the plutonium can be flown in non-certified containers? The US DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) operates behind a curtain of unjustified secrecy so has clammed up about any aspect of the shipment of the FCA plutonium. SRS Watch pledges to honor its public-service obligation to provide information as it can due to the politically driven secrecy deployed by DOE/NNSA, which is a mockery of transparency and openness. NOTICE: DOE/NNSA has been requested again, on December 28, to release the "draft environmental assessment" on shipment of plutonium from Japan and other countries to SRS. If they do not act in the public interest and release the document, which has nothing in it of a security related nature, SRS Watch will be compelled to once again act on behalf of the public and release the document. ----- SRS Watch news release, December 23, 2015 --- Federal Register notice of December 24, 2015 linked here DOE Deals Blow to Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program at Savannah River Site (SRS) by Choosing to Dispose of 6 Metric Tons of Plutonium at SRS as Waste, But Decision Faces Problems December 24 Federal Register Notice on “Preferred Alternative” Linked Here Columbia, South Carolina – The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is poised to issue an initial decision to dispose of 6 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium now stored at the Savanah River site in South Carolina as nuclear waste, according to a preliminary Federal Register notice by DOE. full SRS Watch news release linked here & Federal Register notice, December 24, 2015: Preferred Alternative for Certain Quantities of Plutonium Evaluated in the Final Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ----- A Happy Holiday Gift
from DOE/NNSA to South Carolina: 900 Kilograms of Plutonium from Overseas
that Will be Stranded at SRS. Much of this Plutonium Should Go Back
to the Country of Origin, Like 236 Kilograms Originating from the United
Kingdom DOE/NNSA must formally release this document on import of an additional 900 kilograms of plutonium to the Savannah River Site and allow public comment - no pathway for removal of the plutonium from SRS now exists "Draft ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR GAP MATERIAL PLUTONIUM – TRANSPORT, RECEIPT, AND PROCESSING" DOE/EA-2024 November 2015 For more information on the Environmental Assessment (EA), contact DOE/NNSA. Good luck with that! We hope you are not met with the deafening silence we have experienced. For a faster, well-informed response, contact SRS Watch and see our plutonium-import news release and report of December 21 linked here and below. See DOE's EIS & EA schedule of December 16, 2015, page 24, for two DOE/NNSA contacts: Ross Matzkin-Bridger and Carrie Abravanel. Again, buena suerte en conseguir una respuesta, amigos! ----- 
photo: Dounreay nuclear site on north coast of Scotland, before removal of the Prototype Fact Reactor (PFR) dome; site where fuel from Republic of Georgia is stored SRS Watch news - December 22,
2015 Secret Plans Underway to Bring Spent Research Reactor Stored in the United Kingdom to the Savannah River Site – Material from the Republic of Georgia Should Stay in the UK Proposal On Top of Plans to Bring Foreign Plutonium to SRS as Nuclear Security Summit Approaches Is SRS Becoming an International Nuclear Waste Site Under Thin Veil of Nuclear Non-Proliferation? Columbia, South Carolina – Secret plans to bring more nuclear materials to the Savannah River Site in advance of the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2016 appears to be actively developing in the United Kingdom, according to Savannah River Site Watch, a public interest organization that has been aware of the initial shipment plans for two years. news release linked here Dounreay "Transpsort" - website Exotic Fuels and Nuclear Materials - Dounreay - preferred option ----- 
SRS Watch
news linked
here - December 21, 2015
2016 Nuclear Security Summit Stimulating Plutonium & Nuclear Waste Dumping at SRS? Dec. 22 Update: Mired in Unjustified Secrecy and Entrapped by the Bureaucratic Juggernaut at DOE's HQ in Washington, DOE/NNSA Have Been Caught Flat-Footed & So Far Have Nothing to Say to the Public about Abetting Foreign Plutonium Dumping at SRS (Under a Thin, Tattered Veil of Nuclear Non-Proliferation). No Justification Presented by DOE/NNSA as to Why Plutonium Originating in Nuclear Weapons States would Come to SRS. DOE/NNSA: Please Provide the Draft EA as We Requested & Break Your Silence about the Pu Import! photo: Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) at Tokai R & D Center, Japan U.S. Department of Energy Quietly Gearing Up to Bring 331 Kilograms of Plutonium at "Fast Critical Assembly" in Japan to Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina with No Exit Path Out of the State Import being Pursued in Advance of Nuclear Security Summit in March 2016 Includes 236 Kg of UK-Origin Plutonium that Should Not Go to SRS Given Struggles with Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program In Report Released Today, SRS Watch Calls on State of South Carolina to Oppose UK Plutonium to SRS: DOE’S SOUTH CAROLINA PLUTONIUM DILEMMA: PLUTONIUM KEEPS SECRETLY COMING IN BUT NO VIABLE PLAN TO TAKE IT OUT Columbia, South Carolina – Under a guise of nuclear non-proliferation, the U.S Department of Energy has quietly initiated a confidential process by which a large amount of foreign-owned plutonium in Japan would be brought to the DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). In a DOE environmental schedule of December 16, DOE reveals that it authorized the preparation of a document entitled “Environmental Assessment [EA] for Gap Material Plutonium - Transport, Receipt, and Processing” on October 30, 2015. This document is in secret analyzing shipment of 331 kilograms of plutonium in Japan to SRS. full release linked here "DOE's Plutonium Dilemma" report linked here ----- 
December 10, 2015: Is fuel containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) at the UK's Dounreay site in Scotland on the way to SRS? (see article linked below) Why doesn't the UK deal with its own nuclear materials and send it to the Sellafield nuclear site (as has been the plan by the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)?! Transport by air is not authorized so it's mere speculation that the material would be flown to SRS. Has other nuclear material been secretly flown from Scotland to SRS? Is the material from a research reactor in the Republic of Georgia? See International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog, August 30, 2013: "Transfer of Georgian HEU spent fuel from Dounreay to Savannah River Site" Predictably, the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has "no comment at this time"...and still no comment as of December 17, 2015. BBC article, 9 December 2015: "SNP raises Dounreay 'nuclear material' concerns" US NRC letter of February 6, 2015 - allowing shipment to US of the fuel listed below: "This authorization is necessary to support a shipment from the Dounreay Nuclear Facility in Scotland to the Savannah River Site in the U.S. The package loading operations and the shipment schedule will be established by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Foreign Research Reactor program. In 2013, NAC requested a 1-year extension to the authorization period for this one-time shipment based on the fact that the shipments may not occur in 2013. NRC extended the authorization period to December 14, 2014. On November 25, 2014, NAC requested to extend the authorization period to December 2016, since the shipment did not occur in 2014. The applicant did not request changes to the request made on November 10, 2011.3 Therefore, the safety evaluation report issued on January 10, 2012, permitting a one-time shipment of five special fuel assemblies (i.e., Dounreay fuel contents) still applies." A one-time shipment of five (5) special fuel assemblies in the currently certified Model No. NAC-LWT transportation package specified as follows: • Three (3) 4x4 square EK-10 rod arrays (two with 16 rods; one with 15 rods) o UO2-Mg fuel matrix/Al clad o Nominal 10 wt.% U-235 o < 120 g U-235 per array o The maximum amount Uranium per assembly analyzed is 1400 g o The maximum burnup analyzed is 20,000 MWd/MTU o The minimum cooling time is 28.3 years • One (1) concentric tube ITR assembly (four square tubes) o U/Al alloy fuel/Al clad o Similar to DIDO assembly currently authorized, but uses four square "boxes" instead of cylindrical tubes o Nominal 90 wt.% U-235 o < 170 g U-235 per assembly o The maximum Uranium per assembly analyzed is 220 g o The maximum burnup analyzed is 15,000 • One (1) hexagonal array (91 rods) TTR assembly o U/Al alloy fuel/Al clad o Nominal 90 wt.% U-235 o < 400 g U-235 per assembly o The maximum Uranium per assembly analyzed is 500 g o The maximum burnup analyzed is 60,000 MWd/MTU o The minimum cooling time is 22.6 years Article in The Herald (Scotland), 30 August 2013 on the shipment from Dounreay to SRS: "The Highland Line: should information around Dounreay have a hazard warning?" ----- 
N SRS Watch news release, December 8, 2015 In Quietly Released Environmental Document, DOE Refuses to Analyze Disposal of Canadian Liquid High-Level Nuclear Waste in Canada, Supports Processing and Dumping at Savannah River Site -- Under Guise of Nuclear Non-Proliferation, New “Supplement Analysis” Dodges Substantive Discussion of Terrorist Risks and Environmental Impacts photo: Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York & Ontario, Canada, over which 150 unnecessary liquid nuclear waste transports could be made from Chalk Rivers Labs in Ontario to the Savannah River site in South Carolina Columbia, South Carolina – The U.S. Department of Energy has secretly conducted and quietly released a flawed environmental analysis which affirms the controversial plan to import liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada for processing and dumping at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. Not wanting to draw further attention to the associated terrorist threat and environmental risks of the import of liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories, the environmental document was quietly posted on the DOE’s Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance website on Wednesday, December 2, 2015, the day of the terrorist attack in California. In a manner that undermines government openness, the document was posted without a news release or public notice or email alert about it. full news release linked here "Nation’s homeland security experts to meet in Buffalo in 2017," Buffalo (New York) News, December 4, 2015 - linked here "Experience is the greatest determinant of effectiveness in counterterrorism, and a conference like this is valuable for sharing experiences among first-responders, emergency planners and others,” said Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo. Higgins is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security subcommittee that oversees America’s intelligence operations. He said Buffalo makes an appropriate place for discussing homeland security given its location. Among other things, he cited the radioactive nuclear waste scheduled to cross the Peace Bridge by truck starting next year in trips from Ontario to South Carolina. Those trips could be delayed following approval in October of a congressional bill sponsored by Higgins that will require that federal Homeland Security officials conduct a terror threat assessment on the transport of hazardous materials. He and others are concerned that the truck trips could create an inviting target for terrorists. ----- 
SRS Watch media alert, December 7, 2015 CB&I AREVA MOX Services vs DOE/NNSA Smackdown!!! MOX Contractor Contradicts DOE on Construction Problems at MOX Plant at the Savannah River Site; Full Investigated Warranted by Congress and Investigative Agencies CB&I AREVA MOX Services Undocumented Claim of “Less than 1%” Rework Rate of Construction Problems is Wildly Divergent from DOE’s Figure of 25% MOX Services Unsubstantiated Claim that MOX Plant Construction is 68% Complete at Disturbing Odds with Congressional Testimony by DOE’s that MOX Plant is 35% to 41% Complete photo: MOX plant construction site at SRS, October 14, 2015; can be used with credit: "©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch" Columbia, SC – Directly contradicting the assessment of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) about construction problems at the plutonium fuel (MOX) factory, the contractor building the facility has made an unsubstantiated claim that there are few construction problems with the contentious project being slowly carried out at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. A spokesperson for CB&I AREVA MOX Services stated on December 3, 2015 that the “reinstallation” rate – the rate at which improperly installed components are torn out and reinstalled – is not the alarming 25% as DOE has formally testified to Congress but “less than 1%”: “That figure is inaccurate - in fact, ever since MOX construction began up until this point, rework has been less than 1 percent -- well below industry standards. (The project is also over 68 percent physically complete).” (email to Tom Clements, Director, SRS Watch) No documentation was provided to back up the claims presented by CB&I AREVA MOX Services. According to Savannah River Site Watch, the reinstallation problem is significant as it could indicate both design problems and poorly trained staff. Having to tear out and reinstall equipment and components such as piping, wiring, welds, walls and duct work result in significant cost increases and schedule delays. Improper installations could indicate an improper sequencing of installation of component and equipment, resulting in a possible domino effect of problems. “Given the magnitude of money involved and the importance of plutonium disposition, the problems with construction of the MOX plant at SRS warrants a full investigation not only by Congress but by a host of federal investigative agencies,” said Tom Clements, director of the public interest no-profit group Savannah River Site Watch. “Reports of waste, fraud, abuse and inspection problems at the MOX plant necessitates in-depth reviews and investigations by the Government Accountability Office, the DOE’s Office of Inspector General, the NRC’s Inspector General and the Department of Justice. It is imperative that the MOX project be scrutinized under the False Claims Act to determine if the government has been defrauded in any way during design and construction of the problem-plagued MOX plant.” full news release linked here ---- 
SRS Watch
news, December 4, 2015
DOE Confirms HB-Line at SRS to Go into 24/7 Production for Plutonium Oxide"Feed Stock" for Failed MOX Project; Ramped-Up Effort to Meet Unrealistic Production Schedule May Create Operational Stresses, Increase Risks and Undermine Public Confidence Public Informed at SRS CAB Meeting on Dec. 1 that Unjustified Goal to Produce 3.7 Metric Tons of Plutonium Oxide for NNSA Will Drive Intense Post-Incident HB-Line Operation photo: flow diagram of handling of plutonium oxide cans in HB-Line - see SRNS presentation Columbia, SC – The U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) has announced that it intends to place a problem-plagued plutonium facility on a 24/7 production schedule in an attempt to meet failed production goals. The public interest group Savannah River Site Watch believes that this surprising decision may well introduce operational and personnel stresses that could impact safety. news release linked here "HB-Line Phase III Safety Control Violation – Review of the Event, Casual Analysis and Corrective Actions" – Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Update to SRS Citizens Advisory Board nuclear materials committee, December 1, 2015 - linked here ----- 
SRS
Watch news
- November 25, 2015
U.S. Confirms to IAEA that 4.5 Metric Tons of Surplus Plutonium have been Disposed of as Waste Overlooked in Plutonium Disposition Debate: DOE has already Disposed of Large Amount of Surplus Weapons Plutonium as Waste in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Including from SRS, Hanford and Rocky Flats SRS Watch Releases Photo of its Director at WIPP, Standing by SRS Plutonium Waste Drums - October 1, 2015 - on right in photo above Columbia, SC – The United States Government has confirmed that 4.5 metric tons (4500 kilograms) of surplus plutonium have been disposed of as waste. This plutonium, from DOE’s Rocky Flats (now closed), Hanford and the Savannah River Site, was disposed of the in Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to DOE. full release linked here SRS Watch supports immobilization of plutonium in existing high-level waste at SRS as the best way forward with DOE's plutonium management crisis. ----- 
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Express
Concerns about Return to H-Canyon Operations at SRS -- October 23, 2015
weekly report (posted November 24, 2015) and linked
here
Is Restart and Operation of the HB-Line - to Produce Unneeded Plutonium Oxide for the Failed MOX Program - SAFE? "While many instances of procedural improvements and opportunities for improving conduct of operations have been identified, the site reps have mixed feelings about the overall effort. The all-encompassing scope included some low value actions (e.g., stopping office trash pickup or repair of copy machines, deliberate operations for general counsel). Managers across the site are spending many hours in management review team meetings reviewing hundreds of management field observations or MFOs (e.g., HB-Line stated they have a backlog of 200 MFOs) of mostly low hazard activities. These MFOs are creating a huge wave of procedure change requests (PCR). For example, H-Canyon reports that they need to revise at least 500 procedures. Considering how few procedure writers are at SRS and how inadequate procedure validation has been a common problem in past events, trying to push this many changes through the system may be setting up future procedure quality issues. Addressing the lessons learned from the HB-Line RCA is a key corrective action, but the reality is that even after interviewing the workers involved in the event, nobody really knows how/why the group made certain decisions so some of the RCA is likely to be speculative. Suspending processes for weeks or months without using the down time to train, practice, and drill the workers may result in a loss of proficiency and equipment issues often occur when they are restarted after sitting idle. For example, HB-Line had just qualified four rotating shift crews on plutonium operations, but they had little opportunity to conduct any actual processing before the pause took effect." [RCA = root cause analysis] DNFSB weekly report of October 23, 2015 linked here ----- HB-Line goes back into "deliberate operations" - November 23, 2015 - see SRS update linked here SRS has notified the public that HB-Line, which had an incident during production of plutonium oxide for the failed MOX project, has been brought back into operation. Given two criticality related incidents this year in the facility, all eyes will be on operations. HB-Line is slated to produced 3.7 metric tons of plutonium oxide but has so far produced only 9.6 kilograms, or only 0.3% of its production mission. See SRS Watch's November 12, 2015 report "H-Canyon Folly, Plutonium Failure,"on HB-Line problems and no need for it to operate to produce plutonium oxide "feed stock" for the MOX boondoggle, which has been kept on a shutdown track by Congress (as its funding level - $345 million/year - is barely enough to keep it alive). ----- 
SRS Watch news, November 20, 2015
Release of Draft Environmental Document Analyzing German Spent Fuel Processing and Dumping at Savannah River Site Delayed Yet Again; DOE Dodges Substantive Update to SRS Citizens Advisory Board on Problematic German Deal Draft Environmental Assessment remains under perpetual "internal review" as misguided project falters - time to officially cancel this dumping scheme! full news release linked here photo: Storage facility for AVR spent commercial fuel, at Juelich research center in Germany; photo by Tom Clements of SRS Watch, September 2014 ----- DOE-SR Agency Update to Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board - Stunning Revelation about HB-Line Personnel Failures while Producing Unneeded Plutonium Oxide for Failed MOX Project 4 employees terminated, newly trained staff may increase risks if HB-Line operates update to SRS CAB linked here Terry Spears, DOE-SR Deputy Manager, used the information below to provide the DOE-SR Update on Tuesday, November 17th. STATUS OF SRNS OPERATIONS PAUSE "All facilities under SRNS management have entered deliberate operations with exception of HB-Line. HB-Line may enter deliberate operations by the end of November. DOE-SR continues to assess SRNS activities. The root cause analysis and associated corrective actions for the HB-Line Technical Surveillance Requirement (TSR) violation is complete and was presented to the SRNS Senior Management Review Board. The root cause analysis found: o Willful procedure violation by the work team. o Unwillingness of the work team to call a Time Out. o Significant departure from observed Conduct of Operations. o Less than adequate First Line Manager performance. o Less than adequate management engagement. In addition, eleven “Other Causes” were identified and six Opportunities for Improvement. SRNS briefed DOE-SR concerning the report on November 5, 2015. No facilities or organizations have completed actions required to exit deliberate operations and DOE-SR will review sustainability plans and assessment completed to supports the decision for exiting deliberate operations. The SRNS Sustainment Plan is complete and will be revised as necessary as new information is learned. Sustainment plan actions include a half-day pause by each organization monthly for six months; an externally-led assessment of nuclear operations focusing on nuclear safety culture; quantifiable improvements in the training and qualifications program; and improvement to the Contractor Assurance System under the supervision of the SRNS Senior Management Review Board (SMRB). Long-term actions necessary to sustain improvement include requirements for periodic self-assessments, Internal Evaluation Board assessments, operational pause periods and routine periodic involvement of the Operational Excellence organization and the SMRB." Question: What should the HB-Line be allowed to be out back into operation with newly trained personnel to produce a plutonium product that simply isn't needed? Such a situation poses operational and safety problems that could set things up for an accident. ---- Savannah River National Lab Report, "Investigation of In-Line Monitoring Options at H Canyon/HB Line for Plutonium Oxide Production," released November 2015 - linked here "In 2011, the H Canyon and HB Line facilities were chosen to begin dissolving and purifying excess plutonium oxide for initial feedstock material for the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility. The goal for production is to provide 1 metric ton (MT) per year of MOX feedstock by FY17. Meeting this goal will be challenging unless measures are taken to reduce waste and/or increase throughput. In-line process monitoring could provide the needed tools to help meet H Canyon/HB Line production goals." An unneeded "challenge" that will be difficult to meet... As 9.6 kgs were produced in 15 months, they only have to increase production by about 993 kgs per year to meet the 1 MT per year goal... ----- 
SRS Watch releases report on failure of SRS to meet production goals for plutonium oxide
for MOX project - November 12, 2015
"H-Canyon Folly, Plutonium Failure" Report documents that "H-Canyon/HB-Line at Savannah River Site Dramatically Fails to Meet Production Goals for Purified Plutonium Oxide “Feedstock” for the Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program Given Likelihood of MOX Termination No Need to Continue Questionable and Potentially Risky Mission to Produce Purified Plutonium for MOX Fuel Fabrication in Aging SRS Facilities Note: Only 9.6 kilograms of Uneeded Plutonium Oxide have been Produced in HB-Line in 15 Months of Operation, only 0.3% of the Goal of 3.7 Metric Tons! report linked here SRS Watch news release linked here Photo above: H-Canyon, in middle of photo, with HB-Line on top of the facility, July 30, 2015; photo can be used with credit:“©High Flyer, Special to SRS Watch" Photos of H-Canyon/HB-Line by High Flyer at: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/6893258.jpg http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/9307925.jpg Question of the month: Given technical and personnel problems and no need by the bungled MOX project for any plutonium oxide that might be produced, should the HB-Line be shuttered? ----- 
November
11: SRS Watch correction to MOX aerial photo news
release of November 9:
The excavated area on the south side of the MOX plant may well be for electrical lines and not waste lines. Thanks to an informed contact for that information. Please keep those comments coming about the MOX plant photos and "waste, fraud and abuse" related to MOX construction and inspection: srswatch@gmail.com Nov. 9 SRS Watch news release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch
news, November 9, 2015
New Aerial Photos of $12-Billion Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant Construction Site Released by Savannah River Site Watch On Heels of DOE Admission that MOX Plant Construction Faces a 25% “Reinstallation” Rate SRS Watch Challenges DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services to Release Photos and Videos Showing Inside of MOX Plant and Document “Reinstallation” Construction Problems Photos Linked Here Can be Used with Credit “©High Flyer, Special to SRS Watch” Columbia, South Carolina – New aerial photos of the plutonium fuel (MOX) construction site at the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) have been released by the public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). full news release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch news, November 3, 2015 - linked
here
German Nuclear Waste Commission Approves Resolution to Ban Export of Spent Fuel, Including AVR Spent Fuel from Juelich to the Savannah River Site Documents Obtained from via FOIA Request Reveals No Proliferation Risk to German Spent Fuel and that Daunting Risks Face the Import Proposal SRS Watch: Time to Formally Terminate This Embarrassing, Half-Baked Waste-Dumping Scheme photo: Greenpeace Germany action at long-closed AVR reactor: "South Carolina Not a Nuclear Waste Dump for Germany!" Columbia, South Carolina -- A commission established in Germany to decide how spent nuclear reactor fuel is be managed has approved a resolution against the export of spent fuel, including spent fuel to the United States from the AVR and THTR experimental reactors. The Savannah River Site has been a target for receipt of this commercial spent fuel, with Savannah River National Lab investigating reprocessing and waste-handling options. The passage of the resolution by the German High-Level Waste Commission on October 2 does not have the authority of law but sends the strongest of signals that the export of the spent fuel in question to SRS is in serious trouble. The resolution passed by the commission of the German Bundestag (parliament) and made up of elected Bundestag members specifically states that the option of export of the AVR spent fuel to the US no longer remains. Likewise, the resolution states that export of THTR spent graphite fuel, also considered for export to SRS, should not be not permitted. The resolution could be adopted by the full Bundestag and turned into law. “The decision by the German waste commission against shipment of the German highly radioactive spent fuel to the US should give the public near SRS a sigh of relief as the proposal is now near termination,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch. “As SRS and German officials did not think clearly about the myriad of technical, legal and cost challenges, the embarrassing proposal to turn SRS into a dumping site for German highly radioactive nuclear waste was doomed to failure from the start and should be promptly abandoned.” full news release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch
news - October 28, 2015
Savannah River Site Ends Consideration of Bringing Commercial Spent Fuel from the Byron Nuclear Power Plant in Illinois to SRS for Research Activities Import of Commercial Spent Fuel to SRS Pursued in Secret, Despite Public Concern on the Matter Does not Appear Environmental Impact Documents Prepared on Aborted Proposal - For any Next Spent Fuel Receipt Proposal there must be a Public Environmental Review Process Columbia, SC – The Savannah River Site has halted planning to bring highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel to the site for research and development purposes. Such a controversial proposal should not have been pursued without informing the public, the State of South Carolina and the SRS Citizens Advisory Board in advance, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch. full news release linked here photo: Byron nuclear power plant, from NRC website 
SRS Watch news - October 27, 2015 -
linked
here
Failure of MOX Project at the Savannah River Site Legally Mandates DOE to Begin Removal of 1 Metric Ton of Weapons Plutonium from South Carolina by January 1, 2016 or Face $1 Million/Day in Fines In Reality, the Plutonium-Removal Law is a Farce Used by Senator Lindsey Graham to Hold South Carolina Hostage to the Failed MOX Project & Endless Storage of 12.8 Metric Tons of Plutonium at SRS Plans for Plutonium Shipments from Los Alamos in New Mexico to SRS Must be Suspended photo: old K-Reactor at SRS, where 12.8 MT of surplus, non-pit plutonium is stored Columbia, SC – Due to the failure of the plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Energy will soon be obligated to remove 1 metric ton (2200 pounds) of surplus weapon-grade plutonium now stored at SRS and send it to storage outside of South Carolina. Under the “Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003,” as amended, the failure of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plant at SRS to operate as of January 1, 2014, legally necessitates the removal of “not less than 1 metric ton” of plutonium “for storage or disposal elsewhere” not later than January 1, 2016. Likewise, if the legally mandated MOX production objective is not achieved as of January 1, 2016, the Secretary of Energy “shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, pay to the State of South Carolina each year beginning on or after that date through 2021 for economic and impact assistance an amount equal to $1,000,000 per day…” Despite the language on removal of the plutonium, the law has a number requirements to be met before the off-site shipment can take place. According to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch, DOE has made a mockery of the law by ignoring mandated provisions in it. “Savannah River Site Watch strongly supports the legal requirement that the plutonium be removed from South Carolina but DOE has made a farce of the law by refusing to meet obligations in it,” said Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. “DOE must not be allowed to leave plutonium in South Carolina forever due to its total failure to carry out the MOX project. DOE has but two choices in front of it: remove the plutonium and pay the $1 million per day fine or cancel the grossly mismanaged MOX program by January 1, 2016 and pursue disposal of plutonium as waste.” full news release linked here ----- Why is CB&I AREVA MOX Services' pet
pig "MOXie" - carefully trained by Senator
Lindsey Graham to devour as much of our tax money as possible - getting so
nervous?
Because it's just about time to yank him out of his pigsty and get to makin' MOX bacon from that porker. There is nothing big spenders like Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham and Rep. Joe "Just Say MOX" Wilson can do to hold off the budget slashers from slicing up the unsustainable MOX pork barrel project. Next stop for MOXie - being investigated for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement! Please report fraud by MOXie and his pals at the US Government hotlines below. Alas poor MOXie we knew ye far too well! But it's time to say good riddance to the MOX boondoggle! We can already hear the sizzling and smell the bacon! Oink!!!! (Apologies to pigs and those that don't eat them.) ----- KNOW OF OR SUSPECT "WASTE, FRAUD,
ABUSE AND MISMANAGEMENT" at the MOX PLANT? REPORT
IT! If you suspect or are aware of "waste, fraud and abuse" with construction or quality control inspection of the mismanaged MOX construction project at SRS, please contact SRS Watch (srswatch@gmail.org, tel. 803-834-3084) and: 1. DOE Inspector General Hotline: http://energy.gov/ig/services "The Office of Inspector General (OIG) maintains a Hotline to facilitate the reporting of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs or operations. If you wish to report such allegations, you may call, send a letter, or email the OIG Hotline as identified at the right. Allegations may be reported by DOE employees, DOE contractors, or the general public." 2. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Fraud Hotline http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet "If you suspect fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of federal funds, the FraudNet can help you report your concerns to appropriate entities. The FraudNet: Refers allegations to federal, state, and local law enforcement, and Offices of Inspector General, as appropriate Supports Congressional investigation and audit requests Provides audit and investigative leads to GAO staff Offers support to government at all levels for establishing and operating hotlines You can reach us at 1 (800) 424-5454 or e-mail us at fraudnet@gao.gov." 3. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission OIG Hotline http://www.nrc.gov/insp-gen/oighotline.html "The Office of the Inspector General at NRC established the Hotline (1-800-233-3497) program to provide the NRC employee, other government employee, licensee/utility employee, contractor employee, and the public with a confidential means of reporting incidences of suspicious activity to the OIG concerning fraud, waste, abuse, and employee or management misconduct. Mismanagement of agency programs or danger to public health and safety may also be reported through the Hotline." ---- 
*** October 13: When will the lid be blown off the MOX boondoggle and cover-up of construction problems and inspection irregularities? Rumors continue about construction problems and "re-work" issues at the MOX plant construction site. NNSA has now stated that there is a stunning 25% "reinstallation" rate at the MOX plant so keep a close eye on developments as chaos at the project seems to be deepening. Please continue to come forward with information about construction and inspection problems, which will be kept in confidence: srswatch@gmail.com. *** Congressional Hearing on Failed MOX Project - October 7, 2015, 3:30 p.m. Eastern "PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION AND THE MOX PROJECT" Hearing Report: Wow, the MOX project was essentially demolished at the hearing. DOE officials stood by the fact that MOX is not viable at the current funding level of $345 million/year and that the life-cycle cost is $30 billion to $50 billion. As SRS Watch has been saying for well over a year, it came out that many things (such as piping and cable trays) already installed in the MOX plant will have to be ripped out and reinstalled. DOE testified that 25% of equipment installed will have to be "reworked!!!" There was nothing said about where investigations stand into improper signing off on work orders for improper installation but stay tuned on that front. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina), top MOX booster, appeared to have almost given up and essentially had no allies in his pro-MOX cause. He could only make the unsubstantiated claim that the MOX plant is 70% complete - DOE countered and said it's 35% to 41% complete and - and invited members to come tour the MOX plant and play a round of gold at Augusta National. As usual, Wilson could present no path forward for any aspect of the MOX boondoggle, which is slowly going down the drain. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberrry (R-NB) told it like it is - that we are wasting money on inability to go ahead and terminate this mismanaged program. Rep. Cooper rightfully called the subject of the hearing (MOX) "a horror story for the American taxpayer." Our usual prediction still holds: One day soon the big spenders like Rep. Wilson and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will lose their fight to keep funneling our money into the pockets of CB&I AREVA MOX Services. As DOE's MacWilliams said, spending $345 million/year on MOX has bought "NOTHING." Let's hear a big MOX OINK for this failed project! ---- House Armed Services, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces (Committee on Armed Services) 2118 RHOB Washington, D.C. Oct 07 2015 3:30 PM hearing website - to be webcast linked here: "Plutonium Disposition and the MOX Project" Witnesses: The Honorable Frank G. Klotz Administrator National Nuclear Security Administration Mr. John J. MacWilliams Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy U.S. Department of Energy Dr. Thom Mason Director Oak Ridge National Laboratory At the hearing, will MOX plant construction problem be fully reviewed? Due to waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement, this matter, which SRS Watch has been raising for well over a year, needs a full investigation. See SRS Watch UPDATE of April 9, 2015 for information about some construction problems: http://tinyurl.com/lsgkxfa The NRC has been alerted about MOX plant construction problems but refuses to inspect or investigate. You can see that SRS Watch has flagged this issue to the NRC in a January 2015 meeting and that the NRC has taken a big dodge on this troubling and potentially criminal matter: 1. SRS Watch statement of MOX problems, January 15, 2015 2. NRC response to SRS questions 3. NRC letter to SRS Watch, April 1, 2015 Rumor is that CB&I investigated itself about improper signing off on MOX plant construction work orders. But has the DOE's Inspector General or GAO or police authorities investigated? If you know more about MOX plant construction problems, please email SRS Watch: srswatch@gmail.com. We will make sure that the information is passed on and that confidentiality is protected. ---- In "Continuing Resolution" (CR) of September 30, Congress to Continue to Fund the MOX Boondoggle at a Shut-Down Level On October 1, a new U.S. Government fiscal year (Fiscal Year 2016) began and a "continuing resolution" passed by Congress will fund DOE programs into mid-December. The mismanaged MOX construction project will be funded at a proportion of the amount it has received in Fiscal Year 2015, which was a total $345 million. Congress will thus keep the MOX project on an unofficial shutdown track. For the year, $345 million is not enough to keep the project viable but that's also the shut-down level of funding being discussed for Fiscal Year 2106 (which begins on October 1, 2015). Next, the fight between big spenders - such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) - and fiscal conservatives will be for MOX funding in a FY 2016 "omnibus" spending bill (through September 2016), or perhaps another CR. Given the reality as shown in various DOE studies that MOX is not viable, Senator Graham will be in a desperate fight to continue funneling our money to the MOX contractor - CB&I AREVA MOX Services and to save it from official shutdown. Likewise, Graham will continue efforts to keep DOE, NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices from being held accountable for the massive waste caused by those who have run the project into the ditch. As DOE's Fiscal Year 2017 budget requested is already being pulled together and likely to be released in February 2016, MOX and contractors profiting from the boondoggle could face an official shutdown intent by DOE. While fiscal conservatives and non-proliferation experts await official termination of the failed MOX program, rumors have circulated that MOX could be shut down soon. SRS Watch places no credibility in these rumors but does encourage DOE to begin taking action to close out the MOX debacle. Additionally, DOE must promptly remove CB&I AREVA MOX Services from the project due to poor performance, massive over spending and big schedule delays. ---- 
At the SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting on September 22, a few details of the "operational closure" of many SRS site activities were revealed Information Emerges on MOX-Related Plutonium Incident photo: Jack Craig, SRS site manager, updates the SRS CAB on site activities as Patrick McGuire of DOE-SRS and Rob Pope of the EPA look on The incident that caused the partial site shutdown occurred on September 3 and involved transfer in the HB-Line - sits atop the H-Canyon reprocessing plant - of 400 grams of weapon-grade plutonium from a single "3013" plutonium storage can into 3 sample cans. Criticality control procedures were violated by personnel in how the cans were handled, resulting in not only closure of H-Canyon but many other site activities managed by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNL). Plutonium removed from the 3013 cans (stored in K Aea) is being processed into plutonium oxide for the mismanaged MOX project though it is more likely that such purified plutonium will be discarded at much lower cost as nuclear waste. DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is paying DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM), which operates H-Canyon, about $20 million/year for oxide production. NNSA must be getting a bit angry as only about 15+ kg of oxide have been prepared for them in 2014 and 2015. While the HB-Line incident is being reviewed no timeline for finishing that review or restarting HB-Line for MOX plutonium oxide "feedstock" production were given. There was also a presentation at the SRS CAB meeting on September 22 entitled "Update on H Area Operations" - linked here - but it didn't contain much new information about the criticality incident on September 3, the second such criticality incident this year. To satisfy NNSA, which wouldn't need the oxide (to be made into MOX fuel pellets) for another 15 years even if the MOX plant were to be finished and could somehow start operations, the goal is to put the HB-Line facility into 24/7 operation. But there is a long ways to go before that could happen. ---- 
SRS Watch news - September 21, 2015 - linked
here
Blank Check for SCE&G Nuclear Project in South Carolina S. C. Public Service Commission Approves 8th Pay-in-Advance Rate Hike for South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) Nuclear Reactor Project on September 23; On Approval of Rate Hike, Whopping 15.5% of SCE&G Bill to Go for Advance Payment for Nuclear Construction Project According to S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) Linked Here: Aerial Photos of Nuclear Project, July 30 - Special to SRS Watch, Can be Used with Credit Columbia, SC – In the midst of growing concern about mounting costs, the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC PSC) is set to vote on Wednesday, September 23, at 2 p.m. on the annual rate hike for the over-budget, behind-schedule $6.8 billion nuclear reactor construction project of South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G). The rate hike under consideration will be the 8 th rate increase to pay for SCE&G’s 55% share of the dual-reactor project at the V.C. Summer site north of Columbia, South Carolina. In order to protect rate payers from imprudent cost increases, the rate-hike request should be denied, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). The proposed average rate hike for retail customers would be 2.57%. The annual rate hike was requested in May under the Baseload Review Act (BLRA), the anti-consumer nuclear-project-specific law passed by the legislature in 2007. That law shifts all costs and risk from SCE&G and its shareholders to SCE&G’s customers and denies customers ownership of the reactors even after their having paid the full cost of them (along with a handy profit for the company). Rates under the law are on a one-way upward trajectory and will simply continue to increase, thus revealing the true and lasting impact of the nuclear project, according to SRS Watch. In communication from the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) to SRS Watch on September 18, ORS stated that the percentage of an SCE&G customer’s bill for the nuclear project will once again leap, to 15.5%. According to the ORS email to Tom Clements of SRS Watch, “ With the proposed increase, SCE&G’s residential customers using 1,000 kWh will pay $149.65 per month. Of that, $23.24 or 15.5% of the bill is attributable to BLRA.” “By 2020, when the first of the new units might be operable, the advance-payment portion of the SCE&G bill - just to pay for financing costs - could reach a shocking 25%,” according to Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. “The PSC needs to deny the 8th pay-in-advance nuclear rate-hike increase and thus send a signal to SCE&G that it will protect customers from endless advance payments for a project that SCE&G is financially mismanaging. Unfortunately, the PSC members are appointed by the legislature and their loyalty is clearly with SCE&G, a situation which has a built-in bias against the utility’s customers.” full release linked here some coverage of the PSC vote to approve the rate hike: The State newspaper, Columbia, South Carolina Sept. 24 print edition Public Service Commission approves another SCE&G rate hike ---- WIS TV , NBC, September 23 Commissioners unanimously vote in favor of eighth SCE&G rate increase ---- WOLO TV, ABC, September 23 Public Service Commission Approves Rate Hikes for SCE&G Customers http://www.abccolumbia.com/news/local/Public-Service-Commission-Approves-Rate-Hikes-for-SCEG-Customers-328910661.html ---- WACH TV, FOX, Seoptember 23 Public Service Commission approves 2.8% SCE&G rate hike ------- 
SRS MOX plant, July 30, 2105, by High Flyer. Note excavation in front of building at right corner; outer gabion security wall remains unfinished; openings far from the point of being closed as work is focused on the inside. How much improperly installed piping and internal walls have been removed? And redone? At what expense? What happened to the construction quality control program and the investigation into problems with it? MOX photos linked below can be used with credit. Plutonium Disposition Red Team Report Leaked on August 20: The report - linked here - affirms what Savannah River Site Watch has been saying for over two years - that the mismanaged MOX program needs at least $800 million/year to be viable. Congress is only funding it to the tune of $345 million/year, and $800 million/year for two decades or more is simply not available in the DOE budget. This means that the MOX program has been on an unofficial shut-down track but now it's time to officially pull the plug on the MOX boondoggle and end the massive waste of money on this mismanaged project. Time to formally hold NNSA, DOE and CB&I AREVA MOX Services accountable for this debacle! "Final Report of the Plutonium Disposition Red Team" linked here - dated August 13 and marked "Official Use Only" Plutonium Disposition Red Team Report Update, August 19 -- SRS Watch was informed on August 18 that The MOX Red Team report was delivered to the Secretary’s office yesterday (17 August). DOE will make the report available to interested parties after the appropriate reviews for public release are complete. SRS Watch does not know how long the review will take or why DOE is not being open about that. A test for the report is if it will explore waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by CB&I AREVA MOX (dis)Servcies, the contractor that has grossly mismanaged the failed MOX project. Savannah River Site Watch news For Immediate Release, Saturday, August 8 "Red Team" Report on Plutonium Disposition May be Delivered to DOE a Week Late, on August 17 SRS Watch Has Been Told that Review of Report Must Take Place before Public Release; Team Membership by Former MOX Contractor Questioned by SRS Watch EXCLUSIVE: New MOX Plant Aerial Photos Released, from July 30 - by High Flyer, to SRS Watch - Can Be Used with Credit Sibiu, Romania (*) -- A key document on the fate of the disposition of surplus weapons plutonium may be delivered to the U.S. Department of Energy a week late, Savannah River Site Watch has learned. The report was to have been delivered to DOE on August 10 but the new date may be August 17, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch. On June 25, Secretary of Energy Moniz established the "Red Team" to analyze two plutonium disposition options - via plutonium fuel (MOX) and via disposal as waste in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). A DOE official told the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council at its meeting on July 9 in Columbia, SC that the Red Team report would be delivered to DOE on August 10. (SRS Watch was in attendance and heard the date mentioned.) It is believed that due to the complexity of the work that the team needs more time to evaluate the options, both of which face unique problems. "The MOX project has been proven to be financially unsustainable and Congress is only funding it to a level to shut it down and the Red Team report will likely have little impact on the project's dire financial state as the money doesn't exist to save it," according to Tom Clements of SRS Watch. "An option cheaper than MOX will have to be pursued and we still believe that immobilization of plutonium in existing high-level waste is the sole option that should have been pursued from the start of the program 20 years ago." SRS Watch has been told that the Red Team report must undergo review before it will be released publicly. An administrator with the Red Team emailed SRS Watch on July 30: " DOE will make the red team report available to interested parties after the appropriate reviews for public release are completed." SRS Watch calls on DOE to quickly conduct the review and release the report to the public. SRS Watch submitted documents for formal review by the Red Team and it was confirmed by an NNSA official that they would be shared with team members. SRS Watch has obtained a list of members of the Red Team - see "notes" below. It is of concern that a contractor that worked on the MOX project has a number of members of the Read Team," said Clements. "While having worked on aspects of the MOX project have have advantages, I'm concerned that Navarro's formal participation may indicate a bias and we would like DOE to explain why it appears that no contractor that has worked on non-MOX options is on the team." SRS Watch is also releasing new aerial photos of the MOX plant taken on July 30 by High Flyer. The photos may be used with "credit to High Flyer, courtesy of SRS Watch." The photos indicate hat the outside security wall is still not finished and that there is new excavation on the south side of the facility. It is unknown what that excavation is but it could be for piping. Openings on the MOX plant have not been closed and it is believed that most of the work is taking place inside the facility. SRS Watch has been told by NNSA and MOX workers of construction problems and that internal piping had to be removed but it is unknown if an investigation about this and cost and construction impacts is being conducted. SRS Watch is proud to be able to regularly provide the public with aerial photos of the MOX plant construction, a service that neither DOE nor the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, chooses to provide The photos are by High Flyer, who chooses to remain anonymous but feels it important for the public to be able to see the MOX plant and other nuclear construction projects in the area. "We are pleased to provide this service and will continue publicly releasing MOX plant photos as we receive them," said Clements.. Notes: 1. MOX plant aerial photos - from July 30, 2015. Credit to High Flyer, special from or courtesy of SRS Watch. Can be used with that type of credit. photos linked here 2. DOE news release announcing Red Team - not posted on DOE website: DOE/NNSA news release, June 25, 2015 "Energy Department Announces New Red Team to Review Plutonium Disposition" Press Release News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940 For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 25, 2015 Energy Department Announces New Red Team to Review Plutonium Disposition WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the creation of the Plutonium Disposition Program Red Team to review plutonium disposition options and make recommendations. Led by Dr. Thom Mason, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this team will provide an assessment of options to help the U.S. achieve its commitment to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium and provide a recommended path forward. The assessment will address the MOX fuel approach, the downblending and disposal approach, and any other approaches that the team deems feasible and cost effective, taking into account cost, regulatory or other issues associated with a particular approach. The Red Team will provide its recommendations to the Secretary of Energy in August 2015. Dr. Mason led a similar effort reviewing options to replace uranium capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 2014. 3. List of Red Team members obtained by SRS Watch - needs confirming: Name Organization Coreorate Affiliation Red Team Role Thom Mason ORNL UT-Battelle Chair John Krueger ORNL UT-Battelle Project Leader Dale Klein Navarro Participant Steve Johnson Navarro Participan t Dan Stout TVA TVA Participant Brett Kniss LANL LANS Participant Carol Burns LANL LANS Participant Terry Michalske SRNL SRNS Participant Bill Bates SRNL SRNS Participant Alice Murray SRNL SRNS Participant Bob logan LLNL LLNS Participant Kelly Beierschmitt INL Battelle Energy Alliance Participant Paul Howarth U .K. National Nuclear Laboratory Participant Siegfried Hec ker Stanford University Stanford University Participant Tyrone Troutman Navarro Participant Dave Amerine Navarro Participant Christopher Gruber Navarro Participant Bob Merriman Navarro Participant Tom Burns Navarro Parsons Participant Tom Hunter Navarro Participant (Note: Dale Klein was a big MOX booster in the mid-1990s when he was pushing for a MOX role by a group in Amarillo, TX billing itself as a plutonium center. Dan Stout at TVA also pushed MOX use by TVA, an effort that has stalled.) 4. Posting on Navarro website indicating past work on MOX project: http://www.navarro-inc.com/news.html "April 26, 2012 Navarro awarded contract to support NNSA NA-26 Navarro won an $8M contract to support the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Fissile Materials Disposition (FMD), which is also known as NA-26. We will provide technical and expert support services in support of FMD’s nuclear nonproliferation mission to dispose of Cold War legacy fissile materials. FMD is responsible for disposition of surplus, U.S. weapons-usable plutonium and highly enriched uranium, as well as providing technical support and resources in support of Russia’s efforts to dispose of weapon-grade plutonium. Navarro will provide expert technical and advisory assistance related to the design, construction, operation of three key facilities related to the Fissile Materials Disposition Program: the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS); the Pit Disassembly and Conversion (PDC) facility; and the Waste Solidification Building (WSB). Navarro’s scope includes analysis of project schedules, cost profiles, performance data, technical evaluations, site/facility assessments, assisting with independent review/audits/surveillance of national laboratory Management and Operating (M&O) contracts or other prime contractor activities or products, and planning and logistical support of meetings in the U.S. and abroad, and assisting in procuring technical work with Russian entities or other involved countries." Contact: Tom Clements SRS Watch tomclements329@cs.com -- * on a bike trip in Transylvania, Romania until August 20 and not in close email contact; return to Columbia SC on August 21 ----- Update of August 18: On August 17, DOE published its monthly schedule of the release of environmental documents. The release of the draft environmental assessment on the dumping of the German spent fuel at SRS is listed for September 2015. As it appears that the entire project is facing its demise we doubt the draft EA will be released. If it is released it will be but an embarrassment to an ill-conceived program. See page 21 of DOE schedule linked here. Savannah River Site Watch news release For Release 8 a.m. EDT Monday, August 3, 2015 Release of Draft Environmental Document Analyzing German Spent Fuel Processing at Savannah River Site Delayed Yet Again; DOE Refuses to Address Host of Problems Facing the Questionable Plan SRS Watch Informs German Officials that SRS is not a Disposal Site and about Lack of Key Documents Click here for listing of SRS environment documents with confirmation that the draft EA is "undergoing internal review" On Friday, July 21, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) revealed that it has once again failed to meet the schedule for the release of a draft environmental document analyzing the shipment of highly radioactive spent fuel to the Savannah River Site from Germany. The chronic failure to release the environmental document confirms deep problems with the plan, according to Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). Still scheduled by DOE headquarters to be released in July, the “draft environmental analysis” on the reprocessing of the spent fuel and the dumping of by-product waste in the SRS high-level waste tanks was reported by SRS on July 31 to now be “undergoing internal review.” After being delayed every month since December 2014, DOE continues to postpone the release of the document and flounders in its lack of commitment to terminate the ill-conceived program or go forward with it. “Given the host of obstacles facing the unprecedented proposal to import German commercial spent fuel to SRS, it is no surprise at all that that release of the environmental document has again been delayed and that it remains, due to political and technical problems, under endless review,” said Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch. “While the inability to release the document in July indicates deep problems, the inability of DOE to even place a target date on its release reveals just how much trouble the project is in.” The German spent fuel in question consists of graphite balls impregnated with uranium from the long-closed AVR gas-cooled reactor, used to commercially generate electricity. That highly radioactive material is now stored in 152 CASTOR casks at the research center in Juelich, Germany, a facility visited by Tom Clements of SRS Watch in September 2014. On July 21, Clements, director of SRS Watch met in Bonn, Germany with key German officials from the German Environment Ministry, the German Ministry of Education and Research and the North Rhine-Westphalia government, the state in which the spent fuel in question is stored. The officials were informed about DOE’s failure to prepare key documents, including lack of a DOE own analysis of the legality importing the spent fuel - its export is illegal under German law, according to various German analyses - and a nonproliferation analysis of the new and proliferation-prone reprocessing technique being developed with German financial support by the Savannah River National Lab (SRNL). Of highest importance, an August 1, 2013 DOE memo - obtained by SRS Watch via a Freedom of Information Act request – revealing that DOE does not believe the spent fuel to be a proliferation risk was also delivered to the officials. Likewise, the officials were informed that SRS is not a high-level waste disposal site, as DOE has misrepresented in various public documents and presentations. Rumors from various sources in Germany indicated that the proposal to ship the spent fuel to SRS has been abandoned as German officials now realize both domestic problems with the export and that the SRS option is more complicated than some DOE officials and SRNL contract employees have pitched it. Though SRS Watch has requested in writing of acting DOE Environmental Management Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney and of SRS manager Jack Craig that the proposal to dump German spent fuel at SRS be terminated, neither has provided any form of response. “In spite of DOE non-responsiveness, the tide is against the misguided proposal and it’s just a matter of time before DOE either gracefully cancels it or allows it to wither painfully on the vine,” said Clements. ### Notes: 1. SRS list of current environmental documents, with edit on July 31, 2015 on status of “draft Environmental Assessment” on import of German spent fuel – note language that “ Draft EA undergoing internal review.” http://www.srs.gov/general/pubs/envbul/documents/EISs_july15.pdf EA for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium from the Federal Republic of Germany DOE/EA-1977 SR POCs: Maxcine Maxted, Nuclear Material Programs Division Steve Danker, EQMD EM POC: Hitesh Nigam, EM-22 GC POC: Carrie Abravanel, GC-54 (http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/20 14/06/f16/EA-1977-NOI-2014.pdf) DOE has announced its intent to prepare an EA to analyze the potential environmental impacts from a proposed project to accept spent nuclear fuel from the Federal Republic of Germany at SRS for processing and disposition. This spent nuclear fuel is composed of kernels containing thorium and U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium embedded in small graphite spheres that were irradiated in nuclear reactors used for research and development purposes. Draft EA undergoing internal review. 2. Listing by DOE’s Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance as of August 3, 2015 of status of “draft EA” – still listed as being released in July; next update of the overall list is monthly, around the 15th of each month: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/07/f24/StatusChart_July2015.pdf EA NOI (79 FR 32256; 6/4/14). Scoping meeting held 6/24/14 in North Augusta, SC. Scoping period closed 7/21/14. Draft EA is anticipated in July 2015. http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/doe_memo_on_no_proliferation_risk_of_avr_spent_fuel_august_1_2013.pdf 3. SRS Watch news release of July 1, 2015, releasing secret DOE memo dated August 1, 2013 that states there is no proliferation risk if the AVR spent fuel remains in Germany; links to key documents are in “notes” in news release: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/srsw_news_on_no_proliferation_risk_of_avr_spent_fuel_july_1_2015.pdf 4. DOE memo of August 1, 2013, released by SRS Watch via the news release above – confirming that there is no proliferation risk if the AVR spent fuel remains in Germany – memo shared with German officials; this is the memo that may well be the nail in the coffin of the scheme: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/doe_memo_on_no_proliferation_risk_of_avr_spent_fuel_august_1_2013.pdf ----- Contact: Tom Clements Director, SRS Watch Columbia, South Carolina tomclements329@cs.com ----- |
In The News
February 20, 2017: The United Kingdom and France have reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency their massive stockpiles of separated weapon-usable plutonium at the end of 2015 UK: 125 metric tons of pure plutonium stockpiled (out of 129 MT total) INFCIRC 549 report linked here France: 47 MT (out of 80 MT total) INFCIRC 549 report linked here With such massive stockpiles stored in Europe, any "cats and dogs" amounts of plutonium - in small kilogram levels - in European countries can go into those stockpiles and not to the Savannah River Site. Sound nuclear non-proliferation policy should dictate no international transport and dumping at SRS but something else is at play. Could it be dumping-for-profit? Without no explanation or justification given by the US Department of Energy, in June 2016, 2 kg of French-origin plutonium and 236 kg of UK-origin were dumped at SRS after being shipped from Japan. In reality, there is no disposition plan for this dumped material. SRS Watch news on that shipment: June 6, 2016 statement on arrival & March 21, 2016 news release on departure from Japan. Now, plans seem to be afoot by NNSA officials and contractors at SRS and in Washington to bring more plutonium to SRS. For nuclear non-proliferation, security and environmental reasons, European plutonium should stay in Europe! photo: @SRS Watch, UK-flagged Oceanic Pintail leaving Charleston, South Carolina in March 2016 after it brought German and Swiss plutonium to be dumped at the Savannah River Site; are more such transports in PNTL vessels being readied in 2017? To report international nuclear dumping: : srswatch@gmail.com ----- 
photo: MOX project at SRS with Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle, just across the Savannah River in the state of Georgia, in the background. Two Toshiba/Westinghouse AP1000 reactors are under construction at Vogtle. With the other AP1000 reactor construction project an hour away, it's easy to see why SC/GA is "new-nuclear ground zero." All the projects face massive cost overruns and significant schedules delays.. Hmmmm, a common thread is that CB&I has been involved at all the projects...they were kicked off the AP1000 projects but not MOX. Makes ya' wonder, right? @High Flyer, April 2015 Given Georgia Power's mounting financial and technical woes at its AP1000 reactor construction project, just across the Savannah River from SRS, and that MOX is likely not to be finished, we don't regard this as likely. Plant Vogtle could use new fuel when MOX is complete Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, Feb. 19, 2017 - linked here MOX in Vogtle sounds like a desperation PR move by AREVA. So, they think GA Power will go through years of MOX testing and licensing on top of other AP1000 problems? Uh, we don't think so. But we're talking around 2050 for any MOX fuel testing, long after the MOX project has been officially terminated or withered away given that Congress has placed it on an unofficial shut-down track. But the "Strom Thurmond MOX Memorial Bridge" across the river from SRS to Vogtle may remain a dream in some minds... ----- 
Be Alert to Fake News on the SCE&G Financial Nuclear
Meltdown!
See SCANA news release of February 14, 2017 on its troubled Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor construction project in South Carolina: "SCANA Receives Reaffirmation from Westinghouse Regarding Completion of VC Summer New Nuclear Project" - linked here The news release confirms further delays in the start-up of the two new nuclear units: "WEC [Westinghouse Electric Company] provided SCE&G with revised in-service dates of April 2020 and December 2020 for Units 2 and 3..." This means a further schedule delay of 7 months for unit 2 and 4 months for unit 3, which could add perhaps $1 billion in additional costs. The public in no way is assured by the delay announcement or the cost implications of it. The "in-service" dates of 2020 - which SCE&G is struggling to meet in order to earn federal Production Tax Credits - are highly suspect! Media appears not to be examining if the dates have any basis in fact. Word from the VC Summer site is that the 2020 dates can't be met. Thus, rather than providing an assurance about the project, this announcement of yet another schedule delay continues to erode the few shreds of confidence that remained. SCE&G rate payers should be prepared to further take it on the chin due to management mistakes by SCE&G throughout the course of the project. It's time they were held accountable for the massive cost overruns they and their partners - CB&I, Toshiba/Westinghouse, Fluor - have caused. photo: VC Summer site in South Carolina, location of 1 operating reactor and 2 Westinghouse AP1000s slowly under construction, Nov. 10, 2016, @High Flyer ---- 
SCAMA
& Nuclear Financial Meltdown - Action Time!
If you're concerned about the financial meltdown of Toshiba and its impact on SCE&G's VC Summer reactor construction project in South Carolina, join with SCAMA at the state capitol on Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. to express concern about rate-payer impacts. Join with SCAMA - South Carolinians Against Monetary Abuse - to creatively protest to on-going rate shock. See SCAMA FB page for details: https://www.facebook.com/events/263664357410999/ ----- 
It's
February 14, 2017 and that means it's Valentines Day in the United
States.
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, MOX is Scam* and it's Doomed, too.... We're feeling the love for the investigations who are digging into the dire situation with the US DOE's plutonium fuel MOX debacle at the Savannah River Site. The full extent of any waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption by DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services/Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work, with negative impacts the sequencing of other commodity work) and other contractors will slowly come out. Why has this situation been allowed to drag out for so long and where are a series of congressional hearings on the MOX mess? * By definition, a "scam" is a deceptive operation set out to defraud. After 10 years of government-funded MOX plant construction and 32 years to go we get the picture. With no budget, no schedule and virtually no oversight or accountability the $17-billion MOX construction project has become a text-book case of a failed big-government contractor-run boondoggle. ----- 
非常警報!
February 13, 2017, Japan time: D-Day for the Toshiba nuclear meltdown! CB&I's bungling destroys nuclear reactor construction in the U.S. but the company remains at MOX...mmmmm... Give CB&I the boot from MOX! Bungled nuclear reactor projects in South Carolina and Georgia seal the fate of Toshiba and the much-touted "Nuclear Renaissance"... "Power struggle: Financial woes jolt contractor at South Carolina nuclear plant" Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, February 11, 2017 - - article linked here Yes, we predicted big delays and cost overruns before the South Carolina Public Service Commission in a formal intervention in 2008 and 2009. See the photo for the "blank check" for billions of $$$ that rate payers were forced to hand over to SCE&G when the SC PSC approved the twin-unit AP1000 project. Rate payers are paying and paying and now unjustly pay 18% of their utility bill just for nuclear financing costs!. What will happen when construction costs go into the bill?! The dreaded "rate shock death spiral"....? Negative impacts of Toshiba's bankruptcy due to the involvement of its Westinghouse subsidiary in the AP1000 reactor construction projects here in South Carolina and Georgia will be deep. How will South Carolina Electric & Gas (VC Summer project) and Georgia Power (Plant Vogtle) be impacted? As usual, the rate payers of those utilities will likely be shafted as construction could drag on and on, far beyond the current schedule - first units finished in August 2019 and second units in August 2020. Bogus! Will Toshiba beg for a Japanese government bailout? Toshiba/Westinghouse/SCE&G/Georgia Power mismanaged the projects but the main reason for the problems may be due to very poor performance by the construction company Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I), which was booted off the projects in January 2016 after it was allowed to royally screw up the much-touted (and failed) modular construction. We wonder every day: Why could CB&I be removed from the AP1000 projects but be allowed by DOE to stay on the MOX project? Is this a clear indication that the private utilities have a little more management sense than DOE/NNSA, which is allowing CB&I to continue to milk the tax payer with the MOX project (which has no schedule or budget)! It's time to give CB&I the boot at SRS! On February 16, SCANA - parent of SCE&G - will hold a public "earnings call" to discuss the impact of the Toshiba meltdown - SCANA news release linked here. Join the call for the fireworks and to hear yet more rate-payer-shafting excuses about to how SCE&G can handle this crisis. Is SCE&G about to go under? Will Westinghouse sell SCE&G the AP1000 design or simply walk? (Down it all goes if that happens...) Is Duke Energy circling the carcass and looking to buy a cut-rate nuclear project? ----- 
SRS Watch in "NRC cites MOX
contractor for safety-related
violation"
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, February 9, 2017 - linked here photo: Superior Air Handling (Harris Companies) website on HVAC work at the MOX project: http://www.hmcc.com/projects/mo/ Is this company responsible for massive, costly rework and commodity sequencing problems at the MOX plant, or not? Will investigations find out? See "work package" ("final attributes") problems discussed in this 2016 NNSA document, which concludes that the MOX plant won't be finished until 2048: 2016 Updated Performance Baseline for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site ----- 
-
, SEE YOU IN COURT! MOX Rebar Fraud Case - Filed Under the False Claims Act - Court Extends Filing Deadlines as Negotiations on a Settlement Continue - Feb. 8 photo: "crap rebar" substituted for nuclear quality rebar - supplied to defraud the US taxpayer, CB&I AREVA MOX Services documents on resale of the unqualified rebar indicate that the quantity incorrectly supplied could be from 800,000 to 1.5 million pounds In addition to massive fines and payment of cost and penalties, jail time for this fraudulent behavior by Energy & Process Corporation management seems in order as the taxpayer appears to have been ripped off with full knowledge of the company (and possibly also by CB&I AREVA MOX Services, eventually removed from the case by the federal attorney's office even though they signed off on the qualifications of E&P.) JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF DEADLINES Defendant Energy & Process Corporation (“E&P”) and Plaintiff the United States of America (the “United States”) (collectively, the “Parties”), through counsel and pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b), jointly move the Court for an extension of deadlines in this matter to allow for time to finalize a tentative settlement agreement between the Parties. Although the Parties have made progress toward settlement since the Court granted the last joint motion for extension of deadlines on January 12, 2017, the settlement agreement is not yet finalized, and the Parties estimate that an additional 30 days will be sufficient to complete their negotiations. Court filings in Northern District of Georgia (Federal District Court) - February 8, 2017: JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF DEADLINES ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF DEADLINES Next document filing by E&P is due March 10, 2017. >>> Question to CB&I AREVA MOX Services and remaining managers with Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC work at the MOX plant and negatively impacted sequencing of other commodity work): What other activities associated with construction of the MOX plant merit investigations into waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption? The silence on rework problems is telling. More on MOX woes in federal court below: 
"Judge dismisses SC claim to $100 million in MOX, defense plutonium lawsuit" Augusta Chronicle, Feb. 8, 2017 - linked here Tom Clements, director of the nuclear watchdog organization SRS Watch, has repeatedly called for the government to shut down the project, calling it well over budget and a “boondoggle.” “The ruling is certainly no surprise,” Clements said. “If it was paid it would further damage plutonium disposition funding and mean the plutonium would stay here longer.” He said, “I think this lawsuit underscores the fact that MOX has failed. And I think it was important to bring the lawsuit because it shows that South Carolina recognized that they were duped into bringing in the defense plutonium with no real pathway out.” Ruling from the court - February 8, 2017 - Columbia, South Carolina: Judge's order & opinion Timetable for next filings Ruling on defendant's motion to dismiss Order to mediate photo: @Carolina Peace Resource Center (CPRC), June 20, 2016 in front of federal court house, Columbia, SC ----- 
French TV Exposes Connection between Bankrupt French
Government-Owned Company AREVA and the US MOX Plant Cost Overruns and
Delays
- prime time in France on February 7, 2017 Areva: une usine livrée avec 32 ans de retard? - Areva: a factory delivered 32 years late? video linked here ----- 
Got
nuclear materials to reprocess? How much does it cost to rent the H-Canyon
reprocessing plant at SRS?!
You didn't think it possible to rent a reprocessing plant as it can separate weapon-grade nuclear materials? Think again! Check out the prices SRS offers rental of the US-government-subsidized H-Canyon equipment and staff! Some at SRS seem to want to base the site's future business model on import, processing and and dumping of foreign nuclear waste and plutonium. So, we must ask: how much does SRS charge for rental of the 61-year-old the H-Canyon reprocessing plant? How much will Canada or Germany or, say, Denmark(*) pay for 1) rental of H-Canyon for HLW processing and 2) cost of dumping by-product waste in the aging SRS tanks or a burial site? Is this a per volume charge or hourly charge by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) or the DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) or what? OK, customers may be at a negotiating disadvantage given that H-Canyon is the only operable reprocessing plant in the US - but don't be shy and ask for country specific discounts! As of February 8, 2017, we've seen no indication of what the "rental fee" is for foreign clients as most documents, such as this one below, focus on technical aspects of reprocessing in H-Canyon. "Dissolution of Material and Test reactor Fuel in an H-Canyon Dissolver" - Savannah River National Lab, January 2017 * Just ask us about that Danish high-level nuclear waste that could come to SRS for processing and dumping..... ----- 
MOX Fraud is
Starting to Crack
"Hearing set for men accused of scamming $4M+ from government" [MOX project at SRS] Associated Press, Columbia, SC, February 7, 2017 - article linked here Did CB&I AREVA MOX Services know about this fraud before federal investigators got involved? Was there any attempt to cover it up? Are those same investigators now looking into other suspect aspects of the MOX debacle? Give us a buzz and we can help further point the way for investigations into waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement & corruption. ----- 
"Areva's other
cursed project" (you know what that
is!)
"L'autre chantier maudit d'Areva" -- in French economics magazine Capital, with MOX plant photo by High Flyer - article, with data on MOX plant cost escalation, linked here Oh la vache, c’est vrai! Est-ce une fraude!? Mein Gott! Es ist ein Betrug!? --- Creemos que es un fraude!? Photo: two new nuclear project disasters in one photo; @High Flyer, MOX plant in foreground & Plant Vogtle AP1000 project in Georgia in the distance - the AP1000 projects in Georgia and South Carolina are plagued by the Toshiba-Westinghouse financial meltdown What the heck is going on with nuclear construction projects?! Boondoggles, debacles and incompetence on all sides here in new-nuclear ground zero as the nuclear business appears to be, by choice, going "all in" with problems. Who is making a buck off this "maximize-construction-problems-and-cost-overruns" approach??? We well know that tax payers and rate payers are getting the shaft. All the projects are disintegrating due to self-inflicted wounds as managers allowed shoddy work to drag on and on (and so it still goes). Like MOX, both AP1000 projects - Vogtle & VC Summer - are in great need of investigation into waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption. Right? ----- 
First MOX fraud case headed to a hearing or
trial in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, with pre-trial
conference scheduled for February 27, 2017!
Ya Gotta Wonder: How close are investigations into possible waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption getting to the major MOX contractors like CB&I AREVA MOX Services, CB&I Project Services Group and Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work, negatively impacting the entire project)? If you have pertinent information and/or documents, please pass them on and we will help get the information to investigators: srswatch@gmail.com. "IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA NOTICE of PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE and/or JURY SELECTION PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the following cases, which are assigned to the Honorable J. Michelle Childs, U.S. District Judge, are scheduled for Pre-trial Conference on February 27, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., in U.S. District Courthouse, Courtroom #3, 901 Richland Street, Columbia, S.C. ALL ATTORNEYS AND DEFENDANTS ARE REQUIRED TO BE PRESENT UNLESS EXCUSED BY THE COURT OR SANCTIONS WILL BE IMPOSED." See judge's January 31, 2017 "Notice of Pre-Trail Conference and/or Jury Selection" linked here. Names of the defendants, who face wire fraud charges - details of case sealed - Phillip Thompson & Aaron Vennefron. United States attorney, District of South Carolina, December 16, 2015 news release: "Two Men Charged With Wire Fraud" The False Claims Act case in federal court, on falsely certified rebar used in the foundation of the MOX plant, should be moving soon as well. Stay tuned. "Hearing set for men accused of scamming $4M+ from government' - AP article, February 7, 2017 ----- 
Aiken
(South Carolina) Sierra Club Group's March 12 Meeting: "Savannah River
Site and the Challenges Ahead" - with SRS Watch director Tom
Clements
Sunday, March 12, 2017, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church 115 Gregg Avenue, Aiken, SC 29801 (map at link below) --- meeting notice linked here "The Aiken Group is pleased to announce a special presentation for our March meeting: "Savannah River Site and the Challenges Ahead," with renowned nuclear safety advocate and industry watchdog, Tom Clements of SRS Watch. Mr. Clements' presentation will cover several topical issues at SRS to include high-level waste management, the current status of the MOX project, nuclear weaponry, and the imports of nuclear waste and plutonium, with an emphasis on clean-up and the need to terminate nuclear imports. Attendees will have the opportunity after the meeting to sign a letter, to be mailed to our legislators, in opposition to nuclear imports." >>> Will NNSA or CB&I AREVA MOX Services managers show up and explain what the heck is going on with the troubled MOX project?! Unfortunately, as they hide their faces as well as information from public and avoid all forms of accountability, we sincerely doubt it. ---- 
SRS
Watch director to speak on challenges to the Savannah River Site at "Power
to the Peaceful" event on Saturday, February 4 in Columbia, South
Carolina.
Sponsored by the Carolina Peace Resource Center (CPRC), the event begins at 9 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church near downtown Columbia. Event FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/735914819908183/ Yes, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, your mismanagement role of the plutonium fuel (MOX) project will be discussed. We urge you to finally try and make a case to us that you have not bungled the project and that you should not be held accountable. All we the public gets is silence and non-response to our inquiries, which we find very revelatory. ---- 
With the CB&I
AREVA MOX Services project remaining in shambles, it's a good time to
recall an important article that changed the dynamics of the discussion
about MOX and plutonium disposition
"The Future of Plutonium Disposition" in Arms Control Today, July/August 2013 - linked here Four years later, the $17-billion MOX plant construction project stumbles along, with no demonstrated end goal in sight and no accountability for possible waste, fraud abuse & mismanagement by CB&I AREVA MOX Services or others responsible for the MOX travesty. It's a sad case study in government-contractor inefficiency and possible fraud that one day likely will be studied in depth. ----- 
U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviewing reapproval of nuclear waste
shipments route from Canada and the port of Charleston, SC to be dumped at
the Savannah River Site
NRC letters of January 25, 2017 to Secured Transportation Services: "ACCEPTANCE OF HIGHWAY ROUTE DETOUR APPLICATION FOR ROUTES 217 (MIT), 231 (BUFFALO POE) AND 246 (PORT ALEXANDRIA BAY POE) TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, DOCKET NUMBER: 070-07011" - linked here "ROUTE RE-APPROVAL APPLICATION (NRC ROUTE NO. 192) ROUTE: JOINT BASE CHARLESTON-WEAPONS STATION, GOOSE CREEK, SOUTH CAROLINA, TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, DOCKET NUMBER: 070-07011" - linked here photo: truck and shipping container with Canadian liquid high-level nuclear waste to be unnecessarily dumped at SRS, from DOE's "SUPPLEMENT ANALYSIS FOR THE FOREIGN RESEARCH REACTOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM - Highly Enriched Uranium Target Residue Material Transportation," November 2015; DOE has refused for almost four years to honor a public interest group request to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the matter, resulting in a self-inflicted delay in the unjustified shipments ----- 
Devices
used to produce electricity utilizing plutonium-238, once produced at SRS,
need proper monitoring given that it's a strong alpha
emitter
for more on the devices, see "Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) Surveillance, " a presentation by Los Alamos National Lab, September 2016 - publicly posted last week and linked here At SRS, the closed building that processed Pu-238 for RTGs remains a challenge to clean up - see October 4, 2016 presentation to SRS Citizens Advisory Board: "Status Building 235-F Project." An accident with aerial release of the plutonium-238 would pose a risk to workers at the nearby plutonium-239 MOX debacle, also in the F-Area. ---- 
SRS
Watch in "Liquid nuclear waste lawsuit tries to stop SRS shipment, ruling
expected soon"
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 27, 2016 - article linked here No matter the federal court ruling on this matter, the lawsuit demanding an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - should have been prepared four years ago when we requested it - has exposed this DOE-Canada dumping-for-profit scheme for what it is. Too bad SRS has to scrape around to fund operation of the H-Canyon by dodgy projects such as this or processing of German spent fuel and can't muster the political weight to get H-Canyon funded through budgetary appropriations. Hmm...if SRS has to rent out H-Canyon for such questionable work one has to wonder if DOE feels that the 61-year-old reprocessing plant is needed. Photo: aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS, now reprocessing research reactor spent fuel and processing - in HB-Line - weapon-grade plutonium into oxide (to be disposed of as waste) --- 
Update
on Federal Court Case on MOX Rebar Fraud; Next Filing Dates Set by Federal
Judge
The False Claims Act case brought in the North Georgia federal court against Energy & Process Corporation for supplying a massive amount of unqualified rebar to the CB&I AREVA MOX Services project is alive and moving. The rebar was supplied to be used in the foundation of the MOX plant. MOX Services incorrectly qualified the rebar vendor but was inexplicably removed by the federal attorney as a plaintiff. STEVE C. JONES, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE ordered the following on January 12, 2017 - order linked here "Defendant Energy & Process Corporation (“E&P”) and Plaintiff the United States of America (the “United States”) have filed a joint motion for extension of certain deadlines associated with filing responsive pleadings and briefing a motion to dismiss that E&P plans to file challenging the United States’ Complaint in Intervention. The Court has considered the joint motion and concludes that good cause exists for the Court to grant the requested extensions. Accordingly, the motion is GRANTED, and the following deadlines shall apply..." (see link to order & photo above) ----- 
Attention SRS area residents! Do you know where to evacuate
to in case of a serious site
accident?
See the 2017 "Savannah River Site Community Preparedness Information" calendar for details. SRS Watch has an extra copy that can be mailed to a local SRS resident. If more than one person wants the calendar we'll hold a drawing. Or, contact: Offsite Emergency Management, Programs Coordinator Bldg 703-45A, Savannah River Site, PO Box 616, Aiken, SC 29802-9975 2013 presentation to SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) on emergency planning - linked here ----- 
Finally!
