Historic Settlement Reached in NEPA Lawsuit Over Plutonium “Pit” Bomb Core Production

News release, January 17, 2025

AIKEN, S.C. — Nonprofit public interest groups have reached an historic settlement agreement with the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). This is the successful result of a lawsuit against NNSA over its failure to complete a programmatic environmental impact statement on the expanded production of plutonium “pit” bomb cores,

Savannah River Site Watch Celebrates 10 Years of Public-Interest Advocacy for the Environment, Nuclear Nonproliferation

News release linked here:  https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/757512140/savannah-river-site-watch-celebrates-10-years-of-public-interest-advocacy-for-the-environment-nuclear-nonproliferation

COLUMBIA, SC, November 4, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — The public interest group Savannah River Site Watch is proud to celebrate 10 years of non-profit advocacy for sound policies in South Carolina,

South Carolina Environmental Law Project

Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition

Nuclear Watch New Mexico

Savannah River Site Watch

Tri-Valley CAREs

For Immediate Release – full release: Plutonium pit NEPA decision news release Oct 3 2024

October 3,

Photo: SRS Watch director Clements at Underground “bunker” at the University of Georgia – special collections

SRS Watch director Tom Clements is honored that the University of Georgia houses the archives of over a 40-year career. The university approached Tom about placing his material in the archives, as the archives houses various collections representing public interest activism in Georgia and beyond..

At the South Carolin Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC) meeting in Columbia, SC on April 29, 2024, SRS Watch made a hard-hitting comment questioning the role of the NAC in an energy bill now before the South Carolina legislature. That bill, H 5118, the “South Carolina Ten-year Energy Transformation Act,”

DOE image on front page: tritium canister (of classified size) & above: diagram of Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rod (TPBAR)

TVA gains NRC approval to increase production of radioactive tritium gas for nuclear weapons – part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to fully charge all tritium reservoirs in all active warheads (and possibly reserve weapons as well). 

U.S. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Delays Urgent Research on Plutonium “Pit” Aging While Spending Tens of Billions on Nuclear Weapons Bomb Core Production; Heavily Redacted Document Obtained via Tardy Response to FOIA Request

Nearly three years after filing a Freedom of Information Act request,

Energy Legislation before South Carolina General Assembly Includes Unjustified Giveaways to Nuclear Industry; in Ill-Advised Move, Elevates Role of Nuclear Advisory Council (Industry Promotional Body)

Unlearned Lesson: Current Dominion Energy Electricity Bill Includes Hidden Charge of 5.6% for Failed V.C. Summer Nuclear Reactor Construction Project,

U.S. Department of Energy Admits Design Problems with Controversial New Plutonium Bomb Plant at Savannah River Site as Cost Surges to a Stunning $25 Billion, Likely Most Expensive Building in U.S. History

Anticipated DOE Funding Requests for SRS Plutonium Pit Plant,

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Paves Way for Increase in Production of Tritium for Nuclear Weapons, Further Undermining Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norms and Keeping U.S. on Nuclear War Footing

SRS Watch news, February 23, 2024:  SRS Watch news tritium production by TVA Feb 23 2024

NRC’s Federal Register notice of February 24,

Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle: new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors – unit 4 on left (under criticality testing) and unit 3 on right (operating), reactor buildings are white, at the base of the cooling towers – photo ©SRS Watch

On February 18, 2024, SRS Watch accompanied two journalists to the sites of the new nuclear reactor construction debacle in South Carolina and Georgia: VC Summer and Vogtle.

The summary “Performance Evaluation Report” (PER) for the nuclear weapons programs at the Savannah River Site confirm that a special “Tiger Team” has reviewed documents for the planning of the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant and that the team is helping implement new design and cost plans. Deployment of a Tiger Team,