After needless and dangerous accumulation of over 125 metric tons of
weapon-usable plutonium in the United Kingdom, another nuclear
nonproliferation victory for non-proliferation groups such as CORE,
Greenpeace and SRS Watch:
"End in sight for reprocessing nuclear fuel at Sellafield" Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) post of January 24, 2017 - linked here The UK's voluntary report to the IAEA on its civil plutonium stocks - INFCIRC 549, January 17, 2017 - show the UK has a stockpile of 129.4 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium, with 23.2 MT of that belonging to "foreign bodies" (mostly Japan). photo: grossly inefficient Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) white elephant reprocessing plant at Sellafield, courtesy of Bellona - long past time to get rid of this "Major mistake" (as in UK Prime Minister John Major who made the bad decision to open THORP in 1997) ----- 
Savannah
River Site news bits from site manager Jack Craig & SRS Watch to the
SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting, January 24, 2017 on Hilton Head
Island, South Carolina
- 14 positions with DOE are open at SRS but subject to the hiring freeze (not yet well defined); - 45 canisters of vitrified high-level nuclear waste have been filled in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) in Fiscal Year 2017;-
2. Documents, reports and photos on the SRS “Drone Scare 2016;” 3. Request for the CD-0 documents on expanding plutonium downblending capacity at SRS; 4. Reports prepared for German entities on processing and dumping of German AVR & THTR reactor spent fuel & documents on any transfer of funds to support Savannah River Nuclear Lab (SRNL) research into reprocessing and dumping of the spent fuel into aging SRS waste tanks; 5. Documents on CB&I AREVA MOX Services MOX Fiscal Year 2016 "award fee" (bonus) documents - OK, we also wonder how the mismanaged project could get even a penny from DOE/NNSA as a bonus. The full bonus amount should go into investigations into waste, fraud, abuse & mismanagement by MOX Services and contractors such as Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC work). ----- 
Sierra Club blog on
Canadian nuclear waste dumping at SRS
Radioactive Waste—Rolling Through Your Town? "That truck next to you on the highway may contain “the most radioactively hazardous materials on Earth.”" January 25, 2017 blog linked here reposted on Ecowatch: Most Radioactive Waste on Earth May Soon Roll Through Your Town Are there downblending & solidification options that don't involve dumping at SRS? Yes - see documents linked below. Hmmm, could the driver for this dumping scheme be the $60 million Canada is paying...? Indonesian treatment of similar US-origin material - "Proposed Subsequent Arrangement" by DOE, in US Federal Register, February 22, 2016 - linked here Argonne National Lab report on solidification of of similar medical isotope liquid waste: "WASTE TREATMENT OF ACIDIC SOLUTIONS FROM THE DISSOLUTION OF IRRADIATED LEU TARGETS FOR 99MO PRODUCTION": http://www.ipd.anl.gov/anlpubs/2016/10/130886.pdf ----- 
Key German Official: No Movement of AVR Spent Fuel from Juelich to Ahaus, Germany or to the US for 2-3 Years - Dumping Scheme Languishes, SRS Option Fading & Should be Terminated --- January 24, 2017 news release by German group Aktionsbündnis Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen Bürgerinitiative „Kein Atommüll in Ahaus“ e.V.: Westcastor-Resolution an NRW-Umweltministerium überreicht Staatssekretär Knitsch: "Kein Castor-Transport in nächsten 2-3 Jahren" petition by numerous German groups against the transport - linked here This dumping-for-profit scheme is another early test of DOE under the Trump administration - will DOE change course or is it business as usual? ----- SRS
Watch director to present to Aiken (South Carolina) Group of the Sierra
Club, March 12, 2016 --- from the January 2017 Aiken Sierra Club newsletter: "Our meeting on March 12 will feature Tom Clements of SRS Watch who will give a presentation on various current issues at SRS including high-level waste management, the imports of nuclear waste and plutonium, the status of the MOX project, nuclear weapons. terminating nuclear imports." Those interested in and concerned about the future of the Savannah River Site, including critics of SRS, those concerned about nuclear waste import, workers at SRS clean-up projects and workers at the mismanaged MOX project are encouraged to attend and engage in constructive discussion about the future of the site. ----- 
State of South Carolina Pleads Again in Federal Court for Fines to be Levied Against DOE for Failure to Remove Plutonium from the State Due to Collapse of MOX Project, January 13, 2017 Filing of State of South Carolina vs DOE, in federal court in South Carolina, linked here Federal law requires a $1 million/day fine - up to $100 million/year - for failure by DOE to remove 1 metric ton/year of plutonium from SRS, due to MOX debacle CONCLUSION At the end of the day, if this Court allows the Federal Defendants to split this case, handicapping the State in enforcing all of the statutory remedies Congress afforded, then this Court is eviscerating the very statute that was enacted to protect the State by providing the State all of those remedies. Section 2566 contemplates jurisdiction in this Court, and governing law waives sovereign immunity to allow enforcement by the State of all the statutory remedies available to it. For the reasons set forth above and in the State’s Memorandum of Law in Support of its Motion for Reconsideration, the Order should be amended and revised to apply the proper jurisdictional analysis under the APA and find that this Court has jurisdiction over, and that the Federal Defendants have waived their sovereign immunity with respect to, all of the State’s requests for relief to remedy the Federal Defendants’ unlawful inaction. photo: @Carolina Peace Resource Center (CPRC), by Paul Palmer, June 30, 2016 in front of federal court house in Columbia, South Carolina ----- 
MOX
pork about to be roasted?
If big budget cuts are coming to DOE then the plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site is history, unless parochial politics trumps good policies and fiscal conservatism "Trump team prepares dramatic cuts" The Hill, January 19, 2017 - linked here photo above from Friends of the Earth video on MOX pork: "Oink: Stop Sen. Graham's plutonium pork boondoggle" - click on image for link to MOX video or here ----- 
Groundwater
plumes containing "significant inventories of
radionuclides" documented under SRS
reprocessing plants
"Radionuclide Inventories for the F- and H-Area Seepage Basin Groundwater Plumes" by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), May 2016 - - report linked here "Within the General Separations Areas (GSA) at the Savannah River Site (SRS), significant inventories of radionuclides exist within two major groundwater contamination plumes that are emanating from the F- and H-Area seepage basins. These radionuclides are moving slowly with groundwater migration, albeit more slowly due to interaction with the soil and aquifer matrix material. The purpose of this investigation is to quantify the activity of radionuclides associated with the pore water component of the groundwater plumes." The 61-year-old H-Canyon reprocessing plant is still operating; the F-Canyon has been closed and awaits decommissioning. ---- 
Are
investigations into CB&I AREVA MOX Services' MOX boondoggle up next?
See article in major French newspaper into investigations into AREVA, January 15, 2017: "US Justice and FBI Investigate Areva" "The Department of Justice has asked the FBI to investigate the acquisition of Uramin by Areva in 2007. The operation could fall under the Anti-Corruption Act." in French, Le Journal du Dimanche , January 15, 2017 "La justice américaine et le FBI vont enquêter sur Areva Le département de la Justice a demandé au FBI d’enquêter sur l’acquisition d’Uramin par Areva en 2007. L’opération pourrait tomber sous le coup de la loi anticorruption." article linked here Note: This article and an article in the French magazine Capital in January 2017 are prompting a long-delayed look into AREVA's role in the US MOX debacle. ----- 
No
Surprise: On January 17, DOE again confirmed that the release of the
final "environmental assessment" on the processing and dumping of German
spent fuel at SRS was again delayed. The dumping-for-profit scheme by
DOE/Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) thus remains stalled.
If DOE/SRNL think they can continue to pursue the proposal to dump AVR and THTR reactor spent fuel at SRS they should become informed about legal problems and spent fuel transportation concerns in Germany, a heavy lift for DOE to overcome. The logical conclusion remains: terminate the unjustified spent fuel dumping scheme. SRS schedule for environmental documents, including the German spent fuel dumping EA - linked here In the list linked above, see "EA for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium from the Federal Republic of GermanyDOE/EA-1977SR POCs: Maxcine Maxted, Nuclear Material Programs Division Tracy Williams, EQMDEM POC: Edgard Espinosa, EM-22GC POC: Carrie Abravanel, GC-54(http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/06/f16/EA-1977-NOI-2014.pdf)" "A date for issuance of the final EA was not available at the time this status report was prepared." An SRS Watch Freedom of Information Act request for recent SRS-Germany documents is still pending. See the initial DOE response of December 7, 2016 linked here. ---- 
Nomination Hearing of Rick Perry
for Secretary of Energy
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing on Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. EST in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nomination of the Honorable Rick Perry to be the Secretary of Energy. The nomination hearing will be webcast live on the committee’s website. Witness testimony will be available online immediately before the start of the hearing. Perry is on a steep learning curve about what DOE does. We'll find out if he's done his homework and if he has a clue about how badly DOE and CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling have botched the MOX project at SRS. Will he vow to support investigations into waste, fraud, abuse & mismanagement of the MOX project? Or, will he be silent for now? ----- 
At the S.C. Nuclear Advisory Council meeting on January
12, 2017, Jack Craig, SRS site manager, said this about placement of SRS
transuranic waste in the just reopened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP):
- first 24 drums that went underground were from SRS; Mr. Craig didn't say if they were drums with Pipe Overpacks Containers (POCs) containing SRS downblended plutonium (97 drums with SRS POCs were in the Waste Handling Building) - SRS is in the running with ORNL and INL to ship to WIPP; first shipment possible in early April; - Criag and three other site managers are to meet at WIPP during the second week of Feb. to discuss shipping schedule; - Drums with containers - Criticality Control Overpacks - of large amounts of surplus plutonium (up to 380 grams) now being downblended at SRS may be shipped directly from SRS to WIPP without on-site storage. Next meeting of the SC Nuclear Advisory Council will be on April 12, 2017, in Columbia, SC photo: SRS director Tom Clements, on right, in Waste Handling Building at WIPP, standing beside SRS-origin drums containing downblended plutonium, October 1, 2015 - Did these go underground first? ---- 
SRS
Watch notes the passing of a giant - we were honored to have met him
Bellona blog linked here "Alexei Yablokov, grandfather of Russian environmentalism, dies at 83" "Alexei Yablokov, the towering grandfather of Russian ecology who worked with Bellona to unmask Cold War nuclear dumping practices in the Arctic, has died in Moscow after a long illness. He was 83." ---- 
False Claims Act case on fake MOX rebar delayed again by federal
court
The federal court in North Georgia has agreed to postpone the next set of filings in the case until February and March 2017. See court document of January 6, 2017 here in the following case: UNITED STATES ex rel. DEBORAH W. COOK, Relator, v. ENERGY & PROCESS CORPORATION See fraud symbol just below for more court documents as well as documents in the other MOX fraud case in federal court. Though the DOE's Office of Inspector General has been dragging its feet in investigating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment at the MOX project, report concerns to the OIG's hotline: https://energy.gov/ig/office-inspector-general ----- State-owned (socialist) nuclear company AREVA, teetering on brink of finacial disaster, has French government bailout approved by European Commission EC news release of January 10, 2016 - linked here "State aid: Commission approves restructuring plan of French Areva group" "The European Commission has concluded that French plans to grant a capital injection of €4.5 billion to Areva are in line with EU state aid rules. Areva's restructuring plan will allow the company to become viable without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market." "Areva is a listed group, of which the French state owns, directly and indirectly, 86.5%. The group is active in the whole range of activities around the full nuclear fuel cycle. The situation of the civil nuclear market post-Fukushima, together with the firm's own structural problems and business choices, led to Areva experiencing serious financial difficulties for over five years." Recall that the US MOX boondoggle has failed under CB&I AREVA MOX Services. The failure, in part, is because the design of the US MOX plant is based on AREVA's MELOX plant and the MELOX design has not been readily transferrable to handle weapon-grade plutonium and to US operational standards. A burning question lingers: Was the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration tricked into buying an inferior, dated AREVA technology that would never work in the US? Who is investigating this pressing matter? Let us know your thoughts about the problems with the design of the US MOX plant: srswatch@gmail.com ----- 
Clean-up of Cold
War waste at SRS remains the most important project at the site. As
clean-up continues and starts to wind down and as the MOX project
continues to disintegrate, SRS is struggling for well-defined, necessary
future missions.
Though the work of the Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) appears to lack focus, the lab will likely pay a larger role at SRS in the future so it's worth learning about. For more on SRNL and DOE's other labs, see the DOE report released on January 11, 2017: ANNUAL REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE DOE NATIONAL LABORATORIES ----- 
MOX Investigations Needed: Waste, Fraud, Abuse &
Mismanagement?
The article below is misleading as SRS Watch has no knowledge of potentially faulty AREVA-supplied components to the MOX project or other US nuclear projects. Likewise, we have not said anything about the matter (about which the NRC blogged on January 10). We will continue to call for necessary investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the MOX project, whether it be of CB&I AREVA MOX Services or such contractors as Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work, possibly with knowledge of MOX Services.) We ask MOX Services and DOE/NNSA: what do you know about possible waste, fraud, abuse & mismanagement at the MOX projects since its inception and why the lengthy and disturbing silence on the matter? Who is blocking such necessary investigations and protecting more wasteful spending on MOX? "AREVA material problems raise concerns at Savannah River Site's MOX project" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, January 10, 2017 - article linked here ----- 
Containment, film on the challenges with managing nuclear waste is to be shown on PBS on Monday, January 9 at 10 p.m. EDT - with a focus on Savannah River Site, with comments by SRS Watch director About the film - check local listings in US - Containment website linked here How can we contain some of the deadliest, most long-lasting substances ever produced? Toxic remnants from the Cold War remain in millions of gallons of highly radioactive sludge, thousands of acres of radioactive land, tens of thousands of unused hot buildings, and some slowly spreading deltas of contaminated groundwater. Governments around the world, desperate to protect future generations, have begun imagining society 10,000 years from now in order to create warning monuments that will speak across time to mark waste repositories. Containment moves from a nuclear weapon facility in South Carolina where toxic swamps have led to radioactive animals, to a deep underground burial site in New Mexico, to Fukushima, Japan, where a triple meltdown occurred after the cooling systems at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were interrupted, leaving that city a ghost town. The film is part graphic novel and part observational essay mixed with sci-fi that is more science than fiction, weaving between an uneasy present and an imaginative, troubled distant future, exploring the struggle to keep waste confined over millennia. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/containment/ Containment trailer - linked here "Containment Filmmakers Go into the Future to Read the Warning Signs" - January 6, 2017 blog on PBS about the film - linked here ---- 
Nuclear
Proliferation Prevention Project (at the University of Texas) questions
supply of US-origin bomb-grade uranium (HEU) to Belgium
Good to see this January 2, 2017 letter to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission raising concern about a pending license application for highly enriched uranium (HEU) export to the BR2 reactor in Belgium re: "Edlow International Company (Export of 93.20% Enriched Uranium) (Docket No. 11006235, Lic. Application No. XSNM-3771)" "Putting aside the question of whether the BR-2 reactor could be converted to LEU fuel sooner, as the petition contends, the Belgian government now has told its Parliament that conversion to LEU fuel might be feasible as soon as 2022, which is only five years from now. This reinforces the petition’s contention that the proposed ten-year license for export of HEU to fuel the BR-2 reactor is neither warranted nor permitted under U.S. law. It also underscores that there is no justification for the amount of HEU in the proposed license, which the applicant says is sufficient for six years of operation, given that the Belgian government says the reactor might be converted to LEU within five years, and considering that the reactor could have extended outages during that time." Group letter expressing concern about the export of HEU, September 2016 - linked here Time to get fuels using bomb-grade materials - HEU & MOX - totally out of the commercial fuel cycle! ----- 
Federal Court Case on MOX Failure Continues
State of South Carolina vs DOE: case based on federal on law requiring removal of plutonium from SRS due to MOX program's collapse and failure - next filing with federal court in Columbia, SC due on January 13, 2017 The federal court case brought by the State of South Carolina demanding that DOE is obligated to start removing plutonium from the Savannah River Site remains active. During much of 2016, there was a back and forth between the plaintiff (State of South Carolina) and the defendants (DOE & its National Nuclear Security Administration) about the status of the case. The case is based on a law that requires DOE to begin removal of 1 metric ton of plutonium by January 1, 2016 given that the MOX project has failed. The law requires payment to the state of $1 million/day, up to $100 million/year, for failure to meet plutonium removal milestones. On December 19, 2016, Judge Michelle Childs ruled that the plaintiff has until January 13, 2017 to file a response to the defendant's motion Other recent filings in THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AIKEN DIVISION in the MOX Failure lawsuit: DEFENDANTS’ OPPOSITION TO SOUTH CAROLINA’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION, December 16, 2016 JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME, December 16, 2016 Court ORDER AND OPINION on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, October 31, 2016 "$100M fine starts over in South Carolina legal battle over MOX at Savannah River Site" - Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, December 31, 29016 - linked here Stay tuned for the filing by the state on January 13 and what happens next in the MOX failure lawsuit. If another hearing is held, SRS Watch will plan to be there. Get in touch with SRS Watch for more court documents: srswatch@gmail.com. photo provided to SRS Watch: citizens outside federal court in Columbia, SC at MOX Failure hearing on June 30, 2016; can used with this credit: "©2016 Sierra Club & Carolina Peace Resource Center" ----- 
No
surprise here: DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration has
awarded a huge annual bonus to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) for
Fiscal Year 2016 just for doing work it was contracted to
do.
NNSA gave SRNS a bonus of $15.3 million, 84% of the total amount it could have earned. A sweet gift, you may say, from the US tax payer to SRNS. A hearty "thank you" is in order but we haven't yet seen that. See the SRNS bonus fee narrative, released on January 3, 2017, and linked here. So, where is the FY 2016 bonus fee for MOX Services, which is mismanaging the MOX scam at SRS? Every year DOE is afraid to post this and every year we file a Freedom of Information Act request for it - like we did on December 13, 2016. You might think they have something to hide about the MOX boondoggle, wouldn't you?! ----- 
MOX Fraud in Federal Court! A hint of things to come in
2017?
January 3, 2017: Two federal court cases related to MOX fraud are continuing - how much more fraud has there been and what is the status of investigations into that? 1. "Wire fraud" case involving claim for reimbursement based on false receipts See South Carolina federal attorney's news release -"Two Men Charged With Wire Fraud" - charges brought against Aaron Vennefron of Hamilton, Ohio and Phillip Thompson of Augusta, Georgia - December 16, 2015 - linked here Note that there is hope that the feds are engaged behind the scenes on various levels in MOX fraud cases: "The case was investigated by Special Agents with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John Potterfield is prosecuting the case." See latest court filing of December 22, 2016 - extending case into the South Carolina federal court's March 2017 session - linked here 2. Case for unqualified rebar supplied to MOX project in 2007-2008 - case brought by former MOX worker in N. Georgia federal court under False Claims Act - receipt and installation of this rebar caused major delays and cost increases - did MOX Services pay for those increases or did the tax payer get stiffed? See initial filing under False Claims Act - linked here See latest filing extending filing date to January 9, 2017 - linked here Why was MOX Services allowed to be excluded from the case by the federal attorney? The False Claims Act case originally included them as having allowed an unqualified vendor to be used to supply rebar below required NQ-1 standards. A hint of collusion by MOX Services still hangs heavy in the air.... "Trial delayed in multi-million-dollar Savannah River Site MOX fraud case" - Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, January 6, 2017 - linked here ---- January 3, 2017 - Get
the new year off right with your purchase of rusty, old components from
the MOX plant construction boondoggle of CB&I AREVA MOX Services!
The material has been stored outside at SRS, causing that unique,
sickly "MOX waste" look. Sure to stimulate interesting conversations
about the mega-waste going on at the MOX project, where accountability
simply does not exist. Make your bid toady! This MOX plant waste will be good for gag gifts thoughout 2017, as Congress keeps the mismanaged project on a shut-down track. Note that these items might be considered as evidence in investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment at one of the US Government's largest-ever construction debacles. See MOX Servcies' "Goverment Excess Sale" website linked here. Note that there is a federal False Claims Act lawsuit into fraud associated with illegal supply of rebar to the MOX project back in 2007-2008 - by Energy & Process Corporation (“E&P”). Between 800,000 to 1.5 million pounds of surplus rebar was offered for sale by the MOX boondoggle contractor in 2011 but then pulled from the website when we started asking questions. Whatever happened with this material - is it being held evidence in the whistleblower lawsuit? See more here about the bid and photos of the crap rebar here. Contact us at srswatch@gmail.com for more details and court documents about the False Claims Act rebar case, now ongoing. KEY QUESTION: What is happening with all the MOX debacle components installed incorrectly years ago and allowed to rust in place inside the MOX plant? How much of this is being ripped out and at what cost? Are the CB&I AREVA MOX Services contractor or subcontractors such as Superior Air Handling attempting to charge the USG for this mistake? Let us know your take on this matter: srswatch@gmail.com Meanwhile, we anticipate that investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement will drain the MOX swamp in 2017. Secretary of Energy Perry and Office of Managment and Budget (OMB) Director Mulvaney must rapdily implement plans to hold those accountable who have caused the MOX project disaster and so long abused the US taxpayers. We are about to find out if they are the same old big spenders or are real fiscal conservatives. ----- 
"Toshiba’s Financial Meltdown Puts Its Nuclear Projects at Risk Worldwide" Energy Collective blog, Jan. 2, 2017 - linked here CB&I's bungling helped cause the downfall of Westinghouse/Toshiba and destroyed the "nuclear renaissance" before being from removed from the AP1000 projects in South Carolina in Georgia. So why is CB&I still in charge of construction on the MOX boondoggle? Time to drain the swamp of both CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling (rumored to have badly botched the HVAC job). You be the judge if charges should be brought for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment. ----- SRS Watch in "$100M fine starts over in South Carolina legal battle over MOX at Savannah River Site" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, December 31, 2016 --- read SRS Watch comment at end of story on line - linked here photo: MOX boondoggle construction site at SRS, November 10, 2016, photo can be used with this credit: "©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch) ----- 
A
great way to start 2017 - by exposing AREVA's role in the US MOX debacle
--
As part of its reporting on financial problem of the French company AREVA, the French magazine "Capital" reports on AREVA's problems with the failed US MOX project in its January 2017 edition voici l’autre chantier maudit d’Areva L’ex-roi de l’atome n’en a pas fini avec les dossiers noirs, de l’EPR finlandais aux malfaçons de ses cuves. Aux Etats-Unis aussi, on découvre qu’il est en mauvaise posture. Note the stunning graphic - increase in costs of MOX plant construction from $1.4 billion in 2005 to $17.1 billion in 2016 (with a finish date of 2048). Congress has kept the MOX project on a shut-down track by providing just enough money to keep it on life support in 2017. The $340 million/year it's getting is far below what the project needs to be viable even if the daunting design and construction problems can be solved. In 2017, investigations into waste, fraud abuse and mismanagement by those at DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services/Superior Air Handling are urgetly needed. Why are Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson blocking such needed investigations? DOE has just issued regulations which give more protection to whistelblowers - time for more MOX workers to come foward and reveal what you know about waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the project. See Federal Register notice of December 27, 2016 linked here. From the notice: Specifically, this rule clarifies the definition of ‘‘DOE Nuclear Safety Requirements’’ and clarifies that the prohibition against whistleblower retaliation is a DOE Nuclear Safety Requirement to the extent that it concerns nuclear safety. ----- SRS Watch & the "SRS Drone Scare 2016"
- fake or real? - make top on-line story in Aiken (South Carolina)
Standard for 2016: "You clicked it: Aiken Standard's top online stories of 2016" December 27, 2016 article linked here Stand by for release of documents - or not - by SRS, in response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on the drone scare. if nothing of substance is provded we'll follow the process to legally appeal. ----- 
We can't celebrate
this Japanese decision enough but too bad that $8.5 billion got wasted in
pursuing this plutonium-production reactor - sounds like the MOX
boondoggle, right?!
"Plug pulled on costly Monju fast-breeder reactor project" Asahi Shimbun, December 21, 2016, article linked here Will anyone be held accountable for the Monju situation? Japan has been repeatedtly advised for over 30 years to halt this dead-end plutonium proliferation project. Likewise, who in DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services/Superior Air Handling be held accountable for the US plutonium debacle - MOX? Those profiting off these situations are happy for feckless politicians and officials who stand by with their hands in our empty pockets. ----- 
"Ahaus
will Jülicher Atommüll nicht"
- Ahaus, Germany doesn't want commercial spent fuel from Jülich - and neither do we, but for special interests who are out to profit off waste dumping, SRS remains an option WDR radio, December 21, 2016 - linked here Given the technical, legal and political challenges to moving, processing and dumping the waste, it should stay at the Jülich research center. SRS Watch will remain opposed to this half-baked scheme and we predict that the least-worst option will be pursued: construction of a new storage facility for the waste in question - AVR reactor spent fuel, in the form of graphite balls impregnated with uranium - at Jülich ----- 
"The Latest Nuclear Waste Shenanigans at the Savannah River
Site"
by Suzanne Rhodes, League of Women Voters, SC --- in South Carolina Sierra Club's 2017 Winter Congaree Chronicle - posted December 20, 2016 and linked here ---- 
December
19, 2016 - SRS confirms that the "environmental assesment" (EA) on the
import, processing and dumping of German commercial spent fuel at SRS is
once again delayed:
"A date for issuance of the final EA was not available at the time this status report was prepared." --- see November 2016 status update "ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS (EISs) and ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS (EAs) INVOLVING THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE (SRS)" - linked here As there are elections in Germany in 2017 on both the federal level and in North Rhine-Westfalia, where the spent fuel is now stored, we expect little to happen on this matter in the near future. It will be interesting to see if any German political parties will propose the needless and costly transport of highly radioactive spent fuel on the highways at a time of increased terrorist threats. Source of photo - protest at Jülich Research Center, where AVR spent fuel is stored: Tim Christensen, Robin Wood (https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faktiv.robinwood.de%2Findex.php%2Fs%2FxPUOCmutWWK0IMI&h=1AQGWf2yuAQEaNEB_MUJyM89mwDgEnfinPoGIoyD-AGDY3Q&enc=AZPJ4nMt73HXYk65OibNx2RiUf8lYpy5XTfWEwC1CDTw2CKOtO9QDDsM9wf1vJZV1-aWu-0H61fywj1hPMQfIQz287XOsQZJG1T0BtV5upyHFWdEM8GcTIqpFDoBROCci2YQYGDIttDpgzsCv-JE7Mg7YlmXKtT2cXKRBIw0I-6TL1v5UqsYb114SUzgaMnnvfPoGl_nmPb4GJZQWC_qnWmJ&s=1) ----- 
"The
Myth of “Denatured” Plutonium Reactor-Grade Plutonium and Nuclear Weapons
- Part Four: Heat"
linked here by Gregory Jones, December 15, 2016 Conclusion: "Plutonium decay heat even from plutonium with a high Pu 238 content is not an impediment to the use of this plutonium in simple unboosted implosion nuclear weapons." DOE photo: plutonium oxide at Los Alamos National Lab ----- Abandon plutonium fuel MOX approach: "Cuts to the Fissile Materials Stockpile - The Final Countdown" Union of Concerned Scientists blog, December 12, 2016 - linked here ----- 
Documentary
film "Containment" - about the challenges of managing nuclear
waste - will air in the US on PBS TV stations on Monday, January 9, 2017
at 10 p.m. in the series "Independent Lens"
SRS Watch director Tom Clements is one of those interviewed in the film. PBS says: "Explore our attempts to plan for our radioactive future and the startling failure to manage waste in the present. Left over from the Cold War are a hundred million gallons of radioactive sludge, covering a vast amount of land." See news release on Containment here For more information abotu the film, see: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/containment/ ----- 
Trump Transition Team Questions DOE; Focus Must be on Determining
Responsibility for the Mi$managed MOX Debacle - December 10,
2016
The list of 74 transition questions to DOE is linked here. While we would be concerned if there is a planned purge of officials concerned about climate change, why are there no questions about the MOX boondoggle at SRS? Of all DOE programs for which their must be accountability, the mismamanged MOX project ranks number 1. So far, nobody has been held responsible for problems with the massively over-budget project. Officials at DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services/Superior Air Handling (rumored to have botched the HVAC work) must be held accountable for the failed $17-billion MOX plant construction project! ----- 
Halt
Plans to Dump German Spent Fuel on SRS - Build a New Storage Facility
at Jülich
German radio on December 9, 2016 reported on local opposition to movement of highly radioactive commercial spent fuel from the Jülich site to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina or the Ahaus storage facility. Here's one report: "Jülich alliance against Castor transports""Jülich Bündnis weiter gegen Castor-Transporte" - Radio Rur Construction of a new storage facility at the Juelich site for gas reactor graphite spent fuel, rather than shipment to SRS of Ahaus, should have been pursued years ago. If such a facility had been pursued it would have already been finished. Transport of the spent fuel poses new security risks that must curtail its off-site shipment. The release of DOE's Environmental Assessment (EA) on the dumping scheme has been delayed throught 2016, with no indication it can ever be finished due to funding, political and technical issues. See listing of the EA status & other SRS environmental documents here. photo: casks containg gas reactor commercial spent fuel, in the form of graphite balls, at the Jülich Research Center (Forschungzentrum Jülich) ----- 
Thanks to Senator Glenn for Helping Stop Illegal Transfer of
Plutonium-Proliferation Technology by the U.S. Department of Energy to
Japan
In honor of Senator John Glenn (1921-2016), who passed away this week, and his efforts to stop proliferation of "sensitive nuclear technology" (SNT) by the US to Japan and other countries, we recall SRS Watch staff involvement with him toward that end. See "AMERICA'S SENSITIVE NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY" (SNT) in the Congresional Record, April 5, 1995 - linked here The report mentioned by Senator Glenn in the Congressional Record - "The Unlawful Plutonium Alliance - Japan's Supergrade Plutonium and the Role of The United States" - by Greenpeace International, 1994 - is linked here. Some of the reprocessing technology involved ws developed at the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons facility. ---- 
Death Watch: Plutonium Proliferation Reactor Finally Officially
Going Down in Japan
As we await the final, prolonged, agonizing, costly death of the Monju plutonium "breeder" reactor in Japan before the end of 2016, let us recall that some, like Greenpeace International, have been calling for termination of the reactor for over 20 years. As we well know given the MOX boondoggle at SRS, some misguided plutonium-proliferation projects take decades to die and don't do so until the tax payer's purse has been unscrupulously drained. For background on this disturbing Monju situation, see the historic report "THE SAFETY OF FAST BREEDER REACTORS: THE NEW THREAT OF MONJU; SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE SAFETY OF THE MONJU BREEDER REACTOR" 24 March 1994, Tokyo/Fukui City report linked here Japan Times, December 1, 2016, news article on Monju's demise: "Japan to draft ‘strategic’ plans for developing fast reactor" ----- 
NRC
Abandons Plan to Quash Public Disclosure of Bomb-Grade Nuclear Exports;
NPPP Praises Quick Response, Warns of Excessive Secrecy - December 8,
2016
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is abandoning its own staff’s proposal to withhold public disclosure of information regarding proposed and approved nuclear exports, including of nuclear weapons-usable material, according to a reply from the Commission to a complaint by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at the University of Texas at Austin. full release linked here ----- 
DOE
Stumbling in Efforts to Establish High-Level Nuclear Waste
Repositories
At the SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting on December 6, 2016, a DOE Office of Nuclear Energy official updated the CAB on the state of affairs with removal and "disposal" of high-level nuclear waste from SRS and other DOE and commercial sites. The presentation "Spent Fuel & Waste Disposition: Planning for a Defense Waste Repository" focused on DOE efforts for a stand-alone repository for high-level nuclear waste managed at DOE site. The presentation - linked here - and lengthy Q&A session with the CAB and public revealed that DOE's plans for consent-based siting of HLW repositories is far from a fully developed concept. Be alert to DOE's release in the coming days of its report on the way foward with DOE HLW and commercial spent fuel disposal. As the siting of one facility will be hard enough the proposal to have separate geologic repositories for commercial spent fuel and DOE HLW could double siting headaches and costs. Crazy, half-baked schemes for commercial spent fuel "interim" storage or long-term disposal - such as the one by the Aiken, SC-based "Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group" (SFR Group) - may emerge so be on guard for ill-conceived proposals by those motivated solely by profiting off the troubling situation with HLW. (See here for September 27, 2016 group news release and other information against the SFR Group scheme). ----- 
At the December 6,
2016 meeting of the SRS Citizens Advsiory Board, DOE reported updated
numbers on how many canisters of vitrified high-level nuclear waste (HLW)
- a by-product of production of plutonium from nuclear weapons - had been
filled in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at the Savannah
River Site.
HLW canisters filled in Fiscal Year 2017 (started on October 1, 2016): 30 HLW canisters filled to date: 4133 (all stored on site) The SRS Liquid Waste System Plan, Revision 20, dated March 2016, states that 8117 total canisters will be filled - see page 44 - but we beleive this number to be low. The content of these cansiters is designated to be high-level nuclear waste and thus legally required under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to go into a geologic repository. Vitification at SRS of HLW began in 1996 in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) and generally seems to have performed well in it's essential mission to solidify and containerize the highly radioactive of the orginal 51 HLW tanks. 8 tanks are now "closed" - mostly cleaned of rad waste and filled with conrete and left to degrade in place - and others are in various states of closure or reduced use. Meanwhile, efforts to deisgn, construct and build a vitrification plant - Waste Tretment Plant (WTP) - at DOE's Hanford site have been a costly failure. The WTP project and the MOX project at SRS top the U.S. Government's historic list of mega-boondoggles. Investivations into both projects for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment are urgently needed and decision-makers and contractors (like CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Superior Air Handling - for MOX) must be held accountable. ----- 
Interesting overview of plutonium operations at DOE's Los Alamos
National Lab (LANL), with various photos of plutonium and plutonium
operations:
"(U) TA-55 and Sigma Overview" Document linked here - LA-UR-16-29084, Nov. 30, 2016 "Mission Statement" in document about the plutonium operations at LANL: "Managed by the Plutonium Science and Manufacturing Directorate (AD-PSM), the TA-55 Plutonium Facility (PF-4) provides world-class, safe, secure, and reliable special nuclear material (SNM) research, process development, technology demonstration, and manufacturing capabilities that support the nation’s defense, energy, and environmental needs." Note - of interest to SRS & investigations into watse, fraud, abuse and mismanagment and why the MOX project collapsed: The "Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System (ARIES)" process mentioned on page 11 is producing plutonium oxide (powder) that was to be used to make fuel pellets for the failed MOX project. As far as we're aware, no plutonium oxide from ARIES has been shipped to SRS, revealing more delays and schedule woes for the MOX boondoggle. If there have been shipments please let us know: srswatch@gmail.com ----- 
"Command
and Control" non-fiction documentary about a near disaster at a nuclear
missile silo - coming on January 10, 2017 on PBS stations in the US -
check for listings
"A chilling nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September, 1980. A worker accidentally drops a socket, puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead in our arsenal, an incident which ignites a series of feverish efforts to avoid a deadly disaster. Directed by Robert Kenner (FOOD, INC.) and based on the critically acclaimed book by Eric Schlosser (FAST FOOD NATION), COMMAND AND CONTROL is a minute-by-minute account of this long-hidden story. Putting a camera where there was no camera that night, Kenner brings this nonfiction thriller to life with stunning original footage shot in a decommissioned Titan II missile silo. Eyewitness accounts — from the man who dropped the socket, to the man who designed the warhead, to the Secretary of Defense— chronicle nine hours of terror that prevented an explosion 600 times more powerful than Hiroshima." file website linked here Recall that the nuclear warhard in the near mishap had tritium produced at SRS and the plutonium may have een produced at SRS as well (in one or more of the now-closed five military production reactors at the site). ---- 
Great that 6 metric
tons of plutonium at SRS will be under monitoring by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but what about the 7 metric tons of plutonium
now stranded at SRS beacuse the MOX project has utterly
failed?
U.S. Department of Energy news release, December 5, 2016: United States Commits to IAEA Monitoring for the Verifiable Disposition of Six Metric Tons of Surplus Plutonium Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Announces U.S. Commitment at International Conference on Nuclear Security VIENNA -- In remarks to the delegates of an event hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz today announced in Austria that the United States is beginning consultations with the IAEA to monitor the dilution and packaging of up to six metric tons of surplus plutonium at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South Carolina. DOE news release linked here At 10:57 a.m. on Dec. 5, DOE finally posted the release here DOE photo of "9975" plutonium storage barrels drums high in the old K-Reactor at SRS ----- 
SRS Watch in "House authorizes funding bill for MOX
project"
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, Dec. 2, 2016 article linked here Tom Clements, director of nuclear watchdog group SRS Watch, said the funding falls short of what MOX needs. “The authorization of $340 million for FY 2017 is a level that keeps the project on a shut-down track as it’s far below what’s needed to move the project forward,” Clements said. “It is a stinging defeat for Representative Joe Wilson and Senator Lindsey Graham that they have not been able to get the project off a life-support funding level.” According to Augusta Chronicle archives, construction on the plant began in 2007 and its initial cost was projected at $1.7 billion. Contractors say the site is nearly 70 percent complete and would require another $3 billion to finish. John MacWilliams, associate deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, said in September that the project has had “very significant cost overruns and delays” and should be replaced with an alternative method. MacWilliams said the life-cycle cost of MOX ranges from $30 billion to $50 billion. The plant was supposed to be operational by Jan. 1 of this year, but some reports estimate the plant might not start up until 2048, MacWilliams said. The bill also calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess the contract for the construction, management and operations of the MOX facility. “As the Corps of Engineers has already come up with a cost of the MOX plant that is not sustainable, I would expect their assessment of the MOX contract to be quite tough, especially as it would have to review design and construction problems,” Clements said. “As a result of the contract review by the Corps of Engineers, I would imagine that MOX Services would not accept inevitable contract changes detrimental to them and that would end in termination of both their contract and the overall project.” MOX plant photo, Nov. 10, 2016, can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer – 2016, special to SRS Watch” ----- Most recent filings in federal court of State of South Carolina vs DOE and NNSA on removal of plutonium from the state - dated November 28, 2016 1. PLAINTIFF SOUTH CAROLINA’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION 2. THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION "CONCLUSION For the reasons set forth above, this Court should amend its Order to apply the proper jurisdictional analysis under the APA and find that this Court has jurisdiction over, and that the Federal Defendants have waived their sovereign immunity with respect to, all of the State’s requests for relief to remedy the Federal Defendants’ unlawful inaction. In the alternative, this Court should find that it has jurisdiction over the Secretary for all the State’s requests for relief. The Court should also amend its Order to remove any discussion of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1500." DOE/NNSA have until December 15, 2016 to respond: "MOTION for Reconsideration re 56 Order on Motion to Dismiss by State of South Carolina. Response to Motion due by 12/15/2016. (Attachments: # 1 Memo in Support)No proposed order.(Lowell, Randy) (Entered: 11/28/2016)" ----- "Who killed the US-Russia plutonium agreement, and does it really matter?" Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, December 1, 2016 - linked here "If a nuclear security agreement dies, but it wasn’t really about the nuclear security, does it matter who killed it? That depends on whom you ask." Check out the amended Plutonium Managment and Disposition Agreement. Take a look at Articke IX.6 - Congress has not appropriated enough money to make the MOX debacle sustainable (ignoring chronic design & construcion problems and no MOX customers). Given insufficient funding, an argument can be made that the US stepped back from the agreement due to Congress keeping the project on a shut-down level of fuinding long before Russia pulled out of it. ---- 
December
1, 2016:
MOX RED ZONE ALERT (yet again) - MOX Boondoggle Remains in DOE & Congressionally Approved Free Fall DOE's Contract with CB&I AREVA MOX Services for the MOX Debacle Fosters Financial Abuse & Needs to be Terminated, Right?! Are DOE's Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments and Office of Acquisition Management chronically incompetent in manging construction of the MOX plant at SRS? Note in the November 2016 "Project Dasboard" that the "Project Budget" for construction of the "Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX)" is listed as being $4,857,129,000. Given that the project is far over this budget, how can it be allowed to drag on and on with this false cost being presented to US tax payers? While the "Monthy Overall assesset" remains chonically in the red zone ("Project is expected to breach its Performance Baseline cost, schedule, or scope.") just who is actually monitoring the MOX debacle to make sure that the project is either no longer over budget or that it's terminated? A DOE Office of Inspector General MOX audit report in 2014 pointed out in 2014 that "The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and MOX Services have been largely unsuccessful in controlling the cost and schedule for the MOX Facility." and "The anticipated cost and time required to complete the MOX Facility were significantly underestimated due to a number of factors." Nothing appears to have changed since that assessment. Despite the big red flags flying over the MOX project for many years, there is no demonstrated effort or success by the Office of Project Management Oversight and Assessments or the Office of Acquisition Management to get costs for the MOX debacle under control. While there was supposed to be a new official baseline cost estimate why isn't it posted so the public can see it? We would love to be proved wrong in that assessment so let us know if DOE/NNSA has been able to wrestle the CB&I AREVA MOX Services beast to the ground. The DOE's Office of Acquisition Management (MA-60) may well be a main source MOX mismanagment problems but is anyone in that office or any other DOE or NNSA being held accountavble for the MOX project being allowed to run totally out of control for the last decade? Congress is keeping MOX on the shut-down budget of $340 million but DOE needs to step up to the plate and exercise control and kick failed contractors, starting with CB&I AREVA MOX Servcies, off the project. Where are the urgently needed investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagment by DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Servcies/Superior Air Handling (HVAC contractor) and other contractors????? ---- 
MOX boondoggle takes a hit with Armed Services language, Nov. 29, 2016 -- Going, Going, Almost Gone.... Attention MOX Ripoff Artists: Your Days are Numbered! --- see conference report that goes with "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017" (NDAA) - to be voted on on Dec. 2? http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20161128/CRPT-114HRPT-S2943.pdf The NDAA report language on MOX requires the US Army Corps of Engineers to review the contract with CB&I AREVA MOX Services and suggest changes the contract as needed. That review ain't gonna end up well for MOX Services when the Corps starts digging into the contract and lurking design and construction problems and waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. more House Armed Service NDAA documents linked here The NDAA authorizes the $340 million for MOX - a shut-down funding level. This is a strategic blow by Armed Services to MOX boosters Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson, who failed to get the funding incresed beyond the termination level and who have utterly failed to even atteptmt to make any case that the MOX debacle is viable. Photo from Nov. 10, 2016 can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer -2016, special to SRS Watch” ----- 
Though the MOX project has been placed by Congress on an
unofficial shut-down level of funding ($340 million/year), Congress should
now officially terminate this disgraceful boondoggle:
"The $50 Billion Earmark: Time to Cut Our Losses" Breaking Defense, November 30, 2016 on-line article linked here "Buried in the fine print of the defense authorization bills is a $50 billion earmark for an obscure facility in South Carolina. The facility, called the Mixed Oxide Facility or “MOX”, is a classic example of a good idea gone awry. Initially estimated to cost $1 billion to $2 billion, MOX is now estimated to cost $50 billion. On top of that, the Russians have just withdrawn from the arms control agreement on which MOX is based. So why is Congress funding this?" "As the Congress finalizes an authorization bill, it should do what many of its own members, Democrat and Republican, have advocated: put the facility into cold storage and just keep the plutonium where it is. There is no way the U.S. taxpayers will pay $50 billion over four decades to complete it. Eventually, the Congress will terminate it. The nation has already wasted $5 billion on a good, but failed, idea. It’s time to cut our losses and move on." Friends of the Earth 2013 video ad on MOX debacle is still timely - linked here & in photo above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PTwods3Y4 ---- SRS Watch in: "Watchdog group looking for answers in Savannah River Site drone investigation" Aiken South Carolina) Standard, November 28, 2016 article linked here SRS Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about the drone scare stimulated by SRS in the summer of 2016 - SRS confirmation of receipt of FOIA request, Nov. 28, linked here and substance of SRS response here: "This is in response to your November 14, 2016 FOIA request for (1) all documents and reports, and attachments, pertaining to drone overflight of SRS during 2016; (2) all photos taken of any drones over SRS during 2016; and (3) all documents, reports, analyses about the legality of drone overflight over SRS." ----- 
"Let’s Get a Better Deal on Plutonium
Disposition"
Union of Concerned Scientists blog, November 22, 2016 - linked here DOE photo: old K-Reactor at SRS, where 13 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium are now stranded ----- On November 18, 2016 the Savannah River Site affirmed that the long-delayed "Environmental Assessment" on the scheme to import and dump commercial German spent fuel at SRS has been delayed yet again. See "SRS October 2016 NEPA Monthly Status Report" linked here "A date for issuance of the final EA was not available at the time this status report was prepared." Given legal, technical and hurdles in Germany, the US dumping option slips but remains alive. With lack of funding from Germany, R&D into processing and dumping of the spent fuel by Savannah River National Lab languishes. Hmmm, looks like making a buck off this deal and not nuclear non-proliferation has been the main motivator by some at SRS.... ----- The United Kingdom's plutonium-stockpiling madness continues as weapon-usable plutonium stockpile hits a stunning 129.4 metric tons as of 31 December 2015! It's time for the UK to admit that pursuit of MOX is a dead end - as we see on a daily basis with the US MOX debacle - and get on with immobilizing this plutonium as the nuclear waste it is. see the UK's Office of Nuclear Regulation's "Annual figures for holdings of civil unirradiated plutonium as at 31 December 2015," linked here ----- 
Recognizing the failure of the US DOE's plutonium fuel (MOX) program, UK expert says: "Time to tackle the UK's plutonium mountain" - via immobilization (which never should have been discarded for use at SRS with US plutonium - time to revive it?) University of Sheffield, 15 November 2016, news release linked here report Plutonium management policy in the United Kingdom: The need for a dual track strategy - linked here Report Highlights • Policy and technology developments in US plutonium disposition programme are analysed. • The vulnerabilities of the UK policy for plutonium reuse as MOX fuel are assessed. • Adoption of dual-track approach to management of UK plutonium is recommended. "The heavily over budget and delayed US MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility is based on the same reference design as a potential UK plant. So there is an urgent need to review the design basis assumptions and cost data for a UK MOX fuel fabrication plant, in the light of the US experience." ----- SRS Watch in: "Nuclear isotope facility would bring low-enriched uranium to SRS" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, November 10, 2016 - article linked here Link to the draft EIS on the Northwest Medical Isotopes facility at the University of Missouri research reactor Federal Register notice on DEIS is here, Nov. 9: Construction Permit Application for the Northwest Medical Isotopes, LLC, Medical Radioisotope Production Facility ----- 
No dumping of German commercial spent fuel (high-level nuclear waste) on SRS! Good to see another action in Germany against transport of German spent fuel from the Jülich Research Center (FZJ) to SRS or the Ahaus facility (also in the same state, North Rhine-Westphalia) - action at main entrance of FZJ, near the city of Jülich, Germany - November 3, 2016 news article linked here: "Widerspruch gegen Aktivisten bei Protestaktion" Aachener Nachrichten - Aaachen News - Aachen, Germany. November 4, 2016 Source of photo above: Tim Christensen, Robin Wood (https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faktiv.robinwood.de%2Findex.php%2Fs%2FxPUOCmutWWK0IMI&h=1AQGWf2yuAQEaNEB_MUJyM89mwDgEnfinPoGIoyD-AGDY3Q&enc=AZPJ4nMt73HXYk65OibNx2RiUf8lYpy5XTfWEwC1CDTw2CKOtO9QDDsM9wf1vJZV1-aWu-0H61fywj1hPMQfIQz287XOsQZJG1T0BtV5upyHFWdEM8GcTIqpFDoBROCci2YQYGDIttDpgzsCv-JE7Mg7YlmXKtT2cXKRBIw0I-6TL1v5UqsYb114SUzgaMnnvfPoGl_nmPb4GJZQWC_qnWmJ&s=1) for more photos see SRS Watch Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch FZJ and $pecial intere$t$ at US DOE and SRS should not push forward with the illegal dumping scheme and bring the pursuit of it to a halt. ----- 
News from DOE's
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), November 3, 2016
Rock Fall Causes Precautionary Evacuation of WIPP Underground Employees evacuated the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground around 2:30 p.m. (MT) today in response to a reported rock fall. There were no injuries and no release of radiological contamination. news release linked here, on WIPP Update home page: http://www.wipp.energy.gov/wipprecovery/recovery.html DOE photo: machine used by DOE to place long bolts into the ceiling at WIPP, to slow the natural collapse of the roof of the salt mine; this machine was observed by SRS Watch on an underground tour of WIPP on October 1, 2016 ----- 
False alarm: security alert at SRS on the later afternoon of November 2. Just overly cautious or bogus? In any event, it was quickly over so now, back to drone scares and harvesting tax payer money via the MOX $cam.... Savannah River Site - News Release #1 For Immediate Release Date: 11/02/2016 Time:1632 Aiken, S.C.—A security event is in progress that has triggered emergency response activities at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. This message is being sent to you as part of our emergency response organization information process. At this time, there is no indication of a consequence beyond the Savannah River Site boundaries. When more specific information is available, including further media contact information, it will be provided to you through the Site’s public information staff. 11/02/2016 NR#1 ----- Savannah River Site - News Release # 2 For Immediate Release For more information call: (803) 725-6211 Date: 11/02/2016 Time: 1738 AIKEN, S.C.— This is a follow up to the emergency declared at the Savannah River Site (SRS) earlier today. The All-Clear has been given at SRS. A suspicious item was discovered at the Savannah River National Laboratory which prompted the emergency response activities. After thorough investigation, the suspicious item was determined to be non-threatening and the Site has been returned to normal operations. 11/02/2016 NR# 2 photo: SRS fire/rescue vehicle - was it used to investigate false security alarm (possibly in an A-Area bathroom)? - from SRS photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51009184@N06/ ---- 
"Federal judge issues
order in MOX lawsuit; case remains open"
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, November 1, 2016 article linked here >>>>> United States District Court "ORDER AND OPINION" in State of South Carolina vs DOE, by Judge Michelle Childs, Columbia, South Carolina,October 31, 2016, linked here III. CONCLUSION [on page 31 of ruling] For the foregoing reasons, the court declines to rule on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 17) for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted as to the removal claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) until supplemental briefs, herein described are submitted. The parties are DIRECTED to file briefs that address the following issues: 1. Whether the court should transfer the monetary claim to the CFC, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631. 2. Whether the court should dismiss the monetary claim without prejudice to the State’s ability to refile the claim in an action in the CFC [Court of Federal Claims]. The briefs shall comply with rules governing memoranda in Local Civ. Rule 7 (D.S.C.) and must be filed by November 30, 2016. IT IS SO ORDERED. link to "Order and Opinion" in Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-00391-JMC photo: Paul Palmer, ©Sierra Club and Carolina Peace Resource Center, outside federal courthouse in Columbia, SC, June 30, 2016 ----- 
SRS Watch expresses skepticism over high-level nuclear waste agreement between DOE and the State of South Carolina: "DOE, DHEC reach agreement on SRS liquid waste" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, November 1, 2016 article linked here "DHEC announces deal to clean up radioactive waste from tanks at Savannah River Site" The State, Columbia, South Carolina, Nov. 1, 2016 article linked here Copy of US DOE - South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC) agreement linked here - October 31, 2016 - has what appears to be many loopholes and some disturbing language about "cesium-laden" waste being disposed of as non-HLW off site photo: top of SRS high-level waste tanks ----- "Part 21" report for MOX plant gloveboxes - potentially defective component supplied by a vendor to the MOX BOOndoggle Docket Number 070-03098 CB&I AREVA MOX Services Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Interim Report Notification: Vigor/Oregon Iron Works "The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is evaluating a nonconforming condition associated with electrical penetration holes for PML gloveboxes which were found to be out of tolerance (OOT) as specified in procurement requirements. No basic components have been determined to contain a defect." See CB&I AREVA MOX Services Part 21 interim report to the US NRC, October 27, 2016 - linked here As with most Part 21 reports on defective components supplied to the MOX plant, the NRC will file this one away and we're likely to never hear about it again. ---- Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah River Site to meet on November 14-15, 2016 in Aiken, South Carolina - notice & agenda linked here October 28 pre-notice to appear in Federal Register on October 21, 2016: Department of Energy - Notice of Open Meeting SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Savannah River Site. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Monday, November 14, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, November 15, 2016 8:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. ADDRESSES: Applied Research Center 301 Gateway Drive, Aiken, SC 29802 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Giusti, Office of External Affairs, Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC, 29802; Phone: (803) 952-7684. ---- 
Duke
Energy has wasted $507 million on the dead-end Lee nuclear reactor project
in Cherokee County, South Carolina!
See Duke letter of October 28, 2016 to South Carolina PSC linked here. Duke rate payers in North & South Carolina must never be put on the hook for this imprudent spent! image: NRC imagination of Lee reactor site, adjacent to the scenic Broad River in South Carolina, near the North Carolina border in the Duke service area ---- 
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) confirms restart
of processing of plutonium oxide in the aging HB-Line/H-Canyon
reprocessing plant at SRS - posted week of October
24:
"Plutonium Processing: SRNS resumed plutonium metal operations at HB-Line and H-Canyon, which had not been performed in 12 months (see 9/11 -9/18/15 reports). The staff observed a plutonium item being charged in the dissolver. No problems were encountered." DNFSB weekly report for September 29, 2016 linked here The plutonium oxide was destined for the failed MOX project but will now be processed so as to be disposed of as nuclear waste. SRS Watch has learned that Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) has begun research into furnaces to oxidize plutonium for disposal. See SRNL 1-page fact sheet linked here. ---- October 27, 2016: NRC releases "Augmented Inspection Team" report on problem-plagued Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant in Columbia, South Carolina - AIT report linked here on SRS Watch NRC posted the report on October 28 - linked here in the NRC's digital library (ADAMS) NRC says this about the uranium fuel plant, which has faced a host of issue related to uranium buildup in processing facilities: The AIT report documents four URIs, or Unresolved Items. Those are issues that remain under review and could result in enforcement actions as our process continues. The NRC does not expect those issues to be resolved for some time, perhaps several weeks or longer. ----- SRS Watch quote & photo (by High Flyer) on MOX woes, in Russian media: "American experts hope for further cooperation between US and Russia in nuclear field" PenzaNews, 20 October 2016 article in English liked here Американские эксперты надеются на продолжение сотрудничества России и США в ядерной сфере article in Russia linked here ---- "MOX site contractor won't be punished for violations" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, October 15, 2016 article linked here Given this and other violations at the mismanaged construction site, the NRC must inspect all welds in the 29%-finished MOX plant. ----- 
More on the MOX Scam
prolonged by Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson for
Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services:
"Nuke Fuel Facility Costs Ten Times Estimate, is 41 Years Behind Schedule" --- blog by Project on Government Oversight (POGO), October 13, 2016 - linked here Where are the investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the MOX debacle? Investigations are needed into DOE, NNSA, Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services and such contractors as the HVAC contractor Superior Air Handling - a Harris company ("We have a reputation") - rumored to have bungled the HVAC job at the MOX boondoggle. If you have information that will help investigators, please communicate it to the appropriate agency or congressional committee or to SRS Watch: srswatch@gmail.com, tel. 803-834-3084 ---- "Westinghouse moving toward restart of its Columbia fuel plant" The State, Columbia, SC, October 14, 2016 - article linked here Westinghouse presentation to South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC), October 13, 2016 - linked here ----- Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR) press packet for October 3, 2016 news conference in the Ontario Parliament Building in Toronto is linked below. The media event was about the unjustified scheme by the U.S. Department of Energy to transport liquid high-level nuclear waste from the Chalk River Laboratories to SRS, for processing and dumping into the aging waste tanks. media packet and attachment linked here The packet includes the media release, the letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama with all the endorsing groups so far, the letter to the Great Lakes Executive Committee co-chairs, some additional background material including relevant excerpts from the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. For over 3 1/2 years we've called for an Environmental Impact Statement on the scheme, which would involve public input and an analysis of managing the waste in Canada. As DOE has refused to prepare this document, the demand for the EIS remains the same. Due to our legal challenge, the shipments have been postponed until at least February 17, 2017. For lots more on the lawsuit and the dumping scheme, scroll down here on the SRS Watch website or go to the SRS Watch Facebook page and scroll down it. ---- MOX Scam at
SRS: "A recipe for wasteful spending: South Carolina Pork with Russian
Dressing" Thanks to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), The Hill, October 7, 2016 op-ed linked here The MOX Swindle is going down - where will the MOX rats hide? ---- 
Quote of the day, October 7 - as it
applies to the failed, mismanaged MOX debacle and need for
investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by DOE,
NNSA, Shaw, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, Superior Air Handling, Energy
& Process Corp., other MOX contractors
and...
...politicians such as Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson (who have kept the failed project on life support and run up the national debt and blocked progress on plutonium disposition for 20 years): "When the rats jumpeth from a sinking ship they shall struggle and flounder and sinketh by the weight of their own greed and malodorous offenses against the common good." ---- "Governments must use four-month delay to reconsider plans for trucking liquid nuclear waste" [from Canada to the Savannah River Site] Buffalo News editorial, October 6, 2016 editorial linked here ----- "Putin's Nix of Plutonium Pact Clouds MOX Project's Future" Engineering News-Report (ENR), October 5, 2016 -- with SRS Watch comment and photo by High Flyer (special to SRS Watch) >>> Time to get on with investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by DOE/NNSA/Shaw/CB&I AREVA MOX Services/Superior Air Handling for the MOX $cam Led by $enator Lind$ey Graham and Repre$entative Joe Wil$on ----- 
October
5, 2016 - Update on federal court case for removal of plutonium from South
Carolina
The federal judge in Columbia, SC has not ruled in the case - State of South Carolina v. United States, et al., No. 1:16-cv-391 - to begin removal of plutonium from the Savannah River Site. A hearing was held on the matter on June 30, 2016 and a ruling is delayed. On October 3 documents were placed in the docket by DOE to show the court that packaging of plutonium for disposal as waste had begun in the K-Area at SRS. (K-Area glovebox shown in photo above.) See the documents linked here: 1. DOE news that plutonium downblending at SRS had started, September 30, 2016 "SRS Begins Down-Blend Operations for 6 MT of Plutonium" 2. Statement by Department of Justice lawyers that the downdblended plutonium will be shipped to the waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico when it reopens - filing linked here SRS Watch prediction: the judge will rule against the State of South Carolina, which will be yet another one of the endless blows against the MOX boondoggle of Senator Lindsey Graham, Representative Joe Wilson and CB&I AREVA MOX Services (which should be under multiple investigations for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement for the MOX scam). ----- 
"Liquid Nuclear Waste Convoys [to SRS from Canada] a Threat to the Waters of the Great Lakes" Video of Media Conference at the Ontario Parliament Buildings on October 3 2016 featuring Dr. Gordon Edwards of CCNR, Janet McNeill of DNA, and Christine Elwell of SCCF, introduced by Angela Bischoff of OCAA. video of news conference linked here: https://youtu.be/75Q-kydrB8s links to letters to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama about the liquid high-level waste shipments and need for an Environmental Impact Statement - at end of news release linked here ----- 
October 2016 starts with a huge
headache for MOX boosters: take two aspirin, cancel MOX and
apologize - starting with Senator Graham and Rep. Joe Wilson - for
the massive MOX ripoff perpetrated for so long against the US tax
payers...
"Russia Announces Suspension of U.S.-Russian Plutonium Agreement" Statement by Edwin Lyman, Senior Scientist, union of Concerned Scientists, October 3, 2016 “The U.S should immediately suspend construction of the MOX plant." full blog linked here photo: failed MOX plant at SRS, June 20, 2016, can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” - other photos available on request, tel. 1-803-834-3084, srswatch@gmail.com ----- On the positive side, this action by Russia might allow the US to take further steps to halt the MOX boondoggle: "Russia suspends implementation of plutonium disposition agreement" International Panel on Fissile Materials blog, October 3, 2016 - linked here Article IX.6 of the US-Russia Plutonium Managment and Disposition Agreement is a way for the US to not carry out the terms of the agreement. The article states: "The activities of each Party under this Agreement shall be subject to the availability of appropriated funds." As Congress is funding MOX at a level which means it will be shut down, perhaps it's time for the US to formally state that this article means that MOX is formally dead. ----- 
Gillibrand, Higgins press to prevent nuclear shipments over Peace Bridge [to be dumped at SRS in South Carolina] Buffalo (New York) News, September 30, 2016 Thanks to Senator Gillibrand and Representative Higgins for pushing DOE to prepare an EIS on this unnecessary liquid high-level nuclear waste shipment, which would only add to the nuclear waste burden at SRS. The waste can be managed in Canada and DOE must analyze that viable option. article linked here ----- 
Plutonium Disposition Update from SRS, September 30,
2016:
"Savannah River Site (SRS) personnel began efforts yesterday that will result in the processing and permanent disposal of six metric tons of surplus non-pit plutonium." Update linked here photo: Criticality Control Overpack (CCO), into which plutonium oxide is mixed with a secret material called "stardust" for disposal as nuclear waste, photo from public interest group tour of SRS, March 25, 2015 ----- 
And, "Ariail on the latest plan to bury nuclear waste in SC" The State, Columbia, South Carolina September 30, 2016 While the scheme is to store highly radioactive commercial spent fuel (from South Carolina reactors) at the old Barnwell reprocessing site on the eastern boundary of SRS, the real goal appears to be reprocessing of the spent fuel. Reprocessing is a costly and dirty process that separates weapon-usable plutonium and leaves behind a host of hard-to-manage waste streams, including high-level nuclear waste and low-level nuclear waste. Much of this waste would likely either be stranded at the site of have to be buried somewhere. There is no demand or need for reprocessing in the US and it's on a sharp decline in the few countries that are pursuing it. And, let's not forget the dodgy plans by special interests to dump German spent fuel and liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada.... Public interest groups have publicly opposed the scheme: news release of September 27, 2016 linked here. Ariail cartoon linked here ----- 
September 29, 2016 - DOE's Inspector General (IG) releases report
questioning continued operation of aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at
SRS. Looks to SRS Watch like DOE is scrambling to invent missions
for the H-Canyon, a cash cow for SRS, such as the unnecessary
processing of liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada or processing of
German graphite spent fuel
INFORMATION: Audit Report on “H-Canyon Processing at the Savannah River Site" - linked here in the report: BACKGROUND The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (Environmental Management) has management responsibility for the safe operations of the H-Canyon plant at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina. H-Canyon, built in the 1950s to support the nuclear weapons program, is currently used to process nuclear materials, including aluminum-clad domestic and foreign research reactor spent nuclear fuel. The recovered enriched uranium is then down blended into low enriched uranium for eventual use in commercial power reactors. The HB-Line facility, built atop the canyon in the 1980s to produce plutonium as a power source for deep space exploration, is now used to convert excess plutonium into an oxide for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility or for final disposition. H-Canyon is the nation’s only hardened nuclear chemical separations plant still in operation, and HB-Line is the only processing facility of its kind within the Department. To ensure that H-Canyon remains available for fissile materials disposition, in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, and reiterated in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, Congress required that the Department continue H-Canyon operations, maintain a high state of readiness, and provide the associated necessary technical staff. Because H-Canyon’s mission is essential to the Department and the nation, we initiated this audit to determine whether the Department has a long-term strategy for H-Canyon operations. RESULTS OF AUDIT We found that the Department had not developed a long-term strategy to use H-Canyon to support multiple programmatic missions. ----- The odds are very long that this nonsensical spent fuel storage & reprocessing scheme gets off the ground.... "Groups oppose plan to store nuclear fuel near SRS" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, September 27, 2016 article linked here "Plan surfaces for new nuclear disposal ground in SC" The State, Columbia, SC, Sept. 26, 2016 Reprocessing of spent fuel near SRS - no way! SRS Watch, South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club & South Carolina League of Women Voters are pushing back against the formative proposal to "consolidate" highly radioactive spent nuclear reactor fuel at the old Barnwell site adjacent to the DOE's Savannah River Site - possibly for eventual reprocessing. Almost nobody but plutonium-proliferation companies, like AREVA, looking to profit off the government, want reprocessing in the US, where it's all but dead. article linked here ----- MOX is "doomed" - pull the plug..... "New Army Corps of Engineers Report Reveals that the Problems with MOX Run Deep" Union of Concerned Scientists blog, September 26, 2016 blog linked here ----- 
September 23, 2016: MOX Scam Update: SRS Watch has obtained the anticipated MOX cost report, which is devastating to the continuation of the bungled MOX project, and hereby releases it: "2016 Updated Performance Baseline for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site: Overview of DOE’s 2016 Updated Performance Baseline with a Comparison to the Contractor’s Estimates and Data" by U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OFFICE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT AND ASSESSMENTS, with US Army Corps of Engineers devastating MOX cost report linked here stunning highlights: The report confirms states that construction of the MOX plant, not the life-cycle cost, is $17.1 billion, far more than the $9.9 billion claimed by CB&I AREVA MOX Services to DOE in July 2016. The report states that the MOX plant construction will not be finished until 2048 and that CB&I AREVA MOX Services itself has presented a date of 2029 for construction completion! This does not include start-up. The reports states that the percentage complete of the MOX plant is hard to determine but presents a figure of 28% complete. It also says that CB&I AREVA MOX Services has said that the construction is 48% complete: "When comparing the actual cost of work performed to the estimate at complete, the project is 48% complete based on MOX Services’ EAC and 28% complete based on the PM EAC." This totally undermines the recent claim by MOX boosters that the plant is 70% complete. We continue to hear that the 28% figure may be too high. Note on page 9 that AREVA in France was paid $28 million in 2016 for the MFFF technology, based on the MELOX plant in France. How much in total has been paid for this poor design and apparently faulty technology, which might not be able to ever work to meet US operational regulations? "Technology Transfer Fee: A technology transfer fee of $28M was included in the 2016 updated PB. This fee compensates the French AREVA company for use of their proprietary process in the MFFF. It is included in the 2016 updated PB to calculate the TPC." Conclusion: Doom and Gloom in MOXville Tonight! Mighty MOXie has struck out (yet again)! Senator Lindsey Graham's pet boondoggle can't drag on for much longer given that it is impossible to carry out, for both financial and technical reasons. stunning MOX cost report linked here Update: DOE/NNSA learned that the report was leaking out and posted it here, on a list of MOX boondoggle cost documents - it's the last one on the list. If you have pertinent information about waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement at the MOX Scam project, please contact SRS Watch: srswatch@gmail.com. Thanks to those of you who have contacted us. ----- 
"Ariail on the trouble with MOX" The State (Columbia, South Carolina), September 16, 2016 How much longer will US tax payer money be poured down the black hole of the failed MOX project? Self-serving politicians like Senators Graham and Scott and Representative Joe Wilson have no regard for the tax payers or the federal debt and will string this boondoggle out as long as they can. Their main goal is handing over our money to CB&I AREVA MOX Services, a company that should be fully investigated for "waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement." >>> Be alert to the release of the DOE/US Army Corps of Engineers report on massive MOX cost increases and huge delays in the project. It will be devastating to the MOX boosters who have been stunned into silence and can't make any case that MOX can move forward. ----- Monju plutonium breeder reactor in Japan to officially close! Closure, at last, of the problem-plagued reactor is a major nuclear non-proliferation victory. The plutonium-proliferation industry, led AREVA (floundering in the design of designing the troubled MOX plant at SRS) takes a major hit with this news. We've been working for this to happen for over 20 years and feel certain that Japan's spent fuel reprocessing program will soon be history. "Japan to scrap troubled ¥1 trillion Monju fast-breeder reactor" Japan Times, September 21, 2016 article linked here ----- 
As of September 20, 2016, the federal district court in Columbia,
South Carolina has yet to rule on the State of South Carolina's weak case
demanding DOE begin removal of plutonium from the state. The hearing was
held on June 30 and a ruling had been expected by
now.
In a filing by the state dated September 15, the court was informed that no dates have been set for shipment of "downblended" plutonium out of the state. There is nothing new in the filing as SRS officials have earlier said that shipments would not begin until 2017 and that SRS will store plutonium packaged for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New New Mexico. Those containers will be stored in the E-Area (where 291 downblended plutonium containers are now stored, awaiting shipment to WIPP.) Meanwhile, a recently posted NNSA presentation confirms what SRS Watch has been saying - that about 90 kilograms of plutonium were earlier downblended - with "stardust" - at SRS for shipment to WIPP: "Disposition Program for Surplus, Non-Pit Plutonium" --- by Jeff Allender, Savannah River National Laboratory, May 2016, presentation linked here The presentation is informative about past and upcoming downblending activities at SRS. It confirms that 670 containers were packaged with downblended plutonium and that 409 were shipped to WIPP. In a tour earlier this year, Tom Clements of SRS Watch viewed the 97 drums containing the plutonium containers - Pipe Overpack Containers (POCs) - stored on the surface at WIPP - see photo above. Downblending is expected to restart soon in the K-Area at SRS and will be in the larger-volume Criticality Control Overpack (CCO). ----- DOE Secretary Moniz slams the MOX project as "impossible" and that it will cost $50-60 billion Watch his September 13, 2016 talk at the Carnegie Endowment - linked here "U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Future Nuclear Challenges" Moniz outlines problems with MOX starting in his devastating presentation at 18'30" and goes for ten minutes or so. Meanwhile, no MOX defenders have stepped forward to outline how the failed project could be revived or go foward. See 8 points directly below that must be answered. Standby for release of a new MOX life-cycle cost report by the US. Army Corps of Engineers. Will this "death cycle" report be the final nail in the rotting MOX coffin? If you obtain the report please pass it on: srswatch@gmail.com ---- 
"Aiken
official: Savannah River Site’s MOX purposefully left out of NNSA
discussion"
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, September 14, 2016 article linked here We're still waiting for Senator Lindsey Graham and his decrepit band of MOX boosters to demonstrate and prove to the public that: 1) Congress will find the MOX mess for the next 2-3 decades (or more) at $800+ million/year, 2) construction problems and reinstallation problems can be solved, 3) that design challenges can be overcome, 4) the basic MOX facility can be finished, 5) the facility can be made to start up, 6) it can operate as planned so as to complete the mission, 7) managers in DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services who caused this boondoggle will be held accountable and punished, 8) full-scale investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement will get underway, 9) D & D cost estimates are released and 10) any utilities will step forward to offer their reactor to use MOX fuel made from WG plutonium. But all we get is dead silence on these key points as Senator Graham & co. just keep dumping our money down the CB&I AREVA MOX Services dead-end black hole. If any MOX booster cares to make a case for the way forward with the MOX project, as we have been asking for years, please do: srswatch@gmail.com. The silence by Senators Graham and Scott and Rep. Joe Wilson, who have been gobsmacked by this absolute disaster, affirms that Congress is correct to keep the MOX project on a shut-down track - with insufficient funding. It's only a matter of time until the badly bungled project officially is terminated. Tick Tock! photo: MOX boondoggle site, June 20, 2016, can be used with this credit: "©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch ----- 
International Nuclear Services (INS) operates the UK-flagged vessel transporting plutonium to SRS. Notes from latest Ramsden dock meeting, posted on September 12, 2016, reveal a bit of information on shipments of plutonium dumped at SRS from Switzerland, Germany & Japan: "Ramsden Dock Terminal Stakeholder Group Minutes of the 16th meeting, Barrow Town Hall, Barrow-in-Furness, 12th August, 2016" minutes on plutonium from Japan and Europe to SRS, that was transported on PNTL ships linked here: http://www.pntl.co.uk/…/…/2016/09/16th-RDTSG-Minutes-PDF.pdf "International transports Highlights have included two significant transport operations in support of international non-proliferation goals which aim to consolidate and minimise inventories of nuclear material. - INS were involved in a transport of material from Japan to the US which was described as the biggest transport of its kind and plays a key role in the US M3 initiative (formerly known as the Global Threat Reduction programme). A huge amount of work from several agencies went into making sure this operation was completed safely and securely. - INS also played a key role in a collaborative effort to transport Highly Enriched Uranium and separated plutonium from Switzerland and Germany to the United States. In a statement the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) highlighted the “significant contribution of the United Kingdom’s International Nuclear Services, which provided the secure transport of the material from Europe to the United States”." photo: by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), of the Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) ships - Pacific Egret, Pacific Grebe, Oceanic Pintail & Pacific Heron - anchored in the home port of Barrow-in-Furness, England, June 20, 2016 ----- 
"MOX plant at Savannah River Site will cost $12 billion more than
initially thought"
The State, September 8, 2016 - article linked here Updated article, on front page of The State on September 9, 2016, with photo by High Flyer (special to SRS Watch) - linked here - please post a comment on line >>> We note the article states that "Federal officials showed examples of design and contractor problems they say have driven up costs." As we have been saying for 2 years - the project faces huge design and construction problems and we don't think they can be resolved. DOE needs to release more information about this, as we have been repeatedly calling for. We think DOE knows the project can't be finished and wants to cut the loss to the taxpayer. But CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott continue to want to continue the pointless MOX ripoff. ---- DOE is set on September 8, 2016 to give reporters a tour of the MOX boondoggle at SRS and plutonium downblending mock-up facilities in the K-Area.. Will DOE discuss details of the construction and design problems of the mismanaged MOX project or lay out how the technical and massive funding challenges can be overcome? (Uh, they haven't touched the funding issue so far so we don't expect much from this tour.) We're still hearing from the inside of the project that it could take another 10 years to finish the construction of the MOX plant and a further 10 years to struggle through operation of the facility. Sounds like a losing situation for MOX boosters but that won't stop MOX minions like Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott from picking our pockets for another year to the tune of $340 million flushed down the CB&I AREVA MOX Services drain. photo: MOX plant at SRS, June 20, 2016 ----- SRS Watch signed on to this letter - September 7, 2016 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project news: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Alan Kuperman WEDNESDAY, September 7, 2016 ak@NPPP.org, (512) 471-8245 Nuclear Experts Accuse U.S. of Violating Nonproliferation Agreement - Bomb-Grade Uranium Headed to Europe Despite Pledge to End Exports by 2015 WASHINGTON – More than two dozen nuclear experts, including former U.S. officials under the six preceding presidents of both parties, today accused the Obama Administration of violating a 2012 nonproliferation agreement to end exports to Europe of bomb-grade, highly enriched uranium (HEU) for production of medical isotopes. full news release linked here experts' letter to DOE linked here ----- Citizens and politicians push back against misguided proliferation-prone scheme to dump Canadian high-level nuclear waste at SRS: "Lawsuit targets US-Canada nuclear waste transport plan" Journal of Commerce, August 30, 2016 article linked here "Department of Energy needs to provide more information on planned shipments of liquid nuclear waste" to SRS from Canada Buffalo (New York) News, August 22, 2016 editorial linked here ---- Rep. "Higgins puts EPA, Homeland Security “on notice” about Peace Bridge nuclear waste shipments" from Canada to SRS (for processing and dumping) Buffalo (New York) News, August 22, 2016 article linked here ---- "Nuclear watchdog coalition files suit against Energy Department to stop liquid waste shipments to Savannah River Site" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, August 17, 2016 article linked here Why has DOE refused for over 3 years to analyze the option to "denature" this liquid high-level nuclear waste, containing US-origin HEU, in Canada? This is the process that DOE allowed earlier this year for similar liquid waste in Indonesia, also a by-product of medical isotope production. Must be that the $60 million that Canada is paying SRS has so far taken precedent over sound nuclear non-proliferation policies. See the complaint and associated legal filings here ---- SRS Watch at Hiroshima conference for nuclear disarmament and for a halt to plutonium proliferation - yes, the public and Japanese media heard a lot about the failed US MOX program 「再処理が核拡散に」広島の原水禁国際会議で議論 "Reprocessing is nuclear proliferation." article linked here >>> text via Google translate: Discussed at Gensuikin international conference in Hiroshima World Congress International Conference against A & H Bombs Japan National Congress (Gensuikin) of 5 days, was held in Hiroshima. Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel of the nuclear power plant, use a diversion possible plutonium in nuclear weapons Japan's policy, lead to a re-processing competition from South Korea and China, it specializes in opinion that could be the Northeast Asia in the unstable situation at home there were numerous from. US nuclear watchdog group Savannah River site Watch Tom Clements representative "Japan has no use for about 48 tons of plutonium, it should not increase the accumulation running the re-processing plant. (Use the plutonium in the fuel) fast breeder reactor also should be stopped "and pointed out. article linked in Korean here ----- More bad news for those seeking to dump German commercial spent fuel on SRS - lots of news coverage in Germany, with a growing sense that the export effort is doomed. Pressure is increasing to simply leave the waste where it is now located - at the Juelich, Germany research center. "Widerstand gegen Jülicher Atommüll wächst: Proteste in Ahaus" "Resisting Jülich nuclear waste is growing: Protests in Ahaus" Aachener Zeitung, 2 August 2016 article linked here ----- 
SRS Watch
in:
"Nuclear agency reports 'apparent' violations at MOX plant" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 30, 2016 article linked here photos above and to left: MOX boondoggle construction site in F-Area at SRS, June 20, 2016, can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – photos of MOX plant legally taken in full compliance with FAA regulations - yes, this is what a $8-12 billion concrete box looks like - this debacle has been brought to you by DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX $ervice$ and their political minions (Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham and Representative Joe Wilson) ----- "Cancel the plutonium fuel [MOX] factory" The Hill, July 18, 2016 blog linked here "Twenty years ago, in the Clinton Administration, both of us helped launch a program to build a factory to turn the excess plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear reactors. At that time, the full life-cycle cost estimate to make this plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel was expected to be less than $2 billion dollars. Now, however, with official cost estimates ballooning to over $30 billion, it is clear that the project has become too expensive. It is time to stop throwing good money after bad and pursue cheaper alternatives that will serve our national security better." ----- 
photo: Traditional shipment method for AVR spent fuel - a la East Germany style? Well, more like it's a "shipment" by local Juelich activists who want the spent fuel to be securely stored where it's now located (at the Forschungzentrum Juelich) and not shipped to either SRS or the Ahaus facility. "Schlag gegen US-Option: Erneut Schwierigkeiten für Export des Atommülls aus Jülich und Ahaus" "Blow to US-option: More difficulties for export of nuclear waste from Jülich and Ahaus" --- in "die 'neue' Linke online Zeitung" - 29 Juli 2016 article linked here ---- "US-Umweltschützer sind für "No Action" beim Jülicher Atommüll" --- in "Der Ahauser" - 29 July 2016 Google translate: "US environmentalists are for "No Action" at the Jülich nuclear waste" linked here ---- German WDR radio reports on SRS Citizens Advisory Board vote on July 26 against bringing German commercial spent fuel to SRS - July 28, 2016 "Offenbar keine USA-Lösung für Jülicher Atomüll" "Apparently no US solution for Jülich nuclear waste" link to WDR report here photo below: Voting by SRS Citizens Advisory Board in 13 to 5 vote against receipt and processing of German commercial spent fuel at SRS, July 26, 2016, New Ellenton, South Carolina community center, (near the SRS main gate), by SRS Watch 
V Opinion column by leader of Aiken, SC Sierra Club: "Savannah River Site reporting should maintain neutrality" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, July 28, 2016 op-ed linked here ----- Victory on German spent fuel dumping issue! SRS Watch in "Savannah River Site board votes to officially oppose accepting German spent nuclear fuel" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 26, 2016 article on public victory linked here & "Savannah River Site advisory group says ‘No’ to German fuel, long-term nuclear waste storage" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, July 27, 2016 article linked here photo: SRS CAB members vote on July 26 against import and dumping of German spent fuel at SRS, photo by SRS Watch ----- 
Looking
for an NGO - like SRS Watch - or government entity near a DOE site or
working on DOE issues? If so, you'll find this DOE document, released on
July 18, useful:
"Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA - 33rd Edition - July 2016 - U.S. Department of Energy, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance" NEPA = National Environmental Policy Act "DOE Offices are encouraged to be inclusive in providing potentially interested parties with opportunities to review NEPA documents. This Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA is primarily intended to supplement lists that Departmental Offices compile for individual projects or facilities. It complements the EIS Distribution Guidance. The Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance updates this Directory annually in July and may issue revisions throughout the year as new information becomes available." directory linked here website explaining "Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA (DOE, 2016) - linked here ----- Reprocessing of highly radioactive spent fuel -
the removal of plutonium from spent fuel, with a host of troublesome waste
streams - is on
the decline worldwide. If you ever hear the false claim from a booster of reprocessing that France reprocesses for Europe, point out this new AREVA document that confirms that reprocessing of European spent fuel in France is all but over with. Reprocessing of domestic spent is on its last legs in Great Britain and continued reprocessing of domestic spent fuel in France is under growing stress. "Traitement des combustibles usés provenant de l’étranger dans les installations d’AREVA NC la Hague - Rapport 2015" AREVA report linked here ---- This coal plant debacle sounds an awful like the MOX boondoggle: "Piles of Dirty Secrets Behind a Model ‘Clean Coal’ Project" New York Times, July 5, 2016 article linked here When will DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services be investigated for waste, fraud abuse & mismanagement of the MOX project? They can run but they can't hide forever. For example, when will the FBI provide the public service it's beholden to provide and investigate potentially illegal activities at MOX? ----- 
"MOX lawsuit goes before judge" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 30, 2016 article linked here ---with photo of citizen and "Stop Plutonium" and"Cut MOX Pork" signs ----- "Judge hears arguments in South Carolina MOX plutonium case" Charleston Post & Courier, June 30, 2016 article linked here ----- "Drone reports at SC nuclear weapons site spark federal scrutiny" The State, Columbia, SC, June 30, 2018 article linked here >>>> Note: SRS Watch has absolutely no knowledge of any kind about drones at SRS or anywhere else. Even if drone use over SRS is legal, as reported today (June 30) by WRDW-TV (Savannah, Georgia), this matter may merit investigation by authorities. Plane overflight of DOE sites is legal, but the FAA recommends a 2000-foot altitude over such sites. In any event, our SRS oversight work continues. ----- Recall a knock on the door by FBI agents of a colleague in the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA): "When the FBI comes knocking… or Living in a nation on high alert" by Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), October 5, 2016 - linked here Who played the FBI in this case and why? The intimidation didn't work. The FBI agents came off as looking foolish for not having done their homework and for being duped. ---- "The Security Firm That Employed the Orlando Shooter Protects American Nuclear Facilities" The New Yorker magazine, June 27, 2016 article linked here Right after the Orlando shootings, SRS Watch asked SRS if the new security company at the Savannah River Site (SRS) - Centerra - thoroughly reviewed all the employees it inherited in November 2014 from G4S, the company the shooter worked for. See SRS Watch - SRS email messages of June 12, 2016 and June 14 and Centerra news release of June 14 concerning security personnel at the Savannah River Site and the status of personnel security reviews by Centerra - linked here ----- Wait, the shipment of 331 kilograms of plutonium from Japan to SRS didn't impact Japan's status as a latent nuclear weapons state?! (DOE has still to justify why 236 kg of that plutonium, of UK origin, was dumped on June 4/5, 2016 at SRS....) "Japan could get nuclear weapons ‘virtually overnight,’ Biden tells Xi" Japan Times, June 25, 2016 "Referring to Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test and missile launches in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Biden said that if China and the United States fail to take effective action against North Korea, “What happens if Japan, who could go nuclear tomorrow? They have the capacity to do it virtually overnight.”" article linked here Information Circular 549 - Japan's voluntary reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency, August 28, 2015 - Japan holds 10.5 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium domestically & 37 metric tons of plutonium at reprocessing plant in the UK and France. Enough is enough! It's past time for Japan to stop reprocessing and plutonium stockpiling! SRS Watch staff have been calling since the early 1990s for a halt to Japan's pursuit of reprocessing and plutonium stockpiling. The fact that the US Government has enabled Japan to pursue plutonium stockpiling has undermined the credibility of nuclear non-proliferation policies and anything the US says on the matter. Lesson to be learned: NGOs have been leaders on this matter but we welcome when governments finally listen and act. ----- "Barrow ships’ return home from
5-month world voyage raises major doubts on the security of the plutonium
cargo shipped from Japan to the US and the wisdom of undertaking future
shipments" >>> briefing by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), UK, 21st June 2016 - linked here exclusive photos: Pacific Heron (19 June) and Pacific Egret (20 June, on arrival in the port of Barrow-in-Furness, UK, ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) - can be used with credit ----- "SCE&G asking for $852 million more to finish Summer nuclear plants" The SCANA-owned utility also seeks a new fixed price contract option Utility says future cost overruns would belong to construction contractor Westinghouse S.C. public interest agency says price tag would not be “fixed”; likely to cost more The State, Columbia, SC, front page, June 14, 2016 article, with SRS Watch, linked here ----- 
"Objections raised to German waste at Savannah
River Site"
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 10, 2016 article linked here Expect the DOE to release the Environmental Assessment on this scheme in June. The EA will be to continue R&D on the AVR & THTR graphite spent fuel but not actually import it. The export from Germany of that material is illegal and will run into legal problems if an export license were to be applied for. At this point, some at SRS just want a next payment from the Forschung Zentrum Juelich (FZJ), where some of the waste, is stored, to continue work by Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) on reprocessing the material. photo: Greenpeace Germany image on the long-closed AVR reactor at Juelich: "South Carolina not a Nuclear Waste Dump for Germany" ----- 
ATTEND PLUTONIUM HEARING - South Carolina federal lawsuit against
DOE/NNSA to remove plutonium from SRS - June 30, 10 a.m., Columbia,
SC, Matthew Perry Courthouse.
Attend if you can! Date may change so stay tuned Feb. 9, 2016 filing by State of South Carolina linked here -----from SC federal district court website (your must register & it's hard to manage) - in case case# 1:16-cv-00391-JMC: "NOTICE of Hearing on Motion 10 MOTION for Summary Judgment, 6 MOTION to Intervene, 20 MOTION to Stay, 17 MOTION to Dismiss : Motion Hearing set for 6/30/2016 10:00 AM in Columbia # 3, Matthew J. Perry Court House, 901 Richland St, Columbia before Honorable J Michelle Childs. ***Please note this hearing will include all pending motions not ruled upon prior to the date of the hearing***(asni, ) (Entered: 05/24/2016) STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ) ENERGY; ))DR. ERNEST MONIZ, in his official capacity as ) Secretary of Energy; )) NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ) ADMINISTRATION; and )) LT. GENERAL FRANK G. KLOTZ, >>>>> Is the law under which the plutonium removal is being sought phony? see SRS Watch news - October 27, 2015 - linked here "Failure of MOX Project at the Savannah River Site Legally Mandates DOE to Begin Removal of 1 Metric Ton of Weapons Plutonium from South Carolina by January 1, 2016 or Face $1 Million/Day in Fines In Reality, the Plutonium-Removal Law is a Farce Used by Senator Lindsey Graham to Hold South Carolina Hostage to Endless Spending on the Failed, Mismanaged MOX Project of CB&I AREVA MOX Services Plans for Plutonium Shipments from Los Alamos in New Mexico to SRS Must be Suspended" photo: Matthew J. Perry Court House, 901 Richland St, Columbia, SC ------ 
photo:
special US DOE trucks, with escorts, carrying experimental plutonium fuel
(MOX) from the military port in Charleston, South Carolina in 2005, after
it arrived from France; similar trucks would have been used to transport
the Japanese plutonium to SRS on July 4/5, 2016; photo can be used with
credit ©Savannah River Site Watch "Barrow ships’ controversial plutonium cargo from Japan unloaded at the US Port of Charleston. Several weeks of an extended voyage from Japan unaccounted for" - briefing by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), 7th June 2016, Cumbria, UK (near the Sellafield nuclear site) - linked here ----- Ship Tracking by SRS Watch and Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) forces confirmation from US DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of arrival of plutonium transport ships June 6, 2016 NNSA news release: "NNSA Announces Arrival of Plutonium and Uranium from Japan’s Fast Critical Assembly at Savannah River Site and Y-12 National Security Complex" WASHINGTON (June 6, 2016) – A shipment of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)’s Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) reactor arrived safely at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., and Y-12 National Security Complex near Oak Ridge, Tenn. NNSA statement linked here news articles: Plutonium shipped through Charleston to SRS The State, Columbia, South Carolina, June 6, 2016 & Japanese Plutonium Arrives in SC, Despite Haley's Objections Associated Press, June 6, 2016 ----- 
"Break It Down: Plutonium" [and SRS...] --- on the"On Second Thought" radio program, Georgia Public Broadcasting, June 6, 2016, with SRS Watch director Tom Clements "The Nuclear Security Summit took place in Washington, D.C. in March and Georgia came up in the discussions among international leaders. Why? Because Japanese and American officials have decided to send 730 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium to the Savannah River Site, a nuclear reservation on the Georgia-South Carolina border. There's a lot of concern over this decision, but what exactly is plutonium and why is it dangerous?" listen here: http://gpbnews.org/post/break-it-down-plutonium photo by DOE, K-Reactor, where 13 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium are stored at SRS, material which has no clear disposition path out of SRS ----- 
See c Why is SCE&G keeping customers in the dark about nuclear construction costs? As of June 6, 2016, a SCE&G customer can look at their bill and not know anything about the pay-in-advance nuclear construction charge. See copy of SCE&G bill here - with no breakdown of nuclear construction costs. Does SCE&G think that an ignorant customer is a compliant customer? While customers of Georgia Power and South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) are forced by unjust state laws (that need to be changed) to bear all risks and cost of the new nuclear plant construction projects, at least Georgia Power customers can see a line item on their monthly bill for "Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery." Thanks to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for the successful effort to require this of GA Power. SCE&G refuses to let customers easily determine the monthly charge for the nuclear project at the VC Summer site in South Carolina. As the project now faces another $852 million cost overrun and more cost increases and schedule delays are likely, it's time for SCE&G to start putting the nuclear cost on the bill! In the coming days, SCE&G will file for the ninth (yes 9th!) pay-in advance rate hike to pay for financing cost of the new reactor project. This rate hike will be only to cover financing costs. We are already paying 15.5% of our SCE&G bill for the nuclear financing costs and that soon will likely be around 18%. What will happen to bill when the much higher capital (construction) costs go into the rate base? Click here for examples of Georgia Power bills with the "Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery" line-item on them --- image of Georgia Power bill courtesy of Nuclear Watch South ---- 
"Consumers keep footing the bill for
nuclear project" by South Carolina Electric & Gas
(SCE&G)
Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, May 29, 2016 - commentary by South Carolina AARP linked here On May 26, SCE&G has filed with the South Carolina Public Service Commission a request to raise the cost of the twin-unit AP1000 reactor project at the VC Summer site a whopping $852 million over the last increase in 2015. See filing in Docket 2016-232-E here. And, on May 26, SC&G notified the PSC that it would be filing for the 9th pay-in-advance rate hike to pay for the nuclear project. When approved by a compliant PSC, the SCE&G bill will be well over 15% for the nuclear project and that's just for financing costs. Imagine what will happen when capital (construction costs go into the bill. See letter to PSC here. Photo of VC Summer nuclear site: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” - March 6, 2016 - can be used with credit ----- 
Rock on y'all!
SRS Watch will be tabling at the Jackson Brown concert on May 29 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina. The Guacamole Fund, which supports us via sales of blocks of special tickets, set up the tabling event for us. Thanks, Guacamole! If you attend the concert stop by and say hello. We'll have a letter to sign to Governor Nikk Haley (South Carolina) against DOE's plans to import more nuclear waste and plutonium to SRS. ----- "Federal judge rules out third party in MOX suit, while Senate committee express ‘growing concern’ over facility" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 27, 2016 If the Senate Armed Services Committee is expressing concern to the DOE secretary about mismanagement of the MOX project the committee needs to affirm its own responsibility in allowing the failed project to drag on and on and on without proper oversight and investigations. ----- "Nuclear transportation proposal draws fire from
SRS Citizens Advisory Board and international
activists" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 26, 2016 article linked here A draft SRS Citizens Advisory Board letter against the German waste import was suppressed by DOE and CAB management, which did not allow discussion at the CAB meeting on May 23 despite the letter being duly approved by the CAB's Nuclear Materials Committee and passed to the full CAB for discussion - linked here. A similar version of this letter, in the form of a draft statement, may be discussed at the Nuclear Materials meeting on June 7, 2016 in New Ellenton, South Carolina. Will there be further interference by DOE or will the CAB be allowed to follow its normal procedures in dealing with the statement against the German nuclear waste import? Recall that DOE has already stated in a memo - linked here - that there is no proliferation risk if the waste is left in Germany. But some at SRS pursue it as an unjustified money-making research venture that will only make the waste-management situation worse at SRS. --- photos above from rally in Juelich, Germany on May 21, 2016, against the shipment of the nuclear waste casks from the site where some of them are now stored (Forschungzentrum Juelich) 
----- May 21, 2016 in Germany: Demonstrations against moving high-level nuclear waste (in CASTOR casks) from the Juelich research site to either Ahaus or to the United States (Savannah River Site), via the port of Nordenham. SRS Watch supports this action by our German colleagues against dumping high-level spent fuel at SRS. We call on DOE to halt the unjustified waste-import proposal. At SRS the graphite spent fuel balls from the long-closed AVR and THTR gas-cooled reactors will only add to the SRS waste burden and there is no long-term disposal plan for the waste. The scheme is only being pursued because some at SRS are chasing the money that some in Germany would pay to process and dump the waste here and keep the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant operating. 21. Mai 2016 – Ahaus-Jülich – Autobahn-Aktionstag Mit Aktionen zwischen Ahaus und Jülich http://westcastor.blogsport.de/ WDR German TV news coverage, May 21 starts around 11' 24" - linked here ----- 
SRS Watch in "NRC notes MOX construction
issues" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, May 17, 2016 ATLANTA — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atlanta-based inspectors noted three issues in the construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River Site. full article linked here ----- NRC Issues MOX Plant Construction Violations! Though we regard the inspections by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the MOX plant to be cursory and are told that they can be fooled, the NRC has cited CB&I AREVA MOX Services for construction violations. It's a big step for the NRC to take and we expect inspections to get more serious given the continued rumors of design and construction problems. "MIXED OXIDE FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY- NRC INSPECTION REPORT NUMBER 70-3098/2016-001" - April 29, 2016 - linked here “Based on the results of this inspection, the enclosed report documents findings which were determined to involve violations of NRC requirements.” Violations include: “This NCV is associated with the inadequate design control activities of ECR-008080 which resulted in the fabrication by welding of safety-related structural steel fire doors and their concrete anchors that were not designed or fabricated in accordance with the AWS D1.6 minimum fillet weld sizes for small diameter studs.” “This NCV is associated with the inadequate design control activities of FCR-004483 which resulted in the fabrication by welding of safety5 related structural steel built up members that were not designed or fabricated in accordance with the AWS D1.6 prohibited joint design requirements.” “The detailed inspection activities identified NCV 70-3098/2016-01-02, associated with failure to meet bolted connection requirements for HSA ductwork; and NCV 70-3098/2016-01-04, associated with the failure to maintain appropriate controls for the inspection planning of QL-1 systems, components and structures.” NRC's April 29, 2016 MOX inspection report linked here ------ 
Defective plutonium-handling gloveboxes supplied to the MOX project? If so, don't count on the NRC to do much about it. Here's an updated "Part 21 report" - on suspect vendor-supplied items - to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The gloveboxes were supplied by Byers Precision Fabricators to the MOX project. The report states: "The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is evaluating a nonconforming condition associated with vendor non-adherence to standard welding procedure specifications during fabrication of six gloveboxes. No basic components have been determined to contain a defect." We assume that like all other Part 21 reports this one will be swept under the rug by the NRC. Will the NNSA will prove itself capable of inspecting the gloveboxes for its own project to determine if they should be rejected or be rebuilt? April 26, 2016 report linked here Article in Hendersonville, NC Times-News paper, September 12, 2012: "U.S. Department of Energy honors Byers Precision Fabricators - Hendersonville company provided special equipment for use at the Savannah River nuclear site in S.C." - linked here ----- "UK-US air transports of high enriched uranium: global security at risk for commercial gain" (w/ credit to SRS Watch at end of article) The Ecologist, UK, 3rd May 2016 "Planned air transports of high-enriched uranium from Dounreay in Scotland to the US state of Tennessee would risk of accident or a terrorist seizure of weaponusable nuclear material, writes Ernie Galsworthy. The motive for the transport appears to be purely commercial - and would thus put the public at needless risk for the sake of a cut-price nuclear waste / fuel deal between US and UK authorities." article linked here ----- "Can the US-Russia plutonium disposition agreement be saved?" Pavel Podvig in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, April 28, 2016 post linked here ----- "MOX Contractor Slammed for Poor Performance" by Project on Government Oversight (POGO), May 2, 2016 blog linked here ------ "MOX gets mixed grades from Energy Department - Contractor's award more than halved" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, April 29, 2016 - linked here - article based on the NNSA award fee documents released by SRS Watch - news release linked here Note: NNSA Determined that the MOX construction “Overall performance below the level needed for successful project execution” and that Drug Testing is Inadequate! But is NNSA laying down the hammer on this abysmal situation or are construction problems and drug testing problems dragging on and on (as we're hearing)? BTW, MOXie says "oink" and enjoys another trough full of tax payer money, topped off by the award fee bonus given to CB&I AREVA MOX Services by NNSA for FY 2105. We are not at liberty to say where that lard of cash went when MOX $ervcie$ mismanagers got their bonus checks. ----- Is the MOX Plant Design Faulty or Will it Work? Where is any proof that the design will work? Did naive NNSA officials buy a pig in a poke from AREVA and not adequately review what they were purchasing? There are hints from various corners that NNSA rushed into purchasing a system that won't work to US standards and that construction of the plant began too far in advance of the design being mature enough for construction to have taken place. Here's one such public indication of design (and other) problems, which merits a follow-up report by DOE. "Improving Project Management" U.S. Department of Energy - Report of the Contract and Project Management Working Group - linked here November 2014 page 22: Prior to developing the project’s baseline, DOE did not conduct peer reviews; analyze France’s reference plants’ construction costs or operations history that were the basis of the MOX program; or perform a rigorous technology development review, risk analysis or project definition rating. DOE and the contractors relied on the fact that similar facilities, although built decades earlier and under different regulatory, political, and industry conditions, could easily be modified and replicated in the United States. Under the DOE orders at the time, there was no requirement to ensure that design was sufficiently mature or that the project’s cost estimate be performed by an independent party. In April 2007, DOE approved a baseline for the capital construction costs for the MOX project at $4.8 billion. This approval largely relied on the cost estimate, design status, and risk program developed by the contractor. Subsequently it was determined that the design was significantly less mature than had been reported; the risks associated with meeting U.S. regulatory and building codes were not well understood; and the current state of the nuclear industry’s supply chain in both labor and material procurements was significantly underestimated. Design costs continued to grow, construction and procurement bids greatly exceeded estimates, and technical staff turnover was much higher than anticipated. Insufficient research into the supply chain’s ability to meet the projects rigorous Nuclear Quality Assurance‐1 (NQA‐1) criteria limited available sources and significantly increased oversight and procurement costs. MOXie, Senator Lindsey Graham's pet pork-barrel pig, is eating massive amounts of money from the public trough. But neither Lindsey nor NNSA nor CB&I AREVA MOX Services have been able to make a case that MOXie will perform as hoped. Will this all come out in any MOX hearings to be held by the Armed Services committees or will the cover-up keep the lid on this critical issue? ----- "Accident-free hours count reset at MOX site" ...and more on MOX and testing for illegal drug use Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, April 27, 2016 - linked here The article is incorrect about the bonus fee award for the MOX project in Fiscal Year 2015 - the rating was 49%, which the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) called "satisfactory." It is disturbing to read that the NNSA determined that "Overall performance is below the level needed for successful project execution, as culminated in cost overruns and schedule delays." On the troubling issue of MOX workers and drugs, the award fee narrative said "During this assessment NNSA found that MOX Services is not implementing random drug testing in a manner that is compliant with the procedure and is therefore not appropriately providing assurance of a drug free workplace." See SRS Watch news of April 21, in which the award fee documents, obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, were released - linked here. ATTENTION: If you have information about illegal drug use or use of synthetic urine or other methods to trick drug testing at the MOX project, please let us know: srswatch@gmail.com, tel 803-834-3084. The rumors of drug use by MOX workers must be investigated and, if possible, laid to rest. ----- 
Oink indeed! Senator Lindsey Graham's favorite pork-barrel
project: MOX
Time again to take a look at the 2103 Friends of the Earth video about the MOX boondoggle, which Senator Graham has been protecting. Now that Graham has admitted that MOX isn't viable at the current funding level, it's only a matter of time until he faces the facts and cuts CB&I AREVA MOX Services loose and agrees to MOX termination. CB&I AREVA MOX Services has wasted billions of our tax payer dollars on its mismanagement of the MOX project and our money must be stopped being poured down the MOX black hole. video linked here ----- SRS is still a nuclear bomb plant,
y'all..... "Race for Latest Class of Nuclear Arms Threatens to Revive Cold War" NY Times, April 17, 2016 print edition article linked here >>> Recall that SRS processes all the radioactive tritium gas used in US nuclear weapons, to boost their explosive power. In violation of nuclear non-proliferation norms, that tritium is produced by irradiating special rods in the Watts Bar unit 1 commercial reactor - Watts Bar Nuclear Bomb Reactor (WBNBR) - operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Highly radioactive tritium rods are processed at the Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) at SRS and packaged into small containers that are inserted into nuclear warheads. photos: entrance to Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) at SRS & tritium reservoir to be inserted in a nuclear warhead & aerial shot of H-Area at SRS, where TEF is located (to the right and adjacent to the H-Canyon reprocessing plant, the long, narrow building in the center of the photo) ----- 
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control (DHEC)
--- comments of March 1, 2016 on the plan to import and dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS Thanks to DHEC for these thoughtful, critical comments submitted for the record of the draft environmental assessment! letter to DOE linked here ----- International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) "Dealing with Russia's concerns about the isotopics of disposed plutonium" Drs Edwin Lyman and Frank von Hippel, April 15, 2016 Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina have interpreted remarks by Russian president Putin on the 2000 U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) as requiring that the United States continue with the costly MOX project in South Carolina. President Putin objected to the less costly dilute and dispose approach proposed by the Obama Administration because the plutonium could be recovered and "converted into weapons-grade plutonium again." RT reported a Rosatom spokesman explaining, "The only way to irreversibly turn plutonium into a material not usable in a nuclear weapon is by changing its isotope composition. Any chemical method is reversible." blog linked here ----- "Ex-appropriator laments 'nuclear bridge to nowhere'" - uh, that would be CB&I AREVA MOX Services' MOX mega-boondoggle being protected from accountability by Senator Lindsey Graham by Hannah Hess, E&E reporter E&E Daily: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 linked here ----- SRS Watch in the news: "House panel votes to keep MOX funding steady" [note: it wasn't a vote but a committee recommendation, which has great weight...] article linked here "Savannah River Site contractor resumes full operations" article linked here -- both in Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, April 13, 2016 ----- SRS research documents of interest, March 2016: "EXAMINATION OF SHIPPING PACKAGE 9975-02403" - used for storage of 13 MT of plutonium in the K-Area at SRS Savannah River National Lab (SRNL), March 2016 "Further examination of this package in SRNL confirmed significant moisture and mold in the bottom layers of the lower fiberboard assembly, and identified additional corrosion along the seam weld and on the bottom of the drum." linked here "Overcoming Waste Removal Challenges at Savannah River Site: A Case Study of Tank 15" Savannah River Remediation (SRS high-level waste contractor), March 2016 - how SRS addressed problems with dried highly radioactive sludge in the bottom of Tank 15 linked here ----- Important article on plutonium disposition: "US, Russia Can Agree on Plutonium Disposition Without Renegotiations" Sputnik International, April 12 2016 article linked here State Department's Daily Press Briefing of April 11, 2016 - on US-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) - linked here QUESTION: Plutonium case. So today’s – today Russian foreign ministry’s official Mikhail Ulyanov* said that Moscow did not allow to change the method of disposal of plutonium. So that’s the case and that’s the main point in that agreement between Russia and United States. So could you clarify United States position in terms of method of disposal? I mean -- MR TONER: What I can say is that since 2013 we’ve been in communication with Russia about the U.S. review of disposition methods and its results that’s consistent with the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement. And this agreement essentially provides a path for the parties to consult and agree on disposition methods that do not involve irradiation in nuclear reactors. So I wouldn’t speculate – I wouldn’t speculate on what he meant in his remarks. I’m just saying what we’re trying to adhere to in this process. QUESTION: So are you ready to have a new round of consultations with Russia with respect to this case? MR TONER: I mean, I think we’re in communication with Russia on this. I don’t think we’re necessarily – I don’t think accommodating any kind of new method would necessarily require a renegotiation of the agreement, certainly, but I’m not going to speculate beyond that. ----- 
"Britain is sending a huge nuclear waste consignment to America -
why?"
by Gordon MacKerron, in spinwatch (Public Interest Investigations), Uk, 5th April 2016 - linked here "The decision to move this radioactive waste out of the UK has been presented as making it harder for nuclear materials to get into the hands of terrorists, but this is implausible. The UK is capable of managing homegrown highly enriched uranium itself. The plan also contradicts the principle that countries are responsible for managing their own nuclear legacy." photo: ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret in their home port of Barrow, UK in January 2016.. Will these armed ships be used for the HEU transport from Dounreay to the US? These ships are now on a mission to dump plutonium in Japan on SRS. ----- "WIPP is logical repository for plutonium – done right" Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal editorial, April 7, 2016 editorial linked here ----- "Gov. Nikki Haley backs plutonium removal from Savannah River Site, reasserts MOX lawsuit" Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, April 6, 2016 article linked here SRS Watch news release of October 27, 2015 outlining why the plutonium-removal law can't be enforced and is but a cynical effort by Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham to support the now-failed MOX project: linked here ----- "Toxic decisions show contempt for Scotland" (re shipment of Dounreay spent fuel to SRS, HEU to US with no public consultation in Scotland) The National editorial, Scotland, April 7, 2016 linked here "Questionable HEU exchange between United Kingdom and United States" International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog, April 5, 2016 -- linked here "Cameron urged to tell the truth over Dounreay US nuclear export" The National (Scotland), April 6th 2016 -article linked here ----- 
Lindsey's MOX Faux
Sheet!
Senator Lindsey Graham's MOX falsehoods get nailed by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), April 5, 2016. Senator Graham continues to protect his pet boondoggle - MOX - and serve the interest of CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices but the failed project is tumbling in on him. Graham can continue to waste US tax payer money and oppose the slow-motion termination of the MOX train wreck but his efforts are doomed as MOX isn't viable. As the facts are lined up against him, Graham still has not even attempted to present a way forward to address lack of funding or how design and construction problems and lack of MOX customers can be addressed. Graham just wants to spend our money until the clock runs out on the MOX debacle. How's that for being a public servant supposedly beholden to the tax payers?! As his grade on his MOX Fuax Sheet says: he gets a big fat "F" for his abysmal performance! ---- 
Robert
Ariail, cartoonist:
"South Carolina's spring bouquet" -- concerning plutonium and nuclear waste being dumped on the US DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS), with no viable or funded exit strategy in The State newspaper, Columbia, South Carolina, April 5, 2016 linked here ---- 
"Major U-Turn by NDA allows UK
Prime Minister to announce transport of Dounreay’s Highly Enriched Uranium
(HEU) to the US at the Washington Security
Summit."
Cumbrians Opposes to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), 4 April 2016 - SRS Watch partner group near the UK's Sellafield nuclear site "Plan agreed with stakeholders to manage the ‘Exotic’ HEU fuel at Sellafield ditched without consultation in covert deal rushed through with Government to meet Washington Summit timetable." CORE press release linked here ----- "US plea: don’t dump Dounreay’s nuclear waste here" The Ferret, UK news site, 4 April - linked here ----- 
SRS Watch
in
"US-Umweltaktivist will Planungen für einen gefährlichen Atommülltourismus ein Ende setzen" "US environmental activist wants to put an end to plans for a dangerous nuclear waste tourism" - on stopping illegal German commercial spent fuel dumping at SRS, with proposed transport in CASTOR casks German website lokalkompass.dem, March 31 linked here ----- SRS Watch on HEU from the UK to the US, April 2, 2016 "Nuclear material in U.S. swap with United Kingdom not planned for SRS" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 2, 2016 article linked here "U.S. will take weapons-grade uranium from Britain" USA Today, March 2, 2016 article linked here ------ 
SRS Watch in "Plutonium Shipment to
Depart Japan for United States – Exposes Failure Of Global Reprocessing
Programs"
Citizens Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo, March/April 2016 "The shipment of weapons-grade plutonium at the port of Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture departing later today, exposes the failure of global plutonium reprocessing programs and the threat from current Japanese nuclear policy, five non-governmental organizations charged today.(1) The cargo of 331kg of plutonium was loaded on to the Pacific Egret, an armed British nuclear transport ship, after it arrived at Tokai at 08.00 March 21st. Armed Japanese coastguard vessels, including the Shikishima, are outside the port and are expected to escort the plutonium shipment while inside Japanese coastal waters. The shipment is being undertaken in a failed U.S. policy attempt to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons materials worldwide." linked here ----- As we have been hearing, activities by DOE to terminate the failed MOX project are beginning: "Spokesperson: Layoffs affect around 60 employees at Savannah River Site MOX project" Aiken Standard, April 1, 2016 article linked here 
"Senator Lindsay Graham's international
training center" at the abandoned MOX plant? Great idea
from the Union of Concerned Scientists!
"The Perfect Gift for the Nuclear Security Summit" Union of Concerned Scientists blog, March 31, 2016 linked here Senator Graham has placed the MOX plant around his neck like a lead albatross and protected the boondoggle every step of the way. As MOX is terminated, doesn't he at least deserve this memorial for his waste of $5 billion of our tax money? At least there may be some future use of the big concrete box that has served as Lindsey's piggy bank for CB&I AREVA MOX Services..... photo: MOX plant on March 6, 2016, "©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch" - can be used with this credit ----- "Scientists recommend closing MOX and exploring other alternatives" Aiken South Carolina Standard, March 30, 2016 article linked here ----- World to Japan: Halt your Program to Continue Separating and Stockpiling Weapon-Usable Plutonium! SRS Watch agrees and has signed the letter linked below (which mentions the plutonium shipment now underway from Japan to SRS). In advance of the Nuclear Security Summit Washington, March 31-April 1), a large number of international groups are calling for Japan to live up to its nuclear non-proliferation commitments and halt its program to separate and use weapon-usable plutonium. Will the summit live up to the obligation to speak up against Japan's plutonium stockpiling program? Letter: To: Mr. Shinzo Abe Prime Minister of Japan March 28, 2016 要請：プルトニウムの分離を止めることによって世界の核セキュリティー強化に貢献すること Subject: Call to help strengthen worldwide nuclear security by stopping plutonium separation We, the undersigned, call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Government of Japan to make a strong contribution to the Nuclear Security Summit by announcing the indefinite postponement of the operation of the Rokkasho spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. 下に署名した私たちは、安倍晋三総理大臣と日本政府に対し、六ヶ所使用済み核燃料再処理工場運転の無期限延期を発表することにより、核セキュリティー・サミットに大きな貢献をするよう要請します。 full letter linked here, in English & Japanese list of 175+ signatories linked here photo: Japan's Rokkasho reprocessing plant, which has failed to start-up after a decade of failed attempts, by Greenpeace For details on Japan's plutonium stockpiling program - see Nuclear Proliferation in Plain Sight: Japan’s Plutonium Fuel Cycle–A Technical and Economic Failure But a Strategic Success" - in The Asia-Pacific Journal, March 2016, linked here ----- 
SRS Watch in Reuters article, March 24, 2016: "South Carolina governor urges U.S. to divert plutonium from Japan" article linked here letter from Gov. Haley to DOE linked here ----- AMAZING: detailed aerial shots of the plutonium-loading operation in Tokaimura, Japan on March 22, with Japanese coast guard escort vessels, a Japanese colleague's attempt to fly a small drone on the beach and the departure of the pirate ship Pacific Egret in direction: South Carolina TBS News プルトニウム積んだ輸送船、アメリカに向け出港 "Plutonium laden transport ship, sailing towards the United States" http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2730942.html ----- linked here 
March 23, 2016: Governor Nikki Haley (South
Carolina) to Secretary
of Energy Moniz: Stop Plutonium Shipment from Japan or
Reroute!
The governor says South Carolina is "at risk of becoming permanent dumping ground for nuclear materials" & pay up on $1 million/day fine for not starting to remove plutonium from the state by January 1, 2016, as required by law (due to the failure of the MOX project). SRS Watch is appreciative that the governor is paying attention to what DOE is up to, under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation. Where will the plutonium pirate ships go when the port of Charleston (right by Fort Sumter) is blockaded starting on May 5, 2016? As we've been saying all along: Send 236 kg of the plutonium to Sellafield, UK and 2 kg to La Hague, France, where the massive plutonium stockpiles are bursting at the seams. DOE/White House remain stunned into silence and unable to explain why bringing UK plutonium to SRS comprises sound nuclear non-proliferation policy. (It ain't...) March 23 governor's letter linked here Articles of March 23 with SRS Watch: AP article: "Governor Tells Feds to Stop Sending Plutonium" - linked here Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier: "Gov. Nikki Haley to feds: Stop sending nuclear materials to South Carolina" [via port of Charleston] - linked here ----- Wow! "Gov. Nikki Haley is telling federal officials to stop sending nuclear materials to a site in South Carolina" The governor is catching on to the nuclear dumping we are facing. Good for her! By MEG KINNARD Associated Press, March 23, 2016 - 1:27 pm EDT - article linked here longer AP article linked here COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Gov. Nikki Haley says it's imperative that federal officials stop sending nuclear materials to South Carolina. In a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Haley tells Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to stop or reroute a shipment of 331 kilograms of plutonium coming to the Savannah River Site from Japan. Tons of plutonium have accumulated over the years at the former nuclear weapons complex, where a facility to process such materials into commercial nuclear reactor fuel remains incomplete. South Carolina is already suing the federal government over what Haley has called its broken promise to the state to finish the mixed-oxide fuel facility, The lawsuit seeks daily fines of $1 million and removal of the plutonium. The Energy Department has not responded to the lawsuit in court. ----- 
SRS Watch
in:
"Japan sends weapons-grade plutonium to the United States" Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, March 23, 2016 article linked here image: "Stop Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant" -poster (by Shunji Arakawa) pdf file ------ "More Nuclear Dumping In SC - BATTLE SET TO RAGE OVER PLUTONIUM SHIPMENTS …" FITSNEWS, March 22, 2016 blog post linked here ------ "Plutonium from Japan reportedly headed to SRS" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, March 22,2016 article linked here ----- Loading of ISO containers with plutonium (and HEU?) containers inside has taken place in Japan - destination: SRS, March 22, 2016 Kyodo News article, with photo: http://this.kiji.is/84813463827695101?c=39546741839462401 プルトニウム輸送船に積載 米に向け出航へ 茨城県東海村の東海港で22日、日本が米国への返還に合意した研究用プルトニウムを運搬するとみられる英国の輸送船に、クレーンでコンテナが積み込まれた。近く米国に向け出航する見通し。 核物質の管理強化を進めるオバマ米政権の方針に基づく返還で、米南部サウスカロライナ州にある米エネルギー省のサバンナリバー核施設に運び込み、最終処分する予定。日米両政府は、核防護を理由に輸送ルートや到着時期を明らかにしていない。 輸送船「パシフィック・イグレット」は21日午前8時ごろ、東海港に到着。海上保安庁の巡視船が警備するなか、22日午前、複数のコンテナをクレーンで積み込んだ。 見る photo: コンテナが積み込まれる、輸送船「パシフィック・イグレット」＝22日午前8時30分、茨城県東海村 Loaded on plutonium transport ship To sail towards the US Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture in the East Sea Port 22 days, Japan is in the British transport ship, which is expected to carry the research for the plutonium that was agreed to return to the United States, the container has been loaded with a crane. Near sailed to outlook towards the United States. In return based on the Obama administration's policy to promote the strengthening management of nuclear material, Hakobikomi the Savannah River nuclear facility of the US Department of Energy in the US southern South Carolina, plans to final disposal. The Governments of Japan and the United States, did not reveal the transport routes and arrival time because of the nuclear protection. Transport ship "Pacific Iguretto" is at around 21 days 8 am, arrived at the East Sea Port. Amid Japan Coast Guard patrol boat to security, 22 days morning, embarked multiple containers with a crane. photo (of ISO container being loaded): Container is loaded, transport ship "Pacific Iguretto" = 22, 8:30 am, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture ----- 
Greenpeace & NGO news release, March 22, 2016 Plutonium Shipment to Depart Japan for United States – Exposes Failure Of Global Reprocessing Programs March 22nd 2016, Tokyo…The shipment of weapons-grade plutonium departing as soon as later today from the port of Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture, exposes the failure of global plutonium reprocessing programs and the threat from current Japanese nuclear policy, five non-governmental organizations charged today.(1) The cargo of 331kg of plutonium was loaded on to the Pacific Egret, an armed British nuclear transport ship, after it arrived at Tokai at 08.00 March 21st. Armed Japanese coastguard vessels, including the Shikishima, are outside the port and are expected to escort the plutonium shipment while inside Japanese coastal waters. The shipment is being undertaken in a failed U.S. policy attempt to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons materials worldwide. The plutonium cargo to Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States, is sufficient to make over 110 nuclear weapons. However, the plutonium stockpile remaining in Japan is sufficient for over 1800 nuclear weapons, and the nation's total plutonium stocks of over 47,000 kg – including material stored in France and the UK - is sufficient for over 9400 nuclear weapons. full release linked here ----- SRS Watch in Associated Press article: "2 British ships arrive in Japan to carry plutonium to U.S." [Savannah River Site] March 21 AP article from Tokyo liked here photo: "The Pacific Egret, one of the two British-flagged ships arrived in Japan, is anchored at a port in the village of Tokai, northeast of Tokyo, Monday morning, March 21, 2016, to transport a cache of plutonium worth dozens of atomic bombs to the U.S. for storage under a bilateral agreement. Japan’s Kyodo News agency said the two armed ships, operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd., showed up early Monday on the coast of Tokai, home to the country’s main nuclear research facility, Japan Atomic and Energy Agency. (Shigeyuki Inakuma/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY" ----- March 18, 2016 - Nuclear Security Summit Effect News, with Focus on Proliferation Risks of Japan's Plutonium Stockpiling/Reprocessing Program Greenpeace news release: "Secret Plutonium Shipment Exposes Failure of Non Proliferation and Security Policy in Advance of Nuclear Security Summit and the Threat from Japanese Plutonium Stockpiling" reprinted in PanOrient News: linked here Tokyo - (PanOrient News) A coalition of five non-governmental organizations warned today that a shipment of weapons-grade plutonium scheduled to depart the port of the Japanese Tokai nuclear station in Ibaraki prefecture this coming weekend highlights the failure, but also the proliferation risks, of the current Japanese nuclear policy. A cargo of 331 kg of plutonium will be loaded on to the Pacific Egret, an armed British nuclear transport ship, prior to departure under armed escort to the United States. It will be the largest shipment of separated plutonium since 1.8 tons of plutonium was delivered to Japan by controversial Akatsuki-maru in 1992. The two month voyage to the Joint Base Charleston-Weapons Station will then see the plutonium dumped at the Department of Energy Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for the shipment, has identified that storage in Japan poses a security risk justifying its removal. & Japan Times article, March 18, 2016: linked here: "Japan to return 331 kg of plutonium as U.S. official warns of proliferation risk" OSAKA – A large shipment of plutonium is expected to depart Japan soon amid a warning from a senior American official saying nuclear reprocessing in East Asia could lead to increased amounts of nuclear material that could be used for nuclear weapons. By late Sunday, two armed British transport ships currently docked in Kobe, the Pacific Egret and the Pacific Heron, are to be dispatched to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s port in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, according to Greenpeace, which is monitoring the ships. The vessels will pick up 331 kg (729 pounds) of plutonium that was sent to Japan by the United States for civil research years ago but can also be used for nuclear weapons. The material will be returned to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina in a trip expected to take about two months. ----- 
The International Panel on Fissile
Materials (IPFM) released a new research report on March 15,
2016:
Banning the Production of Highly Enriched Uranium "The long sought after Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty or FM(C)T would ban the production of HEU and plutonium for weapons. But HEU also has several non-weapon uses, all of which involve nuclear reactors. Despite the Nuclear Security Summits and other efforts to minimize HEU use, as of late 2015, there were over 150 nuclear-powered submarines and ships - more than half belonging to the United States, that use HEU as fuel in their propulsion reactors. There also were about 100 research reactors, half of them in Russia, and two tritium production reactors and a breeder reactor, also in Russia, fueled with HEU. Finally, HEU neutron "targets" were being used for medical radioisotope production in several countries. Altogether, the equivalent of about 7 tons of weapon-grade HEU are used for these purposes annually, sufficient for about 100 first-generation gun-type nuclear weapons." full report linked here: http://fissilematerials.org/library/2016/03/banning_the_production_of_high.html ----- 
Cumbrians Opposed to a
Radioactive Environment (CORE), a UK-based ally of SRS Watch, has released
an update on movement of ships carrying nuclear materials, including from
Japan to the Savannah River Site. Briefing of 14
March:
"Barrow’s plutonium ships and their toxic trade at home and overseas" Without a Disposal Plan, Plutonium at SRS is Forever: 331 kilograms of plutonium in Japan headed to SRS next week on UK-flagged ships, with no plan by DOE to be removed from the site and still no explanation as to why 236 kg of plutonium of UK origin are being dumped at SRS. Briefing, 14 March 2016 linked here The Oceanic Pintail, the only ship owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) docked in Barrow’s Ramsden Dock nuclear terminal early this morning and unloaded a cargo of ‘exotic’ nuclear materials. Comprised of unirradiated plutonium and/or highly enriched uranium, the toxic cargo was loaded on board at the Caithness Port of Scrabster. From Barrow the consignment was transported by rail to Sellafield, with the rail route and local railway stations under heavy police surveillance to prevent hostile actions against the ‘weapons useable’ materials which are prime targets for terrorists. The use of the 29 year old Oceanic Pintail – now almost 5 years past her sell-by date (company practice has been to retire ships at or before 25 years of service) - and the sea route from Scotland via the often treacherous waters of the Minches from Cape Wrath southwards, has been much criticised as unnecessarily exposing such dangerous cargos to major risks. Having undertaken a familiarisation voyage to the Port of Scrabster in October 2014, the ship left Barrow for Dounreay on 7th March 2016, concealing her route/destination by de-activating her Automatic Identification System (AIS) so that her progress could not be monitored on shipping websites. Generally used in the past only when a ship is actually carrying a nuclear cargo, the turning off of the AIS system even when the ship is unladen is becoming a common - but clearly not fool-proof - practice by Barrow’s nuclear fleet. Today’s shipment on the Oceanic Pintail was the first of a number yet to be quantified by the NDA who, despite local and national objections, use Sellafield as a national dumping ground for other facilities’ nuclear detritus. On the other side of the world, two more Barrow-based ships are scheduled to load 331kgs of plutonium from a Japanese research establishment at Tokai Mura in the next few days. Departing from Barrow on 19th January, the armed ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret left the docks with extra security crews and AIS turned off. The ship’s destination – to Japan and onward to the US Port of Charleston - was already known to some observers despite the best efforts of official secrecy and subterfuge. Caught transiting the Panama Canal on 6th February (where all Canal Webcams were turned off during the ships’ passage) the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret docked in the Japanese Port of Kobe on 4th March. On leaving Kobe, the two Barrow-based ships – owned by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL) and managed by the NDA’s wholly owned subsidiary International Nuclear Services (INS) – are scheduled to load the plutonium cargo at the Port of Tokai Mura or nearby port around 20th March and, once loaded, head for Charleston via the Cape of Good Hope. The use of the shorter route via the Panama Canal for the loaded ships hs been ruled out by the US Department of Energy (DOE). As an indication of the unsavoury and dangerous nature of the cargo, the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret are likely to be closely escorted out of local waters by heavily armed Japanese Coastguard and/or Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force vessels, many of which are already present in the area. ----- 
"Nuclear transport vessel, Pacific Egret, in Kobe, Japan port,
March 5th 2016" - by Greenpeace
"The Egret and Pacific Heron are lightly armed UK flagged vessels arrived in Kobe from Barrow-in-Furness, England on March 4th. They are in Japan to pick up a cargo of 331 kg of weapons grade plutonium from Tokai in Ibaraki prefecture. The ships, which is expected during March, will transport the plutonium to the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Japan has a stock of over 10,000kg of weapons usable plutonium stored at facilities across the nation. The shipment is due to be "hailed by Japanese Prime Minister Abe and US President Obama as a major success at the last ever Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington DC 31st March despite the fact that it will do little to reduce the security and proliferation threat from Japan`s plutonium program." "Photo credit: Juro Yamamoto/Greenpeace" ----- 
"Ships prepare to return 331-kg plutonium stash from Japan to
U.S."
- ships now in Kobe, Japan awaiting plutonium pick up, for semi-secret transit to Charleston, South Carolina & SRS - a one-way plutonium trip with no exit out of SRS Japan Times, March 6, 2016, full article linked here Note: As 236 kilograms of this plutonium is of UK origin and 2 kg are of French origin, the bulk of the 331 kg are not being "returned" to the US but rather are being dumped in the US. The US should not be engaged in commerce in plutonium for purposes of nuclear dumping disguised as nuclear non-proliferation. Also, at SRS the plutonium will be stranded as there is no viable disposition plan for the plutonium brought from Japan. WASHINGTON – A U.S. civic group said Friday two ships have arrived in Kobe to transport the massive plutonium stash Japan agreed in 2014 to return to the United States. The British-flagged ships will pick up the cargo in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, and take it during a 52-day voyage to the Savannah River Site, a U.S. government nuclear facility in South Carolina, according to Savannah River Site Watch. The Pacific Heron and the Pacific Egret, anchored in Kobe, will transport 331 kg of the highly toxic material, including weapons-grade versions, from the Fast Critical Assembly run by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Tokai. photos above of Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron in Kobe, Japan on March 5, 2016 - from Kyodo News full article linked here ----- 
The
Nuclear Security Summit soon to be held in Washington must not dodge
the real proliferation risk in Japan, The summit must demand that Japan
stop its program to stockpile yet more weapon-usable plutonium removed
from commercial spent nuclear fuel (via reprocessing in the Rokkasho
reprocessing plant). Japan already possess 10.8 metric tons of
plutonium and there is no justification to stockpile more. Efforts
to start-up Rokkasho and the plan to use MOX fuel must be
terminated.
"Nuclear Proliferation in Plain Sight: Japan’s Plutonium Fuel Cycle–A Technical and Economic Failure But a Strategic Success" The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus March 1, 2016, Volume 14 | Issue 5 | Number 2 by Shaun Burnie, Frank Barnaby, with Tom Clements, Aileen Mioko Smith and Kendra Ulrich linked here pdf linked here "Five years after the March 11th 2001 earthquake and tsunami destroyed four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi site, Japan's nuclear industry remains in crisis. Three reactors are operating as of February 1st 2016, a reduction of 94% of reactors since 2011. Prospects for a restart of even half of the 54 reactors formerly operating are almost zero. For decades the center of the nations nuclear and energy policy was based on the utilization of plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors, together with the use of plutonium MOX fuel in commercial power reactors. The program has absorbed trillions of yen yet has utterly failed to deliver the energy security used to justify it. The contradictions and technical and financial obstacles, all of which have been evident since the 1970's, have reached a new critical juncture. Key elements of Japan's plutonium program are on the edge of complete failure – from the MONJU fast reactor to the Rokkasho Mura reprocessing plant. Major developments in the last months would suggest that fundamental change is on the horizon. However appearances are deceptive. The nuclear establishment is putting in place mechanisms to try and save a program that was always much more than 'just' energy security, but also national security. It is Japan's de facto nuclear weapons status that will increasingly come to the fore, as the justification for the peaceful use of plutonium is exposed further as a delusion. As nuclear proliferation and conflict points escalate in East Asia, Japan's stockpiling of thousands of kilograms of weapons usable plutonium with no credible peaceful use is driving further proliferation in the region. Two years before the extension of the U.S. Japan nuclear cooperation agreement, the legal basis for the nations plutonium program, the time for a rethink, long past, is more urgent than ever." photo: aerial view of Rokkasho reprocessing plant, by Greenpeace. After a decade of efforts to start operation the plant have failed, Japan must commit to supporting international nuclear non-proliferation goals and announce that the plant will never operate. ----- 
"MOX: The Ultimate Money Pit - A project years behind schedule, 1000% over budget" --- blog by Project on Government Oversight (POGO), March 4, 2016 linked here ----- 
Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive
Environment (CORE)
on the antics of the Oceanic Pintail, aka the "Bobtail," as the ship
returned to the UK from a not-so-secret drop-off of plutonium in
Charleston, South Carolina - 1 March 2016
"From plutonium pariah to circus pony" blog linked here image above: course of the Bobtail as she approached her home port of Barrow-in-Furness, England on 29 February 2016 Just north of Barrow is located the Sellafield nuclear site,where over 125 metric tons of plutonium are stored. You and others may want to know why isn't European plutonium going to Sellafield or to France and not to SRS? The only response that the US DOE's NNSA can muster in response is a gobsmacked silence. ---- SRS Watch in.... UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) "Admits flying nuclear materials between UK and US" "Campaigners highlight safety risks after defence minister admits there have been 23 such flights in the last five years" The Guardian, 1 March 2016 article linked here ---- SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting - presentation on alternatives to the failed plutonium fuel (MOX) program Tuesday, March 29, 2016, 10:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Informational Presentation Tina Watson, CAB Facilitator • Plutonium Disposition: Alternatives to MOX Presented by Drs. Frank von Hippel & Edwin Lyman 11:00 a.m. Question & Answer Session on Informational Presentation 11:30 a.m. Lunch SRS Citizens Advisory Board – Full Board Meeting Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Hilton Garden Inn 1065 Stevens Creek Road Augusta, GA 30907 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. full agenda for March 28-29 SRS CAB meeting linked here ----- February 29: 20 kilograms of plutonium from Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institut and 500 grams from Germany's Karlsruhe facility were brought to the Savannah River Site on February 15. Why the total and stunned silence by DOE/NNSA about this? OK, we know that the US had asked both countries to be quiet abouot the shipment so that an "announcement" could be made at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington at the end of March. But the news is already out so the 6-week delay in the announcement will make the DOE/NNSA/White House look feckless and bumbling in its handling of this information. As the plutonium will be stranded at SRS, SRS Watch has been glad to provide the public with this information as DOE has totally broken down in its responsibility to the public, especially in South Carolina. Geheime Plutonium-Transporte: Vier Atombomben unterwegs "Secret plutonium transports: Four bombs transported" "The plutonium quantity for four nuclear bombs has recently been transported to the United States under the strictest security measures from Switzerland and Germany about the Lower Saxony harbor in Nordenham. The secret nuclear shipments took place in late January 2016th umweltFAIRaendern had also been reported. According to new information from the Swiss authorities a total of approximately 20 kg of the present powdered plutonium have been sent in two special vehicles across northern Germany to the US from the local Paul Scherrer Institute. From the German Institute for Transuranium Elements in Karlsruhe more than 500 grams of this nuclear material have been delivered to the Department of Energy in a further transport according to the BMUB." BMUB = Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit = German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety ----- 
See the Video of the US Senator with Plutonium MOX Egg all Over his Face; in Full Retreat, Senator Graham Mounts Not Even a Whisper of Defense for His Failed MOX Program Should $enator Graham be Forced to Walk the Plank for His Unbridled Boosterism of MOX and Protection of CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices for its Role in the Failed MOX Project? Was Graham paid, or not, to let pork-barrel politics trump sound non-proliferation policy and fiscal conservatism? Senator Graham's protection of the MOX boondoggle from accountability is unraveling! Graham predictably dodges his own responsibility in almost complete lack of oversight of the debacle. Following what he said at the hearing, it's clear that he and many should be fired over this travesty. We'll raise Graham's ante a notch or two: what about fines and jail for the waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement that SRS Watch has been warning about?! See the amazing Senate Armed Services video from February 24 subcommittee hearing in which Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham does the South Carolina 2-step in dodging his responsibility in protecting the MOX boondoggle. Graham says those responsible should be fired. Well, those firings should start with him! His cover-up and protection of the MOX debacle from accountability is shameful and is a clear demonstration of exactly what is wrong with the government. For years, he has ignored people in his own state and others saying what's wrong with the MOX project. --- video link posted on Times & Democrat newspaper website, Feb. 24: "During a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Hearing, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) questioned General Frank Klotz on the MOX program in South Carolina." Quote-of-the-hearing from Senator Jeff Sessions, chairman of the subcommittee, who also dodges responsibility: "We may have to make a tough decision and say Senator Graham, sorry." (for terminating MOX) hearing video linked here ----- 
New film on nuclear waste includes interview with SRS Watch director and has more about nuclear waste at SRS: "'Containment' Fiercely and Poetically Lays Out the Forever Effects of Nuclear Waste" PopMatters, Feb. 22, 2016 article linked here "Containment" website: http://containmentmovie.com/ ----- Blenddown Planned for of Liquid "Highly Enriched Uranium" HEU - Bomb-Grade Uranium - in Indonesia; Why Does DOE Staunchly Refuse to Analyze this Option for Liquid HEU/HLW Waste that SRS Wants to Import from Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario? The U.S. Department of Energy on February 22, 2016 published notice of a "subsequent arrangement" on the blend down of liquid highly enriched uranium material (to LEU levels) in Indonesia. Though volumes are different and HEU content more with the Canadian liquid waste, DOE must analyze this same option for the Chalk River liquid HLW/HEU. "This subsequent arrangement concerns the alteration in form or content of 1.3 kg of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU), 1.21 kg of which is in the isotope of U-235 (93 percent enrichment) and currently located at PT Industri Nuklir (PT INUKI) in Serpong, Indonesia, through down-blending to reduce its enrichment to less than 20 percent U-235. The purpose of the down-blending of the HEU is to achieve permanent threat reduction by eliminating HEU from Indonesia. PT INUKI will down-blend the HEU contained in 514 bottles of irradiated HEU targets in liquid form and 14 containers of un-irradiated liquid HEU used in the plating process for medical isotope production, on-site at the Pusat Penelitian Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Teknologi facility in Serpong. The quantity of uranium will increase from 1.3 kg to 6.72 kg while the U-235 enrichment will decrease from 93 percent to 18 percent. The down-blend operation is scheduled to last for approximately three months." notice linked here The question has today again been formally posed to DOE: why isn't this option being considered for the Canadian liquid HLW? Looks like $60 million from Canada to help keep the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant operable is the reason for the dodgy Canadian liquid waste import proposal. ----- The Republican candidates got the Pro-MOX.1 talking points but their ignorance on the MOX boondoggle shines through: "Why are Republican candidates vowing to spend billions on a troubled South Carolina nuclear plant?" article linked here from Quartz website, February 19, 2016 ---- "UK-Flagged Ships Set to Transport Plutonium from Japan to U.S. Savannah River Site" article linked here Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 12, 2016 ----- 
The South
Carolina Sierra Club's winter 2016 newsletter
(Congaree Chronicle) has just been released - on February 18,
2016.
See this article by Tom Clements, SRS Watch director: "Future of SRS - Importing Nuclear Waste with No Exit Strategy" Congaree Chronicle linked here ----- 
Blog from
Germany on plutonium shipment to SRS - February 17,
2016
"Atomwaffenfähiges Plutonium auf geheimer Auslands-Reise – Gescheitere Plutonium-Wirtschaft und nukleare Risiken" "Nuclear weapons-grade plutonium on a secret foreign travel - unsuccessful plutonium economy and nuclear risks" blog linked here photo above, posted with blog: "Atomtransporte mit waffenfähigem Plutonium aus Deutschland und der Schweiz. Mit gepanzerten Spezialfahrzeugen der Firma DAHER-Transkem und unter hohem Sicherheitsaufwand wurden mehr als 500 Gramm Plutonium über Nordenham in die USA verschifft. Foto: Transkem" ----- 
Here's a link to the South Carolina attorney general's lawsuit of Feb. 9, 2016 against DOE for not starting the removal of plutonium from the state of South Carolina by Jan. 1, 2016. The lawsuit outlines the abysmal failure of the MOX project, which we welcome. As the lawsuit is based on a bogus law - as outlined in the October 27 SRS Watch news release - it will backfire in the effort to keep the pork-barrel MOX boondoggle going. So, we support all efforts by the State of South Carolina to inform the public about the failed MOX program and what a monumental ripoff it has been of the US tax payer by DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services.. --- Oiiinnnkkkk! There will be a fight over the proposal to terminate the bungled project but poor MOXie is about to be taken to the slaughter house. He sure did gobble down a lot of our money, didn't he? And will keep on doing so until the plug is pulled. A big question remains: who in DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services and sub-contractors will be punished for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement of the MOX boondoggle? Will the MOX project accounting books be audited for all that pork that was taken from us for this boondoggle? "Federal budget proposal calls for shutdown of Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River Site" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, February 9, 2016 article linked here & "Obama plans to scrap MOX plant; SC leaders livid" The State, Columbia, SC, February 9, 2016 article linked here ----- 
SRS Watch supplied the photo of the MOX plant
construction boondoggle for this article in the New York Times, February
9, 2016. The photo, taken at the legal altitude of 2000 feet over
SRS, can only be used with this credit:
"©High Flyer, special to Savannah River
Site Watch"
article linked here "Half-Built Nuclear Fuel Plant in South Carolina Faces Test on Its Future" WASHINGTON — Time may finally be running out on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, a multibillion-dollar, over-budget federal project that has been hard to kill. The Energy Department has already spent about $4.5 billion on the half-built plant near Aiken, S.C., designed to make commercial reactor fuel out of plutonium from nuclear bombs. New estimates place the ultimate cost of the facility at between $9.4 billion and $21 billion, and the outlay for the overall program, including related costs, could go as high as $30 billion. Officials warn that the delays in the so-called MOX program are so bad that the plant may not be ready to turn the first warhead into fuel until 2040. So in the budget that the Obama administration will present on Tuesday, the Energy Department proposes abandoning it. Energy officials want to spend only the money necessary to wind down the MOX program while the government shifts to a different method of disposing of the plutonium. full article linked here A big thanks to High Flyer and the public service provided by providing photos to SRS Watch of the MOX construction boondoggle and the AP1000 nuclear projects at VC Summer and Vogtle. Inquires about photos welcome. ----- 
Finally
the British media picks up the story of the
plutonium transport from Japan to SRS!
SRS Watch and Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE),
a UK public interest group locates near the Sellafield nuclear site (where
120+ metric tons of plutonium are stored), have been way out in front on
this story so good to see others picking it up. The big question remains -
why is UK plutonium being dumped on South Carolina and why is the US
Government complicit in this????
Daily Mail, UK, 7 February 2016 Guarded from terrorists by Royal Navy sub and 50 commandos...the UK ghost ships with enough nuclear fuel for 80 missiles
article linked here ----- SRS Watch in the news on German nuclear waste dumping at SRS - February 3, 2016 "Group Opposed to Nuclear Waste Being Brought to SRS to Hold Public Meeting" - WJBF TV, Augusta, Georgia, February 3, 2016 - article linked here "Meeting on Savannah River Site possibly housing German uranium scheduled for Thursday " - Aiken (SC) Standard, February 3, 2016 - article linked here Please attend the DOE's February 4 meeting in N. Augusta, South Carolina on the scheme to import and dump German nuclear waste at SRS, 6:30-9 p.m. Meeting details here. ----- 
SRS Watch in Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle news, January 27, 2016 print edition: Gov. Nikki Haley asks state attorney general to sue Energy Department over MOX project article linked here photo: Scene of cover-up crimes and lack of accountability: MOX plant on October 14, 2015, “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – can be used with credit Recall that we outlined in an SRS Watch update on October 27, 2016 how the law requiring plutonium removal from SRS is a trick by Senator Lindsey Graham. No plutonium will be removed under this bogus law. But we're starting to believe that Gov. Haley is finally realizing that the mismanaged MOX project is an albatross hanging heavy around the necks of Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson. Good for her to get some distance from the MOX boondoggle and its political minions in advance of the DOE's Budget request to Congress on February 9, 2016. ----- SRS Watch in Digital Journal op-ed, January 25, 2016 "Op-Ed: Secretive mission bringing part of Japan's plutonium to U.S." The plutonium "dumping," as mentioned in the op-ed, is 231 kilograms of UK-origin coming to SRS when the UK has a massive plutonium stockpile and is a nuclear weapons state. Such dumping, unfortunately, is being spurred by the desire by President Obama to make an announcement at the Nuclear Security Summit (March 31-April 1) of a hollow non-proliferation "success" of removal of the plutonium from Japan. Too bad the NSS is being tainted by the US DOE's NNSA for this and other dumping at SRS, with no nuclear non-proliferation justification. op-ed linked here --- January 25, 2016 Federal Register notice on Feb. 4 meeting in North Augusta, South Carolina on German spent fuel dumping & 45-day comment period ends March 11 PLEASE ATTEND THE MEETING AND SPEAK UP AGAINST DUMPING GERMAN COMMERCIAL SPENT FUEL AT SRS! NOTICE LINKED HERE "Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Spent Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany" The 45-day public comment period extends from the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register through March 11, 2016. DOE will consider all comments received via email by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or postmarked by that date. Comments submitted after that date and time will be considered to the extent practicable. DOE will hold a public meeting to receive comments on the Draft Spent Nuclear Fuel from Germany EA. The meeting will be held on:
DOE invites Federal agencies, state and local governments, Native American tribes, industry, other organizations, and members of the general public to submit comments on DOE's Draft Spent Nuclear Fuel from Germany EA. Please direct written comments on the Draft Spent Nuclear Fuel from Germany EA to Tracy Williams, NEPA Compliance Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box B, Aiken, South Carolina 29802. Comments on the Draft Spent Nuclear Fuel from Germany EA may also be submitted by email to GermanSpentNuclearFuelEA@leidos.com. DOE will give equal weight to written comments and oral comments received at the public meeting. Requests to be placed on the German Spent Nuclear Fuel EA mailing list should be directed to Tracy Williams at the postal or email addresses above. ----- SRS Watch in: "Meeting will discuss possible shipments to Savannah River Site" - re: nuclear waste dumping of German spent fuel Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 16, 2016 Mark February 4 on your calendars - DOE meting at the N. Augusta, SC Community Center, more details when Federal Register notice published - come speak out against the dumping of German spent fuel at SRS! article linked here ----- 
January 14, 2016:
Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) on German spent fuel import to SRS out in February 2016? (see update to left...embarrassing document released on January 16) DOE has told the German government of the February date. Given DOE's abysmal track record on this waste-dumping scheme don't take it at face value that the draft EA on import of the CASTOR casks pictured above (containing graphite spent fuel balls) will be released in February. The office of a member of the German Bundestag today, January 14, sent us this response (below) from the German government to a question submitted on January 13 about when the "draft environmental assessment" on the import of commercial spent fuel from Germany would be released by DOE. Note that DOE told the Germans that the draft EA would be released in February. If the draft EA is ever released, we will need members of the public to comment and attend the public meeting to be held near SRS. Profiteers will attend the meeting so the public needs to be there to reflect the view of those who want be making money off the deal. Keep in mind that DOE officials said most of last year that it was hoped that the draft EA would be released in the month subsequent to the month in which the comment was made. Around August, they stopped saying that. So far, the release of the document has been delayed over a year. For one thing, processing graphite spent fuel is complicated and may yield a thorium "gunk" that causes problems with managing existing high-level nuclear waste already in the tanks at SRS. We don't want this material at SRS as it will complicate waste management and divert resources from the urgent clean-up of the site! Antwort des Parlamentarischen Staatssekretärs Stefan Müller auf die Frage der Abgeordneten Sylvia Kotting-Uhl (BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN) (Drucksache 18/7210, Frage 29): Welche Kenntnisse hat die Bundesregierung bezüglich des Abschlusstermins der Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung des US-amerikanischen Departments of Energy im Zusammenhang mit einem eventuell geplanten Export des Jülicher Atommülls aus dem AVR-Reaktor in die USA? Nach aktueller Auskunft der für eine Umsetzung der Anordnung zur Räumung des AVR-Behälterlagers verantwortlichen Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagen mbH (JEN mbH, ab dem 1. Januar 2016 als Rechtsnachfolgerin der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor, AVR GmbH) ist ein positiver Abschluss der Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung betreffend eine Rückführung des uranhaltigen Kernbrennstoffs aus dem AVR-Reaktor in die USA für Februar 2016 zu erwarten. Bei ihrer Einschätzung stützt sich die JEN GmbH auf Informationen seitens des amerikanischen DOE. ----- January 12, 2016:
Plutonium shipment from Japan to SRS: "Theater of the Absurd" -- More information is coming out in Japan about 331 kilograms of plutonium now stored there - in the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) - to SRS for long-term storage, with no disposition path out of South Carolina. While this shipment might take place, what about Japan's massive weapon-usable plutonium stockpile (a topic likely to be ignored at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, March 31)? Japanese language article with links to various references in English is linked here - includes photo of the MOX plant by High Flyer (special to SRS Watch) 日本のプルトニウムお断り ─米サウスカロライナ州地方紙が怒る「不条理劇」 『サウス・カロライナ州の世界に向けたメッセージ──「ノー・モアー・プルトニウム」』と題された社説が新年早々同州地方紙に掲載されました。１月 ２日のこの社説は、米国エネルギー省が昨年12月末に「外国の国々から最大900kgのプルトニウムを最終処分までの間の貯蔵・処理のためにサウス・カロ ライナ州のサバンナ・リバー・サイト（SRS)に搬入しても重大な影響はないとの結論」を発表したのを受けて のことです。「結論」は、東海村の「高速炉臨 界装置（FCA）」に警備体制の不十分な形で置かれている331kgのプルトニウムを3月末にワシントンで開かれる核セキュリティー・サミットの前に SRSに運び込むことを可能にするためだと見られています(注1)。このプルトニウムの日本からの搬出に関する日米合意が、前回のサミットで発表された主 要成果の一つだったからです(注2)。 1. サバンナ・リバー核兵器施設（SRS)の現状 2. 問題は331kgだけではない 3. 日本の運動は「不条理劇」を止めさせられるか 4. 注・参考 full article linked here Use Google Translate to make sense in English of the January 12 article. ----- DOE to revise regulations on reporting waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, criminal acts or mismanagement to the Office of Inspector General (OIG)...hmmm, the MOX debacle must be in mind Memo dated November 5, 2015 but posted on January 11, 2016 - linked here SUBJECT: Notice of Intent to Revise DOE Order 221.1A, "Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General" PURPOSE: The order sets forth requirements and responsibilities for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Inspector General (OIG). BACKGROUND: The OIG seeks to uncover fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement relating to DOE programs, operations, facilities, contracts, and information technology systems. Authority to conduct such activities is derived from the Inspector General Act of 1978 (IG Act), as amended. JUSTIFICATION: DOE Order 221.1A, "Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General," is necessary to ensure DOE employees, program officials and managers, as well as employees of major facilities contractors, understand their obligation to report fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement to the DOE OIG. etc. ----- January 12, 2016: Plutonium shipment "Theater of the Absurd" -- More information is coming out in Japan about 331 kilograms of plutonium now stored there - in the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) - to SRS for long-term storage, with no disposition path out of South Carolina. While this shipment might take place, what about Japan's massive weapon-usable plutonium stockpile (a topic likely to be ignored at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, March 31)? Japanese language article with links to various references in English is linked here - includes photo of the MOX plant by High Flyer (special to SRS Watch) 日本のプルトニウムお断り ─米サウスカロライナ州地方紙が怒る「不条理劇」 『サウス・カロライナ州の世界に向けたメッセージ──「ノー・モアー・プルトニウム」』と題された社説が新年早々同州地方紙に掲載されました。１月 ２日のこの社説は、米国エネルギー省が昨年12月末に「外国の国々から最大900kgのプルトニウムを最終処分までの間の貯蔵・処理のためにサウス・カロ ライナ州のサバンナ・リバー・サイト（SRS)に搬入しても重大な影響はないとの結論」を発表したのを受けて のことです。「結論」は、東海村の「高速炉臨 界装置（FCA）」に警備体制の不十分な形で置かれている331kgのプルトニウムを3月末にワシントンで開かれる核セキュリティー・サミットの前に SRSに運び込むことを可能にするためだと見られています(注1)。このプルトニウムの日本からの搬出に関する日米合意が、前回のサミットで発表された主 要成果の一つだったからです(注2)。 1. サバンナ・リバー核兵器施設（SRS)の現状 2. 問題は331kgだけではない 3. 日本の運動は「不条理劇」を止めさせられるか 4. 注・参考 full article linked here Use Google Translate to make sense in English of the January 12 article. ----- DOE to revise regulations on reporting waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, criminal acts or mismanagement to the Office of Inspector General (OIG)...hmmm, the MOX debacle must be in mind Memo dated November 5, 2015 but posted on January 11, 2016 - linked here SUBJECT: Notice of Intent to Revise DOE Order 221.1A, "Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General" PURPOSE: The order sets forth requirements and responsibilities for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Inspector General (OIG). BACKGROUND: The OIG seeks to uncover fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement relating to DOE programs, operations, facilities, contracts, and information technology systems. Authority to conduct such activities is derived from the Inspector General Act of 1978 (IG Act), as amended. JUSTIFICATION: DOE Order 221.1A, "Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General," is necessary to ensure DOE employees, program officials and managers, as well as employees of major facilities contractors, understand their obligation to report fraud, waste, abuse, misuse, corruption, criminal acts, or mismanagement to the DOE OIG. etc. ----- 
Mayor Billy Keyserling, Beaufort, South
Carolina,
January 6, 2016 blog "No such think as temporary storage" at SRS If you were around in 1996, you may remember that I personally sued the US Department of Energy over the unsafe storage of nuclear waste. The issue was waste coming in from the “Atoms for Peace” program whereby the US provided our allies with nuclear fuel but required that they return the waste so it would not get in the wrong hands. A good move. The intent was to dissuade others from producing nuclear fuel and to ensure the waste was stored safely. It was to come to the Savannah River Site for “temporary” storage until a national storage facility could be created. Guess what? There is still no permanent storage site in the US and more waste is coming to SC! I am not surprised. But I am disappointed because SC remains the nation’s fool when it comes to accepting others’ waste. Please contact our Senators and Representatives and urge Governor Haley to do what she can to stop it. While we are assured that our water, most of which comes from the Savannah River, is safe today, the more movement of waste and temporary storage COULD one day pose a threat to our only source of potable water. blog linked here Sierra Club alert - send a message to Governor Haley (R-SC) - no more nuclear waste or plutonium to SRS ----- International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) "Global Fissile Material Report 2015: Nuclear Weapon and Fissile Material Stockpiles and Production" linked here ----- 
January 8, 2016
ALERT! Take Action to Stop the Trend of SRS becoming a Nuclear Dump Site South Carolina Sierra Club Alert to Governor Nikki Haley: No More Nuclear Waste or Plutonium to SRS! Take Action by clicking this link to the alert - send a message to the governor Tell Governor Haley thank you for demanding that the DOE meet its obligations to start removing plutonium from SRS and urge her to push for the termination of the MOX facility. ----- 
January 7: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
says the Fiscal Year 2017 Federal Budget is to be Released on February 9
and not February 1 as has been anticipated
This Means More Time to Sharpen the Knives to Slice Up the Fattened MOX Pig....but Will DOE Cave In Yet Again to the Histronics of Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham and Not Cut MOX? OMBPress Retweeted Shaun Donovan @ShaunOMB Now that Congress has completed FY16 approps, we’re finalizing @POTUS’s FY17 Budget. Look for it here on February 9: http://www.budget.gov ----- 
Rock On, Y'all, Against the Shameful MOX
Boondoggle and Nuclear Dumping at SRS!
SRS Watch to table at concerts of musician Jackson Browne in Columbia, SC (January 11, 2016) and Savannah, GA (January 14, 2016). January 7 article in The State newspaper, Columbia, SC: "Get to know activist, singer Jackson Browne" The famous folk-rock singer comes to Columbia Jan. 11 - Browne once performed at a protest in Barnwell - Read the best Browne quotes Article in January 6 Free Times, Columbia, SC: "How Jackson Browne Has Navigated the Personal and the Political During His Four-Decade Career" A big thanks to the Guacamole Fund for this opportunity and for financial support via ticket sales of concerts by Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash! SRS Watch rocks with the musicians who play the finest rock & roll! ----- from the office of Representative Brian Higgins, Member of Congress, January 6, 2016 "Higgins Pushes Back on Department of Energy Attempts to Move Forward with Nuclear Waste Transport Without Proper Review" -- re: Canadian liquid high-level nuclear waste that Canada & DOE plan to dump at SRS for a sweet $60 million payoff while staunchly refusing to analyze viable ways to manage the waste in Canada..... Jan 6, 2016 - Press Release linked here Up to 150 Shipments of Highly Enriched Uranium Could Travel Through Western New YorkCongressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) is questioning the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) intentions to move forward with plans to transport liquid nuclear waste between Canada and the United States without a thorough threat assessment, despite unanimous approval by the House of Representatives requiring such action. “The Department of Energy’s disinterest or disregard for the potential impact this plan could have on our community and many others is frankly astonishing,” said Higgins, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “After the DOE refused our reasonable request for a full environmental review of plans to move dangerous material across the northern border and throughout several states, Congress unanimously saw the wisdom of conducting a threat assessment of the plan. Still the DOE is choosing to sidestep that directive and instead rely on decades old data that does nothing to address the specific characteristics of the transportation route and the realities of post-9/11 security considerations.” In a new report issued recently, the DOE confirms plans to proceed with the shipment of highly enriched uranium from Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada to a DOE Savannah River Storage facility in South Carolina in 2016. The analysis confirms the intent to transport highly enriched liquid uranium over a series of up to 150 truck shipments between Canada and the U.S. Each shipment would include one shipping container with as many as four casks containing approximately 15 gallons of highly enriched uranium each. The route is not made public, but a Western New York border crossing, particularly the Peace Bridge, is highly likely. full news release linked here ----- International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog "United States to dispose of 6 MT of weapon-grade plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant" By IPFM on January 6, 2016 Tom Clements, Savannah River Site Watch The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made an initial decision to prepare 6 metric tons of surplus plutonium to be disposed of as nuclear waste. The decision is of note as it comes at a time when the fate of plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site is uncertain. full blog linked here ----- 国际易裂变材料专家组(IPFM)，2015年4月。 As the mismanaged MOX programs at SRS is in total shambles, the world can learn a lesson from this massive failure by DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services: IPFM Report "Alternatives to MOX" in Chinese International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog, December 21, 2015 The International Panel on Fissile Materials research report, Alternatives to MOX: Direct-disposal Options for Stockpiles of Separated Plutonium, by Frank von Hippel and Gordon MacKerron is now available in Chinese. The report was originally release in April 2015. The link to the pdf file is below: 弗兰克·凡·希佩尔(Frank von Hippel)和戈登·麦克寇朗(Gordon MacKerron)，将钚制成MOX燃料进行处置的替代方案，研究报告之No.13，国际易裂变材料专家组(IPFM)，2015年4月。 blog post linked here ----- January 5, 2016: Japanese media is finally catching up with the news first released by SRS Watch that plutonium in Japan is coming by sea to SRS, where there is no viable of funded plan for its disposal... "Japan to send plutonium cache to US under nuclear deal: report" AFP news Japan will send a huge cache of plutonium—enough to produce 50 nuclear bombs—to the United States as part of a deal to return the material that was used for research, reports and officials said Tuesday. The plutonium stockpile, provided by the US, Britain and France decades ago, has caused some disquiet given that Japan has said it has the ability to produce a nuclear weapon even if it chooses not to. Some 331 kilograms (730 pounds) of the highly fissionable material will be sent by ship to a nuclear facility in South Carolina by the end of March, Kyodo News reported Monday in a dispatch from Washington that cited unnamed Japanese government sources. read full article here ----- January 4, 2016: News is starting to break in Japan about shipment of 331 kilograms of plutonium in Japan to SRS, where it will have no identified disposition pathway out of South Carolina See snippet below from Kyodo News; full story coming January 5, 2016. Unclear when it will be translated into English. ワシントン共同】米国などから日本に研究用に提供されたが、核安全保障のため返却が決まったプルトニウム331キロの受け入れに向け、米エネルギー省は4日までに、南部サウスカロライナ州にある国立の核施設で受け入れが可能とする環境アセスメントの結果をまとめた。 このプルトニウムは、高濃度で軍事利用に適した「兵器級」が大半を占める。日本政府関係者によると、日本から3月末までに搬出され、船で輸送される見通 し。3月にワシントンで開催する第4回核安全保障サミットの前後に移送に着手し、サミットの成果として強調する狙いがあるとみられる article summary linked here ----- Editorial: SC message to world: No more plutonium Hilton Head (South Carolina) Island Packet, January 3, 2016 Here we go again. The federal government wants South Carolina to be the dumping ground for more of the world's plutonium, a toxic nuclear weapons component. At the same time, it is failing miserably in its promise to process and remove 12 metric tons of plutonium already at the Savannah River Site near Aiken. South Carolina should fight with every tool it has to stop a new plan by the U.S. Department Energy to import nearly a ton of plutonium from the Pacific Rim and North America to SRS. full editorial linked here ----- 
SRS Watch
in:
"Savannah River Site could get nearly 2,000 pounds of plutonium for storage" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, December 29, 2015 article linked here Will a "national security exemption" be made, due to a determination of insufficient security and terrorism risks in Japan, thus allowing transport by air of the plutonium from Japan to SRS in non-certified containers? ----- "U.S. plans to ship some plutonium to New Mexico facility" Reuters, CHARLESTON, South Carolina, December 23, 2015 article linked here ----- MORE PLUTONIUM TO BE STRANDED AT SRS WITH NO PLAN FOR ITS REMOVAL? December 23, 2015: SRS Watch inspires news article on more plutonium to SRS - see our news release of December 21 and our plutonium-import report for many more details and that the bulk of the plutonium is from the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) in Japan. The shipment from the FCA is being rushed in order to claim a hollow nuclear non-proliferation "victory" at the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2016 "More plutonium headed to SRS" [with no exit path out of South Carolina as MOX falls apart] Plutonium from Europe, Japan coming to South Carolina SC already embroiled in plutonium debate Permanent disposal at SRS a concern in SC The State newspaper, Columbia, South Carolina, December 23, 2015 print edition, front page - linked here ----- 
photo: Pacific Egret, UK-flagged nuclear transport ship operated by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL), ©Martin Forwood, Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), special to SRS Watch – may be used with credit; Will this vessel be used in pre-Nuclear Security Summit shipment of nuclear materials from the United Kingdom (or Japan) to the port of Charleston, SC and on to SRS? SRS Watch in article in Scotland Herald, 20 December: "UK Government urged to come clean about secret plan to ship weapons-grade uranium to US [Savannah River Site...]" Are the DOE and the Obama Administration gearing up to parade hollow non-proliferation "victories" at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington at the end of March 2016? WOW - removal of a small amount of bomb-grade uranium from a nuclear weapon state with a massive amount of weapon-usable plutonium stockpiled! Better that the US concentrate on materials in locations that actually may pose a risk. Scotland Herald, 20 December 2015: article linked here from the article: "....Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch, an environmental group in Columbia, South Carolina. “As the UK is a nuclear weapons state holding large stocks of weapon-usable materials, it serves no nuclear non-proliferation purpose to ship this material to the Savannah River Site,” he said. “The additional land transport and the sea transport pose environmental and security risks that can easily be avoided by leaving the material in the UK.” Clements suspected that the main motive of the US Department of Energy was financial. He thought the aim was to use it along with other research reactor material to keep fuelling an ageing reprocessing plant at Savannah River for as long as possible. He predicted that the shipment from Dounreay to Savannah River could also be touted as a victory for nuclear non-proliferation at a major nuclear security summit in Washington in March. “But such a proclamation will ring hollow,” he claimed. " --- Though SRS Watch has known for some time about the possible shipment of this HEU material now stored in the UK, DOE/NNSA/SRS have never offered an explanation as to why it could not remain in the UK, a nuclear weapons state and with a massive stockpile of weapon-usable plutonium at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria. Will a clear reason now be given...or not? Could politics around the Nuclear Security Summit be a factor? ----- 
MOX GETS BUSTED BY THE FEDS FOR FRAUD!!! ATTENTION MOX WORKERS AND DOE/NNSA AND CB&I AREVA MOX SERVICES MANAGERS & OTHER CONTRACTORS: REPORT FRAUD YOU ARE AWARE OF AT THE MOX PROJECT! Is the fraud indictment by the federal attorney the tip of the iceberg of waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the MOX boondoggle? >>>> If there was proper oversight of the MOX project by DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services how could this fraud have gone on for so long? How did they not know that $4 million in ordered goods were not delivered?! The United States Attorney’s Office – District of South Carolina - news release: "Two Men Charged With Wire Fraud" [with MOX project] December 16, 2015 news release linked here To report fraud to the Department of Justice, see DOJ website linked here and for how to contact The United States Attorney’s Office – District of South Carolina, click here. Though the DOE Inspector General's office has been unresponsive to comments sent in they must be paying attention. Report problems at the MOX project to the DOE IG hotline - linked here - and let SRS Watch know: srswatch@gmail.com, tel. 803-834-3084. We are hearing lots of MOX problem rumors so keep 'em coming. They will be useful for investigators. And, the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) "Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Mismanagement" hotline is linked here. ----- 
MOX hanging on by a thin financial thread in the current DOE budget, barely surviving Watch what happens with MOX funding in the Fiscal Year 2017 DOE budget request to Congress, coming Feb. 1, 2016 The amount of money MOX is getting for Fiscal Year 2016 - $340 million - isn't enough to save it and Congress has kept the project on a shut-down track. While Senator Graham toots his squeaky MOX-booster horn for CB&I AREVA MOX Services, the project remains an albatross hanging around his neck. When will he act like a public servant and demand accountability and call for investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services and other contractors? photo: Mr. Douglas James Dearolph, DOE Manager for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Savannah River Field Office (SRFO). Part of his job is overseeing the MOX boodoggle. As he staunchly avoids interacting with the public, it is unknown if he regards himself as a public servant or if he is documenting MOX construction and inspection problems. It is also unknown if he and his staff are monitoring any aspect of MOX construction and spending or if they have walked away from the project (which it seems like). The State (Columbia, South Carolina), December 17, 2015 "SC nuclear fuel project getting $340 million from feds" "Allocation helps troubled fuel plant Critic says the money isn’t enough MOX plant would convert deadly plutonium to nuclear fuel" article linked here ----- 
No
surprise in this news as we've been hearing rumors about fraud,
wide-spread construction problems and faked inspections at the MOX plant
all along. Is this prosecution the the tip of the waste, fraud, abuse and
mismanagement iceberg at the MOX project...?
"MOX subcontractor workers indicted for allegedly stealing $4M from federal government" Aiken Standard, December 16, 2015 "Two men were indicted Tuesday for allegedly gaining access to more than $4 million through fraudulent behavior relating to the Savannah River Site’s MOX project." article linked here ----- SRS Watch in.. "Bomb-grade plutonium stockpile rankles SC leaders" The State newspaper, Columbia, South Carolina, December 16, 2015 print edition article linked here Looks like Governor Haley of South Carolina is catching on that the MOX boondoggle has failed and won't result in removal of plutonium from South Carolina. We welcome her opening her eyes to the reality of the MOX debacle. See SRS Watch news release of October 27, 2015 linked here about why the law "requiring" plutonium removal is a sad pro-MOX farce by Senator Lindsey Graham to protect the MOX project and to keep our money flowing into the coffers of CB&I MOX Services, the contractor that has mismanaged the MOX project When will the investigations begin into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement with this MOX mess? ----- 
"Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Registration" --- drone regulations by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), December 14, 2015 - linked here Time for a swarm of SMART DRONES OVER ZOMBIE MOX? image above: FAA "no drone zone" logo As observers know, MOX construction and oversight have gone totally zombie. There appears to be no perceptible DOE/NNSA oversight of the mismanaged MOX project being feebly carried out by CB&I AREVA MOX Services. (Please do correct us if we're wrong.) Likewise, DOE/NNSA have hunkered down and withheld information from the public about design and construction problems and massive funding shortfalls with the MOX plant construction. While Artificial Intelligence could likely perform a better MOX monitoring job for the public, could it be time to launch drones to at least provide the urgently needed public service to monitor the MOX plant construction area from the outside? Drones could help with the occasional, legal 2000-foot overflights by High Flyer. Focus of such drone monitoring, if legal - to be supplied to investigators - could be on: number of workers on the site, construction on outside gabion wall (not yet complete), work on the roof, work on underground electrical lines or waste discharge lines, monitoring of activity at the Waste Solidification Building (WSB), listening for French or Chinese accents by AREVA workers, removal of improperly installed piping and ductwork, removal of concrete rubble from walls torn out due to improper placement and construction, monitoring movement of tubs of "work order" documents (properly signed off on or not?), review of SRS for observation of MOX lay-down yards, laser scanning for cash paid for improper reimbursement claims, use of face-recognition software of photos taken to determine if NNSA personnel show up at the site to inspection the project - NNSA won't say if they ever inspect - AND, need we drone on, for general monitoring of waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. If you have thoughts about Smart Drones Over Zombie MOX, please get in touch: srswatch@gmail.com ----- 
SRS Watch in....
"S.C. threatens to sue over delayed plutonium processing" Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, December 13, 2015 - article linked here "COLUMBIA — South Carolina has put the federal government on notice that it could face a lawsuit and potentially up to $100 million a year in fines if it doesn’t meet goals for reprocessing weapons-grade plutonium being stored at an unfinished plant near Aiken." - for an explanation of how the law "requiring" plutonium removal from South Carolina if MOX falters is but a charade to protect the MOX boondoggle by Senator Lindsey "MOXie" Graham, see SRS Watch news release of October 27, 2015 photo: MOX construction site at SRS, October 27, 2015, “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – can be used with credit The MOX debacle question of the year remains: When will in-depth investigations into waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the MOX project be conducted by Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the DOE Inspector General, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General and the Department of Justice? The historic magnitude of mismanagement, cost overruns and schedule delays is being matched by the magnitude of the cover-up of a plethora of MOX problems. One day the dam will break.... ---- 
As the Dounreay nuclear site on the north coast of Scotland is considering dumping nuclear waste on SRS, it's worth seeing what a local UK group has to say about similar waste being transported within UK. Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) is located by the Sellafield nuclear site on the Irish Sea "CORE condemns transport of plutonium fuel from Scotland to Sellafield via a storm-damaged and flooded rail network. Public safety compromised and security risks taken" CORE news release of 12 December 2015 linked here Sellafield, BTW, is where the UK's is madly stockpiling a massive of amount of weapon-usable plutonium - 122 metric tons! - with no plan for it's disposition - see report to IAEA of 5 October 2015 on the UK's insane plutonium-stockpiling program ----- 
The U.S.-Russia "Plutonium
Management and Disposition
Agreement" (PMDA) backfires as Russia connects BN-800 plutonium
breeder reactor to the grid. Though the
sodium-cooled proliferation-prone reactor will now be operated in the mode
so as not to produce more plutonium, it can be operated at any time to
start producing plutonium to go into Russia's plutonium
stockpile.
"Russia connects BN-800 fast reactor to grid" World Nuclear News - 11 December 2015 - article linked here "Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant in the Sverdlovsk district of Russia has been connected to the national grid. The BN-800 fast neutron reactor started providing power to the Urals region at 9.21pm local time yesterday." "The 789 MWe BN-800 Beloyarsk 4 is fuelled by a mix of uranium and plutonium oxides arranged to produce new fuel material [plutonium] as it burns. Its capacity exceeds that of the world's second most powerful fast reactor - the 560 MWe BN-600 Beloyarsk 3." Information Circular 549 - Russia's report to the IAEA on its civilian plutonium stockpile of metric tons BTW, Tom Clements of SRS Watch has been in the control room of the BN-600 fast reactor at Yekaterinburg, Russia. ----- 
The McClatchy news service has just
published a series of articles on health impacts to SRS and DOE workers, December 11, 2015 - here are two of the
articles:
"For many workers, the nuke plant [SRS] is the only game in town" "Sparring for nuclear weapons workers takes South Carolina lawyer down little-used path" ----- Given that DOE appears frozen in its mismanagement of the MOX boondoggle and wouldn't release this document, thanks to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) for doing so...the MOX boondoggle takes it on the chin, yet again...... "Independent Report Confirms that Downblending and Geologic Disposal is Best Option for Plutonium" Union of Concerned Scientists blog, Ed Lyman, senior scientist, December 7, 2015, blog linked here Today, UCS is releasing the Phase 2 report of the “Plutonium Disposition Options Independent Assessment” carried out by the Aerospace Corporation. This report, dated August 20, 2015, but only now becoming public, is the second part of a congressionally mandated independent review of the Plutonium Working Group (PWG) report that was released by the Department of Energy in 2014. The PWG was charged with reviewing the options for disposing of tens of tons of plutonium left over from the U.S. nuclear weapons program. The Phase 1 Aerospace report, which was delivered to Congress in April of this year, analyzed two of the plutonium disposition options that had been studied by the PWG: the MOX fuel option, which is the current baseline, and the “downblend and disposal” option. The MOX fuel option involves using the plutonium as fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. DOE is currently constructing a plant at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that would fabricate mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel from the ex-weapons plutonium, but the estimated cost of completing the plant has skyrocketed. Moreover, this option would make the plutonium more accessible to terrorists. The downblend and disposal option entails blending down the plutonium with an inert material and disposing of the mixture in a geologic repository such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. (WIPP is currently not accepting waste following an accident involving a waste drum in February 2014, but is projected to resume operation within the next several years.) full blog linked here 2 articles on the 2nd Aerospace report: Reuters article in Newsweek, December 8, 2015: "Critics of US Plutonium Say Program Is Too Expensive" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, December 10, 2015: "Aerospace report states MOX method more costly than downblending, others" ----- SRS Watch in MOX news article, December 8, 2015 "Savannah River Site facility to increase MOX feed production" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, December 7, 2015 - Plutonium oxide "MOX feed stock" production in the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant is totally unnecessary action as it isn't needed for the MOX boondoggle "A Savannah River Site facility that underwent two safety-related incidents this year will increase the output of a plutonium solution that benefits the MOX project once the facility exits a reduced work phase. The Department of Energy reported last week that the site’s HB Line – a facility that assists H Canyon in the processing of nuclear materials – will increase production of plutonium oxide feedstock. The material will be used to feed weapons-grade plutonium into the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which will convert the plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel." full article linked here SRS Watch news release, Dec. 4, 2015: "DOE Confirms HB-Line at SRS to Go into 24/7 Production of Plutonium Oxide for MOX Project; Ramped-Up Effort to Meet Unrealistic Production Schedule May Create Stresses, Risks -- Public Informed at SRS CAB Meeting on Dec. 1 that Unjustified Goal to Produce 3.7 Metric Tons of Plutonium Oxide for NNSA Will Drive Intense Post-Incident HB-Line Operation" SRS Watch news inked here ----- 2nd Aerospace report on plutonium disposition leaked (again)....why is DOE so slothful in release of reports rightly critical of the MOX mega-boondoggle? "Critics of U.S. plutonium cleanup program seize on new report" Reuters, Dec. 7 -- Critics of a multibillion-dollar program to convert excess U.S. weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors under a 2000 treaty with Russia have seized on a newly disclosed report to renew calls for an end to the project. article linked here The article has errors in it, particularly in calling the plutonium disposition agreement with Russia a "treaty," which it isn't. That's a a deliberate "error" that some MOX boo$ter$ still love to make, thinking that nobody knows the difference. But we do! ----- 
Containment -- film on Cold War nuclear
waste features Savannah River Site (SRS)
-- link to Containment synopsis and trailer "In 10,000 years, we’ll know how it ends - Harvard documentarians explore deep complexity of nuclear waste disposal" -- article from Harvard Gazette, December 2, 2015, linked here "The film, five years in the making, focuses on two U.S. facilities. One is the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which produced roughly 40 percent of the plutonium used in Cold War weapons. The documentary includes chilling archival shots of men tossing cardboard boxes labeled “radioactive waste” into shallow pits and covering them with dirt. A voiceover notes that in Savannah, “the whole idea of managing the nuclear wastes was really an afterthought.”" link to Containment website and trailer ----- Aiken (South Carolina) Standard newspaper reveals in November 29, 2015 editorial it doesn't understand the law requiring plutonium to be removed from South Carolina now that MOX has failed: Editorial: State needs to impose MOX fines see SRS Watch news release of October 27, 2015 for an understanding of Senator Lindsey Graham's plutonium- removal charade - linked here "Failure of MOX Project at the Savannah River Site Legally Mandates DOE to Begin Removal of 1 Metric Ton of Weapons Plutonium from South Carolina by January 1, 2016 or Face $1 Million/Day in Fines In Reality, the Plutonium-Removal Law is a Farce Used by Senator Lindsey Graham to Hold South Carolina Hostage to the Failed MOX Project & Endless Storage of 12.8 Metric Tons of Plutonium at SRS Plans for Plutonium Shipments from Los Alamos in New Mexico to SRS Must be Suspended" ----- "Nuclear Waste is a hazard" (to SRS) -- letter by League of Women Voters of South Carolina Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, November 21, 2015 letter linked here ----- SRS Watch in "Heavy fines loom over MOX project - Government might owe state $1 million per day" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, Nov. 17, 2015 article linked here "The U.S. Department of Energy could have to pay South Carolina $1 million a day in fines if it fails to remove or convert one metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide fuel at Savannah River Site by the end of the year." Yes, but as we explained in our October 27, 2015 news release the law on plutonium removal from South Carolina is a farce used by Senator Lindsey Graham to hoodwink the public about the MOX boondoggle. See that news release linked here ---- 
Civil Plutonium Stocks
Worldwide*
End of 2014 By David Albright, Serena Kelleher-Vergantini, and Daniel Schnur, Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) November 16, 2015 "Plutonium is a key ingredient in nuclear weapons, making it one of the most dangerous materials in existence. It is also a dangerous radioactive material, which requires special handling and disposition. At the end of 2014, there were about 2,400 tonnes of irradiated and unirradiated plutonium from civilian nuclear power reactors located in 33 countries. If we assume that about 8 kilograms (kg) of plutonium are enough to build one nuclear weapon, this total inventory of plutonium is enough for 300,000 nuclear weapons. Over the last ten years, this plutonium stock has grown at an average rate of almost 50 tonnes per year. Of this total amount, about 275 tonnes of plutonium, or about 12 percent, were in the more dangerous unirradiated forms in approximately 10 countries. This report addresses plutonium produced in nuclear power reactors, which are the primary source of plutonium production in the world." report linked here ----- Violations for improper welds at MOX plant may well be just the tip of the iceberg - we look forward to the NRC's inspection of far more welds and of pressure testing "MOX structural welds not up to code, report says" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, November 14, 2015 "A new inspection report released this week shows that safety-related welds at a Savannah River Site factory being built to convert weapons-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide fuel failed to meet industry code, causing some concern about the level of rework required for the $7.7 billion project. According to an Oct. 29 report from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, federal inspectors found the MOX project at SRS inadequately translated welding measurements into design documents to ensure compliance with standards outlined by the American Welding Society." full article linked here NRC welding violation report linked here Where are the investigations into waste, fraud and abuse at the MOX project? When will CB&I AREVA MOX Services be held accountable for mismanagement? Has DOE/NNSA simply walked away from the project? Take note of this hard-hitting on-line comment to the article, right to the dark heart of the DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services debacle: "What Welds? It wasn't welds not done properly, it was welds not done at all! As a hole was being drilled to mount a plate on a wall, a piece of concrete broke away and exposed the beam connection. It was sitting on the ledger strip with NO weld. Upon inspection, none of the beams had been welded. Several rooms were shut down for construction until repairs could be done. This took weeks. Trice says 70% complete, I say more like 40% at the best. Rework is closer to 50% also.Thousands of feet of pipe were installed with wire and duct tape with no supports. When supports were to be installed, the pipe was in the way so all of it had to be removed. All of this at the direction of the Construction V.P. who had appointed his friend the Mechanical Manager. (He was an electrical welder but paid $180K a year). There are 15 V.P.'s on site (trying to figure why). The site reports 24 million hours without a lost time accident. this earns the company approx $6 million a year in incentives so the management team receives a bonus for doing nothing but feeding the cash cow. One low level manager went to the DOE person on site to tell of the graft and mis-management. The DOE person went to Trice and told of the person. The next week the person was terminated. People have families so it has been let known, keep your mouth shut and keep your job. Someone needs to do something but who. The SRS DOE site representative was contacted with this information. again, nothing happened. Is it because it is an election year or does the money flow that wide." 'Nuff said... ----- SRS Citizens Advisory Board – Combined Committees Meeting - hope to see you there! Monday & Tuesday, November 16 & 17, 2015 New Ellenton Community Center New Ellenton, South Carolina - just a mile from the main entrance to SRS, south of Aiken, SC agenda linked here Will the SRS CAB be updated on the problem-plagued MOX project and its relation to management of plutonium at SRS or on the stalled scheme to import and dump commercial spent fuel from Germany? (Don't bet on it...) ----- Misguided, dangerous International
attempts to establish a "plutonium fuel cycle" continue to fail from
Europe to Japan to the Savannah River Site as non-proliferation efforts
pay off...
"Japan’s Dangerous Nuclear Waste on the Cutting Board? Towards a Renewables Future" The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue. 44, No. 2, November 9, 2015 - linked here --- Will Japan's facility to produce supergrade plutonium finally be canceled 21 years after we pointed out the dangers of it and that the US Department of Energy had illegally exported technology for its development? The struggle continues to halt proliferation of weapon-usable plutonium by governments and nuclear companies that seek to profit from plutonium stockpiling. --- "In additional nuclear-related facility targeted by Kono’s review is the “Recycle Equipment Test Facility (RETF).” This is yet another costly and risky element of Japan’s very controversial accumulation of infrastructures and programs to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The RETF’s construction began in January 1995, and has received tens of billions of yen worth of investment even though it has not been used. Precisely 20 years ago, Shaun Burnie, Senior nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace Germany, warned that the true importance of the RETF, and the great risk that it poses: “is that it and the facilities that will follow will give Japan access to plutonium that is even purer than weapons-grade. The reason for this is that the plutonium produced in the uranium blanket of FBRs (ed. “fast breeder reactors”) and reprocessed by the operators is what is called supergrade. With a large-scale deployment of FBRs in Japan, and the reprocessing facilities to support the reactors, large quantities of weapons grade material will be available for non-peaceful use.”" & New York Times, September 9, 1994 on illegal transfer of US plutonium technology to Japan, for the "Recycle Equipment Test Facility" (RETF): "U.S., Criticized for Helping Japan Over Plutonium, Will Stop" "WASHINGTON, Sept. 8— For seven years the United States has been quietly supplying Japan with technology to refine bomb-grade plutonium from breeder reactors, despite the official American position against the export of any technology that helps the spread of nuclear weapons, according to a report issued today by Greenpeace. Before Greenpeace's news conference was over, the Department of Energy announced that it would end the exports by letting the agreement under which they took place expire at the end of this month." text of full NY Times article linked here ---- "Monju operator unfit for purpose" International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog -- "Tracking highly enriched uranium and plutonium, the key nuclear weapon materials" by Shaun Burnie with Mycle Schneider, 8 November 2015 IPFM blog linked here ---- "Japan's nuclear fuel cycle project faces crucial juncture for its continuation" Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan, November 5, 2015, linked here For the record, Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, called for a halt to Japan's plutonium stockpiling program and the end of the Monju plutonium breeder reactor back in 1993. There is a long history of calls by public interest groups for a halt to misguided programs seeking to proliferate weapon-usable plutonium in Japan, for example: The Unlawful Plutonium Alliance: Japan's Supergrade Plutonium Program and the Role of The United States, 1994, by Shaun Burnie & Tom Clements, Greenpeace International - linked here Sensitive Nuclear Technology (SNT) developed at SRS in handling weapon-grade plutonium was illegally transferred to Japan - see report for details about SRS centrifugal contactors used in reprocessing. THE SAFETY OF FAST BREEDER REACTORS: THE NEW THREAT OF MONJU, Dr. Frank Barnaby,Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International, 24 March 1994 - linked here photos above from Greenpeace International: Action in Yokohama against Japan's plutonium proliferation (MOX) program, 1992 & Monu reactor 1994; photos used with approval by Greenpeace ----- "Tritium and Enriched Uranium Management
Plan Through 2060" DOE report, October 2015, linked here SRS is a nuclear weapons site because of processing and management of tritium, a radioactive gas used in all nuclear weapons. SRS operated five nuclear reactors dedicated to production of tritium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. The reactors operated in production from 1953-1988. For more of tritium and the role of SRS, start on page 8 of this DOE/NNSA report: "Tritium and Enriched Uranium Management Plan Through 2060." Notice in the graphic the Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF), where tritium rods are processed at SRS. Small reservoirs - see phot above - holding tritium are filled at SRS and go into all US nuclear weapons. Tritium boosts the explosive power of nuclear weapons. Notice in the graphic above that WesDyne is mentioned. This Westinghouse company makes the rods that are irradiated to make tritium, in TVA's Watts Bar unit 1 reactor. WesDyne is located inside the Westinghouse plant that makes commercial nuclear fuel, in Columbia, South Carolina. Thus, that civilian facility is engaged in nuclear weapons activities contrary to nuclear proliferation guidelines. Why is the US Nuclear Regulatory commission allowing such a dual use (nuclear weapons & civilian nuclear) facility to operate? Thanks to the Union of Concerned Scientists for obtaining and releasing the document, linked here. ----- 
Twenty years after a sodium fire in
1995 that doomed Japan's Monju plutonium breeder reactor, regulators are
finally catching on that the fate of this dangerous technology was sealed
long ago...
Mainichi (Japan) Editorial, Nov. 5, 2015 "Decommission trouble-plagued Monju fast-breeder reactor" There are no prospects for starting operations at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant that Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is building in the Aomori Prefecture village of Rokkasho. However, the completion of the facility has been repeatedly postponed because of technical problems and safety inspections by the NRA. The construction costs, which had been initially estimated at 760 billion yen, have increased three-fold. Even if the reprocessing plant is to be put into operation, plutonium to be extracted from spent nuclear fuel would have nowhere to go as long as the development of fast-breeder reactors remains deadlocked. Moreover, progress cannot be made on a project to use plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel for conventional nuclear plants. Since the nuclear fuel cycle project has obviously been deadlocked, the government should immediately begin to seriously consider permanently shutting down the project. full editorial linked here ---- 
SRS Update of November 4, 2015 - on Delay in Operation of Facility to Process High-Level Waste from SRS Storage Tanks & Failure to Meet Agreement with State of South Carolina "South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) agreed to refrain from initiation of enforcement actions or imposition of civil penalties relating to the Salt Waste Processing Facility startup milestones through December 18, 2015, while discussions with DOE’s Savannah River Operations Office manager continue. The Department greatly appreciates SCDHEC willingness to allow the discussions an opportunity to resolve the issue." Copy of the SCDHEC letter of October 29, 2015 linked here photo: Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at SRS, the cost of which has soared from an updated project budget of $900 million to $2.3 billion (DOE "Project Dashboard, - October 2015") Come December 18, 2015, in order to demonstrate to the people of South Carolina that DOE can't dodge legally established "clean-up" milestones because of DOE project mismanagement and cost overruns, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) should begin levying the legally established fines against DOE. SWPF status update, to South Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory council, April 9, 2015 - linked here ---- Memo to the ATTENTION of Bill Richardson and CB&I AREVA MOX Services and Congress, November 4, 2015 Especially to former DOE secretary Richardson, who had a bad and embarrassing memory lapse concerning plutonium disposition, in an error-filled pro-MOX letter dated August 21, 2015)... In Information Circular 549, to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 30 October 2015, "Communication Received from the United States of America Concerning its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium" The U.S. informs the IAEA (in the "Note" on pages 3 and 4) about disposition of surplus plutonium and states that through December 2014 that "4.5 metric tons that has been disposed to waste after termination of safeguards"..."after September 1994" So, Bill, note that 4.5 metric tons of U.S. surplus plutonium has been disposed of as nuclear waste. >>> And further note that 0.0 MT have been disposed of as plutonium fuel (MOX). And, 0.0 MT have a chance to be disposed of as MOX given that the MOX project mismanaged by DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services is on the rocks and sinking fast. ---- 
INVESTIGATE CB&I AREVA MOX SERVICES AND ITS ROLE IN THE MOX CONSTRUCTION BOONDOGGLE! - November 2, 2015 Due to poor performance at the new nuclear reactor projects in South Carolina and Georgia, Chicago Bridge & iron (CB&I) has bailed on new reactor construction but we're stuck with them at the MOX boondoggle. Even as chaos seems to be mounting at the grossly mismanaged MOX plant construction site at SRS, the construction company CB&I stays on. CB&I - as a majority owner of CB&I AREVA MOX Services - has helped make a mess of the MOX project, with massive cost overruns and schedule delays. The project has failed and its only a matter of time until its terminated. So, why not get CB&I off the MOX site now? They are addicted to: 1) Congress continuing to pour money into the project, 2) not being held accountability and 3) almost no oversight by DOE/NNSA. Given a growing number of reports of chronic construction problems at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) and lack of proper inspection of work, it's time for a full investigation into CB&I AREVA MOX Services and the entire MOX boondoggle. CB&I news release of October 27 linked here ----- "Tighter regulations must be in place
before shipments of nuclear waste begin" [from Canada to SRS, for
dumping]
-- Editorial concerns misguided plans to ship liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada to SRS, for processing and dumping into SRS tanks. The highly enriched uranium (HEU) in the waste can be "denatured" in Canada and not put on our highways, which is the best nonproliferation option (but DOE has refused to analyze it due to $60 million Canada would pay for the dumping at SRS). photos: NRU reactor at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario Buffalo (New York) News editorial, Oct. 27, 2015 "Here’s what should be an easy one for Congress and the president: Slow down the push to ship truckloads of radioactive nuclear waste over the Peace Bridge until authorities know exactly what they’re dealing with and are able to put into place measures necessary to thwart potential terrorists." full editorial linked here ____ "Savannah River Site’s
effect" letter to Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, October 27, 2015 by musicians Connie Darden-Young & Jesse Colin Young - who support SRS Watch "So no Aiken Standard – the spotlight should only be on clean up of the Savannah River Site and creation of a permanent geologically stable repository away from our fragile ecosystem and growing population here in the Southeast. " letter linked here ----- Good to see that the discussion about alternatives to the failed MOX program at the Savannah River Site continues to gain traction. Construction and design problems and possible fraud aside, MOX boosters have utterly failed to even make a stab at how the MOX boondoggle can be made to be financially sustainable or where money would come from to continue the project. "Direct disposal is better solution for South Carolina's plutonium problem" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, October 24, 2015 opinion piece by Edwin Lyman, Ph.D.,and Frank von Hippel, D.Phil. "Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Energy officials testified before Congress on the myriad problems plaguing the mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility now under construction at the DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina." full op-ed linked here Why continue to waste our tax money money on a project that will never be finished and on a factory that will never be able to operate? ----- 
Dodgy effort to dump Canadian liquid high-level nuclear waste at SRS - to make $60 million to help keep the decrepit H-Canyon reprocessing plant operating - has hit an obstacle. This liquid waste, containing some US-origin highly enriched uranium, should be denatured with depleted uranyl nitrate and left in Canada. But why has DOE refused to analyze that option? Could it be because SRS aims aims to profit from Canadian nuclear waste dumping? (Photo: Chalk River Laboratories, Ontario, site of the NRU reactor, from which the liquid waste arises - from medical isotope production) "U.S. House passes nuclear waste transport bill" WKBW TV, Buffalo, New York, October 23, 2015 WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKBW) - A plan to transport thousands of gallons of radioactive nuclear waste into the United States via the Peace Bridge could be delayed. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide a complete threat assessment the transportation of chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological materials through U.S. land borders and within the United States. The bill was sponsored by local Congressman Brian Higgins (D-26) and triggered by The U.S. Department of Energy's plan to transport highly-enriched liquid uranium from Chalk River Ontario to the DOE's Savannah Energy River site in South Carolina. full article linked here SRS presentation of August 4, 2015 mentions the Canadian deal and preparation of uneeded MOX fuel plutonium oxide "feedstock" in the H-Canyon/HB-Line (still closed due to a criticality related incident on September 3) ----- 
Another on-going failure of reprocessing, to remove
weapon-usable plutonium from commercial spent fuel, in the United
Kingdom:
"THORP flunks major foreign fuel reprocessing target" Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) news "The latest in the catalogue of chronic failures to be notched up by Sellafield’s Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) was confirmed by Sellafield this week when it admitted to local stakeholders that the projected completion date for overseas fuel reprocessing of November 2016 could no longer be met. Instead, the outstanding overseas contracts would be completed by November 2018 – the date set for the final closure of THORP itself." full news release of 22 October 2015 The THORP reprocessing , like the Sellafield MOX Plant, has been an abysmal failure but the operator ignores the facts and struggles to put a happy face on the doomed operation: http://www.sellafieldsites.com/solution/spent-fuel-management/thorp-reprocessing/ photo above: the THORP plant at Sellafield is colored pink The closure of THORP will be yet another welcome non-proliferation nail in the coffin of reprocessing, which is on the slide not only in the UK but also in France and Europe and worldwide. The pointless but dangerous accumulation of weapon-usable plutonium in the UK, Russia and Japan must end and these last reprocessing holdouts must terminate their plutonium-stockpiling programs. ---- Barnwell, South Carolina "low-level" nuclear waste dump aerial
photos released - October 20, 2015 -- photos by High Flyer, special to SRS Watch, may be used with credit On October 21, 2015, the Atlantic Compact, a grouping of South Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut, will hold its annual meeting to discuss the dumping of low-level nuclear waste into the Barnwell dump in South Carolina. Agenda for Atlantic Compact meeting: http://www.atlanticcompact.org/userfiles/files/agenda-oct2015.pdf The dump has a plume of radioactive tritium under it, which has reached a nearby stream, and is leaking other radioactive isotopes. Though a SC court has ruled, in response to a Sierra Club lawsuit, that the Barnwell manager, EnergySolutions, must take steps to prevent rain water infiltration into active trenches, it appears nothing has been done despite license requirements to do so. The aerial photos taken on October 14 by High Flyer - special to SRS Watch - reveal that an open trench now receiving nuclear waste has not been covered in any way. The Barnwell site is about a mile east of the eastern boundary of SRS and is located near Snelling, South Carolina, a short distance to the west of Barnwell, SC. See more by the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC) on the dump & stay turned for the annual report in December 2015: http://www.scdhec.gov/radwaste/ ---- SRS Watch mentioned in "Savannah River Site influenced start up of advocacy, watchdog groups" Aiken Standard, October 19, 2015 - article linked here Note: SRS Watch is in the only group mentioned in the article that works for the public interest and not for making a profit off SRS or serving the interest of companies that profit off SRS or DOE. ----- 
---SRS Watch's recent tour of Los Alamos and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) mentioned in this article, linked here "Even When It's Out Of Commission, Everybody Wants A Piece Of WIPP" Los Alamos Daily Post, October 12, 2015 Photo: "Beatrice Brailsford, left, of the Snake River Alliance and Tom Clements, right, of Savannah River Site Watch teamed up last week for nuclear waste site visits with their New Mexico counterpart, Don Hancock, director of the Nuclear Waste Safety program at the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque. Photo by Roger Snodgrass/ladailypost.com" ----- UFO ALERT! Alien
Prediction for DOE, NNSA, CB&I and AREVA and Bought-Off
Politicians: End of Mismanaged MOX Program in Near! Resistance
to Anti-MOX and Anti-Matter is
Futile! SRS Watch was in New Mexico last week and toured the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) on September 29 and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) on October 1. (We were the first public interest group allowed underground since the February 2014 accidents at WIPP.) As arranged in advance - near Roswell, New Mexico - we encountered a flying saucer full of friendly aliens. We were able to confirm that their warp drives are powered by neither TRU waste nor MOX fuel but instead are fueled by a non-radioactive material not found on planet Earth. Before zipping off towards Mars, the aliens informed us that resistance to the death of the failed MOX Madness program of DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services is futile! They confirmed, as many of us have long-suspected, that Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson had been abducted by dark pro-MOX forces and that recovery of their reasoning ability and any sense of fiscal conservatism and responsibility to the US tax payer will be as painfully slow as understanding of dark matter. Though the MOX FARCE is with them the extraction has begun and will proceed to finality. Wilson and Graham may demand $300 million/year to $400 million in payola - the amount being wasted on MOX - but the aliens inform us that Congress should only appropriate the amount needed to dispose of plutonium at SRS as waste. Being far more reliable than the pro-MOX crowd and politician$ subjected to dollar-tipped MOX probes, when the aliens talk NIX-MOX we listen and you should, too! ---- German Friends of the Earth branch (BUND NRW) releases translated legal document: Export of German Commercial Graphite Spent Fuel to SRS is Illegal! "The Legality of the Export of Radioactive Waste of AVR Jülich to the USA -- Legal Opinion on behalf of the Bund für Umwelt und NaturschutzGermany, State Association North Rhine-Westphalia e.V. (BUND NRW)" German version is from 21 September 2014, translation from September 2015 "The export of the fuel element spheres of AVR Jülich to the centre for nuclear weapons SRS in the USA violates the provisions of the German law. A transport permit pursuant § 4(1) of the Atomic Energy Act is not sufficient for the export of the radioactive waste of AVR Jülich abroad. Any authorization according to the Nuclear Waste Shipment Ordinance would be illegal because the shipment violates provisions of the Atomic Energy Act." report linked here The export plan is already facing one legal challenge by Greenpeace Germany before the EU. If it comes close to issuance of export licenses for the AVR and/or THTR spent fuel stay tuned for more legal action. We'd love to see US DOE officials on the stand explaining details of it badly bungled proposal dump dump the German commercial spent fuel at SRS. ---- MOX boondoggle op-ed: "Not Only Foolish, It's Fiscally Irresponsible" Project on Government Oversight (POGO) op-ed on the MOX boondoggle, October 7, 2015 linked here: http://www.pogo.org/blog/2015/10/not-only-foolish-its-fiscally-irresponsible.html We can’t afford it. No one wants to buy it. And it’s putting our nuclear material at risk. The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) is a Department of Energy budget-busting boondoggle. MOX, designed to convert weapons grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors, was originally expected to cost a modest $1.6 billion. Twelve years later, DOE has sunk $4.5 billion into construction, yet the building is only 70 percent complete. The final price tag, which includes finishing construction and operating the plant over the next 20 years, is now estimated to be anywhere between $25.1 billion and $47.5 billion. Besides a ballooning cost, MOX has a whole host of problems that should be the final nails in its coffin. Primary among them, the MOX project lost its only potential customer for mixed oxide fuel in 2008 and hasn’t been able to find a single replacement seven years later. This could be because the use of the fuel in commercial nuclear reactors will require significant safety testing, as well as extensive and expensive modifications for currently operating Low Enriched Uranium reactors. etc... full op-ed at: http://www.pogo.org/blog/2015/10/not-only-foolish-its-fiscally-irresponsible.html ----- 
Fate of Surplus, Unirradiated Weapon-Grade MOX Fuel Stored at Los Alamos National Lab? photo: DOE transport trucks and escorts (in camper vans behind the trucks) carrying weapon-grade MOX fuel, on exiting the naval port in Charleston South Carolina, April 2005, convoyed was tracked towards SRS, then later to Duke's Catawba reactor site in South Carolina Remember the U.S. weapon-grade plutonium shipped via Charleston, South Carolina to France in 2004, which was fabricated into MOX fuel for testing in Duke Energy's Catawba reactor? That plutonium was shipped across France with an inadequate security escort. SRS Watch tracked the transport across France to the now-closed WG MOX fabrication facility and we were alarmed at the level of security we witnesses as we got just meters away from the truck carrying the U.S. plutonium oxide. The fabricated MOX test assembles were shipped back to the U.S. via Charleston in April 2005. The MOX irradiation test was halted due to problems with the fuel assemblies. This report below discusses disposition of the surplus, unirradiated MOX test fuel now stored at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). "FS65 Disposition Option Report" Wenz, Tracy R. , LANL, September 2015 "This report outlines the options for dispositioning the MOX fuel stored in FS65 containers at LANL. Additional discussion regarding the support equipment for loading and unloading the FS65 transport containers is included at the end of the report." Background "The fuel rods stored in FS65 containers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were received by LANL in 2005 as part of the Lead Test Assembly (LTA) program to support Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) fuel licensing in light water reactors (LWR). This effort is part of the larger program to implement the 1994 agreement between the United States (US) and Russia to disposition surplus Weapons Grade Plutonium (WGPu). The disposition plan at the time was to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies with the pure WGPu and then burn the fuel in commercial power reactors. Since the US stopped MOX fuel production in the late 1970’s, it was necessary to re‐establish the capability to make MOX fuel using WGPu." Report linked here ----- "Holding Contractors Accountable..." such as CB&I AREVA MOX Services for the MOX Boondoggle Accountability for the MOX Disaster: It's a matter of "when" and not "if." The protection of the debacle by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) can't endure if there is justice in the USA... Federation of American Scientists "Secrecy News" of September 28 addresses this issue and post a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entitled "Selected Legal Mechanisms Whereby the Government Can Hold Contractors Accountable for Failure to Perform or Other Misconduct" - linked here When government contractors fail to fulfill a contract or engage in some form of misconduct, there are various ways to hold them legally accountable, a new report from the Congressional Research Service explains. “This report provides an overview of selected legal mechanisms that the federal government could rely upon in holding contractors accountable for deficiencies in their performance under the contract, or for other misconduct. Not all of these mechanisms involve ‘penalties’ as that term is generally understood. In some cases, the controlling legal authority expressly provides that the government may take certain actions only to protect the government’s interest, and ‘not for purposes of punishment.’ However, in all cases, the government’s action represents a consequence of and response to the contractor’s delinquencies, and could be perceived as punitive by the contractor or other parties.” “The report does not address prosecution of government contractors, although it is important to note that contractors could be subject to criminal penalties for misconduct related to contract performance or otherwise.” “Also, the discussion of the government’s potential mechanisms for holding contractors accountable in this report should not be taken to mean that contractors and contractor employees are more likely to fail to perform or engage in misconduct than government employees. That is a separate debate, outside the scope of this report,” CRS said. See Legal Mechanisms Whereby the Government Can Hold Contractors Accountable, September 23, 2015. CRS report "Selected Legal Mechanisms Whereby the Government Can Hold Contractors Accountable for Failure to Perform or Other Misconduct" - linked here ----- SRS Watch Headed to New Mexico on September
27, to Tour DOE's Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) and Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (WIPP)
The media advisory below sent out in New Mexico in advance of the trip by Savannah River Site Watch to New Mexico next week, where tours of both the DOE's Los Alamos National Lab - Sept. 29 - and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) - October 1 - are on the agenda. Los Alamos is struggling to prepare plutonium oxide for the MOX program at SRS and the WIPP salt mine has received much transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS, as well as having received plutonium blended down as nuclear waste (in "pipe overpack contaners" (POCs) with the secret material called "stardust"). Containers of that plutonium are now stranded on the surface at WIPP (and in E-Area at SRS - pictured in photos above). Tom Clements, srswatch@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch Southwest Research and Information Center Albuquerque, New Mexico MEDIA ADVISORY Impacts of the WIPP Shutdown on New Mexico, Idaho, and South Carolina From Monday, September 28 through Friday, October 2, 2015, three nuclear waste experts from New Mexico, Idaho, and South Carolina will be visiting Los Alamos National Lab and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and are available for media interviews. Since WIPP was shut down in February 2014, the three largest sites that were shipping waste to WIPP – Idaho National Lab (INL), Savannah River Site (SRS), and Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) – can no longer do so. The three experts – Beatrice Brailsford from the Snake River Alliance in Idaho, Tom Clements of Savannah River Site Watch in South Carolina, and Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque earlier this year toured INL and SRS, where they saw on-going nuclear waste activities and spoke with Department of Energy (DOE) and contractor officials. Both Idaho and South Carolina also have significant amounts of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste that have been stored for decades. Whether WIPP should be re-opened for such wastes is an important issue for New Mexico and other states. ----- HOT SRS MEETING on September
21-22! Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) to Meet on September 21-22 in New Ellenton, South Carolina (near SRS main entrance south of Aiken, SC) SRS CAB agenda, including location of meeting, linked here Given the mounting management and operational woes at SRS - like the failed MOX project, closure of H-Canyon for the second time this year (due to MOX "feedstock" preparation problems), halt to many "non-essential" site operations and problems with the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) - this CAB meeting will prove to be interesting for what is said or left unspoken. SRS site manger Jack Craig has a lot of explaining to do, including if he is ending the super-cozy relationship that the last site manager (Dave Moody) had with contractors. Will Mr. Craig demand accountability or not? Key items on the agenda for September 22: 8:55 a.m. Agency Updates DOE Update – Mr. Jack Craig, DOE-SR Manager 10:30 a.m. Waste Management Committee - Salt Waste Processing Facility Project Status -Presented by Pam Marks, DOE-SR 2:30 p.m. Nuclear Materials Committee - H-Area Operations, Presented by Allen Gunter, DOE-SR SRS CAB agenda linked here SRS CAB website linked here ----- 
"HEU
Spent Fuel from Switzerland Arrives at Savannah River Site; Confirmed to
be be Last Shipment from Switzerland"
Spent Research Fuel from BER II Reactor in Germany on Same Shipment via Oceanic Pintail -- ship pictured above - photo courtesy of Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), Cumbria, England SRS Watch/International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog --- NNSA response to IPFM news linked here Posted on September 15, 2015 in HEU minimization Tom Clements, Director, Savannah Site Watch A shipment of highly enriched uranium (HEU) spent fuel from Switzerland has been confirmed to have recently arrived in the United States. It is believed that the shipment could mark a significant non-proliferation milestone as the cargo may have been the last U.S.-origin HEU remaining in Switzerland. According to the IPFM data and others, Switzerland has possessed less than 10 kilograms of HEU but that holding may have now been eliminated. Both the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Swiss Government have confirmed the shipment from the AGN-211-P reactor consisted of a single cask holding 13 spent fuel assembles. Neither government has commented on the possibility of this being the last HEU shipment from Switzerland. The Swiss government confirmed, in an email message of 11 September 2015, the arrival of the spent fuel in the U.S. on 18 August and stated that "in accordance with applicable Swiss law, the shipment had been approved on 24 June 2015 by the competent Swiss authorities." The AGN-211-P reactor, which began operation in 1959, is operated as a training and research reactor by the Department of Physics at the University of Basel. As part of an operation conducted by the NNSA's M3 Program (formerly Global Threat Reduction Initiative, GTRI), the spent fuel arrived in the port of Charleston, South Carolina on the UK-flagged nuclear transport ship Oceanic Pintail. On arrival, the spent would have been taken directly to DOE's nearby Savannah River Site, for storage in the cooling basin of the long-shuttered L-Reactor along with other research and medical isotope reactor spent fuel. The Oceanic Pintail, according to publicly available ship tracking information, departed from the German port of Nordenham on 30 July. The Pintail also carried low enriched uranium spent fuel from the BER II research reactor in Berlin, with 33 assembles being contained in one cask, according to NNSA. More such BER II LEU spent fuel is expected to be transported to SRS in the coming two years. DOE has not yet finalized long-term disposal plans for the research spent fuel though reprocessing and dry cask storage are being explored. Reprocessing could occur at SRS in the 60-year-old H-Canyon, the operation of which was halted on 11 September due to violation of criticality controls while preparing plutonium oxide. blog linked here NNSA Confirms Accuracy of IPFM blog and releases information and photos on receipt of Swiss HEU Spent fuel - September 16 news release linked here ----- 
NEWS FLASH of
September 14: Main SRS Clean-Up Contractor Savannah River Nuclear
Solutions (SRNS) Halts Non-Essential Environmental Management Operations
at SRS!
Problems Magnified by Bungled Preparation in HB-Line of Plutonium Oxide "Feedstock" for MOX Fuel Debacle, in February 2015 ---- Photo above is of the 60-year-old H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS; HB-Line is located in the highest part of the decrepit facility, perched on top of the H-Canyon ---- DOE Sites Now Partially or Fully Closed: WIPP, Pantex & now Savannah River Site... Aiken (South Carolina) Standard article, with SRS Watch: "Plutonium stored improperly at Savannah River Site facility" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle article, with SRS Watch: "Nonessential work suspended at SRS plant after plutonium storage incident" The main contractor at SRS, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) on September 11 halted - likely at DOE instruction - non-essential operations at SRS. The halt centers on problems with the H-Canyon reprocessing plant, which DOE on August 12 celebrated in a news release as reaching 60 years old. (Some at SRS have the far-fetched hope that H-Canyon will play a role in development of commercial spent fuel reprocessing, a dying industry worldwide.) See SRS shutdown email below -- sent out late on Friday afternoon, September 11. The email indicates it was an SRNS decision, so where is DOE on this matter? Why has DOE allowed problems with H-Canyon operations, including problems with an aging exhaust tunnel, to drag on through 2014 and all of 2015? This is far more than a contractor problem, it's one of DOE oversight as well. And, face it, the H-Canyon is old and falling apart. The shutdown, in part, stems from operational and procedural problems while preparing plutonium oxide "feedstock" (for fuel pellets) for the MOX project back in February 2015. But problems with the aging facility were evident throughout 2014, as SRS struggled to start up feedstock operations and reprocess research reactor spent fuel. See Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) weekly reports of February 27, 2015 and February 20, 2015 and February 13, 2015 and March 6, 2015 for initial reporting on the HB-Line incident that halted MOX "feedstock" (plutonium oxide) production for most of 2105. The preparation of plutonium oxide for MOX (or perhaps for another disposition option if MOX goes down) has taken place in the HB-Line, which sits atop the decrepit H-Canyon reprocessing plant. NNSA has been paying EM, which manages the H-Canyon, for this job. Payment could be about $20 million per year. Problems developed when a plutonium solution tank was not properly monitored by SRNS staff. After being shut for six months, SRS claimed in a presentation to the SRS Citizens Advisory Board's Nuclear Materials Committee on August 4, 2015 that H-Canyon operations resumed on July 20, 2015. (See slide 12 in "Update on H Area Operations." But, oooppss, problem predictably have persisted and it appears there was a rush to restart the H-Canyon and it has been shuttered again. Just like for the MOX project at SRS, an NNSA project being carried out to enrich contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services, there is insuficient accountability for EM contractors at SRS. Every year Environmental Management (EM) and NNSA contractors just collect a fat bonus, with few questions asked. How long will Secretary of Energy Moniz and Congress allow the lack of accountability for MOX and other projects to go on? Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson have shielded CB&I AREVA MOX Services from accountability for the MOX boondoggle but a result of that is that the project has gone down the tubes due to improper DOE/NNSA oversight. Is the same thing happening to EM operations at SRS? It's past time for SRS to refocus on cleanup operations and put aside speculative projects like MOX, reprocessing and "small modular reactors" that detract from the urgent clean-up mission at hand. Predictably, DOE notified the public of the SRS partial shutdown at 5:25 p.m. on Friday afternoon, September 11: From: james-r.giusti <james-r.giusti@srs.gov> Subject: DOE-SR UPDATE … Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Pauses All Non-essential Operations at SRS Date: Fri, Sep 11, 2015 5:25 pm Based on recent Conduct of Operations issues identified with HB-Line activities, effective today Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has implemented an operational safety pause for all non-essential and discretionary Office of Environmental Management activities site-wide. All work activities are on hold for those facilities under the SRNS management and operations contract. SRNS is developing a recovery plan for resuming non-essential and discretionary operations and the plan will be submitted to the Department for review and concurrence. The plan will include corrective actions that will be implemented to assure workers adhere to management expectations for safe work performance, to reinforce accountability, and to re-initiate work in a controlled, phased manner. SRNS will notify the DOE-SR management of any non-essential or discretionary work that SRNS believes needs to be performed before executing the work. This operational safety pause does not affect other contractors at SRS. James R. Giusti Director DOE-SR Office Of External Affairs W: (803) 952-7684 M: (803) 645-1350 E: james-r.giusti@srs.gov SRS Watch suggestion: Email Mr. Giusti and ask to be put on the SRS news update list. Be aware that it will mostly be "feel good" news. For the rest of the story and deeper news, check with SRS Watch (srswatch@gmail.com, tel. 803-834-3084, https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch) ----- The MOX train wreck continues its slow-motion self-destruct; Congress has placed the project on an unofficial shut-down track and should now push big spenders like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) aside and officially terminate the failed MOX project... "Former arms negotiators, diplomats call for end to mixed-oxide plant" Augusta (Georgia Chronicle), September 11 article linked here Terminate MOX letter by nonproliferation experts linked here DOE Red Team report, outlining MOX failures and massive costs - linked here . As far as SRS Watch can determine, the report still has not been officially released and NNSA won't say if it will be formally released. SRS Watch has requested that it be publicly released and be posted on a DOE website. Link to 18 aerial photos of the MOX plant construction site (and a couple of other SRS shots) , from July 30, 2015 - can be used with credit to High Flyer, special to SRS Watch. Photos take from legal altitude of 2000 feet by Captain High Flyer, ranking officer in the SRS Watch Airforce. ---- "Energy secretary is urged to end U.S. nuclear fuel program at Savannah River" Washington Post, September 9, 2015 - article linked here Basis for article is, in part, this September 8 letter to Secretary Moniz by notable non-proliferation experts asking that the mismanaged MOX program be terminated: -- letter linked here -- September 8, 2015 The Honorable Ernest J. Moniz Secretary of Energy U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20585-1000 Dear Secretary Moniz, We write regarding the Department of Energy's (DOE's) “Red Team” report conclusion that the department can greatly reduce cost and risk by blending its excess weapons plutonium down for disposal as waste instead of continuing down the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel path. Many of us have come to similar conclusions in the past. As outside nuclear experts and former government officials dealing with nonproliferation issues, we have looked at the matter closely. DOE can uphold its obligation to safely dispose of this material without implementing the MOX program. More important, in addition to saving money, ending the current MOX program would be in the nation’s national security interest. Continuing with the MOX program and recycling work helps plutonium recycling advocates in Japan, China, South Korea, and other states maintain the illusion that plutonium separation and recycle are activities that responsible non-weapon states engage in. The United States has for four decades consistently opposed the spread of such activities because of the obvious proliferation danger of putting nuclear-weapons explosive materials into commercial channels. It would be particularly advantageous to U.S. nonproliferation objectives to end the MOX program now. Japan is on the verge of opening its large reprocessing plant at Rokkasho. Ending the U.S. MOX program and thereby underlining that plutonium has no economic value would put the U.S. in a much better position to urge Japan to put off any such decision. More broadly, there is an opportunity to ask not only Japan, but South Korea and China to join in a decision to defer commercial plutonium-based fuel activities (to include commercial "demonstrator" sized projects). None of these activities make economic sense. A simultaneous announcement would help these governments deal with their plutonium recycling interest groups. Indeed, we believe that such an announcement at the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit next spring would constitute a historic step to strengthen the nonproliferation regime. Sincerely, Peter Bradford, Vermont Law School, former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Joseph Cirincione, President, The Ploughshares Fund; former professional staff member, House Armed Services Committee Robert Einhorn, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; former Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation David Freeman, former Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors Ambassador Robert Gallucci, Georgetown University, former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Richard Garwin, IBM Fellow Emeritus, Thomas J. Watson Research Center Victor Gilinsky, Energy Consultant, former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Jessica Matthews, Distinguished Fellow, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; former Director of the Office of Global Issues, The National Security Council Joseph Nye, Harvard, John F. Kennedy School of Government, former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Distinguished Fellow, The Brookings Institution; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry S. Rowen, Professor (emeritus), Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University; former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Gary Samore, Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center, Harvard University; former White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction Henry Sokolski, Executive Director, The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center; former Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy, Department of Defense Frank von Hippel, Senior Research Physicist, Professor of Public and International Affairs (emeritus), Princeton University; former Assistant Director for National Security, White House Office of Science and Technology CC: National Security Advisor, Ambassador Susan Rice Secretary of State John Kerry Secretary of ---- Mayor of Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Chair of Nuclear Task Force Rebut Inaccurate Plutonium Disposal Letter from Former DOE Secretary Bill Richardson. The letter - released by the City of Carlsbad on September 9 - from Carlsbad officials clarifies that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has indeed been used for plutonium disposition, which Richardson avoiding mentioning in his August 21 letter. Richardson also dodges discussing that MOX isn't financially sustainable and that Congress has placed the mismanaged project on a shut-down track with a funding level of $345 million/year. September 3, 2015, Carlsbad letter to Senator Reid linked here SRS has also sent plutonium to WIPP and plans to restart packaging of small amounts of plutonium for WIPP even though WIPP remains closed after two February 2014 accidents. Read about it and see photos of plutonium containers in this SRS Watch update of April 9, 2015. ----- 
SRS Watch in "Cost of Nuclear Plants Climbs Again" - article in Free Times (Columbia, South Carolina weekly paper), September 9, 2015 -- with aerial photo of SCE&G's VC Summer nuclear construction site, by High Flyer "Regulators have approved yet another cost overrun and construction delay for the two nuclear power plants that SCE&G is building in Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia. And because of a South Carolina law called the Base Load Review Act, the cost overrun will once again be passed on to the utility’s current customers." full article linked here ----- As SRS had five military reactors that produced plutonium - 36 metric tons - and tritium for nuclear weapons (and not electricity), SRS officials can relate to the efforts to get Iran to not produce plutonium. "Plutonium Is Unsung Concession in Iran Nuclear Deal" New York Times, September 8, 2015 print edition article linked here ----- -- from the "We Told You So in 2008 Department" (during an intervention before the South Carolina Public Service Commission when cost overruns and delays were predicted with the construction of the experimental AP1000 reactors by South Carolina Electric & Gas...) SRS Watch in article on massive $1.1 billion cost overrun & schedule delay for SCE&G nuclear plant construction, September 2 "South Carolina commission okays cost overruns for nuclear plants" Reuters - article linked here ----- Representative Joe Wilson (Republican - South Carolina) spearheads August 21, 2015 letter to DOE asking for documents on the Aerospace plutonium disposition report. DOE was charged by Congress to contract the plutonium disposition report by a federally funded research facility so it's unclear what Wilson is after beyond letting it be known that he thinks the conclusions of the report - in favor of disposal of plutonium as waste and not MOX - are incorrect. Wilson, who was not able to get anyone in Congress beside most of the South Carolina delegation to sign on - note that Rep. Clyburn isn't on it - wants the documents a week after he sent the letter. As DOE generally ignores SRS Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on key aspects of the MOX program, we wish him luck with his request. Once again, Rep. Wilson and Senator Graham avoid demanding accountability of DOE, NNSA and contractor CB&I AREVA MOX Services for their extreme negligence in management of the MOX program. We've been patiently waiting for Wilson and Graham to stand up and protect the tax payer but it's clear that the financial interests of CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices come first. With their protection, waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement with the multi-billion dollar MOX debacle drags on. See August 21 letter linked here ----- 
"Vogtle Nuclear Expansion Total Cost is 65 Billion Dollars, Former Commissioner Says" photo: New AP1000 experimental reactors under construction at Southern Company's Plant Vogtle, near Waynesboro, Georgia. The site is just across the Savannah River from SRS. Photo (c)High Flyer, special to SRS Watch, July 30, 2015. Photo can be used with credit. Atlanta Progressive News, August 1, 2015 (APN) ATLANTA - Plant Vogtle's proposed nuclear expansion with new units 3 and 4 will cost an estimated 65 billion dollars, former Georgia Public Service (PSC) Commissioner Bobbie Baker says, based on his analysis of information he received when cross-examining the PSC staff witness at the June 23, 2015 PSC hearing. link to full article ----- Good to see that the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB), a federal advisory panel on SRS clean-up, has renewed its position against commercial spent fuel storage at SRS. "CAB debates, opposes spent fuel storage" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard -- July 29, 2015 NEW ELLENTON — An advisory board voted Tuesday to renew its position paper against the Savannah River Site temporarily storing the nation’s spent fuel. But the renewal was first challenged by members who questioned if the paper is even in the board’s purview. full article linked here ----- Here's a bit of the news of the SRS Watch successful tour of Germany, to oppose the dumping of commercial German spent fuel on SRS "Harsh criticism of Juelich plan" -- in German: "Heftige Kritik an Jülicher Plänen" Super Sonntag Jülich, 26 July 2015 linked here |
SRS Watch news release - July 17, 2015 Update of July 24: After meeting with SRS Watch, various German government officials now have in their hands the US DOE opinion of August 1, 2013 that there is no proliferation risk if the German AVR spent fuel remains in Germany. See memo linked here. The question looms: why has DOE misled the public and German officials that the import of the AVR spent fuel was being considered for nuclear non-proliferation reasons when in fact DOE determined early on that there was no proliferation risk??? Will DOE now admit the truth or continue to feebly try and obscure the real reason for the possible import of the AVR spent fuel to SRS: $$$$$$$$$$ for SRS contractors - Savannah River Nuclear Solutions & Savannah River National Lab - to continue operating the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant. SRS Watch to Meet with German Officials in Bonn, Germany in Opposition to Proposal to Send German Commercial Spent Fuel to the Savannah River Site for Reprocessing and Dumping Meetings with Public Interest Groups and Demonstrations also Scheduled for Juelich and Dusseldorf Columbia, SC – The director of the public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch will travel to Germany next week to oppose the secretive proposal to ship highly radioactive German spent nuclear fuel to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. read full news release here photo: banner to be used in public events in Germany "SRS is Not a Dump for Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel!" "South Carolina ist kein Entsorgungsplatz für deutschen Atommüll" Hot Link!: SECRET DOE MEMO of August 2013 affirming there is no proliferation risk is linked here. German officials now have this and thus should realize that some in DOE have been misleading them. ----- Peter Hanlon, US DOE Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office
of Material Management and Minimization, tells the South Carolina
Nuclear Advisory Council on July 9 that the report of the Red Team
on plutonium disposition and MOX will be due on August 10,
2015.
Secretary of Energy Moniz appointed the Red Team to deliver a report that will inform DOE and Congress about plutonium disposition options and will likely seal the fate of the bugled MOX project. Hanlon affirmed that the costs of the MOX program are unsustainable and that it needs $1 billion per year, an amount far above the $345 million/year that the mismanaged program is now getting. SRS Watch made a comment at he end of the meeting and submitted documents on the MOX issue and importation of German spent fuel to SRS. NNSA Freedom of Information Act response to SRS Watch, June 12, 2015 - submitted to SC Nuclear Advisory Council on July 9, 2015: No MOX customers - linked here ----- JUST RELEASED
SOUTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL
(GNAC) MEETING - July 9 - Unprecedented discussion of non-MOX plutonium
disposition alternatives to be held! Please
attend. Note that DOE is sending an official from Washington to talk about plutonium disposition options at this governor's nuclear meeting on July 9. Usually, DOE or CB&I AREVA MOX Services profiteers send a hack to talk up the MOX boondoggle but the times are a-changin' as MOX goes down the drain along with our money. Despite endless comments before the GNAC by SRS Watch, the council has damaged its credibility and ignored and sugar-coated MOX problems but that may be ending as the stark reality of MOX termination is sinking in. SOUTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING Gressette Building, Room #209 - state capitol grounds, Columbia, South Carolina July 9, 2015 - 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm agenda linked here Call to Order – Approval of Minutes & Karen Patterson, Chair (10 minutes) Update of GNAC activities Duke Energy Update Steve Nesbit, Director, Nuclear Policy and Support (20 minutes) SCDHEC Shelly Wilson, DHEC, Permitting and Federal Facilities Liaison (20 minutes) Break (10 minutes) SRS Radioactive Liquid Waste Update Jack Craig, Manager, DOE-SR (30 minutes) Plutonium Disposition Alternatives Pete Hanlon, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Material Management and Minimization (60 minutes) Public Comments Closing Remarks Karen Patterson, Chair (5 minutes) http://www.bcb.sc.gov/webfiles/GOV_NAC_MTG/NACagenda7-9-15.pdf 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission team to visit
SRS:
"ONSITE OBSERVATION GUIDANCE FOR JULY 7 – 8, 2015, MONITORING VISIT TO THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY (DOCKET NO. PROJ0734)" "The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is planning an onsite observation visit on July 7 – 8, 2015, to the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River Site, Saltstone Disposal Facility to monitor activities related to the disposal of non-high-level waste, per the NRC responsibilities under the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005." The NRC, which does not have a regulatory role over nuclear waste at SRS, will observe the construction of a massive 30-million gallon tank - Saltstone Disposal Unit 6 (pictured above) - to hold radioactive waste mixed with concrete (called "saltstone"). That saltstone material, which is a by-product of high-level nuclear waste processing, is to be left forever on site and covered with a soil cap. The NRC will also observe the Z-Area, where contaminated water from an older saltstone facility has been leaking into Upper Three Runs creek. We anticipate that the NRC will present results of its on-going monitoring activities at a future SRS Citizens Advisory Board meeting. -- see NRC memo of June 8, 2015 linked here & on NRC website here In order to minimize high-level waste at SRS and by-product waste streams, such as saltstone, DOE must terminate plans to import German commercial spent fuel for dumping at SRS. Germany must deal with its own nuclear waste and DOE must not facilitate its dumping here in South Carolina! ----- Greenpeace Germany news: legal action against dumping of German spent fuel at SRS - US DOE's headaches over illegal scheme just got worse - the cure is to ditch the dodgy dumping deal "NUCLEAR WASTE EXPORTS FROM GERMANY TO THE U.S. WOULD VIOLATE EUROPEAN LAW - GREENPEACE FILES COMPLAINT WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION" Hamburg, 10 June 2015 – The export of high level nuclear waste from Germany to the United States would violate European law, Greenpeace has announced. In a legal complaint filed today with the European Commission, Greenpeace lawyers detail how the transports of nuclear waste from the Jülich research centre would be contrary to Directive 2011/70 / EURATOM of the European Union. The German government, regional government of Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, and the research centre Julich, have proposed export 152 high-level radioactive Castor transport casks from Jülich to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The nuclear waste was produced at the now shutdown AVR reactor at Julich. Under plans developed in secret between Germany authorities and the U.S. Department of Energy, the waste fuel would be reprocessed at Savannah River. The Greenpeace commissioned legal analysis concludes that under Directive 2011/70 / EURATOM it is prohibited to export nuclear waste that was produced in a commercial nuclear reactor to a country outside the European Union. The commercial nuclear power reactor AVR at Jülich supplied 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity into the grid during its operation. Greenpeace has requested in its filing to the European Commission, that they open a legal case against Germany and specifically those responsible representatives at Federal and State level. full news release - linked here legal complaint in German, dated 9 June - linked here summary of legal complaint in English - linked here More from Greenpeace Germany: "Greenpeace reicht EU-Beschwerde gegen Atommülltransport aus Jülich ein, 10 June 2015 --linked here DOE claims that the "draft environmental assessment" (draft EA) on the reprocessing and dumping of the German spent fuel at SRS will be issued in July. Given that the proposal is now snarled up in an initial legal proceeding, don't bet that the July date will be met. Expect more delays and the odds are increasing that the dodgy scheme will not go forward. See DOE's June 15 list of dates of release of environmental documents linked here - see page 22. ----- 
photo: by High Flyer, April 21, 2015, exclusive to SRS Watch, can be used with credit SRS Watch news - June 16, 2015 Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) makes it official: he refuses to provide validated MOX life-cycle cost estimate. In response to a request from SRS Watch, Graham again ignores a request for his cost estimate. Why? He doesn't have any such validated estimate and wants to keep wasting our money on the failed MOX project being mismanaged by CB&I AREVA MOX Services. Absent his own cost estimate, Senator Graham's criticism of DOE's life-cycle estimate of $51 billion to $114 billion has been neutered by his own sloppiness and inaction. See Graham's frivolous letter to SRS Watch linked here The May 1 letter from SRS Watch to Senator Graham requested: "Your independently validated life-cycle cost estimate would include such things as: · Total cost of construction of the MOX plant at SRS, including sunk costs; · Cost of start-up of the MOX plant (estimated by DOE in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget request to be $1.8 billion); · Yearly operating cost of the MOX plant (DOE estimated this to be $340 million/year in the FY2012 request and it jumped to $543 million/year in FY2015 to $670 million/year in FY 2016); · Payment to any utilities to irradiate the experimental MOX fuel (MOX fuel made from weapon-grade plutonium has never been used on a commercial scale); · Administrative costs over the life of the project; · Cost of decontamination and decommissioning of the MOX plant; · Cost of operation of the Waster Solidification Building (WSB), which would receive liquid waste streams from the MOX plant and cost of disposal of those waste streams at DOE sites." ----- SRS Watch news - June 1, 2015 It's Official: AREVA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services Refuse to Release MOX Program Life-Cycle Cost Estimates - Lack of Response Confirms that they have No Validated Cost Estimates! There has been no response by AREVA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services to the most recent SRS Watch letters requesting release of the MOX boondoggle validated life-cycle cost. Likewise, there has been no response to similar letters sent well over a year ago. Additonally, in response to the DOE's Aerospace report on the cost of MOX - $51 billion to $114 billion - there has been no release of the companies1 validated cost estimate. CONCLUSION: Neither AREVA not CB&I AREVA MOX Servcies has any validated cost estimates for the MOX project. Nonetheless, the companies continue to push for additional funding of the misguided MOX project even though no cost estimates exist. Lack of release of such a validated estimate means that anything the companies say about MOX costs or schedules is unsubstantiated and can't be believed. Ditto for MOX-booster politicians who refuse to release their own costs estimates. This is the situation that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) repeatedly warns about and thus the project rightly remains on the GAO's list of projects "at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement." When will Congress investigate, hold hearings and demand accountability of the mismanagers of this run-away project? SRS Watch Letters of April 27 to AREVA linked here and here SRS watch letter of April 28 to David Del Vecchio, president, CB&I AREVA MOX Services linked here GAO February 2014 plutonium disposition report linked here. ----- 
SRS
Watch news - May 29,
2015
Statement from Tom Clements, Director, Savannah River Site Watch, on Announcement at SRS Citizens Advisory Board Meeting On May 19 that Jack Craig, New Manager of the Savannah River Site, Will Start on Monday, June 1, 2015 New SRS Manager Presents Positive Opportunities; Will Have Public Support if Focus is Reestablished on High-Level Nuclear Waste Clean-Up and Terminates New Programs Aimed at Nuclear Waste Import statement linked here DOE bio on Mr. Craig - pictured above - linked here ---- SRS Watch news - May 26, 2015 - linked here Senate Armed Services Committee Requires Extensive Review of Plutonium Downblending as Alternative to Plutonium Fuel (MOX); Authorizes $5 Million for Downblend Analysis To Keep Jobs at SRS, Committee Requests DOE Analysis of Alternative Uses for the Plutonium MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in the Event non-MOX Option Chosen NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FY 2016 REPORT, with Downblend Review linked here Columbia, SC – The U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee has taken the step of requiring an in-depth analysis of the option of downblending surplus plutonium for disposal as waste as an alternative to the troubled plutonium fuel (MOX) project. The requirement is yet another sigh that support for making plutonium fuel (MOX) from surplus weapons plutonium continue to erode, according to Savannah River Site Watch. In a report that accompanies the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, the committee directs the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to answer key questions about the downblend option and provide a report, to be reviewed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to the defense committees by October 31, 2015. The report language is dated May 19 but was released on Friday afternoon, May 23. read full news release here ----- May 22, 2015: Senate Appropriations Language Calls for "Red Team" Review of MOX Project - Too Little, Too Late to Save Beleaguered Debacle With $345 Million for MOX Construction, Committee Keeps Project on a Shut-down Track Text of language from Energy & Water report: ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL, FY 2016 - funds DOE MAY 21, 2015.—Ordered to be printed Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following REPORT page 102: "Nonproliferation Construction.—The Committee recommends $345,000,000 and adopts the budget request for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility [MFFF]. The Committee directs the Secretary to form a Red Team, similar to the UPF Red Team, to review the project and make recommendations. The Red Team review should be completed in sufficient time to inform the fiscal year 2017 budget request." "The time for setting up a "red team" to review the MOX program, as supported by Senator Alexander, has passed," said Tom Clements of SRS Watch. Congress has been chronically negligent in its oversight of the MOX program and while a red team's input may have been appropriate a few years ago, things are to the point that MOX isn't salvageable by such a review, which I suspect would be biased toward continuing the mismanaged MOX project. That Congress has neither provide proper oversight of MOX project nor demanded accountability of NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services managers is one of the main reasons that the project has run so badly off the rails. A Red Team review can't fix the problems long ignored by DOE and Congress and winding down the MOX project and implementing alternatives plutonium disposition methods must now be the focus," added Clements. The Appropriations Committee approved $345 million for the MOX pant construction, the amount request by the Obama Administration. This level of funding, according to the Aerospace report means that the project will not be finished and is an amount which places the project on a shut-down track, according to SRS Watch. The report stated: "The MFFF construction cannot be completed at current (FY14) funding level (350M RY$ / year cost cap on construction/capital) and the assumed escalation rates (4% construction and capital, 2% labor)." A DOE report on plutonium disposition options, as required by the defense bill of Fiscal Year 2015, is due in September, so any Red Team report could conflict with that report and the DOE's Aerospace report released two weeks ago Senate E&W report linked here ----- MOX Boondoggle Update - May 20, 2015 Yet more problems for MOX: Senator Feinstein, ranking member of Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee, Comes out Strongly Against MOX During E&W Markup on May 19 - full bill to Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21 On May 19, the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their version of the FY16 Energy and Water bill. E&W funds DOE programs, including the MOX debacle. A summary is available here: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/subcommittee-approves-fy2016-energy-water-development-appropriations-bill. At the end of her opening statement Senator Feinstein, ranking member on the subcommittee, focused on problems with the MOX program. She basically said that the nation can't afford the MOX project and at that the current funding level the project can't be carried out and that the massive cost will negatively impact DOE's non-proliferation and clean-up funding. She endorsed the cheaper "dilution option" recently reviewed in the Aerospace report sent to Congress. Senator Alexander, chairman of E&W, responded and agreed that the subcommittee needs to look at the MOX facility and said the bill calls for a red team to evaluate the project. Hear Feinstein comments on MOX at about 31+ minutes in the link below - she calls the MOX program "the apex of problems" - speaks in support of the "dilution option" - speaks of impact to South Carolina - mentions "final year," I think referring to waste of money on MOX. Chairman Alexander responds: "We do have to take a look at the MOX facility." And, he mentions the "red team" to look into it. Subcommittee Markup: FY16 Energy & Water Development Appropriations Act http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/webcast/subcommittee-markup-fy16-energy-water-development-appropriations-act &&& Full Appropriations Committee to take up DOE funding on May 21, 2015: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings-and-testimony/full-committee-markup-302b-allocations-fy16-energy-water-appropriations-bill Full Committee Markup: 302(b) Allocations, FY16 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill, and FY16 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill Description: COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS (Thad Cochran, Chairman) Consideration of 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations Markup of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 Markup of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 10:30 a.m., Room 216, Hart Senate Office Building Webcast: The webcast for the markup will be audio only. Coverage will begin when the markup begins, and it may be necessary for viewers to refresh their web browser at that time. ----- SRS Watch news release - May 18, 2015 More problems for NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services with beleaguered MOX project Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Confirms Pursuit of Controversial Plutonium Fuel (MOX) in its Nuclear Reactors is on Hold Pending DOE Decision on Disposition of Surplus Weapons Plutonium As MOX Project Faces Funding Crisis, Proposal to Use Aging Browns Ferry & Sequoyah Reactors for MOX No Longer DOE’s “Preferred Alternative” Columbia, SC – The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has confirmed in writing that it will not consider use in its reactors of experimental fuel made from surplus weapons plutonium until such time as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) determines disposition pathways for the weapons materials. read full news release here read TVA letter to SRS Watch here, received May 14, 2015 - text from letter: "In 2010 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entered into an Interagency Agreement with DOE to investigate the potential for use of nixed oxide fuel in TVA reactors. TVA is a formal cooperating agency on the SEIS, which evaluates the potential use of mixed oxide fuel in certain TVA reactors as well as generic commercial reactors. However, there is neither a TVA obligation nor a decision at this time to use mixed oxide fuel. TVA will use mixed oxide fuel in its reactors only if it is determined to be operationally and environmentally safe, economically beneficial to TVA customers and licensed for use by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Prior to TVA’s consideration, the DOE must determine which alternative(s) to pursue." ----- 
"The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat" - released by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) just before member groups lobby in DC for sane nuclear policies and proper levels of funding for DOE programs, including eliminating the plutonium fuel (MOX) program at SRS and funding for clean-up of SRS high-level nuclear waste --- see section on the MOX boondoggle, page 12: "The MOX Program: This is the year Congress should pull the plug on the Department of Energy’s plutonium fuel program. Terminating it now will save taxpayers billions of dollars." SRS Watch is a member group of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) ANA report linked here: http://bit.ly/growing_nuclear_threat ----- SRS Watch news release - May 14, 2015 DOE Affirms it has Not Conducted any Legal Analysis Concerning Import of German Commercial Spent Fuel to the Savannah River Site SRS Watch Appeals to Office of Environmental Management to Halt German Deal as Date of Release of “Draft Environmental Assessment” Faces Chronic Delays Columbia, SC – The U.S. Department of Energy has revealed that it has not prepared a legal analysis on the unprecedented proposal to import highly radioactive commercial spent nuclear fuel from Germany to the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. Failure of DOE to assess the legality of what is believed to be the first commercial spent fuel import into the United States before pursuing the proposal is a significant oversight that may well lead to its demise, according to Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). read full news release here ----- 
"OINK: TV ad skewers Lindsey Graham's pork-barrel plutonium MOX boondoggle" Time to again pull this 2013 Friends of the Earth TV ad against the plutonium fuel (MOX) boondoggle out of the closet. Ah, the good old days when MOX was only $6 billion over budget. On all fronts the failed MOX project has gotten much worse since 2013. Lindsey manages to keep it barely on life support but it's on a shut-down track with the funding Congress is giving it - $345 million/year. Senator Graham's favorite boondoggle is about to get made into bacon so stay tuned. ad linked here Thanks to Friends of the Earth for having had the foresight to produce this timely ad! Looking back to when the last hope for MOX was slipping away, remember the first public life-cycle cost estimate for the MOX project? By Tom Clements, then with Friends of the Earth and now with SRS Watch, in April 2013. That quick & dirty estimate determined that $22 billion was left to be spent on MOX but turns out it's $47+ billion yet to be spent. The project wasn't viable in 2013 and it certainly isn't now. See the first life-cycle cost estimate here ----- SRS Watch news release - May 9, 2015 - linked here Redacted DOE Plutonium Disposition Report Obtained, Gives Details of $47.5 Billion to $110.4 Billion Yet to be Spent on Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Boondoggle, Finished in 2059 to 2115 Aerospace Report Affirms that MOX Project at SRS Not Sustainable at Current Funding Level “Plutonium Disposition Study Options Independent Assessment” redacted report linked here: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/aerospace_final_redacted_plutonium_disposition_tor_april13_final_release_050815.pdf news release linked here photos: MOX plant, April 21, 2015, by High Flyer of the SRS Watch Air Force, can be used with credit; in one photo Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle in Georgia, site of two old reactors and two AP1000s under construction, can be seen ----- NNSA dribbles out environmental document on terminating MOX as "preferred alternative," via tiny notice in Federal Register by Environmental Protection Agency, May 8, 2015 "EIS No. 20150125, Final Supplement, NNSA, DOE, Surplus Plutonium Disposition, Review Period Ends: Once a Preferred Alternative is identified, DOE will announce its preference in a Federal Register notice. DOE would publish a record of decision no sooner than 30 days after its announcement of a Preferred Alternative. Contact: Sachiko McAlhany 877-344-0513" linked here ---- SRS Watch new release, May 4, 2015 - release linked here After Chronic Delays, DOE’s Terminates Plutonium Disposition EIS Process, Discarding the Problem-Plagued Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Option as the “Preferred Option” and Affirming that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is Not Now Actively Pursuing MOX Use CB&I AREVA MOX Services Dealt another Blow in its Push for $51+ Billion MOX Project Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS documents linked here – quietly placed on this DOE website in the last few days Columbia, South Carolina -- After a lengthy and embarrassing delay, the U.S. Department of Energy DOE) has concluded the preparation of an environmental document on the disposition of surplus weapons plutonium by abandoning its earlier preference to produce plutonium fuel (MOX) from the material. DOE states in a document released over the weekend that it no longer has a preference for how to dispose of a quantity of surplus plutonium, affirming that the MOX program at the DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina remains at high risk of being shut down. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had been expected to issue the final environmental document in early 2013 but due to growing problems with the MOX program, DOE froze release of it and indicated for almost two years that it was “under departmental review.” DOE mailed out DVDs with the documents, which arrived to at least one location in South Carolina on Saturday, May 2. DOE also quietly posted the final documents on its website in the last few days. The date of a Federal Register notice on the formal release of the document is expected later this week. In complete reversal of DOE’s earlier pro-MOX policy, the final Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SPD SEIS) concludes that DOE no longer prefers the MOX option but rather states that it has no “preferred alternative” for plutonium disposal “at this time.” read full release here, with loads of links to documents and MOX plant photos ----- May 2, 2015
Congressional boosters of MOX again requested by SRS Watch to release
their validated life-cycle costs for the MOX project. Where are
their cost estimate and why are they withholding them from the discussion
about the fate of the project?
The MOX-booster-members of Congress stand virtually alone in Congress in their blind allegiance to continue shoveling our tax money to CB&I AREVA MOX Services. While they choose to attack DOE's cost estimates for the $50+ billion MOX boondoggle looks like they don't even have their own validated MOX cost estimates on which to base their attacks. We asked them before and they came up empty handed. We doubt they have anything now but the ball is in the court of Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Tim Scott & Representative Joe Wilson to respond. As is said, time to put up or shut up about this failed and dying project. BTW, $345 million in FY 2016 puts the project on a shut-down track as it needs another $200 million per year for construction (and $800 million/year during MOX plant operation) and even Congress is smart enough not to waste that much more of our money on this massive debacle. letters to Graham, Scott & Wilson linked here ---- SRS Watch has released a new update on the MOX Boondoggle - April 29, 2015 - the storm clouds over the failed project continue to gather In this update - linked here: -- SRS Watch Again Requests Validated MOX Cost Analysis from AREVA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services, No Response Expected -- DOE Set to End Long-Delayed Plutonium Supplemental EIS Process with No Decision; Document "under departmental review" to be terminated with no "preferred alternative," harming MOX -- FOIA Request Filed by SRS Watch for DOE Plutonium Cost Study Sent to Congress on April 22; Aerospace Corporation cost document must be released in full -- Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Alerted to Possibly Faulty Embed Plates for MOX plant - will the NRC investigate or ignore? -- Rumors on MOX Plant Construction Problems Continue – With Only One (1) On-Site NRC Inspector, Who is Investigating and Who is Properly Monitoring Overall MOX plant Construction? With the NRC inspecting only a small sample of only some components, CB&I AREVA MOX Services is self-regulating its own work! Update linked here ----- April 28, 2015 - While DOE has said that a redacted copy
of the plutonium disposition cost report (by Aerospace Corporation)
delivered to Congress on April 22 will be eventually released, SRS Watch
has gone ahead and filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for
it. By law, DOE has to respond within 20
days. See the FOIA request linked
here.
Though DOE is slowly releasing more cost information, CB&I AREVA MOX Services still adamantly refuses to release any validated MOX life-cycle cost analysis it has for the MOX project it has so badly managed. Habitual failure to ever release its own cost analysis validated by external, credible parties means that anything that AREVA or CB&I has to say about any aspect of costs for MOX construction, start-up or operation has no basis and should be ignored. We now feel that they have no life-cycle cost estimate for any aspect of the project. If they do, AREVA must release it. If not, their already low credibility will sink further. See request for validated MOX life-cycle cost to AREVA, Inc. North America CEO and president here and for request to the VP of the "Backend Division North America" click here. Letter to David Del Vecchio, president, CB&I AREVA MOX Services In a rather desperate response to the summary of costs by Aerospace, VP David Jones has written about why the experimental weapon-grade MOX fuel project is so great but his totally ignoring costs issues sticks out a like a big, embarrassing sore thumb. Quch! Mr. Jones, we suggest that you give it another shot and quote in your next article from AREVA's validated, public cost estimate for the MOX plant construction, start-up and operation. By the way, all the AREVA lobbying on the Hill with unions only confirms that the MOX project is a parochial jobs program. AREVA, be careful with that approach in your desperate efforts to save the MOX boondoggle. NRC letter to SRS Watch, April 1, 2015 - admitting that only certain parts of the MOX plant are being inspected. So, is anyone adequately inspecting the MOX plant construction? With only one (1!) on-site, resiodent inspector, how can the NRC be doing a though job? Sounds like NRC inspection is cursory at best and excludes many parts of MOX construction. ----- April 24 -- MOX Boondoggle
Update: It Just Keeps Getting Uglier and Uglier for NNSA & CB&I
AREVA MOX Services
Aerial photos of MOX plant taken on April 21 released by SRS Watch as news of stunning cost of $47++-billion MOX project leaks out -- photos taken by High Flyer at legal altitude of 2000 feet show outside of MOX plant not finished, contrary to what has been claimed --- Time to pull the plug on the MOX project! - photos can be used with credit, call 803-834-3084 - call for higher resolution photos Summary of plutonium disposition costs linked here, with $47++ billion estimate for MOX Photos show numerous openings into the MOX plant remain unfinished and that outside security wall (gabion wall) is incomplete. A worker now reports that inside walls are being jackhammered out as they were put in the wrong place. Also, there are more reports of cable trays and piping being improperly installed. Were work orders illegally signed off on, showing work was complete and properly done when that may not have been the case? Is a federal lawsuit for fraud in the works against CB&I AREVA MOX Services? Is CB&I, part of the CB&I AREVA MOX Services team that has mismanaged the failed MOX project, conducting an investigation into construction problems and the improper signing off of work orders? There are indications that this is the case but the NRC, CB&I AREVA MOX Services and DOE/NNSA are all dodging the issue in response to inquiries by SRS Watch. We have been told that the push to meet construction schedules resulted in work orders being signed off even though the work was done improperly or not finished. The NRC should monitor any investigation to make sure workers are not being intimidated. Send documentation on this issue to srswatch@gmail.com. Why won't the media investigate MOX plant construction problems that the NNSA admitted on March 25 during a tour of SRS by SRS Watch and other public interest groups? Hopefully, the plutonium disposition cost report will be made public in its entirity. The $47-billion+ cost figure we're hearing for MOX is far beyond the $30-billion figure DOE has been using until now and will likely seal the fate of the MOX project currently being mismanaged by DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services. Search for "MOX" in this Fiscal Year 2015 "omnibus" spending document, passed in December 2014, to see mention of the required report, prepared by the Aerospace Corporation. The House Energy & Water Resources Subcommittee passed DOE spending legislation last week. The $345 million in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget for the MOX plant construction is simply a placeholder amount until the House reviews the DOE report and acts on it. $345 million/year is way less than half the project needs for two decades but the money isn't there and MOX may well be on a "cold standby" path. The start-up cost alone of the MOX plat is estimated by DOE to be $1.8 billion (on page 634 in the DOE's FY2016 budget request - true to form for this bungled project that's three times the "original validated baseline!"). Thus, a $345 million/year funding level means it could take five years to start the plant (even if design flaws and technical problems don't cause problems and if there are any customers for the experimental fuel weapon-grade MOX that might be produced). Ding Dong the MOX is Dead? SRS Watch Update on DOE/NNSA's and CB&I AREVA MOX Services Problem-Plagued Plutonium Disposition Program, April 9 - linked here ---- SRS Watch news release - April 14, 2015 22 Public Interest Groups Request DOE Prepare a “Nuclear Nonproliferation Assessment” on New Technique being developed at Savannah River Site to Reprocess German Spent Fuel DOE Ignoring Proliferation Risks Inherent in New Reprocessing Method for Commercial Graphite Spent Fuel? news release linked here Columbia, South Carolina -- Environmental and nuclear non-proliferation public interest organizations today requested of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that a nuclear proliferation assessment be prepared on a new reprocessing technique being developed to reprocess German commercial spent nuclear fuel at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The groups’ letter to Secretary of Energy Moniz and Administrator Frank Klotz of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) points out the new reprocessing method being developed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) holds proliferation risks that must be formally reviewed in a “nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment.” DOE has so far for unknown reasons refused to prepare such an essential assessment. read more here letter to DOE/NNSA linked in news release and also here ----- Savannah
River Site Watch
Columbia, South Carolina April 9, 2015 News on the DOE/NNSA, CB&I AREVA MOX Services MOX Boondoggle NNSA/DOE, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, Senator Lindsey Graham & Representative Joe Wilson Remain on the Hot Seat as they Continue to Avoid Explaining how the MOX-Funding Jigsaw Puzzle Can Possibly Fit - As You've Led the Tax Payer Down a Maze with No Exit it's Only a Matter of Time Before Your Appomattox Moment Arrives Update on DOE/NNSA's and CB&I AREVA MOX Services Problem-Plagued Plutonium Disposition Program "Stumbling to Termination: Mixed Oxide Fuel Plant Construction at Savannah River Site - NNSA Admits MOX Plant Construction Problems & NRC Dodges Full Inspection of MOX Plant" Read about: Plutonium Disposition Cost Report Due Soon NNSA Admits that Rumors about MOX Plant Construction Problems are True Outside of MOX Plant Not Finished, Contrary to what has been Claimed and Reported Waste Solidification Building (WSB) - for Nuclear Waste from MOX Plant - to Go On Standby Plutonium Oxide Production for MOX Facility (Temporarily) Halted at SRS as Aging HB-Line Faces Operational Problems NRC’s Annual Meeting on April 16 on MOX Plant Construction Could Produce Fireworks as there may not be Proper Oversight of Construction by the NRC, NNSA or CB&I AREVA MOX Services Packaging of Plutonium as Waste Set to Resume at SRS --- photos above explained in linked report report linked here The report was submitted for the record of the South Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC), which met in Columbia, SC on April 9, 2015, and is being digitally distributed. Comments on the quick update are welcome: srswatch@gmail.com. Of special interest would be information from the NNSA/DOE, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson as to how the MOX project can be made financially viable. But waiting over the past ten years for a response to that appeal has proven to be like "waiting for a nuclear Godot." Given that the MOX construction is getting $345 million annually, we can't get the math to work give that another $7 billion are yet to be spent on the MOX plant construction, which includes the stunning $1.8 billion start-up cost. So, it's going to take another 20 years just to build and start up the MOX plant (if design problems personnel issues and technical glitches don't otherwise sink that effort)? And the estimated $670 million/year operating cost of the MOX plant - up from $543 million/year in Fiscal Year 2014 - all by itself blows the budget. PLEASE, show us how any piece of this financial mess fits together. NNSA/DOE, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson: after so many years of waiting for your path forward, give it at least a feeble shot - take your hands out of the federal piggy bank for a few minutes and explain how the tax-payer funded finances of MOX could possibly work. If you can't clearly explain how the MOX jigsaw fits over the next 20, 30, 40 years then stop wasting tax payer funds and find more productive work. And, as you head out the door, please have the decency to advocate for viable plutonium disposition options! ----- March 30: Here's a list of six important
meetings in April related to the Savannah River Site and other
nuclear issues in South Carolina. The public is encouraged to attend
and make comments. Thanks, Tom Clements, SRS
Watch,
srswatch@gmail.org 1. Sometime in April (late April, perhaps, or not...) – release by DOE of “draft environmental assessment” on import to SRS of commercial German spent fuel, for processing and dumping into the waste tanks, followed by a 45-day comment period and public meeting (likely in N. Augusta, SC); see June 4, 2014 Federal Register notice here (with date of initial meeting last year); DOE-SRS contact: mailto:Maxcine.Maxted@srs.gov 2. April 9 – South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC), 1 p.m., 209 Gressette Building, state capitol complex, downtown Columbia, SC; agenda linked here. 3. April 14 – SRS Citizen Advisory Board (SRS CAB) meeting of Strategic & Legacy Management and Facilities Disposition & Site Remediation committees, 4:30 p.m. – 8:20 p.m., New Ellenton Community Center, 212 Pine Hill Avenue, New Ellenton, SC 29809; SRS CAB website linked here. [~April 15: DOE delivery to Congress of plutonium disposition cost report, hopefully to simultaneously be made public. Cost of mismanaged MOX plant construction project now at $12.7 billion, likely to go higher. disposal of plutonium as waste will be officially shown to cost much, much less than MOX.] 4. April 15 - SRS Citizen Advisory Board (SRS CAB) meeting of Waste Management and Nuclear Materials committees, 4:30 p.m. – 8:20 p.m., New Ellenton Community Center, 212 Pine Hill Avenue, New Ellenton, SC 29809; SRS CAB website linked here. 5. April 16 – annual Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting on regulation of construction by CB&I AREVA MOX Services of the $12.7-billion plutonium fuel (MOX) plant at SRS, 6-7 p.m., New Ellenton, SC – this meeting is shaping up to be very interesting as the NRC wants a cursory meeting but inspection problems will be discussed. NRC meeting notice linked here. NRC contact: william.gloersen@nrc.gov 6. April 22-23 – DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) meeting of EM “Site Specific Advisory Board” (SSAB) chairs’ meeting, Double Tree Hotel in Augusta, GA (2651 Perimeter Parkway) – gathering of all the DOE site-specific boards, like the SRS CAB, to discuss over-arching DOE clean-up issues; SSAB website linked here. Contact to ask for agenda: Elizabeth.Schmitt@em.doe.gov ----- PLUTONIUM ALERT! DOE will soon release its report to Congress on the life-cycle cost of two plutonium disposition options: MOX and disposal of plutonium as blended down waste. Watch for the report around April 15-16, if DOE actually delivers it to Congress and makes it publicly available. PREDICTION: The report will officially confirm that the MOX option is far more costly than disposal of plutonium of that waste that it is. On release of the report, there will be much hand wringing by MOX boosters and CB&I AREVA MOX Services (designing and building the $12.7 billion MOX plant at SRS) and their political minions (primarily Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson) but they will produce no report of their own. Congress will finally be forced to take in to account that MOX isn't financially sustainable and can't continue. But will Congress hold accountable those DOE mangers and contractors responsible for the massive MOX boondoggle? The handwriting remains on the wall for the fate of the MOX boondoggle. ----- ; 
photo of March 2, 2015, with Tom Clements (SRS Watch), Beatrice Brailsford (Snake River Alliance, Idaho) and Don Hancock (Southwest Research and Information Center, New Mexico) at entrance to Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1), a monument to the failure of plutonium-fueled fast reactors March 20 -- SRS Watch news release "Noted DOE Clean-Up Experts from New Mexico, Idaho to Participate in SRS Citizens Advisory Board Meeting March 23-24 in New Ellenton, South Carolina & Tour Savannah River Site on March 25" Columbia, SC – Nationally recognized public interest experts on Department of Energy clean-up programs will attend the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) meeting on March 23-24 and give a formal presentation to the CAB on the status of the now-closed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) plutonium waste facility in New Mexico. Under a grant from the Community Involvement Fund (CIF) of the New Mexico Community Foundation, Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center (New Mexico) and Beatrice Brailsford of the Snake River Alliance (Idaho) will join Tom Clements and Frances Close of Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) in a series of activities aimed at informing the CAB and public about the status of plutonium waste (transuranic waste, TRU). Such TRU waste has previously been taken to WIPP but the facility is now closed due to accidents in February 2014 and the schedule for its reopening is unclear. TRU waste planned to go to WIPP, including downblended weapon-grade plutonium, is now being stored at the E-Area at SRS, which the group will visit on March 25. see full news release here ----- 
March 20, 2015 - With our obtaining
tax-exempt status from the IRS, it will be easier for you to donate to our
work on SRS and other nuclear issues. Thanks to our friends at Fairewinds
Energy Education for the support and cooperation during 2014 and
2015!
Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) Obtains Tax-Exempt Status, Group No Longer a Project of Fairewinds Energy Education but Will Work in Parallel on Nuclear Challenges SRS Watch to Keep Focus on Plutonium and High-Level Waste at U.S. Department Of Energy’s Savannah River Site Columbia, S.C.— Today, the public-interest watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) announced that it has obtained non-profit tax-exempt status [501(c)(3)] from the Internal Revenue Service in order to magnify its monitoring of nuclear projects carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). For most of 2014 and into 2015, SRS Watch has been a project of Fairewinds Energy Education. By obtaining the formal tax-exempt status, SRS Watch will be independent and better able to focus its work in South Carolina and Georgia where the DOE’s Savannah River Site is located. see full news release linked here SRS Watch facebook page linked here Fairewinds Energy Education linked here ----- 
photo: aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS March 18, 2015 DOE Admission: Foreign Clients Do Not Pay Full Cost of Processing their Nuclear Waste in H-Canyon at SRS At today’s House Energy & Water Development Subcommittee hearing on the DOE’s budget, Representative Jeff Fortenberry asked of Mark Whitney, Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, who pays for reprocessing of foreign nuclear waste in the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS. Mr. Whitney initially stated that foreign clients, such as Canada and Germany, pay. Representative Fortenberry pressed and Whitney then admitted that clients don’t pay fixed costs for the H-Canyon and only pay “variable” costs. Fortenberry pushed further as to why foreign clients didn't pay full costs and Whitney put off the Nebraska Republican and said he'd be glad to talk about the issue later. When it comes to processing of Canadian liquid high-level waste and commercial German spent fuel now under review for reprocessing and dumping in the SRS waste tanks, we congratulate Mr. Whitney for stating that such clients do not pay all costs for reprocessing. And, it appears that the U.S. is saddled with much of the cost for the foreign nuclear waste dumping that is taking place. When will more fiscal conservatives like Rep. Fortenberry require foreign clients to pay all costs for waste dumping at SRS, including both the immediate processing and handling costs and long-term waste disposal costs? Thanks to Representative Fortenberry for his line of questioning, which shows he's monitoring H-Canyon issues. Link to March 18 hearing hearing webcast Stay tuned for release of the "draft Environmental Assessment" on the scheme to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS - coming in April, followed by a 45-day commnet period and public meeting. ----- Another Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request Filed by
SRS Watch for Information on Scheme to Dump Highly Radioactive German
Spent Fuel on SRS - March 14, 2015
Initial acknowledgment letters from DOE to a FOIA request for 1) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SRS and Germany, with Germany paying more money ($3 million?) for development of a new reprocessing technique for German gas reactor spent fuel & 2) "feasibility study" by Savannah River National Lab about technical aspects of the new reprocessing technique: 1. March 5, 2015 response letter from SRS; 2. March 13, 2015 response letter from DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Note: As of March 13, 2015 DOE is apparently still refusing to prepare a "nonproliferation impact assessment" on the nuclear proliferation concerns associated with the new reprocessing technique. The "draft environmental assessment" (EA) on the dumping scheme is expected in April and will include a 45-day comment period and a public meeting, likely in North Augusta, South Carolina. It will be interesting to see how this dodgy proposal goes as it is coming at a time when other special interest are aiming to profit by dumping more low-level nuclear waste on the Barnwell dump adjacent to SRS. Do you see the picture here: Some think that South Carolina is just a dumping ground for others' nuclear garbage? NO THANKS! ----- March 3, 2015: SRS Watch visits Idaho to tour
DOE's Idaho National Lab (INL) and participate in events on plutonium
waste (transuranic waste) issues, along with the Snake River Alliance and
Southwest Research and Information Center.
On a tour of the DOE's Idaho National Lab on March 2, we saw various projects dealing with "clean up" of plutonium waste and high-level nuclear waste, including a tour of the old reprocessing plant. The amount of work to be done at INL to excavate tens of thousands of old barrels dumped from DOE's Rocky Flats site in Colorado, where plutonium "triggers" of nuclear weapons were made, is stunning. Note in the photos pictures of the Experimental Breeder Reactor -1 (EBR-1) a sodium cooled fast reactor, the operation of which thankfully failed to usher in a fleet of reactor that could run off of and "breed" weapon-usable plutonium. ----- Nuclear Dumping ALERT - February 27,
2015: There appears to be an effort afoot by EnergySolutions and their lobbyists to open the Barnwell, South Carolina low-level waste dump to waste originating outside the Atlantic Compact (South Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut). The dump, owned by the State of South Carolina but operated by EnergySolutions, is less than a mile from the eastern boundary of the Savannah River Site. The Barnwell dump, which had been a national low-level dump for many years, was closed to all but Atlantic Compact waste in July 2008 after a battle in the legislature in early 2007. If you know more about the effort to introduce legislation in the South Carolina legislature to open Barnwell to more dumping, please get in touch: srswatch@gmail.org. As people here are tired of being dumped on simply so that certain companies make a profit, any efforts to open Barnwell will be strongly opposed by the public in South Carolina. ---- 
Tom Clements of SRS Watch is headed
to Idaho from March 1-6 to discuss issues related to
management and disposal of plutonium waste (transuranic waste). Such
TRU waste has been disposed of in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
in New Mexico but that site is now closed due to two accidents and its
status remains unclear.
Hosted by the Snake River Alliance, see the tour schedule, which also includes a tour of the DOE's Idaho National Lab (INL), and read more about "What’s Happening at WIPP? What Does It Mean for the Rest of Us?" on the Snake River Alliance website. Snake River Alliance news release on the WIPP-related events in Idaho, March 2-5 ----- On February 23, the NRC released
feeble reasoning to extend MOX plant construction license from 2015 to
2015 - “good cause” means bad process We think we smell a rat down the MOX hole... At a public meeting on January 15, 2015, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff kept saying they made a “good cause” determination to extend the MOX plant construction license, from 2015 to 2025, based on the justification presented by the holder of construction authorization (CB&I AREVA MOX Services). See the NRC's February 12 document linked here But it turns out that that there was no real justification presented and the “good cause” analysis was nothing formal and was merely cursory. It now is seen to have been staff simply accepting what the company presented and not reviewing anything that may have shined negative light on the request, such as self-inflicted management problems and massive cost overruns and schedule delays. SRS Watch pushed NRC staff to justify their “good cause” determination and pointed out that the staff had ignored many reasons not to extend the license, or to extend it only for a few years. See SRS Watch comments – “Is the NRC’s 10-Year License Extension for the MOX Plant Construction a Prelude for More Delays?” (The NRC staff seemed perturbed at the stark honesty of the title of the comment, which we insisted be posted in ADAMS). After the January 15 meeting, as suspicions about the process had been raised, SRS Watch requested of the NRC the formal "good cause determination" and was shocked to be told that told there was no written "good cause" analysis. Subsequently, the NRC came up with the pitiful answers linked above. Here is a bit of the text of the NRC’s written response, posted on February 23 in ADAMS (NRC digital library), to defend their pitiful reasoning to extend the construction license based on a short list of reasons given by MOX Services: “1. Questions asked by members of the public during discussion of CA extension and associated administrative changes. a. Explain the good cause standard basis for extending the CA. Answer provided: As outlined in the staff’s SER and confirmatory order to MOX Services, the NRC evaluated the justification provided by MOX Services in their request for an extension of the CA. The determination of “good cause” was based on a combination of factors and the staff’s determination that the reasons provided were beyond their control, are logical, and that the time requested is reasonable based on the uncertainty of funding for construction.” As shocking as it is, this is the best defense that the NRC can mount to defend its "good cause" determination. The answer reveals just how poor the NRC's regulation of the MOX plant is. In sum, the “good cause” determination was feeble at best and reflects that the NRC will bend over backwards to accommodate MOX Services even when poor or no documentation is provided. The NRC's biased and totally inadequate and incomplete process in making the bogus "good cause" determination reveals but one reason why the mismanaged and illogical MOX project is mired in deep trouble. ----- Opposition mounts to scheme to dump German spent fuel on SRS "Neues Gutachten hält Atommüll in Jülich für dort lagerbar" February 20, 2015, WDR Radio, Germany - articlelinked here translation from Google translate: "Legal Opinion affirms nuclear waste can be stored in Jülich" The radioactive waste at the Forschungszentrum Jülich provides for new topics for discussion in national politics. The Öko-Institut in Darmstadt is deviating from previous assumptions to the conclusion that the risk of earthquakes in Jülich is not so large that the nuclear waste necessarily have to be stored somewhere else. From Dusseldorf says Stefan eavesdropper: What to do with the 280,000 pong ball-sized fuel spheres from the old research reactor? Yet they are in Jülich. But the permission to do so has long expired. An earlier report speaks of a serious earthquake risk. NRW Economics Minister Duin as competent nuclear regulatory authority had therefore ordered an evacuation last year. The given by the Greens in order new report says now: Earthquake risk in principle yes. But it is manageable. Provided however: A new, erbebensichere warehouse for nuclear waste. The Greens nuclear expert Markert says: "Our goal remains the whereabouts of the balls in Jülich - and until such time as a safe repository is found in Germany". ----- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) news release - February 19, 2015 Georgia Public Service Commissioners Ignore Opportunities to Protect Georgia Power Customers from Over Budget and Delayed Vogtle Nuclear Reactors Regulators approve vote on construction monitoring docket news release linked here Plant Vogtle, site of two operating reactors and two AP1000 reactors under construction, is right across the Savannah River from SRS. ----- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) continues to point out failures by DOE/NNSA in managing construction of the MOX plant at SRS. How long will DOE go on ignoring sound management practices? How long will the MOX cover-up continue? Meanwhile, cost overruns and delays mount with the MOX boondoggle and DOE's effort to ignore GAO recommendations is wearing thin. See GAO report released on February 11, 2015: “High-Risk Series: An Update”linked here See page 300 for language on mismanagement of the failed MOX project: “In February 2014 we reported that DOE had forecasted a cost increase of approximately $2.9 billion and a schedule delay of about 3 years for NNSA’s Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility that is currently under construction at DOE’s Savannah River Site. This increase would raise the total estimated cost of the facility to approximately $7.7 billion and extend the completion date to 2019. Since the project began in 1997, the estimated cost of the project has increased by more than $6.3 billion and the schedule has been delayed by about 15 years. We found that, among other things, NNSA had not analyzed the root causes of the construction cost increases to help identify lessons learned and to help address the agency’s difficulty in completing projects within cost and schedule. We also found that NNSA’s most recent cost estimates for the overall plutonium disposition program, of which the MOX facility is a part, did not fully reflect all the characteristics of reliable cost and schedule estimates, placing the program at risk of further cost increases. We recommended that, among other things, DOE conduct a root cause analysis of the program’s cost increases and ensure that future estimates of the program’s life-cycle cost and cost and schedule for the program’s construction projects meet all best practices for reliable estimates. DOE generally agreed with our recommendations.” But DOE continues to do nothing to rein in the MOX boondoggle. The burning questions remain: Will Congress step in to demand this abysmal situation be addressed? How long can this cover-up up of management negligence go on? When will DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services managers be held accountable? ??????? ----- Analysis by Nuclear Watch of New Mexico of DOE's Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, February 11, 2015 DOE Nuclear Weapons Budget Up 10%, Equals Cold War Record --- Huge Startup for Nuclear Cruise Missile Warhead --- $4 Billion Slated for LANL Plutonium Pit Production Facilities --- Cleanup and Dismantlement Funding Flat analysis linked here Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, like SRS Watch, is a member group of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (public interest groups near DOE sites) ----- Political Opposition in Germany to Spent Fuel Dumping at SRS The Green party in Nordrhein-Westfallen (NRW), Germany has taken the position to formally oppose shipment of German spent fuel off the storage site in Juelich. As the Greens are part of the coalition government of NRW, this is an important step to stopping the dumping of the highly radioactive nuclear waste at SRS. link to February 6 statement link to February 7 news release ----- DOE Budget Request: Gloom and Doom for MOX The DOE's Fiscal Year 2016 budget request released on Monday, February 2 reveals that MOX plant construction has soared to $12.7 billion and yearly operating cost jumped from an estimated $543 million in the Fiscal Year 2015 to a whopping $671 million/year in the FY 2016 budget request! Forget that there are no MOX customers, those figures alone underscore that the mismanaged MOX program is not viable and should have been terminated years ago. See DOE budget documents here Budget volume 1, for the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, contains the MOX horror story - click here --- see pages 628 and 634 in volume 1 for the $12.7 billion cost of MOX plant construction and page 636 for the $671 million/year MOX plant operating cost --- Time to get on with terminating this pathetic boondoggle called MOX and pursue other plutonium disposal options. ----- February 2, 2015: DOE budget for Fiscal Year 2016 to be released - MOX boondoggle barely survives for now, fate to be decided by plutonium disposition alternatives analysis now underway SRS Watch and Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) news releases on budget linked here: SRS Watch has Learned MOX Funding Flat in Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request to Congress, Fate of Project Remains Subject to Plutonium Disposition Review Now Under Way Budget Request of Feb. 2 States MOX Plant Most Current Cost Estimate is $12.7 Billion, with Completion in 2027-2031, Mismanaged Project Not Demonstrated to be Financially Sustainable or Technically Viable SRS Watch has learned that the review of plutonium disposition options, as required by Congress in the appropriations legislation passed into law in December 2014, is moving forward and the review team was recently at SRS. The review team visited the K-Area, where plutonium is stored and could be packaged for disposal as waste, and the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). The budget request affirms that a company called Aerospace Corporation has been contracted by DOE to assist with the review, which is looking into full cost of both MOX and various methods of disposal of plutonium as waste. Aerospace is to provide independent cost and schedule estimates for plutonium disposition alternatives but it is unknown if the company has the expertise needed to review complex, costly plutonium programs. The analysis is due to Congress in mid-April but may be ready for internal agency review well before that date. full SRS Watch and ANA news releases linked here SRS Watch is a member of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), a 28-year-old network of public interest groups located near DOE sites and other nuclear sites. -----  Aerial
shot of Vogtle 3 & 4 construction site, October 25, 2014, ©High Flyer,
special to SRS Watch
Breaking news, January 30, 2015:
Georgia Power admits big delays in Vogtle AP1000 nuclear power project
(across the river from SRS), cost increases to hit rate payers
hard
SRS Watch publicly stated in August 2014 that these delays were coming as South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) announced on August 11 that 12-18 month delays in its twin AP1000 project in Fairfield County, South Carolina. The two projects are almost identical so delays and cost increases at one project mean the same thing will happen at the other, both being designed and built by Westinghouse and CB&I (also building the MOX plant). We estimate that this large delay could add $1 billion to the cost of the project but it's not yet clear who will pay. Watch out Georgia Power rate payers! see 8K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, dated January 29, 2015 UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D. C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT "Georgia Power has been notified by Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and CB&I / Stone & Webster, Inc. (collectively, the “Contractor”) of the Contractor’s revised forecast for completion of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, which would incrementally delay the previously disclosed estimated in-service dates by 18 months (from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the second quarter of 2019 for Unit 3 and from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2020 for Unit 4). Georgia Power has not agreed to any changes to the guaranteed substantial completion dates. Georgia Power does not believe that the Contractor’s revised forecast reflects all efforts that may be possible to mitigate the Contractor’s delay." see complete SEC filing by Georgia Power here SRS Watch news release of August 12, 2014: "SCE&G Reveals Significant Delays with VC Summer Nuclear Reactor Construction Project; Additional Schedule Delay of 12-18 Months with Unknown Cost Increases to Rate Payers" -- linked here -----  SRS
Citizens Advisory Board meeting of January 27, 2015: Dr. Marolyn Parson
passes the gavel of the CAB's chair to Mr. Harold Simon, who now takes
over leadership of the CAB. Thanks to Dr. Parson for services - she
always asked good questions of DOE - and good luck to Mr. Simon. --- photo
by Tom Clements of SRS Watch, srswatch@gmail.com
January 26, 2015:
SRS Cleanup Cost Estimate Soars, with Major
Delay
WOW!!! This could have a huge impact on the already stressed DOE budget for the next 50 years, with enduring environmental risks. This news underscores the need to terminate the $30+-billion MOX project and stop pursuing such things as German nuclear waste dumping, reprocessing and imaginary reactors, all of which are costly and would result in yet more nuclear waste at SRS. DOE reveals before SRS Citizens Advisory Board that estimated clean-up cost of SRS Cold War waste soars $23 billion to $91 to $109 billion, with site clean-up completion delayed from 2042 to 2065 Presentation to the SRS Citizen Advisory Board by Doug Hintze – January 26, New Ellenton, South Carolina (city right by main entrance to SRS) “Environmental Management Cleanup Program Fiscal Year 2014 Integrated Lifecycle Estimate Update” See slide 7: Extended Environmental Management (EM) Completion Schedule 23 year [sic] from Fiscal Year 2042 to Fiscal Year 2065 Cost increase of $25.2 billion Lifecycle Estimate Range of $91 billion to $109 billion with 8.6 year Schedule Contingency - Includes $23 billion Actual Cost through Fiscal Year 2013 see presentation linked here ------ January 18, 2015: Over the Last Forty Year, there Have Been Major Savannah River Site (SRS) Victories on Behalf of the Public and Environment! See them here. Costly and unnecessary projects designed to bilk the taxpayer and add large amounts of nuclear waste to SRS have been defeated, saving the taxpayer billions of dollars. Examples of DOE programs defeated by the concerned public: a new reactor to produce nuclear bomb materials, halt of operation two decrepit defense reactors (without containment domes) at the site, defeat of plans to bring highly radioactive commercial spent fuel to the site in a $25-billion reprocessing plant & defeat of plans for a facility to build the plutonium "pits" (cores) of nuclear weapons at SRS. See list of public victories here These victories underscore that managers at the site must keep the focus on the urgent clean-up of hazardous nuclear waste at the site and not get diverted by fanciful programs designed to enrich only a few. Clean-up is the king of jobs at the site and managers must renew efforts to secure adequate funding to carry out the essential programs over the next 30 years. Special Interests Out to Rip Off the Tax Payer be Warned! SRS Watch is proud to have been a part of most of the SRS victories and pledges to keep fighting with others for the environment, tax payers and general public located near SRS in South Carolina and Georgia! ----- Comment
of Savannah River Site Watch, at the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's Public Meeting on MOX Plant Construction
Regulation, New Ellenton, SC (adjacent to SRS), January 15,
2015 The meeting included an NRC presentation on why a 10-year license extension, to 2025, was given for the MOX project. The NRC should have been more thorough in its review of the license extension request and should have delved into the reasons for the massive cost overruns and schedule delays, including if safety is being impact by chronic budget stresses on the project. But at least the NRC did interact with the public at the meeting, something that mangers of the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and CB&I AREVA MOX Services dare not do given that their abhorrence of the public is a key strategy in their cover-up of MOX mismanagment. Is the NRC’s 10-Year License Extension for the MOX Plant Construction a Prelude for More Delays? "As most aspects of the U.S. Department of Energy’s troubled MOX program are being hidden from the public, as part of an apparent cover-up by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration and its contractors, a public meeting on the role of the NRC in regulating the MOX plant construction is welcome." ... "As the NRC has taken into account the problems outside its scope in reviewing the status of the license, it is incumbent upon the NRC to now reveal just when it thinks that the project will be concluded within the additional 10 years it has allotted for construction. At the outside, only a few years’ extension was warranted and one must wonder why a full decade’s extension was allowed when the project supposedly should be finished within 5 years from now. The NRC must have an idea that given the problems we have seen to this point that more such problems can be anticipated. The 10-year license extension thus appears to have put the NRC in the position of simply accepting that more construction delays are inevitable." see full statement here ----- January 15, 2015 No surprise here: The US DOE's monthly schedule of "KEY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS" was posted today and the release of plutonium disposition final EIS, including on MOX use, has been once again delayed. The "Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS, AL, NM, SC, TN (DOE/EIS-0283-S2)" is listed as being "under departmental review," which has been the case for over 1 1/2 years. How much longer will this defunct EIS be listed? Suggestion to DOE: As it's clear the MOX boondoggle is going nowhere, go ahead and formally cancel the EIS. This will pave the way for a new EIS on disposition of plutonium as waste. Time to get on with it! see EIS schedule here ----- 
SRS Watch news release - January 12, 2015
DOE Management Report Outlines Deep Problems with Management of Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project and Indicates Cost of the MOX Plant could be Up to $12 Billion MOX Cost and Schedule Continues to Spin Out of Control as DOE Studies the Problem - Will Secretary Moniz Act and Ax MOX? Columbia, SC – A report on project management problems just released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) indicates that the cost of construction of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plant at the Savannah River Site (SRS) could reach a stunning $12 billion, which is far above the current public estimate of $7.7 billion. The report, to be formally released by Secretary of Energy Moniz on January 15, indicates that the MOX plant is 50% complete and that the cost to the tax payer of the project’s “capital work range from $8‐12 billion depending on the funding profiles.” Currently, DOE’s publicly released cost estimate for the construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is $7.7 billion but the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) is seeking, via the Freedom of Information Act, internal cost estimates being withheld from public scrutiny. full news release linked here Websites for report: http://energy.gov/articles/improving-project-management-department-energy http://energy.gov/downloads/improving-project-management DOE's Improving Project Management Report linked here ----- SRS Watch news release - January 7, 2015 FOIA Documents Reveal Savannah River Site (SRS) Forced by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to Halt Promotion of “Small Modular Reactors” (SMRs) with Improperly Diverted Clean-Up Funds Failure of SRS and Contractors to Secure SMR Funding Doomed “Enterprise SRS” as a “Vision” for Future of SRS Indications are that the diverted funds in question have not been reimbursued into the SRS clean-up fund. If you have information about that please contact SRS Watch at srswatch@gmail.com and/or contact the DOE's Inspector General's hotline. Columbia, SC – Documents obtained by Savannah River Site Watch under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) was halted from diverting clean-up funds into promotion of “small modular reactors” (SMRs). The improper use of clean-up funds was the beginning of the demise of “Enterprise SRS,” the project which had based future of SRS on highly speculative “small modular reactors,” according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). The documents confirm that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed SRS in September 2012 to stop the main site contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), from improperly spending clean-up funds on SMR promotion. The action resulted in almost $750,000 of clean-up funding via DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) being identified as being improperly used on SMRs from the “General and Administrative” (GA) account administered by SRNS. full release linked here ----- 
SRS Watch news release - December 30,
2014
DOE Ends 2014 by Failing to Justify Bonus Payment to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) for Managing Security-Related Projects at Savannah River Site (SRS) With No Explanation, DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Pays SRNS an Additional $16 Million for Work for Fiscal Year 2014 Columbia, SC -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has paid the main contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) an additional $16.02 million for simply carrying out agreed contractual commitments for security related work during Fiscal Year 2014. According to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch), the payment has not been publicly justified and the procedures to award such annual fees remains unacceptably murky. full SRS Watch news release linked here DOE's November 28, 2014 fee memo linked here DOE's November 2013 "Performance Evaluation Plan" linked here ----- How much money will the construction of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plant receive for Fiscal Year 2015? As of December 31, funding in the current fiscal year (October 1, 2014 - September 30, 2015) for the monumental MOX failure remains unclear. True to form, DOE simply won't inform the public as to how much of its money is being wasted on the construction of the MOX plant at the Savannah River Site. Congress has recently passed legislation appropriating $345 million “for continued construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility, including Other Project Costs.” (see language here from Congress on “Energy and Water” funding for DOE) But what are those "other project costs?" The portion of the $345 million for actual construction of the MOX plant at the Savannah River Site is yet to be revealed. If it all goes to construction, where will support and other associated funding come from? One Thing is Clear: Senator Lindsey Graham, a big spender from South Carolina who places protection of MOX contractors above all else, suffered a big defeat with his failed attempt to secure higher MOX funding The amount passed for the construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) and other costs is far below what Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) got through the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee last June. Graham got $515 million through the committee “to support plutonium and uranium disposition activities,” with $400,000,000 to continue construction of MFFF. (see Senate report on the funding here) With lower funding per year for MOX, the overall cost will only increase if the project is dragged out over a longer period of time. (But isn't that a goal of some contractors? Make a failed project like this as costly as possible for as long as possible...) Considering that DOE reports in the Plutonium Disposition Working Group report (page A-6) of April 2014 (and in the FY 2015 budget request, page 552 ) that the operation of the MOX plant alone is estimated to be $543 million per year, the $345 million is far below the amount needed per year to make the program sustainable. Where will Senator Graham find ~$800 million per year for the next two decades to carry out this grossly mismanaged project? Meanwhile, he hasn’t lifted a finger to hold managers of the MOX boondoggle accountable for their irresponsible actions in creating the MOX mess. When will Senator Graham and his MOX booster allies, particularly Senator Tim Scott and Representative Joe Wilson, act to reign in this out-of-control project and hold top managers accountable? Though their pals at CB&I AREVA MOX Services may continue to rake in tax-payer money as they stumble around with their failed project, the MOX albatross will only continue to be a weighty burden around the necks of those politicians if they don't act in the public interest. (We agree that there is no evidence that they will ever act in the public interest concerning the funding and management of the MOX boondoogle.) The dirty MOX ball is in Senator Graham’s court and he is bobbling it badly. ----- South Carolina GOVERNOR’S NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING Gressette Building, Room #207 January 8, 2015 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Agenda includes: Barnwell LLW Disposal Facility Annual Update,EPA Update on SRS Site Remediation & Cleanup, DHEC Update, SRNL Annual Update, H Canyon Update, Used Nuclear Fuel Storage Update & Public Comments agenda linked here ----- SRS Watch news release - December 17,
2014 Savannah River Site (SRS) Considers Controversial Direct Disposal of Containers of Surplus Weapon-Grade Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico DOE Receives Transport License from NRC for Plutonium Shipping Container; Plan to Directly Dispose of Plutonium in WIPP Would Require Costly, Problematic Security Upgrades at WIPP Photos: DOE 9975 35-gallon shipping container with smaller DOE 3013 nested container that stores plutonium Columbia, South Carolina – Documents quietly released by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reveal that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is taking initial steps for the controversial direct disposal of containers of unprocessed weapon-grade plutonium in the currently closed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility in New Mexico, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). The documents, discovered by SRS Watch in the NRC’s digital library, reveal that DOE has now obtained a required license from the NRC for transport of a specialized plutonium shipping container to be taken to WIPP for disposal. DOE has confirmed to SRS Watch that the plutonium transport container has received the needed license. The approved shipping container would hold a smaller inner container bearing up to 5 kilograms of plutonium materials now stored at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The unprecedented, formative plan to directly place plutonium containers in WIPP with no processing or downblending appears to be in the preliminary stages of development. DOE has confirmed to SRS Watch that it is looking into such direct disposal of plutonium. The disposal method, if WIPP were to reopen and was available, would pose a number of challenges, particularly in relation to placement of costly, extensive security upgrades at WIPP in order to safeguard the plutonium from theft. The cost and political sensitivity of adding security measures at WIPP would likely make implementation of the disposal method difficult to implement, according to SRS Watch. etc. full release here ----- The Release of DOE’s final “Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement” (SEIS) on plutonium disposition and MOX is delayed yet another month, remaining “under department review.” No surprise there given how the poorly managed project remains in limbo, with no updated, verified cost analysis or schedule for the failed MOX project. This listing of the schedule of key DOE EIS documents was posted on the website of the DOE's Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance on the late afternoon of December 15, 2014. All but one EIS listed under the DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) or DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have uncertain schedules, revealing the extent of DOE's poor planning across the board. See“Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS, AL, NM, SC, TN (DOE/EIS-0283-S2)” - linked here Note that the release of the document remains "Under Departmental Review" as has been the case for the last year and a half. NNSA's "Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" website linked here ----- 
"Upstate Forever" opposes German
spent fuel import to SRS
This well-respected conservation group in northern South Carolina (Greenville & Spartanburg South Carolina area, to the mountains - "the Upstate") has sent a memo to the SC congressional delegation and Governor Nikki Haley against import of German spent fuel. Upstate forever is a key player in the South Carolina legislature and with the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), the state regualtory entity which regulates many aspects of clean-up at SRS. See the memo here Thanks to Upstate Forever! ----- 
U.S. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policies On the Line: Has DOE Prepared a"Nuclear Non-Proliferation Impact Assessment" for New Spent Fuel Reprocessing Technique being Developed at SRS? In a letter to SRS Watch dated December 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy has acknowledged receipt of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting the "nuclear non-proliferation impact assessment" prepared on a new reprocessing technology being developed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), to reprocess German graphite spent fuel to remove uranium. The new reprocessing method for the German commercial spent fuel holds proliferation concerns in that it could be used to extract weapon-grade uranium from such graphite spent fuel. --- see FOIA initiial response letter linked here Given that DOE is actively considering the import of German commercial graphite spent fuel to SRS, has the proliferation impact assessment actually been prepared? If not, why not? The response to the FOIA request will be telling and will indicate if DOE aims to honor the spirit of the nuclear non-proliferation regime or is attempting to weaken it so that special interests can profit by the reprocessing and dumping of German spent fuel at SRS. Stay tuned to see if DOE is working to strengthen nuclear non-proliferation policies or undermine and weaken them. ----- 
December 10, 2014 - SRS Watch: Anticipated Funding Level for the Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Boondoggle Hands Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) a Defeat in His Effort to Increase Construction Funding; Funding Level and Legislative Language Show Congress Will Not Fund MOX to the $800+ Million Annual Level it Needs to be Viable Congress to Authorize a Report on Plutonium Disposition Evaluating the Cheaper Option "to downblend and dispose of the material in a repository" Photo from October 25, 2014: MOX plant under construction at SRS, from the legal height of 2000 feet, ©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch - this photo and others from the same monitoring overflight may be used with permission, contact srswatch(-at-)gmail.com Omnibus Energy & Water funding language linked here page 49 (94 pdf) Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility, Savannah River.-The agreement provides $345,000,000 for continued construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility, including Other Project Costs. The agreement includes statutory language that prohibits the NNSA from using funds to place the project in cold standby in fiscal year 2015. Instead of the reporting requirements in the House report, the NNSA is directed to submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 120 days after enactment of this Act an independently-verified lifecycle cost estimate for the option to complete construction and operate the MOX facility and the option to downblend and dispose of the material in a repository. ----- A U.S. Department of Energy official revealed at
the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) on December 2 that the release
of a draft "environmental analysis" on the import and dumping of German
commercial spent fuel had been delayed from January until some point
before March 1. Photos above: Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, in front of the AVR reactor building at Juelich, Germany on September 23, 2014. Some officials at the Juelich site aim to illegally dump 300,000 graphite fuel balls from the long-closed commercial gas-cooled AVR reactor on SRS. That spent fuel is stored in 152 robust casks stored in a building near to the reactor. Clements was able to visit that building on his tour of Forschungzentrum Juleich (FZJ) but no photos of the waste casks were allowed. While the delay may in part be due to technical reasons related to processing of the spent fuel at SRS, it's clear that the political situation in Germany over the proposal to illegally export the spent fuel to SRS remains in turmoil. Now, we are learning that there may be no transport at all in 2015 of the spent fuel, meaning that delay in the decision-making in Germany about this controversial issue has likewise been delayed. It's time to end the illegal scheme to dump German spent fuel on the Savannah River Site! "Atommülltransporte aus Jülich? NRW erwartet bis Ende März gutachterliche Bewertung" - article linked here Publiziert am 5. Dezember 2014 von Dirk Seifert Bis Ende März 2015 bewerten im Auftrag der Atomaufsicht unter Minister Duin in NRW Gutachter die Alternativen für die weitere Lagerung bzw. den Abtransport von hochradioaktivem Atommüll aus Jülich. Weil die Erdbebensicherheit im Lager in Jülich nicht nachgewiesen ist, muss der Betreiber, das Forschungszentrum Jülich, aufzeigen, wie Abhilfe geschaffen werden kann, um die Sicherheit dauerhaft zu gewährleisten. Neben einer weiteren Lagerung vor Ort, sind der Abtransport nach Ahaus sowie der Export in die USA als Option zu prüfen, so der Minister heute in der Endlager-Kommission. Ende des ersten Quartals sollen für das Land NRW externe Gutachter jetzt die Vorschläge prüfen und bewerten, bevor danach die Politik entscheiden wird. Transporte in 2015 erwartet der Minister aber nicht. Translation via Google Translate: Nuclear waste transports from Jülich? NRW expected by the end of March expert evaluation Posted on December 5, 2014 Dirk Seifert By the end of March 2015 vote on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory under Prime Duin in NRW appraiser alternatives for further storage or removal of highly radioactive nuclear waste from Jülich. Because the earthquake safety in the warehouse in Jülich has not been established, the provider, Forschungszentrum Jülich show how this can be remedied in order to ensure the safety permanently. In addition to further storage spot, the transport to Ahaus and export to the United States shall be tested as an option, as the minister today. In the repository Commission End of the first quarter to the NRW external experts now consider and evaluate before then will decide the policy proposals. Transport in 2015 not expected but the Minister. ----- 
SRS Watch news release on MOX funding authorized
by Congress - MOX Slowly Bleeding to Death, Wasting as Much Money as
Possible as it Goes Down - December 3,
2014
photo: MOX boondoggle is in rear of this October 25, 2014 shot of H-Area, ©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch - can be used with credit news release linked here Defense Act Passes in U.S. House on December 4 and Heads to Senate: MOX Construction Clings to Life, Funding Level Authorized for MOX Plant Construction - $314 Million - is Far below the Amount Need to Make MOX Viable Over the Long Term; Report on Plutonium Disposition Options and MOX Closeout Required, Reflecting Deep Bipartisan Concern About Fate of Mismanaged Program Columbia, SC – The language of the agreed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 has been released and, as expected, the funding of construction of the plutonium fuel (MOX) facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is authorized at a level which barely keeps it alive. Reflecting continued bipartisan concern about the troubled MOX project, the act requires a report on alternatives to MOX, with the report to address both a future funding profile if MOX continues as well as steps and cost to close out the MOX program. “The low funding level authorized for the MOX plant construction and requirement of a report on plutonium disposition alternatives is a sign of continued congressional disapproval of how the mismanaged project is proceeding,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch. Clements has tracked plutonium disposition since its inception in the mid-1990s. “By requiring the report to inform the secretary about how the MOX project would be closed out is a strong indication that the fate of the MOX project continues to hang in the balance and that Congress is leaving open the option to eliminate the mismanaged program,” added Clements. “The low level of funding for the MOX projects will guarantee that it will fall further behind schedule and that the cost of the program will go up, more reasons that beleaguered project should be terminated once plutonium disposition alternatives are clarified.” SRS Watch has long endorsed disposal of plutonium as waste, via immobilization in existing high-level waste at the Savannah River Site. etc. ----- 
The Lutheran
Church
in
Jülich, Germany - the city adjacent to the site where
German gas-cooled reactor spent fuel is stored - has adopted a resolution
against export of the commercial nuclear waste to the Savannah River
Site. Photo: On a panel with German colleagues, SRS Watch gave a presentation in Jülich to church members and the public on September 23, 2014 and made it clear that DOE's claim that SRS is a "disposition" site for German spent fuel is totally incorrect. "Kein Export von radioaktivem Material in die USA aus dem rückgebauten AVR-Reaktor in Jülich" - dated November 15, 2014 - linked here, in German "No export of radioactive material to the USA from the decommissioned AVR reactor in Jülich" link to the Jülich church: "Herzlich Willkommen im Kirchenkreis Jülich" ----- What kind of game is DOE's Office of Management playing in regard to it's chronic lack of proper management and oversight of the MOX project? On November 26, 2014, the "project dashboard" for the month was released and the cost of the MOX plant remains frozen at a figure from 2008: $4.8 billion. The official figure has been reported to be $7.7 billion and at least one DOE official has testified to Congress that the cost could be closer to $10 billion. "Project Dashboard - November 2014 - Post CD-2 Active Projects" - linked here The monthly assessment still has the project in the red zone - "Project is expected to breach its Performance Baseline cost, schedule, or scope" - but no updated, validated cost estimate. When will DOE's Office of Management finally exercise proper control over the MOX boondoggle? After a decade of continuous mismanagement we aren't holding our breath on that one. Meanwhile, release of DOE's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on MOX use remains under department review after about about a year and a half of being totally stalled - "Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS, AL, NM, SC, TN (DOE/EIS-0283-S2)" - linked here ----- 
Article on German
spent fuel dilemma and plans to dump on the Savannah River Site (SRS) - in
the November 2014 magazine of the German environmental group
"Robin Wood": "Atommüll nach Amerika: Jülicher Castoren sollen zur Wiederaufbereitung in die USA exportiert werden" - article linked here with translation: "Nuclear waste to America" --- photo above : of Tom Clements of SRS Watch during presentation in Hamburg, Germany, September 24, 2014, by Robin Wood photos of Robin Wood action at the Juelich site - German commercial spent fuel is stored at the site and some want to profit by dumping it at SRS ----- Things are already gearing up in Germany to protest the shipment of German commercial highly radioactive commercial spent fuel, in CASTOR casks, from Forschungszentrum Juelich (FZJ) to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Anyone up for a trip to Germany in 2015?! --- more photos on Ausgestrahlt Facebook page This demonstration - see photos below and on the SRS Watch Facebook page - took place on November 19, 2014 outside the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Bonn. SRS Watch thanks our German friends and colleagues for the demonstration and for providing photos. Though a decision may not come until mid-2015, opposition to the transport is strong in Germany and public opinion near SRS is firmly against more nuclear waste imported to SRS with no exit strategy. Everyone knows that SRS is not a spent fuel "disposition" site so why are German and US officials continuing with their feeble efforts to claim it is? As FZJ says in "Frequently Asked Questions on the AVR Fuel Elements:" "In its current form, the nuclear fuel in the spent AVR fuel elements is not weapons-grade." So why is DOE refusing to prepare a "non-proliferation impact assessment" on the new reprocessing technique being developed at SRS (at Germany's expense)? One answer: as the new reprocessing method poses the biggest proliferation threat in this whole messy deal, DOE would prefer not to talk about the US and German contribution to increasing global nuclear non-proliferation risk. Can such a shaky, self-serving strategy endure? On November 12, SRS Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with DOE for its "non-proliferation impact assessment" so we'll see if they come up empty or produce a document. (linked here) 
November 20, 2014: "Supplemental EIS" on MOX Use Remains "Under Departmental Review" The DOE's MOX boodoggle remains in perpetual uncertainly, as reflected by the status of the "supplemental environmental impact statement" (SEIS) on use of experimental weapon-grade MOX fuel in reactors owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). For about 1 1/2 years, the SEIS has been "under departmental review" and as of November 14 that remains the case. See the DOE's EIS monthly schedule here. On the chart linked above, see number 13 in the list: "Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental EIS, AL, NM, SC, TN (DOE/EIS-0283-S2)" It's been over three years since the draft SEIS was released, demonstrating just long DOE and Congress have floundered about plutonium disposition and the unsustainable costs of the MOX program. See link to DOE's SEIS documents here. Meanwhile, TVA has confirmed to SRS Watch that its consideration of MOX use remains in limbo, as has been the case for two years or more. ----- SRS Watch news - November 19, 2014 - news release linked here Documents Obtained via FOIA Reveal Extent of Secret Planning to Import, Dump German Spent Fuel at Savannah River Site; Public Knowingly Kept in Dark for Over Two Years about Controversial Plans to Import Highly Radioactive Waste via Charleston, SC; Proliferation Concerns being Ignored -- six Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents linked in news release and at: http://www.srswatch.org/freedom-of-information-act-documents.html Columbia, South Carolina, USA – Documents obtained via a U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) engaged in secret planning to import and dump German spent fuel at the Savannah River Site (SRS), located near Aiken, South Carolina, well over two years before DOE bothered to inform the public about the ongoing bilateral negotiations on the controversial plan. The technical and diplomatic documents, obtained by the public-interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch), reveal details of plans for the unprecedented import of German highly radioactive graphite commercial spent fuel. The documents confirm that U.S.-Germany negotiations on the controversial deal began in earnest as early as February 2012, according to a letter from DOE to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. “It is now clear DOE officials, by calculation, kept plans from the public for over two years that they were engaged in plans to dump highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany at SRS,” said Tom Clements, director of the public interest group SRS Watch, based in Columbia, South Carolina. “The plans developed in secrecy confirm that DOE has little regard for growing public concern about nuclear waste import to SRS, a risky and arrogant strategy that will likely sink the misguided proposal,” added Clements. “This scheme is nothing short of illegal nuclear dumping of problematic nuclear waste by Germany that has no legal basis under German law." etc. see full news release release here ----- 
A big congratulations to Harold Simon and Nina
Spinelli for being elected at the November 18 meeting of the Savannah
River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS
CAB) as chair and co-chair! A wonderful team to lead the
CAB!
With their leadership, we can expect the CAB to address a host of SRS clean-up issues with openness and objectivity. We look forward to the future of the CAB under their leadership. Also - thanks to Marolyn Parson, who has done a great job chairing the CAB over the last year and who has helped increase public awareness about the risks of more nuclear waste being brought into SRS with no exit path. Marolyn won't leave until after the January meeting, so we can expect her steady hand for a while longer. ----- SRS Watch news release - November 18, 2014: SCE&G Set to Remove Highly Radioactive Spent Fuel from Cooling Pool at V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant and Place it in On-Site “Dry Cask” Storage Facility Columbia, SC – Underscoring the increasing risks of build-up of highly radioactive spent fuel at the site, South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) is set to soon start off-loading spent fuel from the crowded storage pool at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant north of Columbia, South Carolina, for placement in large storage casks adjacent to the reactor building. SCE&G notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a letter dated November 12 that it “plans to begin its initial spent fuel loading campaign on or after May 4, 2015.” The notification, required by NRC regulations, was posted in the NRC’s digital library (ADAMS) on November 17 and was discovered by Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). The notification means that SCE&G is soon to open the “dry cask” facility that has been under construction at the site. see full release ----- Is SRS prepared for an accident or not? The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) isn't so sure.... See DNFSB weekly report posted on November 13 (for the week of October 10, 2014): "Emergency Preparedness (EP): A site rep review of the fiscal year (FY) 2005 – 2014 budgets found that FY-to-FY funding for the central SRS EP program declined in 7 of the last 9 intervals, including the last five straight years. The number of SRNS staff supporting EP in the central organization and the facilities (excluding those who directly support the SRS Operations Center) declined 40% between FY11 and FY14. These numbers do not tell the whole story because the EP program has lost several experienced EP staff due to attrition while recent hires have often had little to no prior EP experience beyond being a drill participant. The decrease in staff has reduced the capability to conduct routine assessments of the EP program and develop new emergency drill and exercise scenarios. For example, SRNS currently only has one employee working on EP scenarios and that person is dedicated to the annual site EP exercise. The shortage of drill scenario writers contributes to issues like: 1) the backlog of drills that need to be written or updated to be consistent with current emergency action levels, 2) the age of drill scenarios (some have not been revised in 9 years), and 3) the limited number of EP drills in some facilities (some facilities only have 2 or 3 active EP drill scenarios). Repeated use of the same limited number of old drill scenarios can lead to a false sense of preparedness when emergency responders know what initiated each scenario and what “surprises” are coming up later in the drill." see full weekly report ------ 
Foreign plutonium secretly dumped and stranded at Savannah River Site - Why? In spite of their being no security concerns now that it's at SRS, DOE/NNSA fumbles the issue and ain't talking.... DOE has openly discussed receipt of Swedish plutonium at SRS. Why is DOE afraid to openly talk about plutonium from Canada, Belgium and Italy being brought this year to SRS? As there are now no security concerns about those transports, via a PNTL ship into Charleston, South Carolina, could it be that DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are embarrassed to discuss this as there is no disposition plan at all for this stranded material (not a part of the program to dispose of US weapons plutonium)? DOE/NNSA: What is the disposal plan for this foreign-origin plutonium and why was it brought to SRS? Is import of UK-origin plutonium now stored in Japan being considered for dumping at SRS? (It belongs in the UK...) Photo: On the docks in October 2013: Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. (PNTL) ships docked in Barrow-in-Furness, UK, south of the Sellafield nuclear site. Can we expect our old friend the Pacific Egret to attempt another "secret" plutonium run into Charleston? On the Pacific Heron, on the left, note the covered weapon to the left on the small deck just below the escape boat; you can almost see the cover over the barrel of the gun. Would such a weapon stop someone aiming to steal US-origin weapon-grade plutonium from Japan? Or, will that be done under US naval escort (lurking beyond the horizon)? For information on the Swedish plutonium to SRS - see this document: "REMOVAL OF LEGACY PLUTONIUM MATERIALS FROM SWEDEN" SRNL-STI-2013-00487 Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials PATRAM 2013 August 18-23, 2013, San Francisco, CA, USA ABSTRACT U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Global Threat Reduction (GTRI) recently removed legacy plutonium materials from Sweden in collaboration with AB SVAFO, Sweden. This paper details the activities undertaken through the U.S. receiving site (Savannah River Site (SRS)) to support the characterization, stabilization, packaging and removal of legacy plutonium materials from Sweden in 2012. This effort was undertaken as part of GTRI’s Gap Materials Program and culminated with the successful removal of plutonium from Sweden as announced at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit. The removal and shipment of plutonium materials to the United States was the first of its kind under NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative. The Environmental Assessment for the U.S. receipt of gap plutonium material was approved in May 2010. Since then, the multi-year process yielded many first time accomplishments associated with plutonium packaging and transport activities including the application of the of DOE-STD-3013 stabilization requirements to treat plutonium materials outside the U.S., the development of an acceptance criteria for receipt of plutonium from a foreign country, the development and application of a versatile process flow sheet for the packaging of legacy plutonium materials, the identification of a plutonium container configuration, the first international certificate validation of the 9975 shipping package and the first intercontinental shipment using the 9975 shipping package. This paper will detail the technical considerations in developing the packaging process flow sheet, defining the key elements of the flow sheet and its implementation, determining the criteria used in the selection of the transport package, developing the technical basis for the package certificate amendment and the reviews with multiple licensing authorities and most importantly integrating the technical activities with the Swedish partners. document linked here ----- 
German State Government Analysis: Export
of THTR Spent Fuel NOT Legal
On November 12, 2014, the Committee of Science and Education of the German Bundestag (Parliament) will discuss the issue of export of German commercial spent fuel to SRS. As part of that debate, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has released an analysis that it commissioned determining that the export of the THTR spent fuel is not legal. The analysis, dated February 2, 2014, determined, among other things, that: 1. The THTR gas-cooled reactor was not a research reactor and was a commercial reactor. 2. Reprocessing of the spent fuel in the US is not allowed under German law. 3. The material involved is high-level nuclear waste and its export to the US would constitute a breach of Euratom directives. See "Rechtliche Zulässigkeit der Verbringung der bestrahlten THTR-Brennelementekugeln in die USA zum Zwecke der Wiederaufarbeitung und des Verbleibs unter Berücksichtigung des europäischen Rechts und diesbezügliche Rechtsschutzmöglichkeiten Dritter" (Legal admissibility of shipments of irradiated fuel elements THTR-balls in the United States for the purpose of reprocessing and fate in the light of European law and related legal protection of third parties) linked here. The analysis was commissioned by the Ministeriums für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Landwirtschaft, Natur- und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Conservation and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia) Photo above: SRS Watch joins local citizens outside the Ahaus storage facility in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, where the THTR spent fuel is stored. Ahaus is located in northwest Germany near the Dutch border. ----- The presentations at the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's October 29 meeting in Augusta, Georgia have been posted on November 5. The meeting was on spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management at SRS. Click here for a link the the NWTRB website. Presentations include: Jay Rhoderick, DOE; Overview of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Tank Waste Program at the Savannah River Site Maxcine Maxted, DOE; SRS L-Basin Used Nuclear Fuel Program Update David Rose, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions; Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage in L Basin H. Allen Gunter, DOE; SNF Processing at H-Canyon and the H-Canyon Roadmap Maxcine Maxted, DOE; SRS Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Alternatives [After much confusion on DOE's part with terminology, note the general return to the legally defined term "spent nuclear fuel."] SRS Watch made two oral public comments and those will be available when the transcript is released. see agenda here ---- If you live in South Carolina or Georgia, please attend this important meeting on SRS clean-up issues and comment in one of the several public comment periods SRS Citizens Advisory Board - Combined Committees Meeting Monday & Tuesday, November 17-18, 2014 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Snelling Conference Center-Augusta, GA 3165 Washington Road, Augusta, GA 30907 Ballroom agenda linked here ----- SRS Watch, a member organization of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), is headed to Knoxville, Tennessee to talk about ANA's work on DOE issues from Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground blog (Knoxille News Sentinel) November 5, 2014 "Alliance for Nuclear Accountability activists gather" Activists from sites around the nuclear weapons complex are gathering this week in Knoxville for their fall meeting, hosted this time by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. The network of activists is known as the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. for full post click here ----- 
New aerial photo of the MOX plant - October 25, 2014. This is what a colossal waste of $10 billion of US tax payer money looks like from 2000 feet. ©High Flyer - special to Savannah River Site Watch. May be used with credit. Other aerial photos of the MOX boondoggle are available on request: srswatch@gmail.com MOX Boondoggle Mini-Update - November 5, 2014 The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) board of directors is to meet on November 6, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. Though there is an agenda item entitled "Report of the Nuclear Oversight Committee," it is believed that the issue of use of experimental weapon-grade MOX fuel by TVA won't be discussed. see agenda here To say the least, TVA's interest in MOX use in its aging Browns Ferry boiling water reactors and the Sequoyah pressurized water reactors (ice condenser design) has been tepid. There have been few developments in the last two years concerning a TVA review of MOX use and the TVA board hasn't discussed the matter in the last few years. The completion of the US DOE's "Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" (SEIS) on MOX use by TVA has been frozen for years and, as of Ocfiber 15, remains "under departmental review." In the draft SEIS document, released in July 2012, it was revealed that TVA had balked at MOX use: "The TVA does not have a preferred alternative at this time regarding whether to pursue irradiation of MOX fuel in TVA reactors and which reactors might be used for this purpose." click here for DOE's EIS schedule released on October 15, 2014 - stay tuned for the next schedule update around November 15 Revealing how far it is from instituting sound project management for the MOX boondoggle, DOE's Office of Management still listed as of October 30 the "project budget" for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility construction at $ 4,857,129,000. This is the estimated cost of the project from about 6 years ago. DOE states that the "Project is expected to breach its Performance Baseline cost, schedule, or scope." Uh, well, yeah... DOE admitted in early 2014 that the construction cost is officially at $7.7 billion and at least one official has publicly stated to Congress that the cost could be closer to $10 billion. Does this mean that MOX construction is $3-6 billion over budget? Where has DOE stated what the current budget for the project is? In the Washington world of blank checks for failed projects, does the Office of Management even care about getting the MOX project under control? We've seen no sign of that after years of waiting. Heads should roll in the Office of Management but we know how that goes as the public waits for accountability for the MOX project. To Anne Boleyn and Mary, Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette: we can only hope that the arc of the universe indeed does bend toward justice. See the Office of Management - Office of Acquisition and Project Management "Project Dashboard" of October 30, 2014 here ----- Be alert to action by the US DOE to shift from use over the last 3 years from use of the extra-legal term "used nuclear fuel" back the legally defined term "spent nuclear fuel." DOE has had an embarrassing dance on its hands trying to explain why in 2011 it stopped using the term "spent nuclear fuel," which is defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and shifted to the cooked up term "used nuclear fuel." The NRC, EPA and NWTRB all correctly stuck with the legally defined terminology. The shift by DOE and pro-reprocessing allies in the nuclear industry to "used nuclear fuel" was to indicate a bias for reprocessing. With Dan Poneman gone from the deputy secretary's position, it looks like DOE is quietly drifting back to use of the correct term as Poneman's hand is no longer pushing use of the extra-legal term. As for reprocessing of commercial spent fuel, its day hasn't and won't come despite sophomoric trickery with terminology. See lame explanation (linked here) in 2011 by DOE as to why "used nuclear fuel" was being used, with the pro-reprocessing admission that "Use of the alternative term "used fuel" is one way of representing the potential that such fuel may have value in the future." ------- 
Photo:
Outside Nuclear Waste Technical Review (NTWRB)
meeting during informal poster session at conclusion of meeting in
Augusta, Georgia on October 29. The board heard about DOE's plans
that are stuck on reprocessing research reactor spent fuel at SRS and that
such reprocessing adds high-level waste to the aging tanks. As SRS
strives to keep the cash-cow H-Canyon reprocessing plant alive, it was
noted that there is no consistent system-wide plan for DOE's managment of
spent fuel. Expect a report out soon from the NWTRB that addresses
this matter.
DOE Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Savannah River Site Is Focus of U.S. NWTRB Meeting in Augusta, Georgia, on October 29, 2014 see full agenda here see news release here "The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, to review U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) activities related to managing DOE spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Among the topics that will be discussed at the meeting is work underway at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina related to storage and processing of DOE SNF and vitrification and storage of HLW at the SRS. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act (NWPAA) of 1987 charges the Board with conducting an ongoing and independent evaluation of the technical and scientific validity of DOE activities related to implementing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The meeting will be held at the Marriott Hotel, Two Tenth Street, Augusta, Georgia 30901; Telephone 706-722-8900 The meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 29, 2014..." ------ On October 23, SRS Watch has joined with other public interest groups in calling for needed reform to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which SRS Watch uses frequently: "Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), along with 49 other groups, sent a letter to President Obama urging his support for needed reforms to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policies at federal agencies. The letter identifies a minimum set of components that must be legislatively mandated to achieve the president’s publicly stated FOIA agenda and support his pledge to oversee the most transparent administration in history. Each of the recommendations is included in pending legislation, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). The letter asks the president to commit publicly to the codification of these reforms." see letter here ----- SRS Watch news release - October 23, 2014 - linked here Nuclear Regulatory Commission Favors 10-Year Extension of MOX Plant Construction Authorization - from 2015 to 2025 - Underscoring Lengthy Delays in Construction of Mismanaged Plutonium Fuel Facility SRS Watch Notes that More Delays Mean More Costs and Schedule Uncertainty as the Fate of the $30+-Billion Project Hangs in the Balance Construction Authorization first issued in 2005; problems for the the MOX boondoggle of CB&I, AREVA and DOE/NNSA continue to mount ----- 
The WIPP salt mine received transuranic waste
(plutonium-contaminated) from DOE sites including SRS until a serious
accident in February 2014. Now, they want to release more
radiation in October 2014 as part of restart
efforts?!
See presentation linked here see slide 12: surface ventilation fan 860A has been of of service but "when the fan is restarted, a small amount of residual contamination may be released" Is the price of restart of WIPP - whose self-delusional motto was "Start Clean, Stay Clean"- the release of more plutonium and americium into the environment? More proof that nuclear dumps start clean but always leak. Uh, don't worry as DOE say that "enhanced environmental monitoring will occur" when the radioactive material is released. April 15, 2014 presentation to SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) on "SRS Transuranic Waste Program Update" ------ 
Plutonium Container Attack Beetles at SRS Call it a
Day!
With 13 metric tons of plutonium stored in thousands of 9975 plutonium storage containers (holding 3013 cans - as shown in photo) packed into the old K-Reactor at SRS it's good to know that the beetles won't be attacking them! EXAMINATION OF BEETLE-INFESTED SHIPPING PACKAGE 9975-03996 SRNL-STI-2014-00431 W. L. Daugherty Savannah River National Laboratory Materials Science & Technology Publication Date: September 2014 (released week of October 13) Summary Package 9975-03996 was identified as being infested with drugstore beetles in April 2012. It was shipped to SRNL, where the possibility of using acoustic emission detection to detect the beetles was explored. This technology has potential for this application, although additional work would be needed to improve the sensitivity and automate signal processing to make it practical for use with a large number of packages. In April 2014, the infested package was re-opened and examined. Compared to the regions photographed in 2012, relatively little additional damage was observed. The overall pattern, extent and rate of damage appear consistent with that observed previously in two infested packages from Hanford. It was then decided that further observations of this package be terminated. The remaining beetles were killed by freezing, and the package was rehabilitated and made available for service. --- more documents on the plutonium beetles: DETECTION OF DRUGSTORE BEETLES IN 9975 PACKAGES USING ACOUSTIC EMISSIONS - Shull, D. (Mar. 2013) ----- Status Report - Cane Fiberboard Properties and Degradation Rates for Storage of the 9975 Shipping Package in KAMS - Daugherty, W. L. (Jan. 2013) ----- South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC) to meet on Thursday, October 9 at 1:00pm in room 207 of the Gressette Senate Office Building at the South Carolina state capitol complex in Columbia. On October 9, Tom Clements of SRS Watch will be touring the area around the Sellafield nuclear complex in the UK and will not be able to attend the GNAC meeting. Stay tuned for photos of the Sellafield tour of October 11 and for photos of the PNTL ships - based in Barrow-in-Furness, UK - that carry nuclear materials. The Oceanic Pintail, which was spotted in Barrow, carried weapon-usable plutonium from Belgium and Italy to SRS, via the port of Charleston, SC, earlier this spring. For misguided and self-deceptive PR reasons the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration remains mum about the shipments and receipt at SRS. It is well known that such European plutonium has no disposition path at SRS and is not included in the program to "dispose of" US weapons plutonium so why don't NNSA officials publicly admit the obvious? If they can't muster a smidgen of courage to admit the truth about the smaller things then the warning to the public is clear: that they may not be trusted to share the truth or accept responsibility about bigger matters (ie the MOX debacle - $$$$). see GNAC agenda here - presentations at this link Topics include SRS, Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant and an update from the South Carolina Department of Environmental Control (SC DHEC). ------- See it here: 20th anniversary re-release of an important document on illegal reprocessing cooperation between the US and Japan. Given the enduring proliferation implications of reprocessing to obtain weapon-usable plutonium, this report is still worth a read. Revelation of illegal cooperation between the U.S. Department of Energy under Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary garnered major news and seemed to have, at least for a while, inhibited the transfer of "sensitive nuclear technology" (SNT) - some of which was developed at the Savannah River Site - from the U.S. to Japan. Unfortunately, since the report was issued Japan has continued its plutonium stockpiling program but at least the future of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and Monju breeder reactor are in serious doubt. (For the "The Current Situation of Plutonium Management in Japan," dated September 11, 2013, by Japan's Atomic Energy Commission, and how Japan has blatantly violated its "no surplus plutonium" pledge click here.) "The Unlawful Plutonium Alliance - Japan's Supergrade Plutonium and the Role of the United States" by Shaun Burnie & Tom Clements, Greenpeace International, September 1994 linked here Send any comments on this topic or anything else on this website to srswatch@gmail.com.  The
South Carolina flag - Don't Dump on US! - and SRS Watch banner fly proudly
as SRS Watch director Tom Clements is interviewed by German TV and a local
newspaper in front of the Ahaus nuclear waste storage facility on
September 24. Special interests in the US aim to profit from the scheme
to dump highly radioactive graphite THTR gas-cooled reactor spent fuel now
stored at Ahaus on the US DOE's Savannah River Site. The SRS watch
September 21-26 trip through Germany garnered much press attention, good
contacts with German colleagues and productive interactions with members
of the Bundestag (parliament) in Berlin.
The South Carolina flag flies
at the gates of Germany's Juelich facility on September 21, proudly
representing public opposition in South Carolina to the scheme to process
and dump German commercial spent fuel into the aging high-level waste
tanks at SRS. More high-level nuclear waste will negatively impact the
urgent clean-up at SRS. Development by Savannah River Nuclear Lab of a
new reprocessing technique for the German graphite fuel holds
proliferation risks that DOE has so far refused to
analyze. 
Photo: SRS Watch at railway exit from spent fuel
storage facility at the Juelich research center in Germany on September
21,
2014. A lot of articles below are in German, but you can get a sense by looking at them and the photos with the articles that public opposition to dumping German spent fuel at SRS is growing in Germany. Use Google Translate if you want to get a semblance of what they are talking about. "Atommüll," by the way, is nuclear waste. Google translation of article in the Dusseldorf paper (Rheinische Post) on September 23 - well, you can more or less get the point: Widerstand in USA gegen Atommüll aus Jülich "Resistance in United States against nuclear waste from " "Dusseldorf. Against a possible nuclear waste transport from the Forschungszentrum Jülich in the U.S. nuclear facility Savannah River Site in South Carolina there is resistance in the United States suggests. "Germany wants the problems with its nuclear waste must pass on to the United States," criticized Tom Clements, a leading environmental activists in the State of, in the WDR. Clements also complained that private operators wanted to earn money in the United States with nuclear waste from Germany." ------ BUND erwägt Klage wegen Atommülltransporten In NRW sammelt sich Atommüll – sowohl im Forschungszentrum Jülich als auch im Zwischenlager in Ahaus. Sind die USA eine Lösung? Umweltschützer wollen den langen Atommülltransport stoppen. Die Welt, September 22, 2014 ---- Forschungszentrum Jülich: BUND erwägt Klage gegen Atommüll-Export Der Spiegel on line, September 22, 2014 "Die Forschungsminister von Bund und Land hatten bereits im vergangenen April mit dem US-Energieministerium eine Absichtserklärung über die Abnahme der Atomabfälle unterzeichnet. Die dort genannte Atomanlage Savannah River Site in South Carolina sei aber als Atommüll-Lager ungeeignet, unterstrich Tom Clements, Direktor der Nichtregierungsorganisation Savannah River Site Watch, die das Nuklearzentrum kritisch begleitet." "Schon die Lagerung des US-amerikanischen Atommülls dort sei nicht sachgerecht und werde Jahrzehnte dauern. Die Bevölkerung sei gegen weitere Belastungen. "Wir wollen keine internationale Atommüll-Deponie werden", sagte Clements. Für die USA gehe es nur um ein lukratives Geschäft, während sich Deutschland seiner ungelösten Endlagerprobleme entledigen wolle. "Ein solches Endlager existiert aber weltweit nicht - und damit auch in den USA nicht."--  Long-shuttered
AVR gas-cooled experimental reactor at Juelich. Germany and the US
Department of Energy are working on illegal plans to dump 300,000 highly
radioactive fuel balls from the reactor on SRS. How is it 25 years after
it closed could authorities cook up an effort to redefine this power
reactor (connected to the electrical grid) as a research reactor?
September 19 photo, credit: Daniel Mueller/Greenpeace.
September 21, 2014 - a demonstration was held at the entrance of the Juelich nuclear facility in Germany, with German groups and SRS Watch. Stay tuned for information here about efforts to stop Germany from illegally trying to dump highly radioactive nuclear waste from Juelich on Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The SRS Watch tour of Germany began with a TV interview on Sept. 19 and will continue of the ground from Sept. 21-26, to Juelich, Dusseldorf, Ahaus (here more spent fuel is stored but may have been withdrawn from dumping consideration), Hamburg and Berlin. DOE officials: why do persist in pursuing activities that are clearly illegal in Germany? articles with SRS Watch during German tour: Widerstand in USA gegen Atommüll aus Jülich Rheinischen Post - Düsseldorf - September 22, 2014 "Gegen einen möglichen Atommülltransport aus dem Forschungszentrum Jülich in die US-Atomanlage Savannah River Site in South Carolina regt sich Widerstand in den USA. "Deutschland will die Probleme mit seinem Atomabfall unbedingt auf die USA abwälzen", kritisierte Tom Clements, einer der führenden Umweltaktivisten in dem US-Bundesstaat, im WDR. Clements bemängelte auch, dass private Betreiber in den USA Geld mit dem Atommüll aus Deutschland verdienen wollten." ---- Atommüll aus Jülich soll in die USA : Wie sicher ist das Zwischenlager in South-Carolina? WDR Radio - Von Helga Hermanns - September 21, 2014 "Atomkraftgegner haben am Sonntag (21.09.2014) gegen einen Transport der Brennelementkugeln aus dem Jülicher Versuchsreaktor demonstriert. Dabei erhielten sie Unterstützung von Tom Clements, dem Sprecher einer Bürgerinitiative in Savannah im US-Bundesstaat South Carolina." ----- Wohin mit dem Atommüll aus Jülich?: Kein Ende im Streit um Atomkugeln WDR Radio - Von Rainer Striewski - September 22, 2014 "Mittlerweile regt sich auch in den USA Widerstand gegen eine mögliche Verschiffung der Atomkugeln zur Atomanlage Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. "Deutschland muss sich schon zu Hause um eine Atommülllagerung kümmern und die Probleme nicht auf uns abschieben", forderte Tom Clements von der US-Organisation "SRS Watch" am Montag in Düsseldorf. Die Atomanlage Savannah River Site sei kein Atommüllager oder gar eine Deponie - und damit gar nicht geeignet, so Clements weiter. Während die Atomlager-Betreiber in den USA auf kräftigen Profit hofften, wolle Deutschland sein "gravierendes Atommüllproblem" nur an ein anderes Land abschieben." ------ Wohin mit den Atomkugeln? WESTPOL vom 21.09.2014 TV report - WDR TV --- BUND erwägt Klage wegen Atommülltransporten In NRW sammelt sich Atommüll – sowohl im Forschungszentrum Jülich als auch im Zwischenlager in Ahaus. Sind die USA eine Lösung? Umweltschützer wollen den langen Atommülltransport stoppen. Die Welt, September 22, 2014 ---- Forschungszentrum Jülich: BUND erwägt Klage gegen Atommüll-Export Der Spiegel on line, September 22, 2014 "Die Forschungsminister von Bund und Land hatten bereits im vergangenen April mit dem US-Energieministerium eine Absichtserklärung über die Abnahme der Atomabfälle unterzeichnet. Die dort genannte Atomanlage Savannah River Site in South Carolina sei aber als Atommüll-Lager ungeeignet, unterstrich Tom Clements, Direktor der Nichtregierungsorganisation Savannah River Site Watch, die das Nuklearzentrum kritisch begleitet." "Schon die Lagerung des US-amerikanischen Atommülls dort sei nicht sachgerecht und werde Jahrzehnte dauern. Die Bevölkerung sei gegen weitere Belastungen. "Wir wollen keine internationale Atommüll-Deponie werden", sagte Clements. Für die USA gehe es nur um ein lukratives Geschäft, während sich Deutschland seiner ungelösten Endlagerprobleme entledigen wolle. "Ein solches Endlager existiert aber weltweit nicht - und damit auch in den USA nicht." ------ Efforts in Germany to stop dumping of highly radioactive German spent fuel at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are ramping up. German and US authorities should end their pursuit of a bad, half-baked idea. On September 17, Greenpeace Germany projected a banner on the AVR reactor at the nuclear center (FZJ) at Juelich that read (in English) "South Carolina Not a Nuclear Waste Dump for Germany!" see photo here and below - by Daniel Mueller/Greenpeace And, a lawyer for Greenpeace released a report in Berlin clarifying that it is illegal to export the high-level nuclear waste. Greenpeace Germany news release on the attempt to conduct the illegal transport: Illegaler Castortransport - Die Bundesregierung und das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen planen einen Atommülltransport aus dem Forschungszentrum Jülich in die USA. Dieser wäre rechtswidrig. (with photo of the projection on the AVR reactor, In German) Legal brief, for Greenpeace Germany, finding that the export is illegal (as we have been saying all along): "Rechtsgutachten --- zur Zulässigkeit der Verbringung von abgebrannten Kernbrennstoffen aus dem stillgelegten Kernkraftwerk AVR Jülich in die Wiederaufbereitungsanlage Savannah River Site (USA)." See Der Spiegel on line: "Castoren aus Jülich: Atommüll-Export in die USA ist laut Gutachtern illegal" Von Holger Dambeck "Die Bundesregierung will Atommüll aus dem Forschungszentrum Jülich zur Aufarbeitung und Endlagerung in die USA schicken. Ein Rechtsgutachten erklärt den geplanten Export von 152 Castoren jetzt für illegal."
Come Again?! DOE Makes Astounding Claim that it Aims to Complete Major Capital Projects on Budget & Schedule In a September 17, 2014 email, DOE finally admits a huge "baseline" cost increase in the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at SRS. The cost of the facility, which will process liquid high-level waste from the aging tanks (and disposes of much of the volume on site) has risen dramatically, from $1.3 billion to $2.3 billion. Based on DOE's usual track record, the cost is likely to rise yet again and with more schedule delays. But DOE claims it's good at project managment and states the following, with a straight face: "The Department places significant emphasis on completing major capital projects within established baselines for scope, cost, and schedule by aligning contract incentives with taxpayer interests, and improving the structure and management of the Department’s contracts by ensuring contractors are held accountable for their actions. This revised baseline aligns with those principles." Ooops, besides overlooking problems they just admitted with the SWPF, they just happened to forget that the MOX boondoggle is more than a decade late and 1000% over the initial cost of construction of the plant. There has been absolutely no attempt whatsoever to control the costs or schedule of the project so any claim that DOE is efficient management of costly capital projects is not supported by the facts. see SRS email here Also released today by SRS: "The Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 2013 has been released and is available on-line at: http://www.srs.gov/general/pubs/ERsum/er13/index.html" Deutscher Atommüll in die USA? Atommüll Alarm (Nuclear Waste Alarm) brochure link September 2014 --- with schedule, in German, of SRS Watch tour of Germany from September 21-26, against the half-baked scheme to dump highly radioactive German spent fuel at SRS "SRS-Watch kommt" Auf Einladung der nordrhein-westfälischen Bürgerinitiativen kommt Tom Clements von der Organisation SRSWatch im September nach Deutschland und wird in Jülich, vor der Presse in Düsseldorf, in Berlin und Hamburg informieren. See the schedule ("Termine") with SRS Watch, on the left 
Savannah River Site Watch http://www.srswatch.org/ For Immediate Release - news release linked here September 12, 2013 Contact: Tom Clements, srswatch@gmail.com photo: SRS Watch banner to be used at sites in Germany proposing to dump highly radioactive waste on SRS SRS Watch to Tour Germany from September 21-26 to Oppose Import to Savannah River Site of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel from Germany; Over 15 German Groups and Politicians Sponsoring the Tour SRS Watch Calls for Halt to Preparation of DOE’s “Environmental Assessment” Given Withdrawal of the Bulk of the Commercial Spent Fuel from Export Consideration by Germany Columbia, SC – The public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) today announces that it will participate with German groups and politicians in a 6-day tour of Germany to protest plans by German and U.S. Department of Energy officials to dump highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. With over 15 German groups and politicians in formal support of the tour, the director of SRS Watch, Tom Clements, will participate in a series of events to inform the German public and elected officials that SRS is not a dump site and that the unprecedented plan to dump the waste at SRS must be rejected. The tour will begin on September 21 with a demonstration at the entrance to the Juelich nuclear research center, where German commercial reactor spent fuel is stored. Clements will later tour the spent fuel storage facility at the site with a member of the Bundestag (parliament). At Juelich, about 300,000 radioactive spent fuel balls are stored in 152 large casks. The message at the Juelich facility will be for Germany to build a new storage facility at the site and not attempt to illegally dump a challenging nuclear problem on the US. The tour will also include a public meeting near Juelich, a news conference in Dusseldorf, an event outside the gates of the Ahaus facility- where 600,000 spent graphite fuel balls from the THTR reactor are stored and that were previously discussed for export to SRS - a public meeting in Hamburg and the tour will conclude with various meetings with members of the Bundestag in Berlin on September 25 and 26. “Informing German audiences and politicians that SRS is not a nuclear dump for Germany will add a strong voice to the growing opposition in Germany against the spent fuel export,” said Tom Clements, director of the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch. The spent fuel in question that has been proposed for export is from the AVR and THTR experimental gas-cooled reactors. Both reactors were commercial nuclear reactors that were connected to the electricity grid. Under German law, such spent fuel is illegal to export but efforts are being made to skirt the law. Import into the US of commercial spent fuel would be unprecedented and could be used to open the door to more such dumping. DOE does not appear to be aware of information from Germany, in response to formally posed questions to the German government by members of the Bundestag (parliament), that German officials have withdrawn consideration of dumping the THTR spent fuel, the bulk of the waste involved in the scheme. This new information dramatically impacts the overall situation and renders DOE’s plans moot, according to SRS Watch. In response to “Kleine Anfrage” on September 3, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) said: “In der Frühphase der Sondierungen wurde daher auch erörtert, ob die THTR-brennelemente einbezogen werden sollen. Diese Überlegungen sind konkret nicht weiter verfolgt worden.” (From Google Translate: “In the early phase of soundings was therefore also discussed whether the THTR-fuel assemblies are to be included. These considerations have been specifically not pursued.”) DOE is preparing an “environmental assessment” on some of the environmental aspects of receiving, processing and dumping the German waste but that document as now proposed has been rendered moot given that the THTR spent fuel is not now being considered. “DOE must halt the preparation of the environmental assessment as the scope of it has been dramatically altered by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s withdrawal of the THTR fuel from consideration to be exported,” said Clements. “There is no basis for continuing with the preparation of the environmental document as proposed and it must be terminated.” DOE has also so far refused to prepare a “proliferation impact assessment” of the new reprocessing technique being developed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). A written request by SRS Watch for such an analysis was hand delivered on July 28, 2014 to Secretary of Energy Moniz and Administrator Frank Klotz of the National Nuclear Security Administration in a meeting near SRS. Administrator Klotz confirmed receipt of the SRS Watch letter in an August 28 written response. Reprocessing of the highly radioactive graphite fuel would result in additional waste being sent to the SRS waste tanks, causing negative impacts to the urgent cleanup of the tanks. That new reprocessing method, to remove uranium from graphite fuel, poses a proliferation risks, according to SRS Watch, that DOE has so far refused to talk about. As the EA may be out in draft form by the end of the year - if it is to go forward - with a public comment period to follow. The public will not even be able to comment on details of the reprocessing technique and associated waste streams as the SRNL research will not have conclude by the end of 2014. Such blocking of ability to comment may also pose legal challenges for DOE, if it persists in preparing the EA document which now has no basis. Some of the groups and politicians sponsoring the tour by SRS Watch include: - Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Jülich (Lutheran Church, Department Jülich) www.kkrjuelich.de - Strahlenzug Mönchengladbach, www. strahlenzug.de - Wegberger Montagsspaziergänger gegen Atomkraft, www.montagsspaziergang.de - AG Schacht Konrad, www.ag-schacht-konrad.de - Anti-Atom-Bündnis Niederrhein, www.antiatom-buendnis-niederrhein.de - Attac Jülich- Westcastor, www.attac-netzwerk.de - AKW-nee Aachen- Westcastor, www.anti-akw-ac.de - Friedensforum Duisburg, friedensforum-duisburg.de - BUND NRW AK Atom, www.bund.net - Sofa Münster (sofortiger Atomausstieg), sofa-ms.de - Aktionsbündnis Münsterland gegen Atomanlagen, www.facebook.com/keincastornachahaus. - Sayonara Genpatsu Düsseldorf e.V., www.sayonara-genpatsu.de - Antiatomgruppe Fuku Düsseldorf, antiatom-fuku.de - Ausgestrahlt ( Bundesweite Antiatomorganisation), www.ausgestrahlt.de - Bürgerinitiative Kein Atommüll in Ahaus e.V. - Hubertus Zdebel, MDB, Sprecher der Linksfraktion für den Atomausstieg, http://www.hubertus-zdebel.de - Hans Jörg Rohwedder,MDL, Umweltpolitischer Sprecher der Piratenfraktion im Landtag NRW, hans-joerg.rohwedder@landtag.nrw.de Newspapers in Aiken, SC, Augusta, GA, Greenville, SC and Spartanburg, SC have editorialized against the spent fuel import proposal and a majority of individuals speaking at the DOE “environmental assessment” meeting on June 24 in N. Augusta, SC, spoke against the idea. Across Germany, the message will be: South Carolina ist kein Entsorgungsplatz für deutschen Atommüll! South Carolina is not a Nuclear Waste Dump for Germany! Notes: 1. SRS Watch comments against bringing the spent fuel to SRS, at June 24, 2014 public meeting: “Savannah River Site Faces Unprecedented Import of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel from Two German Nuclear Power Reactors; Export from Germany Illegal and Unwarranted”: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/comments_on_illegal_german_nuke_waste_import_to_srs_june_24_2014.pdf 2. DOE’s Federal Register notice, June 4, 2014, announcing preparation of the “environmental assessment” – “Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany”: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf 3. DOE-SRS presentation of June 24, 2014, “Potential Acceptance and Disposition of German Pebble Bed Research Reactor Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Fuel Environmental Assessment,” – misrepresents the contents of the graphite spent fuel: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/doe_public_meeting_presentation_june_2014-1.pdf 4. SRS Watch - Freedom of Information Act request document confirming discussions began in December 2011 about the spent fuel plan: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/foia_german_spent_fuel_to_us_jan_13_2014.pdf 5. “Statement of Intent” between The U.S. Department of Energy & two German government entities, signed on March 28/April 1, 2014: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/statement_of_intent_march_april_2014.pdf 6. Questions (“Kleine Anfrage”) posed by Bundestag members to Federal Ministry of Education and Research, August 13, 2014: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/kleine_anfrage_13_august_2014.pdf 7. Response by Federal Ministry of Education and Research to questions, September 3, 2014: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/kleine_anfrage_answer_from_govt_3_september_2014.pdf Contact: Tom Clements Director, SRS Watch http://www.srswatch.org/ tel. 803-834-3084 
Tom Clements, director of
SRS Watch, and Pete Bradford, former commissioner with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (during the Three Mile island accident in 1979), on
leaving a Bipartisan Policy Center meeting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on
September 5 - on management of high-level nuclear waste, including spent
fuel and vitrified waste at SRS. Concerns was expressed about
"consolidated" storage of spent fuel and its links to reprocessing.
Tim Echols of the Georgia Public Service Commission and Patrick Sullivan
of the private entitry Mississippi Energy Institute supported reprocessing
in their public comments but pursuit of the issue with them revealed they
know little more about reprocessing than AREVA's bullet point. We
would gladly debate them on reprocessing at any point!
Thanks to Sara Barczak of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for the photo!  The
US flag flies at AREVA's complex in la Hague, France on a visit of US
officials. The AREVA-DOE alliance has allowed the US plutonium fuel (MOX)
project to run far over budget and far behind schedule, with problems only
worsening. The public has AREVA and DOE (National Nuclear Security
Administration) to thank for this boondoggle, which has developed with the
encouragement of such big-spending politicians as Senator Lindsey Graham
and Representative Joe, Wilson, both from South Carolina and who have
placed parochial self-interest over those of the tax payer or national
security. When will they refocus their efforts on the essential clean-up
of SRS and the mess caused by Cold War madness?
Shaw AREVA MOX Services (SHAMS) has requested of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that construction authorization proceedings for the MOX plant be put into the name of the new corporate entity CB&I AREVA MOX Service, LLC - posted by the NRC in the ADAMS digital library on September 9 - see letter here - while there is a new name it's the same old MOX boondoggle, for which there still is no accountability! SRS Watch news release on MOX Boondoggle - September 3, 2014 Contractor Requests Ten-Year Extension to MOX Plant Construction License, from 2015 to 2025; Nuclear Regulatory Commission Has Not Approved Request, Public Meeting Needed on Mismanaged $30-billion Project Shaw AREVA MOX Services (SHAMS) Sites Litany of Problems with MOX Boondoggle Construction but Avoids Details: Funding Shortfalls, Construction Challenges, Labor Shortages, Lack of Qualified Vendors Click here for Shaw AREVA MOX Services License Extension Request to the NRC & at http://tinyurl.com/pldeeul Columbia, SC – The contractor building the problem-plagued plutonium fuel (MOX) facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has quietly requested a 10-year extension to the initial authorization to construct the facility. The extension request is indicative of a host of mounting problems facing the controversial MOX project, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). A Shaw AREVA MOX Services (MOX Services) letter, dated May 12, 2014, was filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and requested an extension in the construction authorization from 2015 to 2025. The letter, which was not publicized by either MOX Services, the National Nuclear Security Administration or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, gives no hint of when construction on the MOX plant might be completed, underscoring the belief that the project will never be completed and is soon to be abandoned. SRS Watch has learned that the NRC has not yet granted the construction extension request. SRS Watch has been informed that an Environmental Assessment (EA) is being prepared by the NRC on the impacts of the request and a notice about the matter is expected to soon be published in the Federal Register. The NRC does not at this point intend on holding a public meeting, but SRS Watch believes that a public meeting to air all the issues associated with the construction delay-request is warranted. “As the NRC did not hold an annual meeting this spring on the status of its MOX construction oversight, a public meeting on the construction authorization extension request is essential to fully discuss the matters associated with the massive delay of the mismanaged project,” said Tom Clements, director of the public interest organization SRS Watch. see full news release here see Shaw AREVA MOX Services (SHAMS) letter here 
On August 29, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) denied the DOE request to delay "closure" of two high-level waste tanks at SRS for 15 months. See letter from DHEC director Catherine Templeton to DOE here DOE claims that funding problems have impacted the tank-closure schedule but the state didn't buy DOE's arguments for an extension of the legally binding closure schedule as agreed in the Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA) reiterated that it will "fully exercise its authority for penalty assessment if satisfactory commitment to the high level waste schedule is not reached." SRS has 51 million-gallons tanks with about 37 millions gallons of high-level liquid waste, primarily a by-product of production of nuclear weapons materials for the Cold War madness. SRS produced about 36 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium in five "defense" reactors. Six of the tanks have been cleaned out to a degree and filled with cement, which DOE calls "closure." The tanks will be left in place forever, mere feet above the water table. See DHEC letter to Brian Hennessey, SRS Remedial Project Manager SRS Watch is headed to Germany to protest the
proposed dumping of German commercial spent fuel on the Savannah River
Site. Come join us in Jülich on September 21, the first event
in a week-long tour. Jülich is where the spent fuel from the experimental AVR gas-cooled reactor is stored - 300,000 highly radioactive graphite balls that must be managed in Germany. According to the management of the Jülich facility, "the nuclear fuel in the spent AVR fuel elements is not weapons-grade.” Thus is destroyed the claim that it should be dumped on SRS for nuclear non-proliferation reasons. AUFRUF -------------- Sonntagsspaziergang in Jülich am 21.09.14 in Jülich um 14:00 Uhr ab Haltestelle Rurtalbahn:"Forschungszentrum" zum Tor des FZJ Forschungszentrum Jülich STOPPT DIE KIPPUNG DES AVR REAKTORS UND DIE WESTCASTOREN! Abfahrt in Köln: 13:00 Uhr Kalk Post (U Bahn 1 und 9, S Bahn: S12 bis Trimbornstrasse) > bilden FAHRGEMEINSCHAFTEN Anmeldung bitte unter: antiatomplenumkoeln@gmx.de Redner: Tom Clements (SRS Watch, South Carolina, USA: er kommt von dem Ort, wohin die Westcastoren illegal abgeschoben werden sollen) N.N. (Westcastor) Rainer Moormann (Whistleblower aus FZJ) Kommt in Massen! Näheres unter: www.westcastor.de ---------------------------------------- translation from Google translate: CALL -------------- Sunday walk in Jülich in Jülich on 09/21/14 at 14:00 clock from stop Rurtalbahn: "Research" to the gate of the Forschungszentrum Jülich FZJ STOP THE tilting of the AVR REACTOR AND THE WEST CASTOR! Departure in Cologne: Form> 13:00 clock lime Mail (S12 to Trimbornstrasse subway 1 and 9, S Bahn) DRIVING COMMUNITIES Please register at: antiatomplenumkoeln@gmx.de Speakers: Tom Clements (SRS Watch, South Carolina, USA: he comes from the place where the West Castor to be deported illegal) N.N. (West Castor) Rainer Moormann (whistleblower from FZJ) Comes in masses! For more information: www.westcastor.de 
SRS
Watch news release - August 26,
2014
Constraint on Volumes of Liquid Waste from Aging H-Canyon Reprocessing Facility at Savannah River Site Could Hold Positive Impacts for SRS Waste Management and Result in Termination of Plans to Import High-Level Waste from Canada, Germany Columbia, SC – Severe constraints placed on the volume of liquid high-level waste arising from operation of the H-Canyon reprocessing plant at the Savannah River Site (SRS) could result in the termination of plans to import foreign high-level nuclear waste to the Savannah River Site (SRS), according to Savannah River Site Watch. “Limits placed on the volume of liquid highly radioactive from the H-Canyon over the next five years could curtail pursuit of misguided proposals to import nuclear waste into SRS,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch), a public interest organization that monitors SRS operations. “Questionable plans to import 20,000 liters of liquid high-level waste from Canada and 900,000 graphite spent fuel balls from Germany have now been placed in the crosshairs for elimination as H-Canyon waste volumes must be dedicated solely to on-going cleanup activities at SRS.” H-Canyon costs about $150 million per year to operate. Space in the high-level waste tanks has been an on-going concern and the most recent high-level waste management plan for SRS – Liquid Waste System Plan, Revision 19 - released in May 2014, revealed that there would be “limited receipt of projected H-Canyon waste…during FY14, FY15, and FY16” but that “beginning in FY17, Tank Farms will fully support H-Canyon receipts, assumed to be 300 thousand gallons (kgal) per year through the end of H-Canyon operations.” Now, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) revealed in a July 25, 2014 weekly report that “Based on projected budget impacts, DOE informed SRNS that they will be limited to transferring 50kgal of high level waste from H-Canyon to H-Tank Farms this fiscal year, 150kgal next year, and then 105 kgal each year between 2016 and 2019. While SRNS has been trying to reduce the volume of waste they transfer, these volumes will likely impact the amount of spent nuclear fuel, plutonium, and enriched uranium that can be processed.” (kgal = 1000 gallons) for full SRS watch news release click here BUT DOE is putting out misleading information about the H-Canyon reprocessing plant that doesn't mention the slowdown in operations. In the Environmental Management Update (Volume 6, Issue 8) of August 27, DOE discusses modifications to the aging facility but dodges mentioning that operations will be curtailed for at least five years: AIKEN, S.C. – EM and its primary contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) safely completed 16 facility modifications three months ahead of schedule in support of the continued operation and sustainability of the H Canyon facility. see text of full DOE update on H-Canyon here "Impacts of Consolidated Nuclear Waste on Communities" -
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, September 5, sponsored by the Bipartisan
Policy
Center If you live near Atlanta, please attend this September 5 meeting on storage of highly radioactive spent fuel and speak up against "interim" storage of commercial spent fuel at the Savannah River Site. Listen to the insight of noted panelists Mindy Goldstein, Director of the Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory University School of Law and Sara Barczak, High Risk Energy Director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) about spent fuel management options. Recall that the SRS Citizens Advisory Board voted 16 to 0 on July 22 to renew its position against bringing spent fuel to SRS: "Position Paper for the Savannah River Site's Citizens Advisory Board on Using SRS for interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (Renewed in July 2014). "Impacts of Consolidated Nuclear Waste on Communities" Date: Friday, September 5, 2014 Time: 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Venue: Georgia Institute of Technology Address: Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center 800 Spring Street NW, Conference Room A, Atlanta, GA 30308 “Join the BPC's Energy Project for a discussion on consolidated storage of nuclear waste.” “Experts, business leaders, academics and policymakers will discuss the lack of progress in addressing nuclear waste by state regulatory agencies, as well as the potential impacts of consolidated storage (be they positive or negative) on communities and states.” To register and see the draft agenda, click here 
Why bring up siting a new nuclear bomb plutonium "pit" plant at SRS? Don't bother as we don't want it at SRS! Several years ago, public interest groups beat back an effort by special interests to locate the Modern Pit Facility (MPF) at SRS. Each year, that facility would have made up to 250 plutonium "pits" or trigger for nuclear weapons. The whole plan and the Environmental Impact Statement being prepared for it was scrapped, as some of us predicted it would be. Now, is there something going on behind the scenes to site a new pit plant at SRS....? See mention of SRS below. Click here for link to this report: Manufacturing Nuclear Weapon “Pits”: A Decisionmaking Approach for Congress Congressional Research Service (CRS), August 15, 2014 "A “pit” is the plutonium “trigger” of a thermonuclear weapon. During the Cold War, the Rocky Flats Plant (CO) made up to 2,000 pits per year (ppy), but ceased operations in 1989. Since then, the Department of Energy (DOE) has made at most 11 ppy for the stockpile, yet the Department of Defense stated that it needs DOE to have a capacity of 50 to 80 ppy to extend the life of certain weapons and for other purposes. This report focuses on 80 ppy, the upper end of this range." "Since the United States no longer produces plutonium, all U.S. plutonium is “old,” such as from retired pits. As plutonium decays, it produces other elements, such as uranium and americium. These must be removed by chemical processes to purify plutonium for use in new pits. (Chemical processes do not remove specific isotopes of plutonium.) PF-4 uses 10,400 sf for plutonium recycle and purification. How much plutonium could that area purify per year? How many ppy would that capacity support? How much more space would be needed to provide plutonium for 80 ppy? Alternatively, could these processes be moved to another site, such as Savannah River Site?" (page 15) 
SRS Watch news -
August 15, 2014
Member of German Parliament Calls for Halt to Plans to Export German Spent Fuel to SRS, Supports New Seismically Qualified Storage Facility in Germany; Letter Indicates that Political Pressure in Germany is Growing Against Dumping German Commercial Spent Fuel at the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) - letter in English  DOE
poster presented at a public "environmental assessment" meeting on June
24, 2014 shows that all options for the German commercial spent fuel at
SRS are "storage awaiting repository." Translation: the German graphite
spent fuel would be dumped at SRS. US law that requires spent fuel to go
to a geologic repository, which does not exist in the US. Likewise, it is
illegal under German law to export commercial spent fuel, especially for
reprocessing (as planned by special interests and some DOE officials at
SRS).
SRS Watch news release - August 15, 2014 letter in English letter in German Columbia, SC – A member of the German parliament (Bundestag) has written to the German federal government calling for a halt of plans to export German commercial spent nuclear fuel from the Juelich facility in Germany to the Savannah River Site (SRS). The letter increases pressure on the German government to drop the proposal to ship the highly radioactive spent fuel to SRS. see SRS Watch news release here  Oh
my, Senator "MOXie" Graham throws tantrum in questioning NNSA officials
about the MOX boondoggle during Senate hearing on April 30, 2014. His
blind allegiance to the MOX travesty and AREVA have backed Graham into a
corner by his staunch refusal to look at less costly, viable plutonium
disposition options. Graham's continued support of the $30-billion MOX
project, which has no customers, is now destined to bust the entire DOE
budget as it's financially unsustainable. The MOX albatross around
Graham's neck will drain the DOE budget over the next 20+ years as it
needs to be funded, according to Secretary of Energy Moniz on July 28,
2014 during a visit to SRS, "north of $600 million" per year. Funding is
far short of that amount and indications are that budget pressure and
funding amounts will only shrink.
Senator Graham Continues to Thumb His Nose at Requests for MOX Accountability Despite requests by SRS Watch to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to obtain and release any MOX plant costs estimates from AREVA, he continues to stonewall those requests and continues to protect AREVA from necessary public scrutiny. Likewise, Graham continues to protect officials in DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration and Shaw AREVA MOX Services from any accountability for their massive management failures with the MOX debacle. When will Graham stop his obstructionism and work on behalf of tax payers to hold managers responsible for the $30-billion MOX boondoggle? See this July 7, 2014 letter for Graham's woefully inadequate response to a SRS Watch request for cost documents and for accountability. April 30, 2014 Senate hearing linked here  Aerial
shot of VC Summer nuclear plant north of Columbia, SC. At the site, South
Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) operates one older reactor and is
constructing two AP1000 reactors, now facing significant delays and cost
overruns. Photo, taken on May 22, 2014 by High Flyer, can be used with
credit.
SRS Watch news release - August 12, 2014 SCE&G Reveals Significant Delays with VC Summer Nuclear Reactor Construction Project; Additional Schedule Delay of 12-18 Months with Unknown Cost Increases to Rate Payers Columbia, SC – In a stunning announcement, South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) has revealed that the nuclear reactor construction project at the V.C. Summer site has been delayed again, adding an additional year or more to the project, which will result in significant cost increases. SCE&G officials stated on Monday afternoon, August 11, that the completion of the first new reactor at the V.C. Summer site, unit 2, has been delayed from the current date of late 2017/early 2018 “to late 2018 or the first half of 2019” and that associated cost increases are unknown. The second reactor, unit 3, is now delayed another 12 months. “We have warned from the start of this risky project that it would face significant delays and cost increases so there is unfortunately no big surprise in SCE&G’s stunning news,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). “SCE&G rate payers, already facing seven rate increases to pay in advance for the nuclear project, will likely take it on the chin due to the cost increases due to the announced delays,” said Clements. -- high resolution aerial photos of VC Summer available on request: srswatch@gmail.com - see some aerials shots at photos click here for complete news release with lots of linked documents 
"Hiroshima... Never Forget" Art Exhibit OPENING First Thursday Aug 7th the public is invited to handcraft origami peace cranes, for all ages. 5:30 pm till closing at Tapp's on Main, 1644 Main St., downtown Columbia, South Carolina. Featuring art from Jeri Burdick, Susan Lenz, Sean McGuinness (That Godzilla Guy), Kimi Maeda. and others, posters from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the short film “Witness to Hiroshima.” Runs August 7th through August 30th 
Reservoir that is filled at
SRS with radioactive tritium gas and shipped to sites with nuclear
weapons, for insertion into the weapon. Tritium is injected during the
explosion process to boost the power of the explosion. There is no scale
on this DOE-supplied photo, for some type of security reason. The tritium
in the reservoir is produced at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar
reactor in Tennessee, an example of the US double standard whereby nuclear
weapons materials are produced in a commercial reactor.
 Tritium
Extraction Facility (TEF) at the Savannah River Site, where tritium gas is
extracted from rods irradiated in the Watts Bar nuclear power reactor in
Tennessee. Tritium is a radioactive gas used to boost the explosive power
of nuclear weapons. By producing nuclear weapons materials in a civilian
reactor, DOE has connected the dots between the military and civilian
nuclear fuel cycles.
The Case of Tritium Production for Nuclear Weapons in Commercial Reactors: DOE Violates Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norms and Proves that Nuclear Power = Nuclear Weapons SRS Watch news - August 5, 2014 - click here for release ---also linked at http://www.nukefree.org/ US Uses Civilian Nuclear Power to Make Radioactive Materials for its Nuclear Weapons DOE Quietly Releases Draft Environmental Document on Tritium Production for Nuclear Weapons in TVA’s Nuclear Reactors; Perpetuates Production of Nuclear Weapons Materials in Civilian Nuclear Power Reactors, in Violation of "No-Dual Use" Policy (between military & civilian nuclear technologies) Supplemental EIS Confirms No Irradiation of Plutonium Fuel (MOX) and Tritium Rods in Sequoyah Reactors at Same Time; Meetings Set in Athens, TN on Sept. 9 & Chattanooga, TN on Sept. 10 EIS-0288-S1: Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement - Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor : summary: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/EIS-0288-DSEIS-S1-Summary-2014_0.pdf draft SEIS: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/EIS-0288-DSEIS-S1-2014_1.pdf National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) notice: SEIS for the Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor 
MOX
Boondoggle: Profile in
Cowardice?
Be sure to get your nominations in for those who must be held accountable for the $30-billion MOX debacle! To srswatch@gmail.com Summer time is here and it's apparently time for politicians and mis-managers of the plutonium fuel (MOX) project to kick back, count their piles of cash and raise their glasses in celebration. Nothing like being able to run a project into the ditch by being billions and billions of dollars over budget without a shred of accountability. Ah, how sweet it is when the tax payer can be so abused and nobody in Washington will step up to the plate to hold a single person accountable. Cowardice rules as nobody will claim ownership for the debacle they have helped create. The managers of the MOX debacle have ridden their cash cow hard and, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) might say, the risky "fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement" ride isn't quite over yet. But responsible citizens and even some true public servants in DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration are just waiting for the cow pie of accountability to hit the fan. Be sure to get your nominations in for those who must be held accountable for the MOX debacle! Winners to be announced soon. Email your nominations and photos to srswatch@gmail.com. Don't leave out big-spending politicians like Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson, who now have draped the MOX albatross permanently around their own necks. If you are in any way responsible for the MOX boondoggle step up to the plate and be a profile in courage and not a profile in cow pie. 
Below is an August 4, 2014 message from the
Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB), in which new
members are being sought. We are aware of highly qualified
applicants that have been rejected, perhaps due to political
reasons. The CAB, a formally embodied federal advisory panel on SRS
clean-up, needs to demonstrate it really is open to membership
representing all
viewpoints.
We need YOU on the Citizens Advisory Board! Do you want to get involved in your community or learn more about the Savannah River Site? If so, please consider joining the Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB is currently looking for new members for its 2015-2017 term. The CAB consists of citizens from South Carolina and Georgia. Citizens applying for membership to the Board are not required to have special training, extensive knowledge of SRS, or academic degrees, only a desire to learn and spread the word to local communities about SRS. If you wish to apply, or know someone else who may be interested, you can find an application attached to this email or on the CAB’s website at: http://cab.srs.gov Submit all applications by August 31st to the Support Team via mail, email, or fax. Check us out on Facebook: facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteCAB Widerstand
gegen Westcastoren und Reaktorverschiebung formiert sich in
Amerika Anti-Atom-Plenum Köln, 31 Juli 2014 Atomkugeln aus NRW für die USA Strahlende Grüße (Radioactive Greetings) Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, 31 Juli 2014 audio: click here SRS is not a nuclear waste dump for German spent fuel! 
Savannah River Site Watch
news
July 30, 2014 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), Main Contractor at the Savannah River Site, Fails to Meet Two Key Emergency Preparedness Objectives in May 2014 Drill, According to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Report Columbia, SC – The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), an independent agency which monitors DOE activities, has reported a failure by the main Savannah River Site (SRS) contractor to meet “Emergency Preparedness” objectives. In a July 4 weekly report, the DNFSB reveals that Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) failed to meet emergency preparedness objectives in the areas of “facilities and equipment and exercise control and conduct.” The DNFSB stated that “While SRNS stated the equipment issues were relatively minor individually, the cumulative impact was that the emergency equipment needed to effectively respond to emergencies is seriously degraded.” Click here to read full SRS Watch news release, with various document linked in "notes" SRNS failed to meet objectives in mock drill, Aiken Standard, July 31, 2014  Tom
Clements of SRS Watch questions Secretary of Energy Moniz about the fate
of the mismanaged MOX project. Moniz took a few questions at a gathering
near SRS on July 28 after he toured the site. The crowd, made up in large
part of "boosters," had little to celebrate as the funding storm clouds
continue to gather on the horizon for the MOX boondoggle.
Below is a July 28 news release from Senator Vincent Sheheen on the plan to dump German spent nuclear fuel at the Savannah River Site. Sheheen is in the South Carolina legislature and is running for governor. Thanks to Senator Sheheen for standing up against plans aimed at making us a dump for German nuclear waste! Sheheen to DOE Secretary: SC Is Not A Nuclear Waste Dumping Ground Camden, SC – Today Vincent Sheheen urged Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to join him in preventing South Carolina from becoming a dumping ground for international nuclear waste, as the Secretary toured the Savannah River Site and visited the Aiken area. The text of Sen. Sheheen’s letter to Secretary Moniz is pasted below. View a PDF of the signed letter at: http://vincentsheheen.com/?p=594 July 28, 2014 The Honorable Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy US Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave. SW Washington DC 20585 Dear Secretary Moniz, As you will no doubt see on your visit today, South Carolina is a beautiful state, blessed with tremendous natural resources and hardworking people. We are also proud to have the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, which provides jobs in the community and does important work for our country. But South Carolina is not a nuclear waste dumping ground. I write today to ask you to join us in preventing German radioactive waste from being dumped in our state. We've been down this road before, and South Carolina won't be fooled by promises again. The federal government’s proposal to ship nearly 1 million highly radioactive graphite spheres from Germany to Charleston and then transport it to the Savannah River Site is deeply troubling. The proposal is unprecedented in its scope and size – and for the sake of the local families and businesses, for the sake of our state, the proposal should not move forward. This German commercial nuclear waste was created by experimental reactors in Germany. The clean-up or storage of the radioactive by-product should be the responsibility of the German government. It’s not right for Germany or for the US federal government to throw this responsibility off to the people of South Carolina. We know that once these highly radioactive graphite spheres are at the SRS they are going to stay here, likely forever. There is currently no disposal system at SRS – or anywhere in the United State for that matter – to handle the reprocessing of this waste. So, once it’s here, it will sit here. And sit here. And sit here. Until we have made headway in dealing with the 37 million gallons of waste that we currently have at the SRS, we should not take on this burden from other countries. Our focus must remain on cleaning up the tanks at SRS remaining from its time producing plutonium. These are tough issues that affect the people from Aiken to Charleston and around our state. Governor Haley refuses to speak out on this issue, but that does not mean South Carolinians support this proposal. South Carolina is not a nuclear waste dump. Please help us keep it that way. Sincerely, Sen. Vincent Sheheen  Tom
Clements, SRS Watch director, "meets" Secretary Moniz in DOE headquarters
on May 20, 2014, on the way to meet with the DOE inspector
general.
Savannah River Site Watch
http://www.srswatch.org/ Media Alert July 28, 2014 Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) Interacts with Secretary of Energy Moniz at “Meet & Greet” – Question about MOX Boondoggle Posed Directly to Moniz and Opposition to German Spent Fuel Import Expressed in Letter to Him letter to be delivered in person to Secretary Moniz: "Place MOX Construction on Cold Standby; Terminate Plans for German Spent Fuel to SRS" Columbia, South Carolina -- Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch), a public interest organization that monitors activities at the Savannah River Site, participated today in a “meet & greet” with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on his first visit to the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site. The event will took place at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, July 28 at the Aiken County Applied Research Center, 227 Gateway Drive, Aiken, South Carolina. Unfortunately, it does not appear that DOE made an effort to invite more public interest groups involved in SRS programs. Given that a number of public interest groups recently were visible at a June 24 DOE meeting on the proposed import of German spent fuel, the groups are known and should have been invited to the meeting, according to SRS Watch. The participation of public interest groups is essential in the SRS decision-making process as they are independent from DOE and contractors and their involvement should be solicited by DOE and not ignored, according to SRS Watch. SRS Watch director Tom Clements engaged Secretary Moniz on two key SRS issues – the mismanaged plutonium fuel (MOX) project and the ill-conceived scheme to import highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany. “I requested of Secretary Moniz that DOE follow through with placing the mismanaged MOX construction program on cold standby,” said Clements. “My main message on MOX was to ask of Secretary of Moniz that those DOE and Shaw AREVA MOX Services managers who have allowed the MOX project to run dramatically over budget and behind schedule to be held accountable. As DOE’s credibility has been severely eroded due to the mismanagement of the MOX project, he needs to demonstrate that he will hold those responsible for the boondoggle accountable.” “In a letter given to him, I informed Secretary Moniz that there is strong opposition to importing highly radioactive commercial spent nuclear power fuel from Germany and request that the proposal be immediately terminated,” said Clements. “There is a feeling in South Carolina and Georgia that we do not want SRS the future of to be a nuclear waste dump and that waste already at the site must be cleaned up. By not inviting more public interest groups to interact with Secretary Moniz, he will likely get a biased view from contractors wishing to profit from dumping German nuclear waste at the site but that viewpoint does not reflect the wider public. Even if he didn’t hear a balance of views about importing more nuclear waste into SRS, over time both Secretary Moniz and DOE will eventually learn that public sentiment is against turning SRS into a waste disposal site.” See links to four editorials in local papers – Aiken, Augusta, Greenville and Spartanburg – against importing German spent fuel at http://www.srswatch.org/. Contact: Tom Clements Director, Savannah River Site Watch Columbia, SC srswatch@gmail.com 
Here's
news from a sister organization located near the Sellafield nuclear
complex in the UK - Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE).
The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) has been a major failure that
is a harbinger to the end of the spent fuel reprocessing experiment
in in Europe. THORP and the associated Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP),
the UK's equivalent of the SRS MOX boondoggle, have been economic and
technological disasters that show that the only purpose that reprocessing
serves is to line the pockets of those engaged in
it.
CORE news release, July 25, 2014: 1000 tonnes of THORP contracts abandoned by overseas customers since 1994 " Since the £2.8Bn Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) was opened in 1994 – with the usual razzmatazz from its then owners British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), Sellafield’s ’flagship’ reprocessing plant has lost some 1000 tonnes of business contracted by overseas customers." SRS Watch is proud to be associated with CORE, which produces spot-on analyses of the situation at Sellafield. Export
von Atommüll muss gestoppt
werden Like many public interest groups in Germany, the anti-nuclear group ".ausgestrahlt" is opposing export of highly radioactive German spent fuel to the US and supports protests against the transport of the spent fuel from Juelich, where it is now stored. German groups supports construction of a new earthquake-resistant storage facility and management of the spent fuel in Germany. Translation of their statement: July 21, 2014 statement from .ausgestrahlt: Export of nuclear waste must be stopped Castor containers from Jülich should not go in the U.S. "Research-Center Jülich is planning the transport of 152 Castor containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste in the United States. Against all the promises the federal government and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia the Research-Center Jülich and their partner want to export radioactive waste. The planned transport and the treatment of nuclear waste in the United States is against the export ban in site selection law and the ban on reprocessing in the Atomic Energy Act. The current interim storage facility in Jülich is not a safe place to store nuclear waste. However, the transport of Castor in the United States or, alternatively, to Ahaus is not a suitable solution. Basis of any planning must be the avoidance of nuclear transports in order to exclude an unnecessary threat to the population. We demand the whereabouts of nuclear waste in a new earthquake-proof interim storage facility at Jülich to be constructed and approved as quickly as possible.” 
South Carolina, the world's waste dump? No thanks! This July 22 Robert Ariail editorial cartoon, entitled "Green Box, says it all about how some regard South Carolina and the Savannah River Site - a dumping ground for waste of all types. But strong resistance to dumping of commercial nuclear waste from Germany demonstrates that the public is getting tired of our state being a dump. For those of you not familiar with the geography of south Carolina, the waste bin is in the shape of the state. A big thanks to Robert Ariail, editorial cartoonist, for permission to post the cartoon. See his website by clicking here. 
July 22,
2014
Savannah River Site Clean-up Panel in 16-0 Vote Renews Position Against Bringing Commercial Spent Fuel to the Savannah River Site SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) Continues to Stay Focused on SRS Clean-Up While DOE Chases German Nuclear Waste It’s good to report that the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB), a duly embodied federal advisory panel to the US Department of Energy on SRS clean-up, has on July 22 unanimously renewed its “position paper” against bringing domestic commercial spent fuel to SRS for “interim storage.” The vote was in 16 to 0 in favor of renewing the position (which included a slight strengthening of language concerning the fact that SRS has never been studied for "indefinite" storage of spent fuel). See full SRS Watch comment here. “Position Paper for the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board on Using SRS for interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (Adopted July 2013)” Congratulations to the members of the SRS CAB for letting DOE and special interests know of their concerns about SRS becoming an "indefinite" storage site for highly radioactive spent fuel. 
July 21, 2014 - news from
Germany
The stage has been set by the US Department of Energy and German entities for large protests in Germany if there is any attempt to move casks with highly radioactive graphite spent fuel. A July 21 news release by 25 German environmental groups states that "Every nuclear transport is refused until the moment a terminal storage is found in Germany. Instead of this, a permitted earthquake-proof storage in Jülich is demanded." So, no matter if the waste is shuffled around in Germany with no disposal plans or if an attempt is made to export it to the Savannah River Site for dumping, the groups state that there will "resistance all along the transport tracks." What kind of mess in Germany has SRS inserted itself? Let Germany deal with its own spent fuel any consideration of dumping the commercial nuclear power fuel at SRS must be terminated! Press release 21.07.2014 Massive protests against Jülich-CASTOR Transports announced Environmental and No-Nuke-Organisations all over Germany are announcing massive protests in the case of CASTOR Transports from the AVR interim storage Jülich all along the whole transport track. In Jülich/Germany, 152 CASTOR Casks containing nuclear waste from atomic fuel elements are stored. Evidently the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) is not able to produce a permit within the law. Whether this situation is produced knowingly by the FZJ or is due to incompetence, can only be guessed about. etc. in German: Massive Proteste im Falle von Jülicher Castor-Transporten angekündigt! ahaus · jülich · nrw Umwelt- und Anti-Atom-Organisationen aus dem gesamten Bundesgebiet kündigen für den Fall von Castortransporten vom AVR-Zwischenlager aus Jülich massive Proteste entlang der gesamten Strecke an. In Jülich lagern 152 Castoren mit hochradioaktivem Müll aus Brennelementen. Offensichtlich ist das Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) bisher weder in der Lage, eine rechtssichere Genehmigung für das Zwischenlager noch eine Transportgenehmigung für die Castoren zu erwirken. etc  Highly
radioactive AVR spent fuel stored in CASTOR casks stored at Juelich,
Germany. The AVR reactor was an experimental gas-cooled reactor owned by
municipal utilities and connected to the electrical grid. The AVR reactor
operated from 1967-1988. According to the IAEA: "This reactor accumulated
122 000 hours of operation in 21 years." (High Temperature Gas Cooled
Reactor Fuels and Materials, IAEA-TECDOC-1645, 2010)
July 21,
2014
Oooopppsss, the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) research center in Germany has driven a nail into the coffin of the proposal to export commercial nuclear reactor spent fuel to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In a stunning admission that pulls the rug out from under special interests pushing the dumping of AVR spent fuel at the Savannah River Site, FZJ states: "In its current form, the nuclear fuel in the spent AVR fuel elements is not weapons-grade.” While the US Department of Energy has claimed that there are proliferation risks with the AVR spent fuel stored at Jülich, the operators of the site disagree. In a Q&A by FZJ, in German and English, it is clearly stated that the spent fuel contains no weapon-usable uranium: “Die Strahlung, die von den Kugeln ausgeht, ist sehr hoch und damit sehr gefährlich. Die Kugeln müssen daher besonders verpackt und gelagert werden, um den Schutz von Mensch und Umwelt zu gewährleisten. In seiner gegenwärtigen Form ist der Kernbrennstoff in den abgebrannten AVR-Brennelementen nicht waffentauglich.” “The intensity of the radiation emitted by the fuel spheres is very high, which makes the spheres very dangerous. This is why they must be packaged and stored in a special way in order to protect humans and the environment. In its current form, the nuclear fuel in the spent AVR fuel elements is not weapons-grade.” DOE has presented that the spent fuel contains 900 kg of highly enriched uranium, or 1 g of HEU/graphite spent fuel ball but has presented no documentation to support this claim. But this amount of HEU appears to be what may have been in the AVR and THTR-300 fresh fuel about 30 years ago, before the fuel was irradiated in the experimental gas-cooled power reactors. When will DOE correct its misrepresentation of the amount of HEU involved? While the spent fuel in question may in the long term pose the risk of use in a radiological dispersal device, so does all spent fuel in Germany and elsewhere. The solution to that problem is not to dump the spent fuel at SRS but to safely manage it in Germany. SRS is not a spent fuel dump for Germany! SRS ist kein Atommüllkippe! ------------------------------------- 
Bundestag
reveals truth on German spent
fuel
Despite feeble efforts by DOE and certain special interests and a few in Germany to rebrand the AVR reactor as a "research" reactor, the proof is overwhelming that the AVR was an experimental power reactor that fed electricity to the grid. The evidence comes from the Bundestag as well. See the response to a member of the Bundestag - Antwort des Parlamentarischen Staatssekretärs Stefan Müller vom 15. April 2014 - about the ownership of the AVR reactor at Juelich. Special interests are trying 25 years after the reactor's closure to claim that the experimental power reactor was actually a research reactor. This trickery, aimed at dodging the German law against export of spent nuclear power reactor fuel, is about 35 years too late and is not working. "The General Experimental Reactor (AVR) belonged to the time of the establishment and the operation of the Working Group Experimental Reactor GmbH. At its inception, the Working Group was experimental reactor GmbH, a consortium of 15 municipal electric utilities (EVU). The following table the individual utilities with the respective ownership percentage. During the 21 years of operation of the research reactor were 1.63 TWh fed to electrical energy into the public grid." (translation from Google Translate) A list of the municipal electric company owners follows the above text. This document has been submitted into the record of the DOE's "environmental assessment" being prepared on the dumping at SRS of 900,000 highly radioactive graphite fuel balls from the AVR and THTR-300 gas-cooled power reactors. The comment period ends on July 21 - see here for a message you can send in, even if it's sent after July 21. 
Dr. Marolyn Parson, chair of the SRS
Citizens Advisory Board (SRS
CAB), a duly embodied federal advisory panel on SRS clean-up, has
submitted comments to the US DOE on the proposal to import commercial
spent fuel from Germany. Her letter states that
"There are six additional areas that should be added to the scope of the
Environmental Analysis: Impacts that would occur as a result of postulated
delays in current Savannah River Site missions/projects."
See the July 18, 2014 letter here. Recall that the SRS CAB meets on July 21-22 at the Doubletree Hotel, 2651 Perimeter Pkwy, Augusta, Georgia 30909. Please attend and speak up against importing German spent fuel to SRS. See CAB agenda and location of meeting here. From the SRS CAB website: Marolyn Parson Dr. Parson retired in 2007 from the National Association of Home Builders, where she served as the Director of Environmental Policy. Her career as an environmental scientist included environmental research and university teaching. Since retiring, she has earned two “green” building certifications. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Education, and a Doctorate in Biology. Dr. Parson resides in Bluffton, South Carolina. She serves as the chair of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Savannah River Site (SRS) is not a dump for
Germany's high-level nuclear waste (spent
fuel)!
For those in Germany and other places who do not know where the Savannah River Site is located, take a look at the map above. The 310-square mile U.S. Department of Energy site is in the state of South Carolina, southeast of Augusta, Georgia and south of Aiken, South Carolina. SRS is NOT a disposal site for any form of high-level nuclear waste, which includes spent fuel (as defined by US law). High-level waste (HLW) now at SRS is required by US law to go to a geologic repository. But the US has no such repository, so HLW at the site is now stranded. Do not be fooled by any misinformation that commercial spent fuel brought from Germany is being sent to the site for disposal. SRS is a key facility in the US nuclear weapons complex, having produced 36 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium and the site still processes all tritium gas for nuclear warheads. The site is struggling to deal with a large quantity of high-level waste - 37 million gallons, which were in 51 large tanks - remaining form nuclear weapons production. We do not want more waste brought into the site as it negatively impacts urgent and on-going clean-up activities. SRS is not a spent fuel disposal site! SRS ist kein Atommüllkippe! For more information, contact SRS Watch at srswatch@gmail.org Concern about and opposition to the proposed
export of German spent fuel to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina
is growing on a daily basis. It appears that the port of Nordenham,
Germany, across the Weser River from the large port of Bremerhaven, is
secretly being considered to export 457 casks containing German commercial
spent fuel to SRS. Given that possibility, Die
Linke, a German political party in the Nordenham city government, has
taken notice that 300,000 highly radioactive graphite spent fuel balls
from the AVR power reactor in Juelich could be exported via Nordenham and
made an inquiry on July 14 about that to the city's
"Bürgermeister." The US Department of Energy must
reveal in its draft "environmental assessment" if it is considering use of
Nordenham for this commercial venture and what the port's ability is to
handle 30-tonne casks containing high-level nuclear waste.
Thank you, Representative Fortenberry for introducing some sanity into the discussion about the MOX boondoggle! Though he withdrew his amendment to House legislation to fund the Department of Energy, Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska) spoke much-needed common sense about the dire situation with the mismanaged MOX program. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE - July 9, 2014 "My amendment seeks to move $25 million from the mixed oxide fuel program and move it into the defense nuclear nonproliferation accounts, such as the global threat reduction initiative and other similar accounts." "The reason I am offering this is I am very concerned about the future of the mixed oxide, the MOX, fuel program. So is the Department of Energy. So is the administration. So is our committee. Everyone is very concerned about the potential viability of this program which we have already spent $4 billion of taxpayer money on." read on - see page 16 pdf Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) responded with a comment in which he feebly attempts to perpetuate the lie that France has a similar MOX plant as the one being built at SRS: "I want you to be aware that this is actually proven technology. There has been a facility built in France already that has provided and proven that this will work..." FACT CHECK: The plutonium proliferation company AREVA, a government-owned French company, has never built or operated a nuclear fuel facility to produce MOX fuel made from weapon-grade plutonium. They are attempting to design the US MOX plant to handle weapon-grade plutonium but it seems like their design is in trouble as they attempt to meet US standards. And, MOX fuel made from weapon-grade plutonium has NEVER been used commercially anywhere in the world. Representative Wilson, your repeated attempts to perpetuate untruths about MOX are deceptive yet transparent. Representative Wilson, why do you continue yoru attempts to deceive the tax payer about the costly MOX madness? Instead, why aren't you calling for full accountability and investigations into what has turned into a major disaster for DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration and Shaw AREVA MOX Services? It's time for heads to roll. But we haven't even got a slap on the wrist of those responsible for the massive MOX debacle. And, nobody responsible has had the moral courage to step forward to assume responsibility. Such a sad testimony to the way DOE operates and that contractors think it's normal to exploit DOE and the tax payers. One day, justice will be served.... --------------------------- 
Comments by SRS Watch to the South Carolina
Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council on July 10, 2014 - click here.
At the meeting in Columbia, South Carolina, the Department of Energy did a poor job presenting it's half-baked proposal to dump spent fuel from Germany on the Savannah River Site. The official, pictured above, stumbled over a barrage of questions from the council about the timing of a Department of Energy's study ("environmental assessment") now being prepared concerning import of the highly radioactive spent fuel. It was clear that Germany's schedule to remove the commercial spent fuel from the Juelich research center, in the form of highly radioactive graphite balls, is driving DOE's schedule. There was skepticism shown by the council about DOE dancing to Germany's tune in the effort to dump a radioactive mess on SRS. In oral and written comments, I revealed more about the scheme than DOE has so far cared to, underscoring the importance of having SRS Watch keeping an eye on what DOE is up to. Stay tuned for more on the meeting. Tom Clements, Director, SRS Watch DOE's inaccurate and incomplete presentation to the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council: Potential Acceptance and Disposition of German Pebble Bed Research Reactor Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Fuel Environmental Assessment Article about the meeting, about work at SRS to develop a new, proliferation-prone reprocessing technique to remove uranium from the graphite fuel: Scrutiny intensifies over German nuke waste shipments to SC, by Sammy Fretwell, The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 11, 2014 video story on SC Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council meeting: WLTX TV, Columbia, SC, July 10, 2014 Enriched Uranium From Germany Still In Works For SRS Comment for public to send in to DOE 
Statement by Ms. Sylvia Kotting-Uhl,
Spokesperon on Nuclear Issues in the German Bundestag for the
“Bundestagsfraktion BÜNDNIS 90/ DIE
GRÜNEN” - July 8, 2014
-- opposition to the proposed shipment of German spent fuel from the long-closed AVR gas-cooled commercial prototype reactor at Forschungszentrum Jülich to the United States Shipping the nuclear waste of the AVR to the USA is against all principles that we obliged to, last but not least by the German repository site selection act. This nuclear waste has to be disposed in our own country. In my opinion the best option would be to build a new earthquake-proof interim storage for the nuclear waste on the FZJ ground or nearby. I can no longer accept the blanket of secrecy that Germany's Federal Ministry of Research has thrown over this affair. Minister Wanka has to declare quickly what her plans for the disposition of the nuclear waste are. [ Dr. Johanna Wanka has been Federal Minister of Education and Research and a member of the Government of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel since February 2013.] SRS Watch thanks Ms. Kotting-Uhl for her statement and for her support of disposition of the AVR spent fuel in Germany! 
SRS Watch MOX
Boondoggle Alert - July 9, 2014
White House Statement on DOE Funding Indicates Veto Looming Over MOX Funding Language in Congress Photo of MOX plant and area around it on May 22, 2014, taken by High Flyer, of the SRS Watch air force. Are you surprised to see what a $10-billion concrete box looks like? Some claim that there are 1500 workers at the site - where are their cars? See more aerial photos of MOX plant from May 22 on SRS Watch website: http://www.srswatch.org/photos.html Columbia, SC -- The Obama Administration has today threatened to veto Energy and Water Development legislation that funds the Department of Energy unless various matters of concern are not addressed, including language on continuing construction for the mismanaged plutonium fuel (MOX) plant under construction at the DOE's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Concerning the MOX program, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated: "The Administration strongly objects to language that would require the Secretary of Energy to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The Administration plans to move the facility into cold stand-by in FY 2015 as it continues to explore the potential for more cost effective alternatives while maintaining the U.S. Government's commitment to disposing of unneeded plutonium." The White House statement affirms that the Department of Energy is sticking to its proposal to place the MOX plant construction on cold standby in Fiscal Year 2014 (which ends on September 30) and that non-MOX cheaper alternatives continue to be analyzed. "While DOE's hands must not be tied in its attempts to get the MOX program under control, it appears that any increase in funding for Fiscal Year 2015 will only prolong the inevitable shutdown of the massively over-budget project," said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch. "Congress has not demonstrated in any way that it can get MOX spending under control or that it aims to hold managers of the problem-plagued project accountable and that's a recipe for shutdown. Dealing with MOX in Fiscal Year 2014 rather than throwing more money at it to barely keeps its nose above water next year is the soundest way to attempt to get plutonium disposition back on track. An increase in MOX funding by the House is contrary to sound fiscal management, especially given that the project is simply not sustainable over the long term." In the floor discussion in the US House, it is believed that Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) may offer an amendment that strikes the language that requires MOX money to be used for construction in Fiscal Year 2015. In other words, the amendment would require that the MOX facility be placed on "cold standby" as requested by the President's budget. If no Energy & Water budget is agreed to by the Senate by September 30, the Administration may move ahead and place the MOX project on cold standby. See White House statement of July 9: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/113/saphr4923h_20140709.pdf EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503 STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY H.R. 4923 — Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 (Rep. Rogers, R-Kentucky) The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 4923, making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes. The bill significantly underfunds critical investments that develop American energy sources to build a clean and secure energy future, support the emerging clean energy technologies that create high-quality jobs, and enhance the Nation's economic competiveness. The legislation also excessively restricts nonproliferation contracts with Russia and prevents the development of lower cost technologies for disposal of excess plutonium. Further, the bill includes objectionable environmental riders that would prevent the use of funds to address known deficiencies and regulatory uncertainties related to Clean Water Act regulations that protect important aquatic resources while supporting economic development. If the President were presented with H.R. 4923, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill. ..... Disposition of Weapons-Usable Plutonium. The Administration strongly objects to language that would require the Secretary of Energy to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The Administration plans to move the facility into cold stand-by in FY 2015 as it continues to explore the potential for more cost effective alternatives while maintaining the U.S. Government's commitment to disposing of unneeded plutonium. Notes: House Report on Energy & Water Funding - search for "MOX" http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-113-hr-fy2015-energywater.pdf -------------------- 
The
Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) will meet Monday and
Tuesday, July 21-22, 2014 at the Doubletree Hotel in Augusta,
Georgia. See draft agenda by clicking
here.
Amongst the various topics to be discussed, there will possibly be a vote on Tuesday morning on renewing the July 2013 position paper against bringing highly radioactive spent nuclear power fuel to SRS for storage. Reflecting public sentiment against bringing commercial spent fuel to SRS, that position paper passed overwhelmingly in July 2013. Please attend on Monday and speak in support of the renewal of the position and against bringing German commercial nuclear reactor spent fuel to SRS for dumping. Photo: Patriots from Georgia and South Carolina at SRS CAB meeting in March 2014. Thanks to citizens like these who attend SRS meetings and speak up for sound DOE policies! ---------------------- July 6, 2014
The US Department of Energy's 310-square mile Savannah River Site (SRS) Faces Unprecedented Import of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel from Two German Nuclear Power Reactors; Export from Germany of Commercial Spent Fuel now Stored in CASTOR Casks at Ahaus and Juelich is Illegal and Unwarranted, Will Compound Waste Management Challenges at SRS and Must be Rejected June 24 "Scoping Comments" by SRS Watch on the US Department of Energy’s “Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany” - in Support of the "No Action" Alternative (No Import of the Commercial Spent Fuel) Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch Reminder:
the South Carolina Governors' Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC) meets on
Thursday, July 10 in Columbia, South Carolina and the urgent issues of
German nuclear waste dumping and high-level waste management at the
Savannah River Site are on the agenda. Please attend and make a
public comment against foreign waste dumping at the Savannah River
Site. Click here for the agenda for the July 10 meeting. Click here for the comments of SRS Watch and the League of Women Voters of South Carolina at the GNAC meeting on April 10. GOVERNOR’S NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING - agenda Gressette Building, Room #209 (by state capitol, downtown Columbia) July 10, 2014 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Call to Order – Approval of Minutes & Karen Patterson, Chair (10 minutes) Update of GNAC activities Duke Update Steve Nesbit, Director Nuclear Policy and Support (30 minutes) SCDHEC Shelly Wilson, DHEC, SRS Federal Facilities Liaison (20 minutes) Break (10 minutes) SRS German HEU EA Maxine Maxted, DOE (20 minutes) Z Area Salt Disposal Facility Update Steve Wilkerson, DOE, Defense Waste Processing Facility/Saltstone Director (20 minutes) ARP/MCU Next Generation Solvent Update Neil Davis, DOE, Tank Farm/ETP Project Director (20 minutes) Tank Closure Status Dan Wood, DOE, Tank Closure and Regulatory Director (20 minutes) Rev 19 Liquid Waste System Plan Peter Hill, DOE, System Planning Manager (20 minutes) Public Comments Closing Remarks Karen Patterson, Chair (5 minutes) 
July 2 - The
State Columbia, SC
MORNING BUZZ: Sheheen to discuss nuclear waste Posted by CASSIE COPE on July 2, 2014 State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, the Democratic Camden attorney running for governor, will join leaders from Aiken and the Conservation Voters of South Carolina to discuss the effort to bring nuclear waste to the Aiken area from Germany. The conservation voters endorsed Sheheen in his second bid for governor against Republican Nikki Haley. Note poster above, presented by DOE at the German nuclear waste dumping meeting on June 24 in N. Augusta, South Carolina - none of the "disposal" options result in the German high-level spent fuel by-products leaving Savannah River Site, which underscores the risk of SRS becoming an international nuclear dump ---- news release from Sheheen's campaign (for governor): From: Sheheen for SC Press Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 4:53 PM Subject: WED at 10am: Sheheen & CVSC to Discuss Nuclear Waste Dumping in Aiken TOMORROW at 10am: Sheheen, CVSC, & Local Leaders to Discuss Nuclear Waste Dumping in Aiken Tomorrow, Wednesday July 2nd at 10:00 am, Sen. Vincent Sheheen will join leaders from the Aiken area and the Conservation Voters of South Carolina to discuss the effort to bring Nuclear Waste from Germany into the Aiken area. WHO: Vincent Sheheen, state Senator and candidate for governor, with Alan Hancock of the Conservation Voters of South Carolina and local leaders from the Aiken area WHAT: News Conference on German Nuclear Waste Dumping in Aiken WHERE: 831 Hayne Ave, Aiken, SC 29801 WHEN: Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at 10:00 am -01%20(1).png?format=1000w)
Pick your DOE
boondoggle....
The plutonium fuel (MOX) program isn't the only management and financial debacle that DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) created and continues to push. The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at Y-12 (Oak Ridge) - to make the highly enriched uranium (HEU) part of nuclear weapons - is main contender for DOE's "boondoggle of the century." While the number of nuclear weapons goes down, spending on maintaining a vast nuclear weapons arsenal is shooting upwards. SRS Watch is a member group of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), which advocates clean up of the weapons sites, like the Savannah River Site, and honoring of the provisions of Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to get rid of nuclear weapons. ANA and SRS Watch will continue to hold DOE accountable for wasteful and provocative spending. See the posted graphic, used during recent educational efforts with Congress and government agencies, at http://www.ananuclear.org//. 
German
Nuclear Waste at SRS Challenged -
from anibalshow video from DOE meeting on Tuesday, June 24 http://vimeo.com/99173367 NORTH AUGUSTA, SC - Savannah River Site faces unprecedented import of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel from two German nuclear power reactors and 17 people opposing the idea against 13 in favor explained their concerns during a public hearing by the Department of Energy. Anibal Ibarra, anibalshow.com ---------------------- As some were sowing confusion at the meeting on June 24 about the AVR reactor and whether it was connected to the electrical grid, SRS Watch has submitted an additional comment for the record of the "environmental assessment" (EA) on the German spent fuel dumping. This supports earlier comments about commercial production of electricity by the AVR and THTR-3000 reactors and that they were connected to the commercial electrical grid. The discussion is thus over - both of the German nuclear reactors were connected to the grid and were used for commercial production of electricity. They were experimental power reactors, not research reactors. The US must not set a precedent and import commercial spent fuel which will only be dumped at SRS as there is no way to "dispose" of it after any processing. Stay tuned for more comments from SRS Watch before the EA comment period ends on July 21. Others are encouraged to also submit comments against the plan by special interests affiliated with the US DOE and/or Germany to dump commercial spent fuel at SRS - see Federal Register notice of June 4 for details on where to submit comments: "Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany" 
TV
ad takes a well-deserved jab at the MOX debacle - truer now than when it
first ran in June 2013 - thanks to Friends of the
Earth
Oink: Stop Sen. Graham's plutonium pork boondoggle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PTwods3Y4&feature=youtu.be Oh what a mess Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson find themselves in with the MOX travesty! MOX: boondoggle, debacle, travesty - take your pick about how to describe this textbook case of big-government mismanagement of a complex, costly project, which is "pure pork." The MOX contractors continue to feed at the public trough but their over consumption is soon to end as fiscal conservatism will triumph over MOX madness....check out the oink ad, which is spot on... SRS Watch signs on to letter to improve the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - June 26, 2014
--- see full news release from OpenTheGovernment.org: Broad Coalition of Organizations Sign on in Support of FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 Fifty organizations representing a broad range of interests and crossing the political spectrum expressed support for the recently-introduced FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, S. 2520. The bill was introduced earlier this week by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), who have a long history of working together to develop and pass legislation that makes the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) a better tool for the public to obtain government records. Download the letter here: http://www.openthegovernment.org/sites/default/files/Senate%20FOIA%20Bill%20Support%20Press%20Release.pdf Carolina
Peace Resource Center ACTION ALERT: Oppose Dumping German HEU Nuclear
Waste at SRS - June
26 The Department of Energy (DOE) is considering proposals to bring German HEU (Highly Enriched Uranium) commercial spent fuel to the Savannah River Site for processing and disposal. But there is no place to dispose of it for the long-term meaning it would wind up dumped at SRS for decades if not permanently. Environmentalists and concerned citizens have already spoken out at a DOE Hearing in North Augusta in opposition on Tuesday June 24th… now it is YOUR TURN TO SPEAK UP! TAKE ACTION! Tell DOE to Consider the Environmental & Financial Liabilities of Dumping German Nuclear Waste at SRS. The DOE is soliciting comment from the public to make an Environmental Assessment (EA) on whether bringing German HEU Nuclear Waste to SRS would have a “significant impact” on the local community, thus requiring a more researched “environmental impact statement” (EIS) under federal law. Boosters and supporters of bringing German HEU Nuclear Waste to SRS are urging a finding of “no significant impact” to avoid an environmental impact statement. Tell DOE to consider the environmental & financial liabilities of dumping German nuclear waste at SRS. Please include any additional factors…environmental or socioeconomic… that should be weigh in on considering a community impact. Submit Comments to Andrew Grainger at mailto:drew.granger@srs.gov SUBMIT COMMENT BY MONDAY JULY 21st More Background/Share this ACTION ALERT: http://bit.ly/GERHEUSRS 
Meeting on proposal to illegally export German spent commercial fuel to SRS draws public opposition & support from "boosters" who are chasing a big financial payoff from the Germans for the unprecedented import into the US of commercial spent fuel - June 24, 2014 see short video clip linked from the Augusta Chronicle article on the left Suzanne Rhodes of the South Carolina League of Women Voters expresses concern about import of German high-level nuclear waste to the Savannah River Site. (Export of such high-level nuclear waste is illegal under German law so a scheme is being devised to get around that big problem by redefining the reactors from which spent fuel would be shipped as "research" reactors - see SRS Watch testimony below.) About 17 people spoke against the proposal and 13 in favor. Most of those in favor had a connection to SRS or contractors that would profit from the lucrative deal. That's the way it goes at these meetings - the general public with no financial connection expresses concern about questionable proposals while those who would make money (or who are connected to those who would make money) support the proposal no matter how bad it is for the environment, budget or public health. The deal in questions could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars so there were a lot of DOE officials and contractors at the meeting. This was noted by many of those attending, who were aware that many in the crowd were financially motivated by the German dumping scheme and were there to follow the money $$$$$. A draft "Environmental Assessment" (EA) on the proposal will be out in several months, with a public meeting to follow, but that EA will likely dodge the overarching policy questions driving this dodgy deal for the unprecedented import of commercial spent fuel into the United States. To comment, by July 21, and for more information, see DOE's Federal Register notice of June 4: "Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany" Savannah River Site Faces Unprecedented Import of
Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel from Two German Nuclear Power
Reactors; Export from Germany Illegal and Unwarranted, Will Compound Waste
Management Challenges at SRS and Must be
Rejected
June 24 "Scoping Comments" on the US Department of Energy’s “Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany” - in Support of the "No Action" Alternative (No Import of the Commercial Spent Fuel) list of 25 attachments that DOE must address, with some additional comments - click here by Tom Clements Director, Savannah River Site Watch (www.srswatch.org) Columbia, South Carolina ---- DOE to webcast June 24 meeting on the proposal to dump German commercial spent fuel on SRS - WEBCAST HAD TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES BUT AUDIO MAY HAVE WORKED DOE is preparing to web cast the scoping meeting on the German HEU Fuel Environmental Assessment. We intend to begin the broadcast at approximately 7:00 pm, June 24. At that time, please go to http://sro.srs.gov/ and follow the link posted there. Please feel free to distribute this information to anyone who may be interested. Andrew R. Grainger, NEPA Compliance Officer Office of the Assistant Manager for Infrastructure & Environmental Stewardship Department of Energy, Savannah River drew.grainger@srs.gov tel. 803.952.8001 DOE paid advertisement on the environmental meeting, in The State, Columbia, SC, June 23 Savannah River
Site Watch news June 23,
2014 Please attend the June 24 meeting in N. Augusta, SC and Speak Out Against Illegal Spent Fuel Dumping by Germany! news release: U.S. DOE Environmental Meeting on June 24 on Import to Savannah River Site (SRS) of German High- Level Nuclear Waste; DOE Wrongly Claims there would be a Plan for its “Disposition” in the US Germany Must Halt Plans for the Unprecedented Export of German Commercial Spent Fuel, via Charleston, South Carolina, for Dumping at SRS; Violates German Law, European Commission Directive on Nuclear waste Management Details on meeting and about the proposed scheme in Federal Register Notice of June 4: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf 
Please
attend the July 10 public meeting of the South
Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council and make a comment
against turning the Savannah River Site into a nuclear dump for highly
radioactive commercial spent fuel from two nuclear power reactors in
Germany. (These were not research reactors, which DOE and Germany
are feebly now trying to claim.) Entrance to the meeting is just a
few feet from the statue of Senator Strom Thurmond at the state capitol
complex in Columbia, SC. (The confederate flag flies sadly on
the other side of the "state house.")
GOVERNOR’S NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING - agenda - Gressette Building, Room #209 July 10, 2014 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Call to Order – Approval of Minutes & Karen Patterson, Chair (10 minutes) Update of GNAC activities Duke Update Steve Nesbit, Director Nuclear Policy and Support (30 minutes) SCDHEC Shelly Wilson, DHEC, SRS Federal Facilities Liaison (20 minutes) Break (10 minutes) SRS German HEU EA Maxine Maxted, DOE (20 minutes) Saltstone Vault Cracks Remediation Jim Folk, DOE, Asst. Manager for Liquid Waste Progreams (20 minutes) ARP/MCU Next Generation Solvent Jim Folk, DOE, Asst. Manager for Liquid Waste Programs (20 minutes) Tank Closure Update Jim Folk, DOE, Asst. Manager for Liquid Waste Programs (20 minutes) Rev 19 Liquid Waste System Plan Jim Folk, DOE, Asst. Manager for Liquid Waste Programs (20 minutes) Public Comments, Closing Remarks Karen Patterson, Chair (5 minutes) 
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control (DHEC) stands up to DOE on problems with new high-level waste
management plan - June 16, 2014 letter to Secretary of Energy
Moniz:
"On May 29, 2014, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) received Revision 19 of the Savannah River Site (SRS) Liquid Waste System Plan. This plan projects that every single liquid waste milestone will be missed. This would result in a total cumulative delay of over 200 years for waste removal, tank closure, treatment startup and waste treatment completion milestones. These delays will not be tolerated by the State of South Carolina." Click letter on SRS Watch website 
Speak up against commercial spent fuel from
Germany being dumped on SRS! You are encouraged to
attend a DOE environmental assessment (EA) meeting on Tuesday, June
24, 2014, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the North Augusta Community
Center, 495 Brookside Drive, North Augusta, South Carolina 29841 about
bringing 455 30-tonne canisters of unique, hard-to-manage German nuclear
waste to SRS, via the port of Charleston, SC. Please attend and make
a comment against the unprecedented move by DOE to bring highly
radioactive spent fuel to SRS from two German gas-cooled experimental
power reactors, the AVR and THTR-300. SRS is looking into processing
900,000 spent graphite fuel balls to remove uranium but the resultant
high-level radioactive waste has no disposition path and would simply be
stored or dumped at SRS, magnifying waste management problems at the
site. Germany wants to get rid of a nuclear waste problem but SRS
must not become a waste dump for commercial spent
fuel. See Federal Register Notice
of June 4: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf
for more details and where to send comments by July
21.
Below is a photo of the UK-flagged Pacific Egret, which secretly brought plutonium and highly enriched uranium into the US, via Charleston, SC, in February and March 2014. DOE has still not formally admitted that foreign plutonium on the ship was taken to SRS, where it now has no disposition path. Are DOE and the Germans eyeing one of the sister PNTL ships for the dirty job of transporting German commercial spent fuel from a European port to the US? Photo by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK. 
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has today (June 17) posted the report on its version of spending for DOE programs. This report accompanied passage of the bill in the Energy & Water Development Subcommittee, which funds DOE programs, and is today being made public. The committee recommends that the day of reckoning on the financial unsustainability of MOX reckoning be postponed and once again takes a big dodge in holding DOE/NNSA/Shaw AREVA MOX Services accountable for the MOX travesty. MOX funding has been increased to $345 million, $124 million above the administration request. This may keep the project on life support but is less than half of what it needs to make it sustainable for the next 25 years (IF MOX customers are ever found and IF the MOX plant can ever operate). The report cuts funding for high-level waste management at the Savannah River Site. Politicians in South Carolina need to get to work to get the funding restored! The full House Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill at 10:00 a.m. on June 18 and it will be webcast. MOX Boondoggle Alert! June
17, 2014
As problems for the plutonium fuel (MOX) program mount, the cover-up of costs and mismanagement of the boondoggle at the Savannah River Site only deepens. When will DOE/NNSA/Shaw AREVA MOX Services managers be held accountable for this textbook case of mismanagement of the tax payers' money? Days since AREVA was requested by SRS Watch to release their life-cycle cost estimate for the MOX program and days they have stonewalled the request: 63 Days since Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson were requested by SRS Watch to help obtain and release AREVA’s MOX life-cycle cost estimate and days they have failed the American people in not getting the estimate: 58 As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in their February 2014 report on the MOX program, MOX remains on the list of NNSA programs at "high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement." Nothing appears to have changed with the mismanagement of the MOX project since the GAO issued its report. If anything has changed, SRS Watch challenges DOE, NNSA, Shaw AREVA MOX Services, Senator Graham and Representative Wilson to openly demonstrate those changes to the public. The truth about the MOX mismanagement is ugly but it's time to come clean as to how this program was allowed to run so far off the tracks and into the ditch. Statement by Tom
Clements of SRS Watch Concerning the Just-completed Revised Plan for
High-Level Nuclear Waste Management at the Savannah River Site (SRS), the
Most Urgent Program at SRS - June 9,
2014
Liquid Waste System Plan SRR-LWP-2009-00001 Revision 19, dated May 15, 2014 – on the SRS Watch Website: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/r19_liquid_waste_plan_may_2014.pdf Savannah River Site has quietly completed its revised plan on the most important program at the site: management of dangerous high-level nuclear waste created primarily as a by-product of production of nuclear weapons materials during the Cold War. The Liquid Waste System Plan SRR-LWP-2009-00001 Revision 19 has been obtained by Savannah River Site Watch, which, as its role is public education and service, is making the document more readily available to the public and decision makers. --- see full statement at link at top --- Savannah River
Site Watch news - June 4,
2014
U.S. DOE Releases Details of Environmental Meeting on June 24 on Import to Savannah River Site of German High-Level Nuclear Waste and Wrongly Claims there would be a Plan for its “Disposition” Unprecedented Import of Commercial Spent Fuel, via Charleston, South Carolina, for Dumping at SRS May Violate International Norms Related to Nuclear Waste Management Federal Register Notice of June 4: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf Columbia, SC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has moved a step closer to what is believed to be the first import into the United States from a foreign country of highly radioactive commercial spent nuclear fuel. As there is no disposition path in the United States for such highly radioactive nuclear waste, there is concern that DOE is complicit in Germany’s plan to dump a daunting nuclear waste problem on the U.S. DOE has today provided more details in a Federal Register notice about a June 24 meeting to be held near the 310-square mile Savannah River Site (SRS) on the proposed import of the hard-to-manage commercial spent fuel from Germany. DOE proposes to import 455 large storage casks of the unusual highly radioactive waste, which poses a management challenge in either Germany or the United States, over a period of three years via the port at Joint Base Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. According to Savannah River Site Watch, a public interest group located near SRS, the planned import of commercial spent fuel may well be a violation of both the international “Convention on Nuclear Safety,” signed in 1994, and ratified by both Germany and the United States as well as the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” also ratified by both countries. The two countries must explain how the proposed shipment of the commercial spent fuel to the US does not violate the conventions establishing international safety and management norms. The 5th Review Meeting of the Joint Convention will take place beginning on May 11, 2015. The Federal Register notice states that an “environmental assessment” (EA) would be prepared to “analyze the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to accept, process, and disposition” of the import of spent fuel, in the unusual form of graphite spheres contained uranium and thorium, from the AVR and THTR-300 experimental gas-cooled reactors. “While DOE is presenting the import of this spent fuel as step being taken for nuclear non-proliferation reasons, it is becoming clearer that the main driver is the lack of will by Germany to properly address its own nuclear waste problem,” said Tom Clements, director Savannah River Site Watch. “While some at SRS are eyeing the large sum of money that could be made on processing the spent fuel at SRS, Germany is obligated to implement the best practices in managing its own highly radioactive commercial spent fuel and that does not include dumping their problem on the Savannah River Site.” According to SRS Watch, given a halt to plans to develop a a high-level waste repository in the United States and no final disposal facility at SRS, the notice is erroneous as there is no disposition plan for this waste nor any other high-level waste now at SRS. The only option for the waste, even if processed, would be long-term storage in one problematic form or another. “DOE is totally erroneous is presenting that a disposition path exists in the U.S. as such is clearly not the case,” said Clements. “DOE must clarify that there is no known disposition path in the U.S. for the German commercial nuclear waste being considered for import.” The notice states that an environmental meeting on the proposal will be held on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, from6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Drive, North Augusta, South Carolina 29841. The notice also includes information as to where written comments can be sent. SRS Watch encourages the public to attend the “scoping meeting” and make comments on both the proposed import of the German waste and also the trend of SRS to accept foreign nuclear waste and plutonium. SRS Watch is aware that the total number of irradiated graphite spheres (the size of a billiard ball) is 290,000 for the AVR fuel and 605,000 for the THTR fuel. Both reactors were experimental commercial facilities, not research reactors. The issue of export to the U.S. has only come up in the last few years given lack of German will to manage the problematic gas reactor spent fuel. The highly radioactive material from them is now stored in 30-tonne CASTOR casks at the two sites and is described in the Federal Register notice: “The EA will to analyze the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to accept, process, and disposition used nuclear fuel from Germany containing approximately 900 kilograms (kg) of HEU from the United States. The used nuclear fuel is composed of kernels containing thorium and U.S.-origin HEU embedded in thousands of small graphite spheres. The United States provided the HEU to Germany between 1965 and 1988. The fuel was irradiated at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor (AVR) reactor, which operated from 1967 to 1988, and the Thorium High Temperature Reactor (THTR)-300, which operated from 1983 to 1989. These reactors operated as part of Germany’s program to research and develop pebble bed reactor technology. AVR reactor fuel is stored at Juelich, Germany, and the THTR–300 reactor fuel is stored at Ahaus, Germany.” Due to irradiation and radioactive decay, it is unknown how much HEU remains in the spent fuel. [The German word “versuchs” means “experimental.”] The notice mentions three possible ways to manage and process the spent fuel but as no final disposition path exists it would stay at SRS, raising public concern about the proposal and larger issue of importation of nuclear waste and foreign plutonium to SRS. It appears that DOE may be attempting to keep the import of the spent fuel in its domain without involvement of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. licensing agency for commercial nuclear waste import. This will be raised at the June 24 meeting by SRS Watch. “The NRC may well have a licensing role for this commercial venture if DOE decides to pursue it,” said Clements. “DOE must fully explain how this proposal is not simply a commercial waste management operation disguised as nuclear non-proliferation and so far they have fallen far short of an adequate explanation.” Concerning transportation, today’s notice states “Under the proposed action, the German government would work with DOE to transport the used fuel by oceangoing vessel to the United States in DOE/U.S. Department of Transportation-certified Type B casks. The used fuel would be received at Joint Base Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, and then the casks would be transported by rail to SRS. DOE estimates that this could involve approximately 455 casks received over a period of approximately 3 years.” Notes: 1. Federal Register notice, June 4, “Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany” text: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/html/2014-12933.htm pdf: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf 2. “Statement of Intent” between The U.S. Department of Energy & two German government entities, signed on March 28/April 1, 2014: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/statement_of_intent_march_april_2014.pdf 3. Kein Export von Jülicher Atommüll nach South Carolina - SRS Watch statement against proposed export of spent fuel from Germany to the Savannah River Site, March 8, 2014 at Fukushima event in Jülich, Germany, http://www.westcastor.de/srs.htm 4. SRS Watch news release, May 30 – with links to key documents in “notes”: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/savannah_river_site_watch_news_german_waste_sr_may_30_2014.pdf Department of Energy to Analyze Import of Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel from Experimental Gas-Cooled Reactors, with Savannah River Site in South Carolina as a Destination Dumping of Waste from Juelich, Ahaus on SRS to be Opposed: Waste is in 457 30-tonne CASTOR Casks Holding 895,000 Graphite Balls 5. Convention on Nuclear Safety: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf449.shtml 6. Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/1997/infcirc546.pdf http://www-ns.iaea.org/conventions/waste-jointconvention.asp ---- Tom Clements Director, Savannah River Site Watch www.srswatch.org Columbia, South Carolina USA Savannah River Site Watch news release - June 3, 2014 New Aerial Photos of Major U.S. Nuclear Projects Released by Savannah River Site Watch: 1. Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant Boondoggle at Savannah River Site (SRS) – the $10 Billion Concrete Box 2. South Carolina Electric & Gas’ VC Summer AP1000 Reactor Project 3. Southern Company’s Vogtle AP1000 Project in Georgia 4. Photos of Duke’s Lee Reactor Project and Nuclear Ship Savannah Docked in Baltimore also Released Columbia, SC – The public interest group Savannah River Site watch (SRS Watch) has obtained aerial photos of three of the main nuclear projects being undertaken in the United States and is publicly releasing them. See photos in last four rows on SRS Watch website: http://www.srswatch.org/photos.html, (photos by ©High Flyer of the SRS Watch Air Force) “We are releasing the photos of the MOX boondoggle and nuclear reactor projects as a public service to inform the public about where billions of their dollars are being spent,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch. “Especially given the endless cost increases and schedule delays with the mismanaged $10-billion MOX plant, it is essential that the public be able to closely scrutinize the situation on the ground as problems mount and the project heads to cold standby.” The photos, all legally taken at an altitude of 2000 feet and which have been posted under “photos” on the SRS Watch website, include: The problem-plagued Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) construction site at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, photos taken on May 22; The VC Summer twin-reactor construction project of South Carolina Electric & Gas in Fairfield County, South Carolina, taken on May 22; The Vogtle twin-reactor construction project by Southern Company near Waynesboro, Georgia (and directly across the river from SRS), taken on May 22. Also, a photo of Duke Energy’s Lee reactor site, planned location for two AP1000 reactors, was taken on May 24 – the photo reveals no activity at the site. The photos can be used publicly, with credit to High Flyer (a South Carolina professional who prefers to remain anonymous). More photos, and of higher resolution, are available on request. A photo of the Nuclear Ship Savannah (NS Savannah), taken on May 24, has also been posted. The NS Savannah, now permanently anchored in Baltimore, Maryland after spending years anchored with the “ghost fleet” in the mouth of the James River in Virginia, was the first commercial nuclear powered ship designed to both cargo carry cargo and passengers. The project failed as the ship did not serve either of its two functions well. The ship languishes at dock while boosters hope to make a museum of the vessel. The fuel has been removed but the reactor vessel remains on the ship. http://www.srswatch.org/photos.html June 2 plutonium
flash: MOX hoodwinking
cracking apart
as history of boondoggle slowly revealed
DOE's failed plutonium fuel (MOX) project: 1999 DOE document reveals a deception of stunning proportions Don’t be fooled when DOE officials, MOX contractors and the media compare costs of the failed plutonium fuel (MOX) program to much higher estimates from 2008. This is being done in order to make it look like costs increases are much smaller than they really are and obscure the fact that Congress and the public were hoodwinked from the start about costs of the failed MOX project. The calculated hoodwinking is coming to an endbut when will DOE/NNSA officials and Shaw AREVA MOX Services be held accountable for the massive MOX boondoggle??? How long can self-serving politicians like Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson continue the cover-up? When will hearings be held to get to the bottom of this text-book case of mismanagement and deception? See DOE document “LIFE CYCLE COSTS FOR THE DOMESTIC REACTOR-BASED PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION OPTION” for estimates from 1999 ---- The document reveals a staggering cost increase in the estimated life-cycle cost of the MOX project, including MOX plant construction, from 1999 to 2014. MOX program life-cycle cost in 1999: $1.4 billion; in 2014: $30 – $35 billion Cost increase: $28.6 billion to $33.6 billion MOX plant construction in 1999: $723 million; in 2014: $7.7 billion official, but DOE officials say it’s closer to $10 billion Cost increase: $7 billion to $9.2 billion A historic document taken from the archives and posted recently by the DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI): “LIFE CYCLE COSTS FOR THE DOMESTIC REACTOR-BASED PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION OPTION” ORNL/TM-1999-257, Oak Ridge National Lab, published October 1999 Overall life-cycle cost: $1.4 billion estimate “The baseline cost elements used for this document are the same as those used for examination of the preferred sites described in the site-specific final environmental impact statement and in the DOE Record of Decision that will follow in late 1999. Cost data are separated by facilities, government accounting categories, contract phases, and expenditures anticipated by the various organizations who will participate in the program over a 20-year period. Total LCCs to DOE/MD are projected at approximately $1.4 billion for a 33-MT plutonium disposition mission.” Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF): $723 million estimate “For this estimate, a TPC (design, construction, and cold startup cost) of $723M has been calculated from the SRS-sited DO-CDR estimate and includes the addition of design/construction cost data for the aqueous polishing portion of the MOX FFF building not included in the DO-CDR but covered separately in the final EIS.” SRS Watch news
release, May 30, 2014
Department of Energy to Analyze Import of Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel from Experimental Gas-Cooled Reactors, with Savannah River Site in South Carolina as a Destination Dumping of Waste from Juelich, Ahaus on SRS to be Opposed: Waste is in 457 30-tonne CASTOR Casks Holding 895,000 Graphite Balls --- see DOE email in news release of May 29: “DOE-SR Update: German Spheres Notice of Intent (NOI)” --- SRS Watch news release,
May 29
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Applies to Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Export Bomb-Grade Uranium to Canada National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Seeks to Export 7 Kilograms of Highly Enriched Uranium to NRU Reactor at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, for Medical Isotope Production - Hopefully Among the Last of HEU Shipments to Canada Misguided Plans to Ship 23,000 Liters of Liquid High-Level Waste from Chalk River to DOE's Savannah River Site Slowly Proceeding SRS Watch news release, May 29, 2014 South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) Expected to File for Seventh Pay-in-Advance Rate Hike Request for V.C. Summer Nuclear Project on May 30, 2014 Rate Shock Hitting SCE&G Bills Due to AP1000 Nuclear Project: Nuclear Construction Costs on SCE&G Bill Already Exceed 10% and Are Expected to Go Higher Aerial Photos of V.C. Summer Project from May 22, 2014 Linked in "Photos" SRS Watch news, May 27: DOE’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) Releases Report on Mismanaged MOX Project at Savannah River Site; In SRS Watch Meeting with Inspector General on May 20, Concerns about MOX Project Cost Management Affirmed: Group Photo from Meeting Was transuranic waste -
contaminated with plutonium - from the Savannah River Site involved in the
radiation accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New
Mexico? DOE won't answer and this statement, sent by SRS to SRS
Watch on May 12, is all they will say:
To maintain the Energy Department’s commitment to the protection of workers, residents, and the environment, shipments of a specific Los Alamos National Laboratory waste stream to Waste Control Specialists have been temporarily halted. As part of the ongoing efforts to identify the cause of the February 14 event at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, we are evaluating all possible causes including the waste packages themselves. All possible scenarios will be thoroughly investigated until the cause of the event has been determined. Based on recent entries into the WIPP underground the team is evaluating the contents of a set of waste drums that came from LANL that are located in Panel 7, the location of the event. The team is looking at the possibility that a chemical reaction may have occurred within a drum, causing a potential release. As they evaluate this possibility it is prudent to stop shipments of this specific LANL waste stream to WCS. If you have additional questions, please contact DOE's Carlsbad Field Office: 1-800-336-WIPP (9477) SRS Watch news - May 14,
2014
Safety Problems at Savannah River Site Draw Attention of Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB); In May 13 Response to SRS Watch, SRS Acknowledges Problems and Says it is Addressing Them SRS Watch to Meet with DNFSB in Washington on May 21 to Discuss SRS Operational Issues Statement of Dr. Monica Regalbuto to Senate
Energy & Natural Resources Committee, May 13, 2014, at the hearing
on her confirmation to be DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental
Management (EM-1)
In what can only be called a cursory confirmation hearing, few key issues beyond the WIPP situation and Hanford were discussed. Regalbuto commented at progress at SRS and INL but nothing controversial came up. Given her background in spent fuel reprocessing, which is of concern regarding “consolidated spent fuel storage” and reprocessing at SRS, does she have sufficient background in clean-up issue to get the important job done? Let’s hope so. We and other public interest groups will look forward to meeting with her when she visits SRS. SRS Watch News ,
May 8, 2014
MOX Boondoggle Boosters Suffer Blow in U.S. House Armed Services Committee Over “Zombie” MOX Project -- Defense Authorization Act Amendment Cuts MOX Budget “Plus Up” of $120 Million Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) stated at the meeting: "Surely, 200 million dollars is enough for our friends in South Carolina for a dead project. Because this isn’t just an earmark, this is a zombie earmark. This is a dead project." * Government Accountability Office report, February 2014, PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION PROGRAM - DOE Needs to Analyze the Root Causes of Cost Increases and Develop Better Cost Estimates: "NNSA has not analyzed the underlying, or root, causes of the Plutonium Disposition program construction cost increases to help identify lessons learned and help address the agency’s difficulty in completing projects within cost and schedule, which has led to NNSA’s management of major projects remaining on GAO’s list of areas at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement."** SRS Watch news, May 8,
2014
NRC “Event Notification”: Radioactive Tritium Leak Reported at Oconee Nuclear Reactor Site - Why is Tritium Leaking from the Oconee Reactors and What is Duke Doing to Stop it? SRS Watch news of May
6, 2014
Surplus Weapon-Grade Plutonium at Savannah River Site can still be Vitrified in High-level Waste, According to Savannah River National Lab Document Obtained via FOIA Request DOE Analysis on Plutonium Disposition Incorrect in Stating Not Enough High-Level Waste Remains at Savannah River Site for Immobilization of 34 Metric Tons of Plutonium Statement on Encouraging Testimony of
NNSA Administrator Klotz on Placement of Mismanaged
Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project on Standby, to Senate
Energy & Water Subcommittee, April 30,
2014
"....the MOX project will be placed in cold stand-by, meaning we will cease all construction activities in order to minimize costs." Congressional Cleanup Caucus Schedules Briefing on
Savannah River Site - May 8, 2014, 9 a.m. - Congressional
Caucus
DOE's National Nuclear
Security Administration releasesReport
of the
Plutonium Disposition Working Group: Analysis of Surplus Weapon‐Grade Plutonium Disposition Options, April 29, 2014 - MOX life-cycle cost is an unsustainable $30 billion or more, MOX plant construction $10 billion or more SRS Watch
news: U.S. Confirms Discussions with Germany regarding Import of
Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel;
FOIA Document Indicates Discussions Began in 2011 for Import of Graphite Spent Fuel from Shuttered Gas-Cooled Experimental Power Reactor – to DOE’s Savannah River Site - April 29, 2014 SRS Watch
Director Tom Clements to speak on DOE's mismanaged plutonium
disposition/MOX program at the 2014 Council Meeting of the League of Women
Voters of South Carolina (LWVSC) -
Building League
Leadership to Make Democracy Work in South Carolina - Saturday, April
26, 2014
SRS Watch news release -
April 23, 2014
DOE, NNSA (Office of Fissile Materials Disposition) and Shaw AREVA MOX Services Continue Stalling Despite Urgent Need to Release Assessments of Costs of Failed Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program FOIA Paper Trail on Plutonium Disposition – Leads to the NNSA’s “FOIA Graveyard” in New Mexico: http://www.srswatch.org/freedom-of-information-act-documents.html Secretary Moniz: Wake Up and Implement Openness, Shut Down FOIA Graveyard More Cracks Found in VC Summer Nuclear
“Reactor Vessel Head” During Current Refueling Outage; Cracks, First Found
in November 2012, Pose Risks and Indicate Aging and Need to Replace Vessel
Head, April 21, 2014 news
release
UPDATE: NRC informed of two more cracks, bringing total to five - see NRC "event notification" of April 28 SRS Watch
Suggestion: Many families were expelled in the early-1950s from the land
to create the Savannah River Plant as the madness of preparing for
nuclear war reigned supreme. To read about the expulsion, read
"Cold War Dixie" and "The Unexpected
Exodus." http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/cold_war_dixie/
News Release on Request of Shaw AREVA MOX Services
& AREVA for MOX Life-Cycle Cost Estimate, April 17, 2014
- see letters linked under "library" - Department of Energy
documents
South Carolina Supreme Court to Hear Big Industry and
South Carolina Sierra Club Challenge to $278 Million in Cost Overruns of
New Nuclear Plant in South Carolina, on April 16 in Columbia, SC
- Sierra Club news release of April 14, 2014
$27 Billion Life-Cycle Cost Estimate for
Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide (MOX) Plutonium Fuel Program - $22
Billion Left to be Spent on Top of $5 Billion Sunk – April 2013
-- This is the Only Public Estimate as DOE/NNSA, Shaw AREVA MOX Services and Senator Lindsey Graham and Rep. Joe Wilson Refuse to Release their Estimates ; A FOIA Request was Filed in December 2013 for DOE's Internal Assessment on Plutonium Disposition By Tom Clements Kein
Export von Jülicher Atommüll nach South
Carolina
- SRS Watch statement against proposed export of spent fuel from
Germany to the Savannah River Site, March 8, 2014 at Fukushima event in
Jülich, Germany
|
German WDR radio on our
protest at the Juelich, Germany research facility on July 21 the
ill-conceived and poorly executed proposal to dump German spent fuel on
Savannah River Site. The sloppiness of the proposal and failure of
DOE to do its homework are but two reasons that it's falling apart.
SRS Watch thanks our German colleagues for hosting this
event!
Atommüll-Frage in Jülich weiter ungeklärt: Umweltaktivist aus den USA bei Mahnwache Von Helga Hermanns, 22 July 2015, WDR Atomkraftgegner aus dem Raum Aachen-Jülich und aus Münster wollen mit einer Mahnwache vor dem Jülicher Forschungszentrum auf das ungelöste Problem der 152 Castorfässer aufmerksam machen. Sie protestieren vor allem gegen die Überlegung, den Atommüll in die USA zu transportieren. linked here & "Castorexporte: Mahnwache mit US-Aktivist in Jülich" "Castor (spent fuel cask) export vigil with US activist in Jülich" Aachener Zeitung (newspaper), 21 July 2015 linked here ----- SRS Watch is in Germany from July 19-23 and various meetings with officials and demonstrations are planned concerning the misguided proposal to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS Read about two events, in German: Jülich-Aktionen Dienstag 21. und Mitwoch 22. Juli Use Google translate to give a sense of the events ----- "SRS coal ash cleanup doesn’t include pollution barrier used by utilities" The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 19, 2015 article linked here ----- New IPFM Report:" Plutonium Separation in Nuclear Power Programs" By IPFM on July 17, 2015 The International Panel on Fissile Materials has released a new research report, Plutonium Separation in Nuclear Power Programs: Status, Problems, and Prospects of Civilian Reprocessing Around the World "The report looks at the history, current status and prospects of programs aimed at separating plutonium for civilian use from spent fuel produced by nuclear power reactors. Today only China, France, India, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom have active civilian reprocessing programs, and all of these programs are detailed in the report. The report also looks at the rise and fall of reprocessing in Germany and the agitation in South Korea for starting a program. There are also three technical chapters assessing the utility of reprocessing for managing spent nuclear fuel; the economics of reprocessing and plutonium use; and the radiological risk from reprocessing plants. The report also briefly outlines the international security implications of reprocessing." report linked here ----- This report is a "must read" for those monitoring the status of the nuclear power industry and new and old reactors. The report reveals why the hyped up "nuclear renaissance" failed and why nuclear power may well be on permanent decline worldwide. "The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015" by Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt Paris, London, July 2015 linked here ----- "Study examining MOX plant’s future" The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 10, 2015 article linked here ----- US sodium-cooled plutonium-production "breeder" reactor in at DOE's Idaho national lab (INL) closer to final D&D "USA's Experimental Breeder Reactor-II now permanently entombed" World Nuclear News, July 1, 2015 article linked here "The main clean-up contractor at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Idaho Site, has entombed an historic nuclear reactor in place and treated the reactor's remaining sodium coolant six months ahead of schedule and under budget. Such reactors have failed world-wide and wasted billions of dollars. Russia and India continue to actively pursue breeders but at what cost? ----- "Thom Mason on upcoming Red Team review [on MOX]: 'We're not constrained on what we might recommend'" Frank Munger's Atomic City blog, June 25, 2015 blog linked here ----- "Plutonium disposition in the United Kingdom - Immobilization option re-opened?" International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog, June 30, 2015 - linked here "The case for re-using the UK's separated plutonium in nuclear reactors looks less secure than previous official pronouncements would suggest. The U.K.'s stockpile is estimated by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to have reached 140 tons by the time reprocessing operations at Sellafield are completed around 2020. A Sellafield local stakeholder committee meeting on June 9th, 2015 heard that the UK's Regulators, the Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation, had been tasked by the NDA to review the option of immobilizing plutonium. Clarifying some detail of the review in a subsequent email to local group CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment), the NDA responded: Research work on the immobilization of plutonium is being carried out to find out if the process can be "industrialised" so that it could be used to treat material that is unsuitable for reuse or for disposition of the entire stockpile if Government decided not to pursue re-use. (emphasis added)." full blog linked here ----- "Energy officials order review of MOX" Greenville (South Carolina) News, June 26, 2015 "WASHINGTON – The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday ordered a high-level review of South Carolina’s troubled mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility and of possible alternatives for disposing of surplus weapons-grade plutonium." article linked here ----- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Grants Export License for Bomb-Grade Uranium to Canada On June 23, 2015, the NRC approved the license application by DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration for export of 7.56 kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to Chalk River National Lab, for use in medical isotope production in the aging NRU reactor. Let's hope this is the last HEU export from the US to Canada! And, it's time to stop sending HEU from the US to other countries. export license linked here ----- Briefing by
Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), a UK group which
works on issues at the Sellafield nuclear complex, including plutonium
management - 19 June 2015 "Is the case for re-using UK’s plutonium stockpile losing its sparkle ?" Seeking clarification on the Environment Agency’s statement to Sellafield’s local stakeholder group (WCSSG) meeting on 9th June that, with ONR, it has been asked by the NDA to review the option of immobilising plutonium, CORE received the following response from the NDA: “Research work on the immobilisation of plutonium is being carried out to find out if the process can be “industrialised” so that it could be used to treat material that is unsuitable for reuse or for disposition of the entire stockpile if Government decided not to pursue re-use.” (emphasis added) read full CORE briefing, linked here ----- 
As we have been saying, the DOE/NNSA & CBI AREVA MOX Services mismanaged MOX project is doomed. It should be immediately terminated and other plutonium disposition options pursued. photo: Unfinished MOX plant is in lower right-center, photo by High Flyer, special to SRS Watch, April 21, 2015, can be reused with credit. other photos available on request: srswatch@gmail.com "U.S. Energy Secretary calls for $1 billion annually for MOX program at Savannah River Site" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 16, 2015 - article linked here & "Moniz: Properly funding MOX would take $1 billion a year" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 17, 2015 - article linked here You can comment on line via Facebook at the end of the Aiken Standard article. ----- Plutonium stockpiling efforts in Japan face more hurdles "Japan Nuclear Fuel again faces delay in fuel cycle project" Japan Times, June 15, 2015, article linked here Efforts to start up the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, to remove weapon-usable plutonium from commercial spent fuel, are again thwarted. Time to halt Japan's reprocessing program that has been pursued to maximize Japan's plutonium stockpile. ----- 
Attention DOE and SRS officials: More problems in Germany for illegal proposal to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS. Time for DOE to respond to the SRS Watch request to officially terminate this scheme! Or, are you choosing the option to maximize your embarrassment before it collapses due to political and legal challenges in Germany? A new report for the government of the state of Northrhine-Westphalia, where the AVR spent fuel is stored near the city of Juelich, concludes that the administrator of the site (Forschungzentrum Juelich) has not provided sufficient information analyzing three options for the spent fuel in questions, including dumping at SRS. Concerning the SRS option, the report states that it is "unreliable" and points out legal and political problems that this option faces. See full report of May 18: "Prüfung der Plausibilität des Detailkonzepts der Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH zur Entfernung der Kernbrennstoffe aus dem AVR-Behälterlager – Zusammenfassung" - linked here: (Title, via Google translate: "Examination of the plausibility of the detail concept Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH for the removal of nuclear fuel from the AVR cask storage" Photo: Northrhine-Westphalia economic minister Garrelt Duin, who has pointed out legal problems with exportation of Germany commercial spent fuel - more about him at: http://www.wirtschaft.nrw.de/ministerium/minister/index.php ----- "Canadian group denounces uranium shipments to SRS" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 5, 2015 article linked here The proposal to dump liquid high-level nuclear waste from the Chalk River National Lab at SRS is nothing short of nuclear dumping. The liquid waste, containing HEU, can de denatured so that it contains only LEU and managed as nuclear waste in Canada. But hastily prepared environmental documents have avoided looking at this sensible option. Why? Operators of the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant seem to be looking for waste they can profit from by reprocessing, like the dodgy deal to import German commercial spent fuel. (On that shaky proposal, DOE is running into the buzz saw of German law and politics - it's illegal to export the spent fuel, especially for reprocessing.) ----- WARNING: AREVA's death spiral in France may cause the US branch of the company to fight even harder to continue grabbing US tax payer money for the failed US MOX program it helped create. As the MOX boondoggle program sputters towards death AREVA's time to siphon off taxpayer money is growing short. Not even AREVA's mega-protector Senator Lindsey Graham will be able to save the day. "France's Nuclear Industry Dream Faces Melt-Down At Expense Of State Coffers, Tax Payers" Forbes, June 4, 2015 -- article on AREVA's meltdown linked here ----- "Region committee opposes liquid nuke transport" - over bridge from Niagara Falls, Ontario into New York State and on to SRS for processing and dumping St. Catherines (Ontario) Standard, June 3, 2015 article & poll on transport linked here This liquid high-level waste propsed to be dumped at SRS, a by-product of medical isotope production using highly enriched uranium (HEU), can be "denatured" (rendered not HEU) in Canada and disposed of there. DOE has cloaked this unneccessary shipment in misleading nuclear non-proliferation terms but we know the real reasons are 1) nuclear dumping by Canada's Chalk River Lab and 2) to bring in money for the operation of the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at the Savannah River Site. SRS is becoming a dump site and the public should question what's going on with that. ----- 
WIS -TV (Columbia, SC) report with SRS Watch, June 2, 2015: "Request by SCE&G for rate hike could cost residents nearly $50 yearly" TV report and text of story inked here ----- "SCE&G customers face 7th rate for cost overruns at nuclear reactors" The State, Columbia, South Carolina , June 2, 2015 article linked here For the record, this will be the 8th rate hike to pay in advance for the new Westinghouse AP1000 experimental reactors. After the current request goes into effect it will mean that South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) customers would be paying about 15% of their bill in advance to pay for the nuclear project, just for financing costs. Before the first unit comes on line, we will be paying perhaps 25% of our bill in advance. Once the first reactor is about to start the capital (construction) costs can go into the bill - hold on to your hat and your wallet when that starts. The unjust Baseload Review Act, passed by the SC legislature in 2007, puts all costs and risk on the backs of the rate payer and in the end we own nothing. This unjust law gets worse as it doesn't allow intervention against the nuclear rate hikes until after they have been approved by the South Carolina Public Service Commission. If you don't understand yet - let's underscore the fact that the only reason that this project is going forward in South Carolina is that the legislature, in the pocket of SCE&G and Duke, has legally placed the rate payer on the hook for all costs and risks. American democracy at work, South Carolina style.... Photo: VC Summer reactor site, by High Flyer, special to SRS Watch, April 21, 2015, can be used with credit; note older unit 1 in background, with units 2 &3 under construction in foreground; site is 25 miles north of Columbia, South Carolina; more photos available on request: srswatch@gmail.com ----- As the MOX project goes down the drain, the doom and gloom for the debacle never stops In a "Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Guidance" memo from the Office of Management and Budget to heads of government agencies and departments are directed to submit budget figures for next year's budget that are 5% below the request for Fiscal Year 2016: "FY 2017 Discretionary Budget Submission. To provide the President with the options needed to sustain or augment critical investments and support effective programs, your FY 2017 budget submission to OMB should reflect a 5 percent reduction below the net discretionary total provided for your agency for FY 20 17 in the FY 20 16 Budget (unless otherwise directed by OMB)." In DOE's Aerospace report on the mismanaged MOX project, it was stated that the current budget of $345 million/year is insufficient to carry out the project. As Congress has shown that it is in no mood to increase funding for Senator Lindsey Graham's MOX boondoggle, a 5% cut just means that the project is even less viable. We're hoping that Senator's McCain and Feinstein can kill this MOX monster this year and stop the waste of US tax payer's money. ----- 
German TV on: "Keine Lösung für Atomkugeln" "No Solution for Nuclear Balls" - that some want to dump at SRS... The deal to dump German spent fuel - irradiated graphite balls - at SRS is running into big problems with the North Rhine-Westphalia government given that it's clearly illegal to export commercial spent fuel from Germany. Management at the storage site in Juelich appears frozen and won't make a case that it can get around the German law to ship the spent fuel here. So, decisions about what to do with the AVR spent fuel are being delayed, which means it stays at Juelich. These chronic delays thankfully work against the scheme to dump this high-level nuclear waste at SRS. German TV: WESTPOL vom 31.05.2015 - linked here: http://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/regional/…/indexwestpol100.html Photo: On the tracks at Juelich, September 2014. Practice for future work to stop the illegal export to make sure that German law is upheld and that SRS doesn't become a German nuclear waste dumping site? Photo exclusive to SRS Watch. ----- "U.S. Senate committee seeks analysis on MOX alternative" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 27, 2015 article linked here ----- 
"U.S. Energy Department yet to release environmental document on potential German waste shipments to SRS" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, May 23, 2015 See article linked here and stay tuned for legal problems for the deal in Germany. photo: September 2014 protest against export of German spent fuel to SRS at gates of Juelich, Germany facility where AVR spent commercial fulel is stored in CASTOR casks SRS Watch new release of May 14, 2015: "DOE Affirms it has Not Conducted any Legal Analysis Concerning Import of German Commercial Spent Fuel to the Savannah River Site" - linked here ----- "Committee cites ‘apex of problems’ with MOX" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard "A member of a U.S. Senate subcommittee said the Savannah River Site’s MOX project is suffering from an “apex of problems” en route to suggesting the nation move forward with an alternative method for plutonium disposition. " read full article on Senator Feinstein's call to halt wasting tax payer funds on the MOX debacle ----- WDR German radio - 15 May 29015 "Atommüll-Problem in Jülich: Wohin mit den radioaktiven Kugeln?" "Nuclear waste problem in Jülich: What to do with the radioactive balls?" This German radio broadcast reveals more signs that the misguided effort to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS is falling apart. When will DOE abandon this scheme? Stay tuned for lawsuits. http://www1.wdr.de/themen/politik/atommuell-juelich-100.html -- part about the SRS dumping option unraveling unraveling - from Google translate: "From the USA comes the highly radioactive material. And as part of its non-dissemination efforts, the Americans are in principle willing to take back the uncomfortable legacy. On the German side, this solution was therefore long regarded as the most charming, by the way also the fastest option. True to the motto: Out of sight, out of mind. Only: In the US, meanwhile growing environmental awareness. Economy Minister Duin: "There is an Environmental Impact Assessment under way whose end is open and so we have many question marks in this variant we can not foresee at the time when the proceedings in the USA are brought to an end, that could be transported.... " Moreover, it is debatable whether, under German law a repatriation would be allowed at all. Conservationists have already announced a lawsuit." ----- 
Thanks to the Union of Concerned Scientists for the graph above - which shows how the costs of the MOX boondoggle have skyrocketed. Why has Congress been AWOL while this happened? When will Congress hold managers at DOE/NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Servcies accountable for the MOX debacle? ----- SRS Watch in.... "Thinking outside the MOX: A closer look at disposal alternatives" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 16, 2015 article linked here ----- Don Poneman passes through the infamous revolving door into the Centrus Energy (which acquired the USEC enrichment company, which got some dodgy help from DOE)....recall that Poneman was the US DOE official who tried (and failed) to get DOE to use the term "used nuclear fuel" in place of the legally defined "spent nuclear fuel," in order to imply that spent fuel could be reprocessed... "Former Energy Department official wins huge pay raise after moving to firm with deep ties to DOE" Center for Public Integrity, May 13, 2015 linked here ----- "MOX Project's Rising Cost a Challenge for DOE plutonium Program" Engineering News Record, May 12, 2015 linked here ----- BIG Victory! South Carolina governor goes on record against bringing commercial spent fuel to SRS! Now, to stop German commercial spent fuel reprocessing and dumping at SRS. "Haley: South Carolina against story spent fuel" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, may 13, 2015 linked here & "DOE looks into plutonium disposal at WIPP" Carlsbad (New Mexico) Current-Argus, May 13, 2015 linked here Time to revive the plutonium disposal option to "immobilize" plutonium in high-level waste already at SRS ----- SRS Watch in: "Board: NNSA, MOX not under purview" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 11, 2015 "On more than one occasion, the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board, or CAB, has had to remind the public that the MOX program and other missions overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration are not under its purview. " full article linked here ----- MOX boondoggle wins Golden Hammer Award from Washington Times for wasteful spending by big government "Congress keeps funding overbudget plutonium site with no real customers" Washington Times, May 8, 2015 linked here ---- "Reprocessing: Poised for growth, or on death's door?" Given the reality of the demise of reprocessing - including the collapse of the reprocessing of commercial spent nuclear fuel in Europe, the UK, Japan and now great troubles with AREVA in France - we know the answer to that question. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, April 2015 "How I changed my mind on reprocessing" - by Klaus Janberg linked here "I concluded more than 30 years ago that commercial fast breeder reactors would not become a reality in my generation. The same still appears to be true for the young generation today. And this conclusion does not even take into account the proliferation threat that plutonium poses." ----- AREVA in France is faced with tremendous financial challenges. Does this put pressure on AREVA in the US to try and keep raking in US tax payer money for the MOX boondoogle? As MOX goes down is their lobbying paying off? We don't think so as the project appears doomed. "AREVA pan to cut thousands of Jobs" State-controlled nuclear reactor firm seeks to slash costs after four years of losses Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2015 linked here ----- Administration affirms opposition to continued MOX plant construction STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY H.R. 2028 — Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 April 28, 2015 "Disposition of Weapons-Usable Plutonium. The Administration objects to language in the bill that requires the Secretary of Energy to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. This language is unnecessarily restrictive and would preclude alternative, and potentially more cost-effective, approaches to implementing U.S. commitments in the 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement and its 2010 annex to dispose of excess weapons plutonium. DOE contracted for an independent validation of costs for plutonium disposition alternatives in accordance with congressional mandates. The results of that analysis will inform the Administration's approach to plutonium disposition. Information on the first phase of that analysis was provided to the Congress on April 21st." https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2028r_20150428.pdf ----- "TVA awaits decision on getting fuel made from surplus nuclear warheads" Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press, May 6, 2015 "The U.S. military appears to be backing off from its plans to produce plutonium fuel (MOX) for TVA nuclear plants derived from surplus bomb materials from America's nuclear arsenal. After delays and cost overruns at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Energy has dropped its earlier preference to produce MOX fuel for commercial nuclear power plants from old and decaying nuclear bombs. In a new environmental assessment of the multibillion-dollar project released last week, DOE said that it "has no preferred alternative" for disposing of 14.4 tons of surplus plutonium from U.S. nuclear warheads." full article linked here ----- SRS Watch's filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with DOE for plutonium disposition life-cycle cost gets coverage in this article: "Group files Freedom of Information Act for MOX" - linked here Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 4, 2015 link to FOIA April 27, 2015 request here ----- House Energy & Water Subcommittee, which funds DOE, reveals unease over MOX program during April 30 discussion on the House floor Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s amendment to cut MOX by $13.8 million - passes on voice vote but funding in US House of Representatives to stay for now at crippling $345 million level for Fiscal Year 2016, an inadequate amount which means the project is doomed In the House Energy & Water subcommittee discussion on April 30 on MOX some hard things were said but nobody rallied in support, reflecting the mood of Congress on this issue. Rep. Clyburn of South Carolina sat there and watched the discussion and said nothing. He likely sees the handwriting on the MOX wall of doom. Both Representatives Fortenberry and Garamendi spoke against MOX and Rep. Simpson, the chair of the Energy and Water Subcommittee, voiced concern about the project. Rep. Garamendi said MOX was going down a “rate hole” and Fortenberry underscored the fact that $345 million/year is not enough to make the MOX project viable. While Rep. Simpson spoke about challenges related to MOX and plutonium disposition, one thing is clear: MOX is a failure and there isn’t sufficient funding to pull this program off (design and construction problems and lack of reactors aside). Video of April 30 floor discussion on the MOX boondoggle posted here on CSPAN: http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4536387/fortenberry-nonproliferation-amendment ----- Comments by SRS Watch to the South Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council (GNAC), April 9, 2015, linked here - comments included the April 9 MOX update by SRS Watch and a letter by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission admitting that they are not fully inspecting the MOX plant construction ----- "Time to end MOX" The Hill, by Stephen Young, Union of Concerned Scientists linked here in The Hill's "Congress Blog" "The writing is on the wall: The new cost estimates for the mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel program doom this ill-fated program. Congress should act now to end the program before any more money is wasted." ----- "The projected most of the government's most expensive nonproliferation effort rises again" - article on dramatic increase in MOX costs linked here by Doug Birch, Business Insider, April 29, 2015 -- with photo of the MOX plant by High Flyer, provided by SRS Watch ----- Articles on DOE's devastating MOX cost report, based on the news release and information in the UCS news release below "Cost Estimate on Useless Nuclear Facility Skyrockets" - blog by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), April 27. 2015. Thanks to Lydia Dennett, investigator at POGO, for this! "We can’t afford it, no-one wants to buy it, and The Department of Energy’s not even sure if they want it. Costs for the Energy Department’s biggest billion-dollar boondoggle, the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX), could total up to $52 billion to finish construction and run the plant, according to the Nuclear Weapons Complex Monitor." read on in linked blog August Chronicle - April 23, 2015 Cost estimate for MOX facility at Savannah River Site swells to $47.5 billion Aiken Standard - April 23, 2015 Study: MOX could cost $51 billion (please comment at the end of this article via Facebook) ----- SIZZLING HOT MOX NEWS from the Union of Concerned Scientists - Washington, DC: April 22, 2015 - UCS MEDIA UPDATE Contact: Elliott Negin, 202-331-5439, enegin@ucsusa.org DOE WITHHOLDS MOX REPORT, LABELING IT ‘OFFICIAL USE ONLY,’ BUT REPORT SUMMARY REVEALS MAJOR COST ESTIMATE INCREASES REPORT ALSO FINDS ALTERNATIVES TO MOX SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER This morning, the Union of Concerned Scientists UCS) issued a media alert to give journalists a heads-up that the Department of Energy was expected to release a new, independent report on the mixed oxide fuel program. Later in the day, we learned that DOE has labeled the report—conducted by the Aerospace Corporation—“official use only,” and may not make it publicly available for months. In the meantime, UCS has obtained a one-page summary of the findings, which you can find here: http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/04/nuclear-m-doe-mox-report-2015.pdf The summary confirms that the report estimates the life-cycle cost of the MOX program in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars at a minimum of $47.5 billion. However, it clarifies that this is the “to-go” life-cycle cost estimate and excludes the approximately $4 billion that has already been spent on the program. It also does not include decommissioning, demolition and return-to-greenfield costs. With that in mind, it should be compared to DOE’s 2014 to-go estimate of $25.1 billion. In other words, the report estimates a price tag for the cost of completing the program that is nearly 90 percent more. Even more eye-opening is the fact that this estimate only applies if annual program expenditures are capped at $500 million per year, which is about $150 million more than Congress is apparently willing to provide. If one assumes a funding cap of $375 million per year, the MOX plant would not start operating until fiscal year 2100 and the to-go life- cycle cost estimated by Aerospace would amount to a whopping $110.4 billion. Because this case corresponds more closely to the current and projected future funding situation for the program, this estimate is the more appropriate one to use. The main factor underlying this dramatic increase in the cost estimate is Aerospace used standard procedures to account for the potential costs associated with program risks that could cause delays. Aerospace assessed that the complex MOX program has a high level of programmatic risk. The report also provides a revised figure for the life-cycle cost of the “downblending” plutonium disposition alternative we described in this morning’s media alert. Although this cost estimate also increased compared to DOE’s 2014 estimate, the downblending option is still by far cheaper than the MOX program and has far less programmatic risk. Aerospace estimates the to-go life-cycle cost of downblending is $17.2 billion, with an estimated completion date of FY 2049. This is nearly three times less than the low estimate for the MOX option and more than six times less than the high estimate. This estimate includes the costs associated with terminating the MOX program. “Unfortunately, further details underlying these estimates will not be forthcoming until DOE authorizes release of a publicly available version of the report,” said UCS Senior Scientist Edwin Lyman. “But all indications are that the estimated cost of the MOX program will continue to expand dramatically. This program is simply not sustainable, and the sooner it is stopped, the less taxpayer money will be wasted.” ### The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet’s most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe and sustainable future. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org. Elliott Negin Senior Writer Union of Concerned Scientists 1825 K St. NW #800 Washington, DC 20006-1232 Media Line: 202-331-5420 www.ucsusa.org ----- "MY TURN: Continued nuclear waste storage not in S.C.’s interest' Suzanne Rhodes, League of Women Voters of South Carolina, in Statehouse Report, April 17, 2015 Thanks to Suzanne Rhodes and the League of Women Voters or covering an issue that local media near SRS often refuse to cover - more waste coming in to SRS with no exit strategy, such as the German spent fuel that DOE aims to dump at the site. Biased coverage (publicity parading as reporting) does not serve the public interest so this article may help break through the propaganda curtain of some of the reporting on SRS. ----- U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) again slams management of the MOX project and DOE stonewalls implementation of sound project management. When will Senator Lindsey Graham stop hindering implementation of sound project management methods and demand accountability for the MOX boondoggle?? "NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION - Observations on Management Challenges and Steps Taken to Address Them" released April 15, 2015 - linked here "DOE Appears Resistant to Implementing Recommendations Intended to Improve DOE Project Management Problems" (on MOX...) "We have previously noted instances where DOE appeared resistant to implementing some of our recommendations to correct DOE’s project management problems. For example, our February 2014 report included an evaluation of NNSA’s mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility, the estimated cost of which NNSA had increased by more than $6.3 billion from NNSA’s initial estimate in 1997 to about $7.7 billion in 2014. In that report, we recommended that DOE require a root cause analysis for projects that experience cost increases or schedule delays exceeding a certain threshold established by the department, including the MOX facility. We noted that such an analysis would help ensure that future DOE projects benefit from lessons learned that reflect the causes of past projects’ cost increases and schedule delays. DOE disagreed with our recommendation, stating that such an analysis should not be required, and that DOE program offices could decide on a case-by-case basis when to conduct such an analysis. However, DOE’s requirements do not define how or when a root cause analysis should be conducted and it is not clear when or what would trigger a root cause analysis, which could result in analyses not being conducted consistently or not being conducted at all, hampering DOE’s ability to apply lessons learned from past projects to ongoing or future projects. We continue to believe that a root cause analysis should be conducted for all projects that experience cost increases or schedule delays above a threshold established by the department. We also note that our recommendation is consistent with a requirement in the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, under which that the Department of Defense must perform a root cause analysis of a cost increase that exceeds a certain threshold." ----- We note that one of the mentors of SRS Watch, Sharon Tanzer Leventhal has passed away. Sharon was a driving engine with her husband Paul Leventhal behind the Nuclear Control Institute (NCI), which had an outstanding record in working for sound nuclear non-proliferation policies. Our sympathies to her two sons, grandchildren and other family members. New York Times obituary of April 14, 2015 linked here Sharon Tanzer Leventhal , "age 74, passed away April 12, 2015. Sharon was a graduate of P.S. duPont High School class of 1958. She received her Bachelor's Degree from Barnard College class of 1962, a Master's Degree from Stanford University and she was a Fulbright Scholar. A longtime resident of Washington, DC, she worked with her husband, Paul Leventhal as the Vice President of the Nuclear Control Institute. Sharon was a passionate advocate for nuclear nonproliferation and a healthy environment. Preceded in death by her husband, Paul; she is survived by sons, Ted and Josh and their spouses; three grandchildren; three siblings and many nieces and nephews. A graveside service will be 11am, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at the Jewish Community Cemetery, 401 Foulk Road, Wilmington, DE 19803. Shiva will be observed 7pm, Wednesday and Thursday at the home of Dan and Hinda Tanzer. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Lewy Body Dementia Association www.lbda.org Services by Schoenberg Memorial Chapel." For more on Paul & Sharon and the stellar work of NCI: Leventhal Fellowship Program at the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. "The Leventhal Fellowship program is endowed in honor of the late Paul L. Leventhal, who dedicated his career to advocating tirelessly for the protection of the United States and the world from the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the materials and technology to make such weapons." ----- "Groups request info on possible shipments to SRS" [from Germany] Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 15, 2015 "Twenty-two public interest groups, many of them in South Carolina and Georgia, signed a letter sent to the Department of Energy on Tuesday requesting a nonproliferation, safety assessment on German fuel that might be shipped to the Savannah River Site." article linked here ----- 
Let's hope this hot news from Germany is accurate! "Castor-Transporte aus Jülich in die USA endlich vom Tisch?" "Is CASTOR Transport from Jülich to the USA finally off the table?" -- CASTOR is the type of cask in which the German commercial spent fuel is stored in at the research center in Jülich, Germany; the director of SRS watch visited the stoarge facility and even touched one of the large yellow CASTOR casks April 14, 2015 article in German linked here ----- Good news for those trying to stop the dumping of German commercial spent fuel at SRS! A lawsuit is brewing in Germany by the environmental group BUND to stop the illegal export and reprocessing at SRS of the spent fuel from the long-closed AVR gas-cooled reactor, now stored at the research center in Jülich, Germany. And, more lawsuits could be in the works asthe scheme is in violation of not only German law but also EU regulations. Westfälische Nachrichten - Münster, Germany – 10 April 2015 "Export der Jülicher Atomkugeln in die USA scheint rechtlich nicht durchsetzbar Ahaus als Alternative" Ahaus/Düsseldorf - Es wäre schön einfach gewesen: Die rund 288 000 Atomkugeln aus dem nach einem Unfall stillgelegten Versuchsreaktor in Jülich sollten zurück ins Ursprungsland USA. --- article linked here --- - beginning of poor translation via Google translate: Export of Jülich atom balls in the United States is not legally enforceable Ahaus as an alternative Ahaus / Dusseldorf - It would have been nice simple: The approximately 288 000 atom balls from the decommissioned after an accident experimental reactor in Jülich should return to the country of origin United States. A framework agreement is signed. But now outweigh the legal doubts it's all about. The environmental organization BUND wants to prevent that and has announced a precautionary action. Nevertheless pursue at least NRW Research Minister Svenja Schulze and their economic colleague Garrelt Duin this plan. The Greens reject him. In detail concept of Forschungszentrum Jülich, present our paper, this scenario sounds tempting: After 26 months, the Castor transport would be completed within one year further action could be completed. In Dusseldorf and Berlin, especially in the forward-facing Forschungszentrum Jülich you would be uncomfortable legacy going. If no unpredictable litigation brings everything to falter. In the Federal Ministries of Research and the Environment insight seems to grasp that the export law would be difficult to enforce. By law, this is only possible for reprocessing. And whether this rule does not apply to fuel elements from the research, is a matter of interpretation. Several reports disagree. ----- 
Another
great editorial cartoon from Robert Ariail.
<The Carolina Cup is a gathering of horse afficionados here in South Carolina on March 28, 2015 - see article linked here> Now, it's time to mount the pressure to stop that cup from being filled with German spent fuel that DOE and contractors aim to dump at SRS. Stand by for DOE's release in April of the "draft environmental assessment" on the dumping scheme. ----- 
from our freinds at CORE, near the Sellafield nuclear complex in the UK: "Sellafield’s THORP reprocessing plant - A Lame Duck and Loser" "As anniversaries go, the 27th March 2015 - which marks 21 years since THORP chopped up its first batch of spent nuclear fuel - warrants little celebration. Opened in 1994, the £2.85Bn plant had been dubbed by BNFL as the Jewel in Sellafields’s Crown and a World Beating Flagship Plant that would reprocess 7000 tonnes of fuel in its first ten years, win more overseas business and make a profit of £500M in that first decade. Now scheduled to close in 2018, the Jewel has been tarnished beyond recovery by a catalogue of accidents, poor performance and business loss." report linked here photo: Tom Clements, Director of SRS Watch with Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria, UK in the backagound, October 10, 2014; trip hosted by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) ----- Good to see this blog about a good friend of SRS Watch, with whom we have worked against reprocessing (of commercial spent fuel), use of plutonium fuel (MOX) and shipments of plutonium from Europe to Japan. "Aileen Mioko Smith: Anti-Nuclear Feminist" Ms. Magazine blog, March 26, 2015 ----- The strong opposition to the effort to expand the Barnwell low-level nuclear waste dump in South Carolina is a perfect lead-in to DOE's effort to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS. The public is in no mood to expand programs to bring in high-level nuclear waste to SRS. Stay tuned for the DOE's "draft environmental assessment" on the German spent fuel scheme, coming in April and followed by a public meeting and 45-day public comment period. "Put a lid on nuclear dumping" editorial, Charleston Post & Courier, March 22, 2015 & "Stop it before it starts" editorial, Aiken (SC) Standard, March 22, 2015 ----- Interventions Seek NRC Hearings on Planned Export of 10 Bombs’ Worth of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) - to 2 research reactors in Europe from the NNSA's "Y-12 National Security Complex" in Tennessee March 18, 2015 Petition on Export to Belgium - BR-2 Petition on Export to France - High Flux Reactor by Professor Alan J. Kuperman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs Coordinator, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project University of Texas at Austin Federal Register export notices of February 18, 2015 121 kg HEU to High Flux Reactor in France 132 kg HEU to BR-2 in Belgium ----- Given the way DOE/NNSA fails to respond to SRS Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on the MOX boondoggle and other matters, no surprise in this news as we have been living it: "Obama administration sets new record for FOIA non-compliance" AP, March 18, 2015, linked here When will President Obama and Secretary of Energy Moniz demand that DOE comply with FOIA laws? ----- 
Pepé Le Pew smells a MOX rat! Le MOX quel terrible odeur!! Now, we're being told the real reason for continuing construction of the $12.7 MOX plant at SRS - "it's good for France!" Part of DOE's foreign aid program fostered by Senator MOX.... "French ambassador impressed with MOX" Aiken Standard, March 17, 2015,article linked here We all know that with the gracious assistance of big-spender Senator Lindsey Graham that the bankrupt company AREVA has thrived on the transfer of US tax payer money into their coffers and are getting desperate as their plans for reprocessing of commercial spent fuel in the US have gone down the drain. “We want to save the jobs in South Carolina because it’s good for the state, he (Wilson) believes it’s good for the U.S. and to me, it’s good for France,” Araud said. (Gerard Araud, France’s Ambassador to the United States ) "The MOX facility is being designed by AREVA, a French company that is also the parent company to the MOX contractor, CB&I-AREVA MOX Services. Gilles Rousseau, the chief operating officer for the contractor, expressed his gratitude for having Araud on site. " HOW DO YOU SAY PORK BARREL IN FRENCH?! Dépenses électoralistes?! ----- Another DOE skunk through the nuclear revolving door? "Ex-energy official's $1.7 million gig draws fire - Critics in Congress question Dan Poneman’s new role as CEO of Centrus, a company with a history of relying on favors from Washington. Politico article, March 16, 2015 Poneman was the guy who ordered DOE officials to use the extra-legal term "used nuclear fuel," to show bias towards reporcessing. But with reprocessing dead as a door nail in the US, DOE has gone back to the the term "spent nuclear fule," legally defined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Poneman lost big on the push for reprocessing, as did the plutonium-stockpiling company AREA. ------ Nuclear dumping season on South Carolina - set to backfire in the faces of the nuclear $kunks out to profit from dumping on us.... What bad timing. EnergySolutions is aiming to reopen the Barnwell, South Carolina low-level nuclear waste dump to waste outside the Atlantic Compact (SC, NJ, CT). This is an efort to undercut the new Waste Control Specialists dump in Texas but the proposal is getting some welcome push-back here in South Carolina. The Barnwell dump is pretty much adjacent to the DOE's Savannah River Site. "Utah company launches media blitz to reopen SC atomic waste landfill" The State, Columbia, SC, March 13, 2015 Actually, the timing of this proposal may be good given that DOE is set to release in April the "draft environmental assessment" (EA) on processing and dumping highly radioactive German spent fuel at SRS. Once that plan is more clear we will all see that dumpers of all stripes are aiming to make a buck off dumping nuclear waste in South Carolina. Federal Regsiter notice, June, 4, 2014, on German dumping plans linked here Hopefully, we can run these pole cats out of the state! ----- 
From the We-Told-You-So-Many-Times-Before Department: "SCE&G: Cost of 2 new reactors up to $11 billion because of construction delays" The State, Columbia, South Carolina, March 15, 2015, linked here ----- AREVA's PUSH FOR REPROCESSING OF COMMERCIAL SPENT FUEL MAY BE DEAD IN UNITED STATES AS REPROCESSING RULEMAKING IS GOING NOWHERE - GOOD NEWS FOR NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION, THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE U.S. TAX PAYER In late December, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to terminate proceeding with development of aspects of development of regulations for the reprocessing of commercial spent fuel. The vote is blow to the French reprocessing company AREVA and EnergySolutions, which had in a desperation move pushed for reprocessing regulations. Given that it has been clear that reprocessing (and resultant accumulation of weapon-usable plutonium) is dying worldwide and that it's going nowhere in the U.S., the NRC had little choice but to face reality. We celebrate this news, which is good for the tax payer, the environment and for nuclear non-proliferation. The NRC said in an earlier ruling that there is a "small likelihood of reprocessing technology as a viable option in the foreseeable future." memo linked here December 30, 2014 MEMORANDUM TO: Mark A. Satorius Executive Director for Operations FROM: Annette L. Vietti-Cook, Secretary /RA/ SUBJECT: STAFF REQUIREMENTS – COMSECY-14-0038 – TASKING TO DEVELOP MATERIAL CATEGORIZATION FOR POTENTIAL REPROCESSING FACILITIES The Commission has approved the staff’s recommendation to discontinue activities tracked under WITS201000189, from the Staff Requirements Memorandum for SECY-09-0123, which directed the staff to develop a detailed analysis and to provide recommendations for the use of a material categorization approach for potential reprocessing facilities and for applications that use or separate large quantities of americium and/or neptunium. cc: Chairman Macfarlane Commissioner Svinicki Commissioner Ostendorff Commissioner Baran Commissioner Burns ----- The MOX boondoggle comes under fire at a Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee hearing on March 11. A DOE official affirms that a report on the cost of MOX and disposal as waste was coming out in mid-April, as required by Congress. At the hearing, it was all doom and gloom for MOX supporters and Senator Lindsey Graham, top MOX booster, didn't show up for the hearing . The subcommittee chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), asked if DOE was going to choose the cheapest option to dispose of plutonium. Hint: MOX is by far the most expensive option. "Lawmakers question funding for plutonium facility" Mary Troyan, Tennessean Washington Bureau, March 11, 2015 link to hearing on FY16 National Nuclear Security Administration Budget ----- SRS Watch in article on Idaho National Lab (INL) plutonium waste disposal roblems: "Waste shipments from INL delayed - DOE awaiting reopening of repository in New Mexico" Idaho Mountain Express, Ketchum, ID, March 11, 2015 ----- "The
NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014 - Tarnished Gold
Standard" Union of Concerned Scientists' annual report on US nuclear power reactor safety, March 10, 2015 ----- Opinion piece by South Carolina state senators against expanding the Barnwell, SC nuke dump: "Corson, Lourie: SC has borne heavy burden on nation’s nuclear waste; no more" The State, Columbia, South Car0lina, March 9, 2015 Thanks, senators! Now to stop the DOE scheme to dump highly radioactive German spent fuel at SRS. The "draft environmental assessment" on that proposal is expected to be issued in the coming days - stay tuned to comment and attend public meeting in N. Augusta, South Carolina. ---- Charleston Post & Courier, opinion column by Ann Timberlake, Executive Director, Conservation Voters of South Carolina, March 8, 2015 ----- SRS Watch in "Panel to discuss nuclear waste" - in public meeting in Ketchum, Idaho, on March 5 Idaho Mountain Express, Ketchum, ID, March 2, 2015 article linked here ----- 
"Reopening SC nuke dump in Barnwell on
table"
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, February 28, 2015 Please comment at the end of the article on line (via Facebook) and email Senator Brad Hutto and tell him you don't want the Barnwell dump expanded to receive more nuclear waste. S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) on leaking tritium plume from the Barnwell dump S.C. Court of Appeals ruling in Sierra Club V. SCDHEC - Barnwell dump required to protect trenches from rain infiltration - ruling has been stayed for now -----
"MOX
imports have cost at least ¥99.4 billion, much higher than uranium
fuel" JiJi news, Japan, February 22, 2015 - article in The Japan Times linked here "Five nuclear plant operators have spent at least ¥99.4 billion on imports of plutonium-containing mixed oxide (MOX) fuel since it was first shipped to Japan in 1999, Jiji Press learned on Saturday." "Some of the imports cost nine times more than conventional uranium fuel. The MOX expenses are partly reflected in monthly electricity bills." --- It's the same story for MOX fuel in the US - it would be many times more expensive that uranium fuel. it's interesting to observe that MOX boosters are stealth anti-nuclear advocates by pushing a product that no electric utility wants to use. ----- In a very important step against the dumping of highly radioactive German spent fuel at SRS..... "Greens: Nuclear waste from Jülich should not be moved" Aachener Zeitung, Aachen, Germany, 8 February 2015 article in German - "Grüne: Atommüll aus Jülich soll nicht verschoben werden - linked here "Dusseldorf/Jülich. The Greens do not want to shift the nuclear waste from the research reactor Juelich to interim storage in Ahaus or in the United States. "For us, the safe storage of nuclear waste in Jülich top priority," said the north rhine-westphalian spokesperson Mona Neubaur." --- for a translation into English, try www.freetranslation.com or https://translate.google.com/ The Green Party in Northrhine Westfalia (NRW), the state where the German spent fuel that some want to be dumped at SRS is stored, has finally come out against moving it from the current storage site. The Greens in NRW have finally agreed to adopt the same position as the national Greens against the transport. This is significant as the Greens are a partner with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the governing coalition in NRW and what they say could dictate the coalition's policy. So far the SPD in NRW as been silent but this could pull them to formally oppose the dumping at SRS. Fingers crossed! Let Green Party member Mona Neubaur know that you support her efforts to halt the dumping scheme: mona.neubaur(at)gruene-duesseldorf.de ----- Dysfunction at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNSFB)? The safety board is an independent oversight agency for many DOE activities and thus plays a key role in monitoring DOE . There are currently two DNFSB personnel at SRS and lets hope neither gets cut due to the recent funding cut by Congress and that problems as identified in the assessment linked below are resolved. ASSESSMENT OF THE DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD WORKFORCE AND CULTURE December 2014 ----- 
SRS Watch in tritium article: TVA says tritium releases rise within Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Chattanooga Times Free Press, February 7, 2015, by Dave Flessner - linked here Production of tritium, a radioactive gas used to boost the explosive power of nuclear weapons, is being leaked into the environment via its production in the TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Bomb Reactor (WBNBR) in Tennessee. A move to irradiate 704 of the tritium rods will cause the amount of tritium release to go up but what will happen when DOE/TVA moves to irradiate 1792 of the tritium rods by 2020? Those rods, called Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rods (TPBARs), are produced by WesDyne inside the Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant in Columbia, South Carolina, making that facility a dual-use facility for nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The radioactive TPBARs are processed at the "Tritium Extraction Facility" at the Savannah River Site to capture the tritium for placement in "reservoirs" to go into nuclear weapons. Tritium makes SRS a nuclear weapons site. TVA letter of January 30, 2015 to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on tritium leakage problems - linked here DOE budget request - volume 1 - of February 2, 2015 - see page 130 - on plans to ramp up tritium rod irradiation through 2020 ----- Two
new reports raise fundamental questions on Savannah River MOX
plant International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) blog, January 17, 2015, by Shaun Burnie and Mycle Schneider ----- 
Profile of Tom Clements, Diector, SRS Watch photo with article: credit to CHRIS THELEN - Augusta Chronicle staff Transparency motivates longtime nuclear activist Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 17, 2015, by Meg Mirshak linked here ----- "Why Sellafield costs us all a
bomb"
- UK article linked below Photos (can be used with credit to SRS Catch): Tour around Sellafield by SRS Watch in October 2015; hosted by Cumbrains Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE). Inclued are shots of the PNTL nuclear transport ships anchored in the port of Barrow-in-Furness. These ships have secretly brought research reactor spent fuel and plutonium into Charleston, South Carolina. The week of January 12 held great changes at the Sellafield, UK nuclear complex as the site contractor has been dismissed. As there is involvment of former SRS employees, we wonder what their fate will now be and expect some of them to again show up at SRS. One thing is sure, reprocessing of spent fuel at the THORP facility and resultant stockpiling of plutonium must must be promptly halted and no new MOX plant should be built. "Why Sellafield costs us all a bomb" "After a private consortium tried, and failed, to rescue the power station from decades of neglect, it is back in the arms of the public sector once again" The Telegraph (UK), by Geoffrey Lean, January 17, 2015 article linked here ----- NRC Holds Public Meeting About MOX Facility and Changes in Inspections WJBF-TV, Augusta, Georgia, January 15, 2015 linked here, with video on line, includes SRS Watch quote ----- Residents address MOX concerns at public meeting Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, January 16, 2015, by Derrek Asberry linked here ----- Union of Concerned Scientists calls for closing down MOX facility at Savannah River Site Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 15, 2015, by Meg Mirshak article linked here on-line article includes photo by High Flyer, provided by SRS Watch ----- 
The
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Washington, DC releases import
report on U.S. plutonium disposition options now that the MOX project is
doomed to failure
January 14, 2015 "Excess Plutonium Disposition: The Failure of MOX and the Promise of Its Alternatives" Union of Concerned Scientists news release: "ENERGY DEPARTMENT SHOULD REPLACE COSTLY MIXED OXIDE NUCLEAR FUEL PROGRAM WITH SAFER, CHEAPER ALTERNATIVES, REPORT FINDS" "IMMOBILIZING PLUTONIUM IN GLASS OR DOWNBLENDING IT FOR GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE" --- report by Dr. Ed Lyman, Senior Staff Scientist in the UCS Global Security Program (who has been monitoring the US DOE's program on plutonium disposition for around 20 years) full report linked here executive summary linked here A tip o' the hat from SRS Watch to UCS for their on-going, well-informed work on the plutonium disposition dilemma! This report will be invaluable as we continue to look for viable plutonium disposition alternatives given the massive NNSA/DOE and CB&I AREVA MOX Services management failures with the MOX program. ----- No surprise here - see news release to the left: Federal report on mismanaged projects makes example of MOX facility at Savannah River Site Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 13, 2015 by Meg Mirshak article linked here ----- "Small modular reactor development faces slow, fading progress at Savannah River Site" Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, Januray 12, 2015 by Meg Mirshak article linked here ----- 
"Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities: Phase 2 Pilot Planning (2014)" Author: National Academy of Sciences "Committee on the Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities-Phase 2 Pilot Planning; Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Research Council" Description: "Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations near Nuclear Facilities is a pilot study requested by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) to assess the risk of cancer near nuclear facilities in the United States. This effort is being carried out in two phases. The Phase 1 study recommended two study designs appropriate for assessing cancer risks near nuclear facilities. It also recommended a pilot study of seven nuclear facilities to assess the technical feasibility of the recommended study designs. The Phase 2 study is the assessment of cancer risks. The pilot, which is part of the Phase 2 study, is being carried out in two steps: pilot planning and pilot execution. The pilot planning (current step) aims to plan for the pilot study. The pilot execution (next step) aims to carry out the pilot study and evaluate the technical feasibility of implementing the two study designs recommended in the Phase 1 study. If implementation of the study designs is feasible, the methods developed and tested in the pilot study could be used to conduct a nationwide study. Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities: Phase 2 Pilot Planning provides advice to the National Academy of Sciences in performing a number of tasks related to the planning for a pilot epidemiological study, such as identifying the processes for selecting qualified individuals and/or organizations to perform epidemiological and dosimetric tasks and initiating effluent release and meteorological data collection in preparation for estimating doses to the people who live near the pilot nuclear facilities. This report brief report serves as a public record of the committee s advice to the National Academy of Sciences on general methodological considerations involved in carrying out the pilot study." linked here ----- "How the Obama Administration Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" "US nuclear policy is undermining our safety and national security." Theodore Postol (former employee at Los Alamos National Lab) in The Nation, December 10, 2014 linked here ----- 
"Georgia State Regulators Approve
Massive Water Withdrawal Permit from the Savannah River for Water-Guzzling
New Vogtle Nuclear Reactors"
"Concerns from citizens, organizations disregarded" December 10, 2014 news release from Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) linked here Photo: Plant Vogtle aerial shot of October 25, 2014, ©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch, this photo and others on the same overflight may be used with permission - contact srswatch(-at-)gmail.com Note: Georgia Power's Vogtle site is directly across the Savannah River from the DOE's Savannah River Site. ----- As the MOX Ship Goes Down, Project Mismanagers Search and Search for New Employees We've noticed on the job site indeed.com that the MOX boondoggle is frequently advertising for positions. What else could we expect given all the reports and rumors about how poorly the work site is managed and as the MOX construction budget teeters on the brink? A job advertisement for December 10 is for a "communications specialist," a hard job indeed. Only a well-trained spin doctor could put out finely tuned propaganda in an attempt to make the MOX boondoggle look good. Good luck with such a hard and dubious mission! Job advert linked here AFS - Communications Specialist I (MOX) Areva - Aiken, SC Looking for an exciting opportunity in the nuclear industry? "Energize" your future with AREVA! POSITION DESCRIPTION AREVA AFS (MOX) is looking for a Communications Specialist I. The position is will assist in the implementation of internal and external project communications working under the guidance of more senior communications team members and the communications manager. Responsibilities include assisting as needed with news releases, advertisements, internal communications, and online communications. The position will also assist with photography, graphics, special events, community relations activities, and project tours. COMPANY DESCRIPTION Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC is a consortium of companies based in Aiken, SC and formed to advance the Department of Energy's mission to dispose of surplus weapon grade plutonium. etc... To see MOX job postings, go to indeed.com and type in "MOX" in the "what" box and "Aiken, SC" in the "where" box. You can automatically gets updates on MOX jobs by activating the email alert on the page. ----- "U.S. Nongovernmental Organizations Urge Prompt Action to Make Nuclear Disarmament a Global Enterprise" Dec. 9, 2014 - Statement to 3rd Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna - linked here Recall that the Savannah River Site is an essential cog in the nuclear weapons complex as it processes tritium used in all U.S. nuclear weapons. The EIS on expanding tritium production in additional commercial reactors, undermining sound non-proliferation policy, has been stalled. (See web page here.) ----- SRS Watch congratulates OpenTheGovernment.org in helping get legislation passed which " includes several much-needed reforms that will help make federal agencies more open and accountable to the public." SRS Watch signed on to a letter supporting the bill and will continue to support stronger Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and full compliance by U.S. Government agencies such as the compliant-averse National Nuclear Security Administration. "OpenTheGovernment Welcomes Senate Passage of Bipartisan FOIA Reform" December 8 news release "OpenTheGovernment.org warmly welcomes the Senate's passage of S. 2520, the bipartisan FOIA Improvement Act, and thanks Chairman Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Member Grassley (R-IA), and Senator Cornyn (R-TX) for their tireless championship of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." "FOIA Improvement Act of 2014" linked here ----- Wind Energy Primary Source of New U.S. Generating Capacity in October article posted in The Energy Collective, November 29, 2014 ----- The SRS Watch request to the SRS Citizens Advisory Board for a presentation on health claims by former SRS workers still stands. Good to see national coverage of the matter as local press hasn't touched it despite requests that they cover it. SRS Watch helped the reporter with this story. McClatchy news service, November 30, 2014 "Some $800M paid to SRS workers for Cold War radiation exposure" Key web sites on SRS worker's health claims: U.S. Department of Labor site for claims by DOE workers - over $800 million paid to former SRS workers Department of Labor - Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC) ----- A
U.S. General Accounting Office report released on November 25 underscores
well-known problems by DOE/NNSA in managing the MOX project.
DOE response to yet another GAO report on MOX managment
problems: "HO HUM, we have never been held accountable for massive
overspending on the MOX project so we just don't care what anyone says as
long as the blank checks keep coming." (But will the blank checks continue
forever...?) How many times must the GAO issue such reports before DOE/NNSA does a single thing to get the MOX boondoggle under control? DOE management, the Obama administration and Congress are allowing MOX managers to get away with abuse of the tax payer. WHEN WILL THE MISMANAGERS OF THE MOX RIPOFF BE HELD RESPONSIBLE? One of the mismanagers, AREVA's Kelly Trice, has already walked but what about the rest of them? "DOE Needs to Revise Requirements and Guidance for Cost Estimating and Related Reviews" GAO-15-29: Published: Nov 25, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 25, 2014. summary page full report GAO report of February 2014: "PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION PROGRAM - DOE Needs to Analyze the Root Causes of Cost Increases and Develop Better Cost Estimates" ----- "Environmentalists protest at Federal Conference of Delegates of the Greens -- Greenpeace activists demand: No Castor transport from Jülich to the US" ("Umweltschützer protestieren bei Bundesdelegiertenkonferenz der Grünen Greenpeace-Aktivisten fordern: Kein Castor-Transport aus Jülich in die USA")" Greenpeace Germany - November 21, 2014: see Greenpeace Germany news release here ----- Contrary to the error in the Aiken Standard article, we're not aware that anyone has claimed that the deal to dump German spent fuel has been finalized but FOIA documents obtained by SRS Watch confirm that the deal was cooking over two years before DOE informed the public. It all smells bad as contractors are chasing German money so they can reprocess the German commercial spent fuel and dump the high-level waste in the aging SRS tanks, with no disposition path out of SRS. "DOE officials dispute German spent fuel claims" Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, November 24, 2014 ----- 
Another demonstration in Germany against spent
fuel dumping on SRS! Thanks to the German group Robin Wood and other
German friends and colleagues for this action right at the entrance of the
site in Jülich where the highly radioactive commercial spent
fuel is stored (and which SRS Watch visited on September
23).
Photos & more from Robin Wood: "Jülich, 19.11.2014: Kein Atommüll-Export in die USA - Protest vor dem Forschungszentrum Jülich" article: Super Sonntag, Jülich, Germany - 23 Nov 2014 Scharfe Kritik an Atommüllplänen in Jülich Umwelt-Aktivisten und Atomkraft-Gegner protestieren vor Forschungszentrum Jülich. „Stoppt die Castoren“ stand auf einem großen Banner, das Aktivisten von „Robin Wood“ über die Hauptzufahrtsstraße zum Forschungszentrum gespannt hatten. etc. - see full article, in German More photos from Robin Wood ----- 
From the GUACAMOLE FUND, which financially supports SRS Watch from benefits to music concerts by Crosby, Still and Nash, Jackson Brown and Bonnie Raitt – thanks Guacamole! HISTORICAL BENEFIT POSTER DONATION DRIVE Our donation drive this week through the Thanksgiving holiday, is a gorgeous poster from our special benefit concert in 1992 held for Hurricane Relief from the Imua Hawaii Hurricane. The16x22 benefit poster was designed by Graham Nash and Mac Holbert. The shows were in the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, on November 8th and 9th and featured Crosby Stills and Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and the Pahinui Brothers. The t-shirts from this concert also feature Jimmy Buffett who joined the show. There are only five of these posters available, and five t-shirts, all size large. For each donation of $100, we will send you this beautiful poster, and the matching concert tshirt. For more information, please go to http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001OqHbLxLSgNpkMQew6dey--lFURTYZ9oT0iGJwWv1NnwQjlX3aYSyEUlLnQ9zcWDu1Kr5KUzkKmiJlqzZyNJAy5kfcpYJ8EyrQ8YxMVWYIpJG1qg4EfNlcD-99e2js4ZIv-GloX8HJWwoUnMPeO5bWAk6Z-FzPQtoDCkO1Lrw4is=&c=tKBUe7KcECPR8NNyHKTKsmm-zEJ2_y-JGU_EQHJ4jeSM6Z3tTEpNDw==&ch=0OuLwGSxZFwL9OBXj018Nl1hEUIOAp4alCKX4uL5-LfeBD9nED3row== ----- November 20, 2014 - from the office of Senator Patrick Leahy: "Judiciary Committee Unanimously Approves Leahy-Cornyn FOIA Improvement Act" "WASHINGTON (Thursday, November 20, 2014) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously approved bipartisan legislation authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) that strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the nation’s premier open government law." In his statement, Senator Leahy noted that more than 70 public interest groups supported the legislation - SRS Watch was one of those groups. See group letter here. As the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a tool that SRS Watch frequently uses and which has a host of weakness, especially in that offices such as DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration get away with non-compliance, we are very supportive of strengthening FOIA laws to better ensure that information from out government is accessible. Thanks to Senators Leahy and Cornyn! see full statement from Senator Leahy ----- 
"French Nuclear Giant Areva Says Future Is Uncertain, Prompting a Sell-Off" Nov. 19 - PARIS — Areva, the French nuclear technology giant, warned of an uncertain outlook for its business amid delays to important projects and sluggishness in the global atomic energy sector, sending its stock tumbling on Wednesday. The company, which is about 87 percent state-owned, said late Tuesday that it was suspending its financial outlook for 2015 and 2016. Nov. 19 article in New York Times AREVA news release - "AREVA suspends its financial outlook for 2015 and 2016" Analysis of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi NPS Accident Interim Report (Provisional Translation) October 2014 Nuclear Regulation Authority, Japan "Future Regulatory Activities The NRA has analyzed most of unexplained issues raised by the National Diet Investigation Commission report and the NRA's conclusions are showed in this report. However, there still remain some issues for that the NRA could not conduct site investigation due to the high dose rate. The NRA should continue conducting site investigation, analyses, and evaluation. Moreover, with the progress of the decommissioning work in Fukushima Daiichi NPS, it is needed that the NRA should also continue conducting analyses of new findings in long-term based on result of site investigation and TEPCO's analyses." ----- Japan's Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: Delayed Again but is the Monster Dead? There was never any reason for Japan to build or continue with its Rokkasho spent fuel reprocessing plant. Now that there is another long delay in start up of the $20 billion facility, to 2019, the continuation of it is simply more theft of money for a dead-end project. When will Japan declare an end to its senseless plutonium stockpiling program and focus on spent fuel management? ANALYSIS: Abe bereft of reasons to continue nuclear recycling program Asahi Shimbun, November 3, 2014 [Note: the "word" recycling is incorrect to describe "reprocessing" as much of the separated material is not reused and there are a host of waste streams that are simply dumped. Use of the incorrect term "recycling" often indicates ignorance about reprocessing, that the writer has been duped, or that the term is being used to show a reprocessing bias. When you see use of the term your warning flags should immediately go up.] _______ Articles on Nuclear Waste Tehnical Review Board meeting of October 29 on SRS high-level waste, with comment from SRS Watch: Officials evaluate SRS waste work Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, October 30, 2014 ----- 
The CB&I AREVA MOX $ervices project
manager walks away from the MOX debacle he helped create! When will
he held responsible for the MOX boondoggle????
More proof that that big government, a la Senator Lindsey
Graham and Representative Joe Wilson, will not act to serve the tax
payers. Prima facie evidence as to why
people have had it with dysfunctional government that serves special
interests and not public interests.
DOE Photo - Kelly Trice (on left): Guilty of mismanagement of the MOX debacle? Will justice be served for such monumental failure of managing a government project? Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle New leadership named for MOX project [Uh, has there ever been any proper "leadership" of the project...?] By Meg Mirshak Staff Writer Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 7:43 PM The vice president of the mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility project at Savannah River Site has been promoted. David Del Vecchio, formerly vice president of project management of CB&I Areva MOX Services, is replacing Kelly Trice, according to a news release. Trice remains president of CB&I Project Services Group and has been named senior vice-president of CB&I’s power division. Prior to joining the MOX project in August 2011, Del Vecchio worked at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, a decommissioning and demolition project at the Hanford site in Richland, Wash. Gilles Rousseau is taking over Trice’s position as chief operating officer for the MOX project. Rousseau was executive vice president and deputy project manager for CB&I Areva MOX Services. ____ The MOX project at SRS continues to careen out of control as made clear by a request by the company in charge of construction, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, in seeking a 10-year construction license extension. As is usual with such big-government projects rum amok, the goal is to milk the tax payer for as long as possible for as much of our money as possible. When will there ever be any DOE or congressional oversight over this horribly mismanaged project? "10-year extension under review for MOX facility" Tonya Maxwell, Greenville (South Carolina) News --- see SRS Watch news release on the license extension here ------ "Assessment of Disposal Options for DOE-Managed High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel" US DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), released October 22, 2014 linked here & from this NE web page As if pursuit of a single geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste (which includes commercial spent fuel) wasn't hard enough, DOE now wants to take a multi-track approach. If they're eyeing use of the now-closed WIPP salt mine for HLW that will require a change in federal law which might not be so easy to pull off. Does this report make a positive contribution to the dilemma now facing the nation about management of spent fuel and DOE high-level waste or compound the problem? The report is in error about the number of vitrified HLW canisters to be filled at the Defense Waste Processing Facility at SRS. It's not 7824 as stated in this report but rather 8582 canisters now scheduled to be filled in DWPF (according to the current waste plan). An error of this size, which indicates that whoever wrote the report was not well informed on DOE HLW issues, does not instill confidence in the report. "Results of the assessment indicate that multiple disposal options are technically feasible and have the potential to provide excellent long-term isolation of DOE-managed HLW and SNF, and that there are programmatic advantages to a phased strategy that allows for flexibility in disposal pathways for some DOE-managed HLW and SNF. This report, therefore, recommends that DOE pursue options for disposal of DOE-managed HLW from defense activities and some thermally cooler DOE-managed SNF, potentially including cooler naval SNF, separately from disposal of commercial SNF and HLW. Other DOE-managed HLW and SNF, including HLW and SNF of commercial origin and naval SNF with relatively higher heat output, would be disposed of with commercial SNF and HLW. This report also recommends that DOE retain the flexibility to consider options for disposal of smaller DOE-managed waste forms in deep boreholes rather than in a mined geologic repository." page iii ____ See a comment to this October 22 article on the MOX boondoggle in the Augusta Chronicle - "No safety issues at MOX site, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission" - for a disturbing allegation of waste, fraud and abuse with construction of the $10-billion MOX plant at SRS. Let's hope that the person making the accusation, as well as others who have accurate and first-hand information about fraud at the MOX construction project, report things like this (if true) to the DOE's Office of Inspector General Hotline: http://energy.gov/ig/services "The MOX contractor was Shaw, LLC which was sold out to Chicago Bridge and Iron which has its home office in the Netherlands. The original contract with the Department of Energy has an incentive clause which now pays CB&I millions of dollars for having a safe project. CB&I give very large bonuses to those managers responsible for the “REPORTING” of the information to the DOE. Not the truth, but the facts which are needed to guarantee the bonus. CB&I is due over $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2013-2014 for no lost time accidents so CB&I does not report them. Instead, they send a vehicle to the home of the injured, bring them to the site, let them hang around for a couple of hours, and take them back home. The employee is paid for 40 hours, no lost time accidents is shown on the books, CB&I gets its bonus, which trickles down to the VP’s and managers, and everyone goes home happy, except us tax payers. In the real world it is called fraud, in the world of government contracts it is business as usual." Beside contacting the IG's office you can also let SRS Watch know - srswatch@gmail.com - and we can help get your information into the proper oversight agnecy. ----- NRC Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane Announces Decision to
Leave NRC
"Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane announced today she will leave the NRC effective January 1 to take a position at George Washington University." see October 21, 2014 news release here ----- Interview by Tom Clements, SRS Watch director with Greenpeace Germany about illegal plans to dump German commercial spent fuel at SRS - September 26, 2014 - text in German, audio in English "USA - Atommüllkippe der Welt Geht es nach der Bundesregierung, wird Savannah River Site zur Müllhalde für das AKW Jülich. Was das für die US-Bevölkerung bedeutet, erzählt uns Tom Clements" + see photo of the MOX plant by High Flyer at the link ----- Given
the huge cost increases with SCE&G's AP1000 nuclear reactor project
north of Columbia, South Carolina and (as of now) a 3-year delay in start
up of the first unit, there is no place for Santee Cooper, the junior
partner (45% owner at this point) in the project, to go with its
electricity rates but Up, Up and Away. Santee Cooper customers:
stand by for a nuclear rate-hike gut shot in early 2016.
"Santee Cooper Board Authorizes Rate Study" 10/17/2014 MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – The Santee Cooper Board of Directors today authorized management to study the utility’s current electric rates and whether the rates will support future expenses, in particular continued construction of the nuclear units at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. read complete news release here ----- Plutonium Proliferation Alert: The Japanese and Russian
plutonium stockpiling programs continue apace, with no plans for use of
the material.
The Japanese stockpile of weapon-usable plutonium, most of which is stored in Europe, tops 36 metric tons and the Russian stockpile of "commercial" reactor-grade plutonium is more than 50 metric tons. Why does such dangerous accumulation of plutonium continue? Despite promises to the contrary, why has Japan continued a program focused on accumulating as much plutonium as possible? INFCIRC 549 for Japan, reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency on 10 October 2014 - "Communication Received from Japan Concerning its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium." INFCIRC 549 for Russia, reportrf to the IAEA on 10 October 2014, "Communication Received from Russia Concerning its Policies Regarding the Management of Plutonium." ------
SRR Pours 15th million
pound of Vitrified Waste
Savannah River Site news release, October 9, 2014 linked here 
An opportunity for the issue of immobilization of plutonium in high-level waste at SRS to be raised by a federal panel: DOE Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Savannah River Site is Focus of U.S. NWTRB Meeting in Augusta, Georgia, on October 29, 2014 Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board news release September 12, 2014 -------- Business for plutonium immobilization if it were seriously pursued at SRS: Japan’s plutonium stockpile rose to 47 tons as of 2013 Kyodo news, September 17, 2014 With MOX program's many drawbacks, its support remains puzzling by Rose Hayes, member of SRS Citizens Advisory Board, Augusta Chronicle September 14, 2014 SRS Watch tour of Germany to oppose dumping of commercial spent fuel from Germany on SRS: Group to oppose fuel shipments to SRS during German tour by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, September 13, 2014 SRS Watch on proliferation concerns about the U.S. Department of Energy's production of nuclear weapons materials in civilian reactors owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - a dangerous policy that sets a horrible proliferation example: DOE reviews tritium production at TVA; split views on making bomb material at Watts Bar by Dave Flessner, Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press article linked here "How can we question Iran for possibly using nuclear power plants to make bomb material when we've already crossed that line in our country at Watts Bar?" asked Tom Clements, director of the Savannah River Site Watch in South Carolina. "Using civilian nuclear power plants for military purposes sets a terrible precedent in our efforts to try to limit nuclear proliferation around the world." Yes, that's the same TVA that DOE has tried to saddle with using experimental MOX fuel made from weapon-grade plutonium - so far NO SALE! And no other utilities are biting either. So why is DOE still throwing vast amounts of our money at the MOX boondoggle??? CB&I Shaw AVREA MOX Services (formerly Shaw AREVA MOX Services - SHAMS) is laughing at our expense all the way to the bank. When will anyone be held accountable by DOE for the MOX debacle? Nuclear Regulatory Commission "SUMMARY OF AUGUST 14,2014, PUBLIC MEETING WITH TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY AND NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGARDING INCREASE IN TRITIUM PRODUCTION" - linked here - to increase the amount of rods leaking weapons tritium into the cooling water of TVA's Watts Bar unit 1 reactor and thus into the environment Nuclear power’s insanities — taxpayer-guaranteed by Ralph Nader, Press TV, September 6, 2014 "The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) – the corporate lobbyist in Washington, D.C. for the disintegrating atomic power industry – doesn’t have to worry about repercussions from the negative impacts of nuclear power. For nuclear power is a government/taxpayer-guaranteed boondoggle whose staggering costs, incurred and deferred, are absorbed by American taxpayers via a supine government regulatory and subsidy apparatus." "If your reactors experience ever larger cost over-runs and delays, as is now happening with two new reactors in South Carolina, no problem, the supine state regulatory commissions will just pass the bill on to consumers, despite the fact that consumers receive no electricity from these unfinished plants." Ralph Nader hits the nuclear power nail on the head in regard to handouts, subsidies and bailouts for the "crony capitalism" that nuclear power sadly embodies. SRS Watch in MOX boondoggle
article:
MOX facility contractor requests construction extension for work at Savannah River Site by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, September 4, 2014 SCDHEC says ‘no’ to SRS tank closure extensions Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, August 29, 2014 "The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, or SCDHEC, has denied the Department of Energy’s request to extend waste tank closure dates at the Savannah River Site and reaffirmed its threat to fine the Energy Department more than $100 million if dates aren’t met." Are SCE&G’s new reactors a mistake? letter to The State newspaper, Columbia, South Carolina, August 29, 2014 Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, in TV news report: Construction Delay Could Mean SCE&G Rate Increase Jenny Wirzberg, WLTX-TV, Columbia, South Carolina, August 25, 2014 
"Final voyage for Atlantic
Osprey"
World Nuclear News, 22 August 2014 "After years of transporting materials to facilitate nuclear recycling, UK-registered nuclear cargo vessel Atlantic Osprey has begun its final voyage to the Swansea dock where it is itself destined to be broken up and recycled." Photo above is of the Atlantic Osprey being greeted by Greenpeace Germany in 2012. Can you imagine what may happen if the scheme to ship 457 large canisters of commercial spent fuel fom Germany to the Savannah River Site goes forward? Whatever the shipping plans may be it will be interesting to see how it all develops on the ground in Germany, where there is strong opposition by public interest groups and many politicians to moving the spent fuel from storage at the Juelich and Ahaus sites. 
"34
GROUPS URGE NRC TO POSTPONE KEY VOTES IN ORDER TO AVOID “TAINT” OF MAGWOOD
CONFLICT OF INTEREST"
"Latest Step Follows Announced August 31st Departure of “Fatally Compromised” Magwood on Heels of June and July Letters Urging Him to Step Down for Violations of Ethics Laws in Seeking and Landing a Job Promoting Nuclear Energy." WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 21, 2014 – Nearly three dozen groups and individuals – including leading national and regional organizations Friends of the Earth, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club Nuclear Free Campaign, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy – are urging Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Allison Macfarlane to postpone two major votes on nuclear waste storage and reactor licensing until after the announced August 31, 2014 departure of embattled NRC Commissioner William D. Magwood. In their joint letter available online at http://tinyurl.com/magwoodconflict, the groups said the step is necessary to “alleviate the taint on the integrity of the NRC’s decision-making process created by Mr. Magwood’s continued participation in NRC safety and environmental decisions.” full release here see letter on Commissioner Magwood's conflict by clicking here Given that
Babcock & Wilcox has pulled back from development of a conceptual
"small modular reactor" (SMR) in partnership with the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), can NuScale's similar demise be far
behind...? TVA plans record capital spending but small modular reactors still wait by Dave Flessner, Chattanooga (TN) Times Free Press, August 21, 2014 "TVA President Bill Johnson said last week the federal utility is now taking a "wait and see" approach to mPower reactors, which TVA doesn't anticipate needing for at least another decade." full article linked here 
Mississippi Public Service Commission Opposes
Highly Radioactive Spent Fuel Storage Site in Mississippi
- following a similar position
taken in July by the SRS Citizens Advisory Board in July
August 18, 2014 news release from the Office of Commissioner Brandon Presley (photo above) - MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION NORTHERN DISTRICT for more information contact: Commissioner Brandon Presley ~ P.O. Box 1174 ~ Jackson, MS 39215-1174 1-800-356-6428 ~ brandon.presley@psc.state.ms.us ~ www.psc.state.ms.us "Presley Forwards Anti-Nuclear Waste Resolution to Washington Leaders and Mississippi Delegation" Jackson, Mississippi (August 18, 2014) – Today, Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley reached out to President Barack Obama, Mississippi’s Congressional Delegation and other Washington leaders in an attempt to block any federal government attempts to dispose of the nation’s nuclear waste on Mississippi soil. In a letter sent today, Presley shared copies of recent unanimously passed PSC Resolutions opposing the siting of a permanent nuclear waste disposal site in Mississippi and requesting refunds for the $80 million paid by Mississippi residents for a failed government storage facility in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Presley writes that he encloses the Resolutions “in the hope that they will present you with an accurate account of Mississippi nuclear waste storage policy and correct any impression you may have been given that Mississippi would welcome the nation’s waste.” see full news release my Misssisippi PSC The Mississsippi PSC joins the Savannah River Site Citizens Advsiory Board (SRS CAB) in taking a position against commercial spent fuel storage: Position Paper for the Savannah River Site's Citizens Advisory Board on Using SRS for interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (Renewed in July 2014) 
Georgia Public
Service Commissioners Fail to Protect Consumers
Regulators approve spending on over budget, delayed Vogtle nuclear reactors Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), August 19, 2014 - news release Energy Department Reports Highlight Strength of U.S. Wind Energy Industry - U.S Department of Energy news release, August 18, 2014 "The U.S. continues to be a global leader in wind energy, ranking second in installed capacity in the world, according to two reports released today by the Department of Energy. Wind power is a key component of the nation’s all-of-the-above strategy to reduce carbon pollution, diversify our energy economy, and bring innovative technologies on line. With increasing wind energy generation and decreasing prices of wind energy technologies, the U.S. wind energy market remains strong and the U.S. is moving closer to doubling renewable electricity generation from energy resources like wind power yet again by 2020." ------- Boosters, the endless flow of money from tax payers is over, so the ball is in your court: MOX or decrepit SRS infrastructure? See SRS 10-year plan at: http://sro.srs.gov/docs/tysp.pdf "SRS deferred maintenance (DM) is currently estimated to be just over one billion dollars. This deteriorating infrastructure has increasingly resulted in reduced operational capability and higher repair or replacement costs." That $1 billion is nowhere to be seen and will only grow if the $30-billion MOX boondoggle goes forward. Report highlights ongoing concerns with aging SRS infrastructure by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, August 16, 2014 "Federal budget constraints have mounted to more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance costs for Savannah River Site’s Cold War-era infrastructure, leading to more expensive future capital investments, according to a federal report projecting the next decade of activity at the Department of Energy site." Costs overruns and schedule delays due to mismanaged AP1000 nuclear construction project in South Carolina hit credit rating of South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) and SCANA (parent company) - SC public Service Commission must not force rate payers to take the hit for company errors: "Fitch Revises SCG and SCE&G Rating Outlook to Negative" Fitch rating agency news release on Business Wire, August 15, 2014 SRS Watch in "Same old story: Summer reactors delayed, overbudget" in GreenWorld, August 12, 2014 Delays
and Cost Increases Plague New Vogtle Nuclear Reactors -
Georgia Public Service Commission urged to protect consumers in
upcoming vote on construction monitoring docket
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) news release, August 14, 2014 --- slideshow: shots of the Vogtle site (in Georgia), across the Savannah River from the Savannah River Site (in South Carolina), with two old reactors and construction of two AP1000 experimental reactors visible, May 22, 2104, photos by High Flyer SRS
Watch in articles on problems at two nuclear plants in South
Carolina: Duke's 3-unit Oconee
plant (see
photos below) & SCE&G's VC Summer plant
(see
photo the the left),
where two experimental AP1000 reactors are under construction and facing
schedule, cost and technical
challenges
Duke cited for Oconee nuclear safety lapse by Eric Connor, Greenville (South Carolian) News, August 14, 2014 SCE&G nuclear plants facing more delays, cost overruns by Roddie Burris, The State (Columbia, South Carolina), August 13, 2014; --- with quote from SRS Watch Two nuclear reactors under construction in Fairfield County are facing another significant delay, utility provider S.C. Electric & Gas confirmed. The delay will put the $10 billion project at V.C. Summer Nuclear Power plant outside the 18-month contingency allowed by state regulators and likely will drive up the costs, but utility officials said they would not know how much until later this year. full article here Deutscher Atommüll in die
USA?
(German Nuclear Waste to the US?) Der Spiegel magazine , August 10, 2014 - on line and in print edition - translate article via Google translate or Freetranslation.com Jülicher Castoren: Pläne in der Kritik Jülich Castor Casks: Export Plan Criticized Aachener Nachrichten, 11 August 2014 Aachener Zeitung, 11 August - here Aachen, Germany - city near the Jülich site, where 300,000 spent graphite fuel balls are stored, scheme to dump them at SRS faces more criticism Stoppt die Atommüll-Exporte in die USA! Während die Atommüll-Kommission palavert, will die Regierung Fakten schaffen "Stop the Nuclear Waste Export to the USA! -- While the nuclear waste commission chatters, the government wants to create facts" .ausgestrahlt, Rundbrief 25, Sommer 2014, Hamburg Summer 2014 circular linked here If you like DOE's MOX
boondoggle at the Savannah River Site, you'll love this article about the
horrid situation at the Y-12 nuclear bomb complex at Oak
Ridge...
Y-12: Poster child for a dysfunctional nuclear weapons complex by Bob Alvarez, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, August 4, 2014 Here's another editorial
against dumping German spent fuel at
SRS: Nuclear dump heading South? The Daily News, Jacksonville, North Carolina, August 4, 2014 Also in the Sun Journal (New Bern, NC), Tuesday, August 5, 2014 
"Court Rules Against Barnwell Nuclear Waste
Dump" -
see July 31 article here Open-trench burial of "low-level nuclear waste" and nuclear reactor components at the Barnwell nuclear dump in Snelling, South Carolina. Looks like rain water was allowed to enter the trenches with no control, doesn't it? No wonder there is a radioactive plume moveing off the site and that the SC Appeals Court has acted. (see ruling linked below) 
Nuclear
justice! In
an amazing and long-delayed ruling in a case brought by the South Carolina
Chapter of the Sierra Club, the South Carolina Court of Appeals ruled on
July 30, 2014 that the Barnwell low-level nuclear waste dump in South
Carolina must comply with environmental protection regulations in its
permit. Congratulations and thanks to the Sierra
Club and the South Carolina Environmental Law
Project! The Barnwell dump, located on the
Savannah River Site's eastern boundary, accepted waste from across
the US until mid-2008 but now only South Carolina, New Jersey and
Connecticut (in the Atlantic Compact) can dump
there.
Court rules against Barnwell nuclear waste dump by Sammy Fretwell, The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 31, 2014 Leaks at Barnwell nuclear dump focus of court hearing by Sammy Fretwell, The State, February 2, 2014 See SC Appeals Court July 30, 2014 ruling by clcking here - "Sierra Club, Appellant, v. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and Chem-Nuclear Systems, LLC, Respondents" From appeal court's ruling: "...we order DHEC and Chem-Nuclear to submit a written plan for compliance to the ALC [Administrative Law Court] within ninety days of this opinion. The ALC shall promptly determine if Chem-Nuclear will come into compliance with the regulations under the plan." See link to South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club here. Photo: Tom Clements, Director of SRS Watch, reviews SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) documents released under the state's Freedom of Information Act in March 2014. The documents prove that leaking radioactive tritium and other radioactive isotopes, including Carbon-14, can be detected in monitoring wells at the 235-acre Barnwell dump (managed by Chem-Nuclear Systems, a subsidiary of EnergySolutions ). Inexplicably, DHEC's annual monitoring report for 2103 fails to mention radioactive carbon or other isotopes. The dump is owned by the State of South Carolina Budget and Control Board and its fate is in public hands. But the court ruling shows that public diligence is required to get DHEC and the Budget and Control Board to comply with regulations. Let's hope the DHEC report for 2014, likely to be released in December, is accurate and reports that other isotopes besides tritium are leaking due to rain water infiltration and ground water movement. We'll be paying attention to what the 2014 report says. See DHEC contacts for the Barnwell dump here. And a link to the South Carolina Energy Office (of the Budget and Control Board) here.  SRS
Watch director Tom Clements - far right (adjusting glasses) - just before
shaking hands with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (center, with
longish hair) departing after he spoke on July 28 to a gathering made up
primarily of SRS "boosters." Well, three public interest groups did manage
to get into the meeting - SRS Watch, Conservation Voters of SC and Georgia
WAND. DOE needs to do far better at inviting public interest groups to
such meetings and not simply hand pick those who tend to view SRS as a
cash cow to exploit.
Advisory board renews position against spent fuel at SRS by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 29, 2014 Group denounces MOX in letter to Moniz by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 29, 2014 SRS Watch letter of july 28 to Secretary of Energy Moniz on failed MOX program and German spent fuel dumping scheme: click here Requests of Moniz: -- Continue with the plan to place the MOX plant on cold standby. -- Hold managers in DOE, NNSA and Shaw AREVA MOX Services accountable for the massive cost overruns and schedule delays withMOX project. -- Continue development of alternatives to MOX, including the vitrification of plutonium in high-level waste at SRS. -- Immediately terminate plans to import German spent fuel to SRS. -- Direct DOE to prepare, with public involvement, a “non-proliferation impact assessment” on the new graphite spent fuel reprocessing technique being developed by Savannah River National Lab. 
World Nuclear Industry Status Report
2014 (WNISR) released - "The Independent Assessment of Nuclear
Developments in the World"
- by Mycle Schneider (in photo), Antony Froggatt, et
al.
Paris, London, Washington, 29 July 2014. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2014 (WNISR) provides a comprehensive overview of nuclear power plant data, including information on operation, production and construction. The WNISR assesses the status of new-build programs in existing as well as in potential newcomer nuclear countries and looks in detail at how the changing market conditions are affecting the economics of nuclear power. WNISR2014 also updates a Fukushima Status Report featured for the first time in 2013 that triggered widespread media and analyst attention. While the Nuclear Power vs. Renewable Energy chapter provides comparative data on investment, capacity, and generation and assesses how nuclear power performs in systems with high renewable energy share.  Such
a lonely girl: the NS Savannah has been docked in Baltimore with her fate
uncertain.
The ship that totally failed to change the world "Fifty years ago the world's first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship sailed from the US to Europe on a publicity tour to persuade the world to embrace the atomic age. It didn't quite work out like that." BBC News Magazine, July 25, 2014 Well, things with the Nuclear Ship Savannah (NS Savannah), known as "The Mother Ship" by some of us born in Savannah, Georgia , didn't quite work out as plan but she sure is attractive, even as she rusts away at her dock in Baltimore, Maryland. The picture above was taken on May 24, 2014 by Tom Clements, who wasn't quite sure why she's alll dressed up with the pretty pennants but has nowhere to go and no way to get there (as the reactor is inoperable).  Sign
at SRS hints at the 13 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium now stranded
at the site due to dogged allegiance by big-spending politicians to the
failed plutonium fuel (MOX) program. It's time to terminate the
$30-billion MOX boondoggle and get on with disposing of plutonium as
nuclear waste, a plan that should have been implemented 15 years
ago.
Moniz: MOX seeking funding streams, hints at 'cold stand-by' by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 29, 2014 - note side bar in the article about SRS Watch letter to Secretary Moniz on the MOX boondoggle and half-baked German nuke waste dumping scheme - see letter here SRS
"Nuclear waste site needs
monument" Columbia County (Georgia) News-Times -- near Augusta, GA & SRS), July 27, 2014 
Representative Brian Higgins (New
York) Calls on Energy Department to Conduct Environmental Review of Liquid
High-Level Nuclear Waste Transportation Proposal, from Ontario to Savannah
River Site
"Congressman Says Further Investigation Necessary Before Nuclear Waste Crosses Peace Bridge, Warns of Mobile Chernobyl" July 24 news release from the Office of Rep. Higgins & link to letter to Secretary of Energy Moniz "Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) is asking the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess a proposal which could transport liquid nuclear waste from Ontario, Canada to a location in South Carolina crossing the Peace Bridge and traveling through Western New York. " A big thanks is due to to Representative Higgins as people in South Carolina don't want the Canadian highly radioactive waste dumped here! So far, DOE has only prepared a cursory "supplemental analysis" of the proposal to ship, process and dump the liquid nulear waste at SRS. Public interest groups have long called on Canada to deal with its own waste and for DOE to conduct an EIS. For more on the matter, contact Tom Clements of SRS Watch at srswatch@gmail.com Chalk River nuclear shipments opposed in Washington Ottawa (Ontario) Citizen by Ian MacLeod, July 25, 2014 Shipments of nuclear waste could start here in 2015 - Higgins demands review of safety for bridge route Buffalo (New York) News article, July 24, 2014 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ news in Germany about
concern in South Carolina about plans to dump German spent fuel
here...
Jülich: Neue Probleme um Reaktor-Zwischenlager Westdeutscher Rundfunk, July 23, 2014 Export
von Atommüll muss gestoppt werden Greenpeace Deutschland magazin, 21 July 2014 German nuclear fuel to USA? "Germany authorities are contemplating the return of nuclear fuel kept in 152 containers to the United States. A storage permit at the former Jülich research reactor facility in western Germany is nearing expiry. " Deutsche Welle, July 8, 2014  Savannah
River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) chair Marolyn Parson and
vice-chair Harold Simon lead the July 22 CAB meeting at which the board
unanimously affirmed its position against bringing commercial spent fuel
to SRS for "interim" storage.
Advisory board renews position against spent fuel at SRS by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 22, 2014 "The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board renewed its 2013 position paper taking a stance against the Site becoming an interim storage site for commercial spent nuclear fuel. The board, also known as CAB, put the issue to a vote Tuesday on the second day of its bimonthly meeting. The results came out in an overwhelming 16-0 decision opposing shipments of spent fuel." Advisory
board to discuss German fuel, celebrate 20
years by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 19, 2014 
Activists
Speak Out against Importing German Nuclear Waste to Savannah River Site,
at Hearing
by Courtney Hanson, Atlanta Progressive News, July 18, 2014 SRS is not a spent fuel disposal site! SRS ist kein Atommüllkippe! 
"Nuclear
Reactor Offline After Valve Leaks Water" - South Carolina Electric &
Gas' V.C. Summer reactor shut down - This was no
routine leak which caused the unplanned shutdown of the VC Summer nuclear
reactor north of Columbia, South Carolina. A valve leaked
radioactive water inside the containment- a pressurizer relief valve -
which was similar to the situation that caused the accident at Three Mile
Island. Leakage this time was 5 gallons/minute, below the 10
gallon/minute Nuclear Regulatory Commisson requirement for action to be
taken but the company had no choice but to shut the reactor (on July
13). The leakage could have gotten worse or signaled something more
ominous, like a cooling pipe
break.
Nuclear Reactor Offline After Valve Leaks Water by Clark Fouraker, WLTX TV, Columbia, South Carolina photo - V.C. Summer unit 1 is in the background, by the lake; two new units under construction in the foreground; photo by High Flyer (SRS special air force...) 
When it rains, it pours... Another leading
South Carolina paper has come out against import of the German commercial
spent fuel to the Savannah River Site, where it could be processed and
then dumped.
"German waste shouldn’t go to SRS" Greenville News, July 16, 2014 "A plan to ship spent nuclear fuel from Germany to the Savannah River Site near Aiken deserves close scrutiny, and if the transfer does not meet the requirements for such shipments, South Carolina should work actively to turn it away. " SRS Watch agrees: We ain't no nuclear dump for Germany or anyone else! 
More headaches for the scheme to import German
commercial spent fuel. Now that
Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB), a
federal panel that advises SRS on clean up of the site, has
indicated concern about the import of the German high-level waste the
scheme can only be in deeper trouble. Attend the upcoming CAB
meeting and speak up against German spent fuel dumping at
SRS!
SRS oversight board challenges waste assessment by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 14, 2014 See draft agenda for the CAB's July 21-22 meeting by clicking here. Castor
für Übersee – Hochradioaktiver Atommüll aus NRW
Publiziert am 29. Juni 2014 von Dirk Seifert Publiziert am 29. Juni 2014 von Dirk Seifert Another hard-hitting
article in German: Atommüll soll in die USA exportiert werden (Nuclear waste is to be exported to the United States) Frankfurter Rundschau, July 14, 2014 
Yet another editorial against importing German
high-level nuclear waste to the Savannah River Site - good
to see it even if it gets off track about Yucca Mountain (which has
nothing to do with the illegal export of commercial spent fuel from
Germany):
Nation's nuclear dump -Taking in German waste is the latest federal task for the Savannah River Site Spartanburg (South Carolina) Herald, July 13, 2014 photo: AVR reactor at Juelich, Germany - a gas-cooled eperimental reactor that was connected to the eletricty grid and which was not a research reactor. As it is illegal under German law to export spent fuel , the feeble efforts to redefine the reactor as a "research" reactor over 25 years after it was closed is a transparent deception that isn't working. The 900,000 highly radioactive graphite balls from the AVR and THTR experimental reactors , stored in 457 large CASTOR casks, must be diposed of in Germany and not dumped on SRS. White
House threatens veto of House bill with MOX construction
funding - by
Meg Mirsahk, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 9,
2014
see White House statment of July 9, 2014: "Disposition of Weapons-Usable Plutonium. The Administration strongly objects to language that would require the Secretary of Energy to continue construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The Administration plans to move the facility into cold stand-by in FY 2015 as it continues to explore the potential for more cost effective alternatives while maintaining the U.S. Government's commitment to disposing of unneeded plutonium." Aiken (SC) Standard article, July 9, 2014, by Derrek Asberry Washington threatens to veto House bill that includes MOX News about the misguided
scheme to dump German commercial nuclear reactor spent fuel at the
Savannah River Site is increasing, with the public and politicians in
Germany now becoming aware that SRS is not a high-level nuclear
waste disposal site. South Carolina
will "nicht Deutschlands Atommüllkippe werden!" (South Carolina will not
become Germany's nuclear dump.) Is the half-baked scheme now
on the ropes? Energy Dept.: SRS researching how site could handle German wasteby Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, July 12, 2014 video story on SC Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council meeting: WLTX TV, Columbia, SC, July 10, 2014 Enriched Uranium From Germany Still In Works For SRS Scrutiny intensifies over German nuke waste shipments to SC by Sammy Fretwell, The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 11, 2014 - also in Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News Plan to ship German nuke waste to SC questioned by Eric Connor, Greenville (South Carolina) News, July 9, 2014 -- also posted by WLTX TV website, Columbia, SC on July 10, 2014 Resistance grows against German nuclear waste transport to US Wed, 9th Jul 2014 Castor container: Do the USA help Germany from the case of radioactive waste? News Round Today, July 8, 2014 Atommüll aus Jülich: Atomkugeln: Transport in die USA rechtswidrig? WDR Deutschland, July 8, 2014 German nuclear fuel to USA? Deutsche Welle, July 8, 2014 "Germany authorities are contemplating the return of nuclear fuel kept in 152 containers to the United States. A storage permit at the former Jülich research reactor facility in western Germany is nearing expiry. " "US watchdog rejects Jülich leftovers - DPA quoted Tom Clements of the Organization Savannah River Site Watch as saying that it did not want foreign atomic waste in South Carolina. The "correct way for Germany" was to use its law to find its own local means of disposal, he said." -- see photo of the AVR experimental power reactor at the link to the article ------ DPA - big German news agency - this article is getting picked up all over Germany: Der Präzedenzfall - Deutscher Atommüll in die USA? Berlin/Washington (dpa), July 8, 2014 "The precedent - German nuclear waste in the United States?" - from www.freetranslation.com - article to be formally issued in English on July 9 ""Wir wollen keinen ausländischen Atommüll in South Carolina, wenn der korrekte Weg für Deutschland wäre, seinem Atomgesetz zu folgen, das eine Entsorgung im Inland vorsieht", sagt Tom Clements, Direktor der Organisation Savannah River Site Watch, die das Nuklearzentrum kritisch begleitet. Die Anlage ist nur 32 Kilometer von der historischen Stadt Augusta entfernt, wo auch das weltberühmte Golf-Masters stattfindet. Hier werden schon 140 Millionen Liter radioaktiver Abfall und Giftmüll in alten Tanks gespeichert. Eine dauerhaft sichere Lagerung tief unter der Erde ist nicht in Sicht." Senator Vincent Sheheen, in the South Carolina legislature, continues to speak out against bringing German nuclear waste to SRS... Sheheen's clear stance on the unclear future of nuclear waste in SC by Hannah Moseley, WCSV TV, Charleston, SC, July 8, 2014 The naval station in Charleston has already been named as the port of entry of the waste. Port of Charleston could be at risk if German nuclear waste comes through, Vincent Sheheen says by Schuyler Kropf, Charleston (SC) Post & Courier, July 8, 2014 
The newspapers near the Savannah River Site have
editorialized on the risks of bringing German spent fuel to SRS. Good to
see the papers' sound positions against SRS becoming a nuclear waste
dumping ground. Thanks!
Photo: Senator Vincent Sheheen, in South Carolina Senate, who opposes import of German nuclear waste into our state. Thank you Senator Sheheen! Don't dump this on us Permanent storage of nuclear waste is an alarming turn in SRS' mission Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle by Augusta Chronicle editorial staff, July 6, 2014 & New German waste another bad signal Aiken (South Carolina) Standard by Aiken Standard editorial staff, July 7, 2014 
Castortransporte
aus Jülich?
152 Castoren mit hochradioaktivem Atommüll sollen das Zwischenlager im Forschungszentrum Jülich verlassen. Favorisiert wird ein Transport in die USA. Dieser wäre rechtswidrig. "Amerikanische Atomkraftgegner leisten massiven und berechtigten Widerstand gegen deutsche Atommülltransporte in die USA. Ein Hauptgegner ist Tom Clements, Leiter der Organisation Savannah River Site Watch. „South Carolina will nicht Deutschlands Atommüllkippe werden”, sagt Clements. „Wir lehnen den Vorschlag ab, von dem nur Savannah River Site und Deutschland profitieren, die amerikanische Bevölkerung aber draufzahlt.“" Greenpeace Germany news release, July 5, 2014 - photo above of German spent fuel storage casks posted by Greenpeace Germany on home page - 457 of these casks are stored at the Juelich and Ahaus sites and contain about 900,000 highly radioactive graphite fuel balls that some in Germany and in the US Department of Energy want to dump at the Savannah River Site, compounding waste management problems at the site -SRS is not a nuclear dump (Atommüllkippe) for German waste! 
South Carolina gubernatorial
candidate state Senator Vincent Sheheen speaks up against German nuclear
waste dumping at SRS. Along with increased coverage of the
controversial proposal in the US and Germany, this could be a game
changer.
Sheheen: No German materials in Aiken County by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, July 3, 2014 Sheheen: Halt German nuke waste at SRS by Andrew Shain, The State, Columbia, SC, July 3, 2014 SC-Gov: Sheheen (D) Fights Back To Prevent SC From Becoming More Of A Nuclear Waste Dumping Ground - see email alert from Sheheen Daily Kos, July 2, 2014 Sheheen addresses SRS nuclear waste dilemma by Nick Lulli, WXFG TV, Augusta, Georgia, July 2 German nuclear waste could be on way to SRS by Travis Ragsdale, WRDW TV, N. Augusta, SC, July 2 ----------------------- 
Public
comments heard on proposed German waste shipments to Savannah River
Site
by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 25 - article includes a link to a short video clip featuring Tom Clements of SRS Watch and a poster he displayed on the matter, including information that the German reactors in question are not research reactors, and Susan Corbett of the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club photo of Tom Clements, Director, SRS Watch, speaking at the meeting, with poster explaining how nuclear waste export is illegal under German law - by Jon-Michael Sullivan, Augusta Chronicle photo of SRS Watch poster at waste dumping meeting - by Augusta Chronicle “We cannot open SRS to the world’s nuclear waste,” said Susan Corbett, of the South Carolina Sierra Club. “The citizens of Aiken County do not want to be known as the world’s spent dump.” (photo above is of Susan Corbett making her comments at the meeting) ---- Residents show mixed feelings on German fuel at SRS by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 25, 2014 "Those who opposed accepting the HEU included the South Carolina Sierra Club and SRS Watch, which voiced its disapproval through Director Tom Clements." "According to Clements, Germany is currently trying to rename the reactors that process the spent fuel as research reactors instead of commercial reactors, which would make it legal to ship the HEU." “There's a big difference between the reactors, and the German law is clear. Evidently, the German government is conducting an assessment to rename them, but they're meeting friction from activists in Germany,” Clements said. --- Deutscher Atommüll für die USA Brennelementekugeln des Versuchsreaktors Jülich sollen in ein Kernwaffenzentrum in South Carolina 152 Castor-Behälter lagern auf dem Gelände des Forschungszentrums Jülich. Der Atommüll soll in den USA wiederaufbereitet werden. Von Ralf Streck - 24.06.2014 - Wirtscaht und Umwelt Neues Deutschland Sozialistische Tageszeitung Public
meeting Tuesday on potential German waste shipments to
SRS
by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 23, 2014 SRS
Watch in report on Deutschlandfunk - German public radio - June 20,
2014, Report on plans between
Germany & DOE for the unprecedented import of highly radioactive
commercial nuclear power fuel, for dumping at SRS.
print & broadcast linked here - Sprechen sie Deutsch?! Vielleicht ein bisschen? by Heike Wipperfürth Forschungsreaktor: Brennstäbe aus Jülich sollen zurück in die USA Fuel rods from Jülich may go to the US A highly dangerous cargo from Germany could soon be a shipped... to the US state of South Carolina. On board: highly radioactive fuel from a reactor at the Jülich research site closed since 1988 .... See photo of commercial gas-cooled reactor with problematic commercial spent fuel that Germany aims to dump on SRS - at Deutschland funk website. 
Articles
on SRS revised high-level waste plan - obtained by SRS Watch and linked
here
S.C. DHEC threatens fines for Savannah River Site cleanup delays by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, June 17, 2014 State may fine DOE $193M if closure milestones at SRS aren't met by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (SC) Standard, June 17, 2014 Closure
of WIPP casts long shadow
by Lauren Villagran, Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal, June 15, 2014 Savannah
River Site Becoming World’s Nuclear Dumping Ground, despite Safety
Risks
by Gloria Tatum, APN, June 9, 2014 Secret
weapons-grade uranium shipments to Canada near
end
by Ian Macleod, Ottawa (Ontario) Citizen, June 4, 2014 DOE
seeks input on German fuel possibly coming to
SRS
by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 4, 2014 SCE&G
customers facing seventh rate increase for nuclear project
by Roddie Burris, The State (Columbia, SC), June 1, 2014 --- see SRS Watch in this article and the German waste dumping article below SC
site moves toward accepting German nuke waste - AP article in
The Times & Democrat (Orangeburg, SC), May 30,
2014
Audit:
Lack of cost control at South Carolina nuclear fuel
plant
by Meg Kinnard, Associated Press, May 27, 2014 SRS Watch information used in article on SRS plutonium to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - click on links in article: WIPP Storing Weapons Grade Plutonium In Room 7 May 22, 2014 Does the article reveal the secret of "stardust," an inert material used to downblend plutonium for packaging for dumping in WIPP? Is this material an "exploding" form of the infamous kitty litter? Letter: Graham,
Haley shouldn’t be leading MOX debate -
Senator, governor do not have experience to make informed decisions on nuclear waste. Proposed mixed-oxide facility at Savannah River Site is a nuclear bridge to nowhere. Greenville (SC) News, May 16, 2014 Nature magazine, May 13, 2014 editorial and article on the WIPP radiation accident - was SRS transuranic waste involved in the WIPP accident? An accident waiting to happen - The release of radioactive material at a US nuclear-waste repository reveals an all-too-common picture of complacency over safety and a gradual downgrading of regulations. Call for better oversight of nuclear-waste storage - Accident at US repository highlights need for tougher safety monitoring, say experts. MOX
neglect's costly fallout
by Walter Pincus, Washington Post columnist in Charleston (SC) Post & Courier, May 14, 2014 SRS Watch in "Officials:
No danger from Tritium leak at SC
plant"
by Meg Kinnard, Associated Press May 8, 2014 SC
drops suit against feds over MOX plant
by Sammy Fretwell, The State (Columbia, SC), May 3 - wait till October 1 and Fiscal Year 2015 - the mismanaged MOX project is due to be shut down Greenville (SC)
News editorial - related to dodgy proposal to import German highly
radioactive spent fuel: “Don’t
bring more nuclear waste to SRS” -- May 2,
2014
“State should be wary of plan for more nuclear waste to SRS after years of broken promises. Plans for reprocessing, permanent storage in Nevada all have fallen by the wayside as waste piles up” SRS Watch in articles on
possible import of German spent
fuel:
German nuclear waste may be headed to SC by Eric Connor, Greenville (South Carolina) News, April 30 -------- German nuclear waste could be shipped to Savannah River Site by Meg Mirshak, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, April 30 -------- Uranium from Germany could come to SRS by Derrek Asberry, Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 30 SRS Watch in "MOX
jobs safe through September, Graham says,"
by Sammy Fretwell, The State, Columbia, SC, April 29, 2014 South
Carolina Sues as U.S. Seeks to Halt Work on Plutonium Disposal Site
- by Matt Wald, New York Times, April 29,
2014
SRS Watch in "Cracks
found at VC Summer nuclear plant; reactor head to be replaced in
2017"
by Roddie Burris, The State (Columbia, SC), April 29, 2014 A
Botched Plan to Turn Nuclear Warheads Into
Fuel
By Matthew Philips, Bloomberg Businessweek, April 24, 2014 Please comment on line -
SRS Watch in the news:
Gov. Nikki Haley: Finish MOX plant by Sammy Fretwell, The State (Columbia, SC), April 21, 2014 SRS
Watch group requests MOX study assessments
by Derrek Asberry Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 17, 2014 (South Carolina) Public Service Commission Secretly
Approving Rate Hikes?
By Rick Brundrett The Nerve (S.C. Policy Council), March 31, 2014 Watch group formed to monitor SRS, nuclear activities
By Derrek Asberry Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 6 Activists launch effort to improve nuclear facility
oversight
By Phillip Swarts Washington Times (Washington, DC), April 5, 2014 MOX fuel sales would be government
subsidized
By Mary Orndorff Troyan Gannett Washington Bureau, April 4, 2014 New Watchdog Group Sets Sights on South Carolina Plutonium
Facility
By Diane Barnes National Journal/Global Security Newswire NNSA administrator: MOX construction stop-order
coming
By Derrek Asberry Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, April 2, 2014 Covert Mission: Plutonium Source Might Be Canada -
Questions being Asked About Mystery Cargo (to Savannah
River Site)
By Ian MacLeod Ottawa (Ontario) Citizen, March 29, 2014 Residents Get Update On Midlands
Nuclear Reactor Site
WLTX TV, Columbia, South Carolina, March 27, 2014 Haley Fighting MOX Project
Shutdown
By Andrew Shain and Sammy Fretwell The State – Columbia, South Carolina, March 12, 2014 SC Arson Suspect Worked at Nuclear
Plant
By Sammy Fretwell The State – Columbia, South Carolina, March 11, 2014 |
