Photo: The heart of the MOX boondoggle cover-up: $17 billion MOX plant at Savannah River Site (SRS), terminated in 2018
©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
The U.S . Department of Enegy's Efforts to Carry Out the $47.5+ Billion Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project Failed and DOE and Congress Continue Covering Up what Happened with the MOX Debacle at the Savannah River Site - Investigations Needed!
Business at its Ugly Usual with DOE and Congress: 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 Jennifer Granholm and Congress act to hold those responsible accountable for the failed MOX project? Managers with the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and MOX contractor CB&I Areva MOX Services must be held accountable for bungling the project and wasting our money. Without accountability for the MOX boondoggle the liklihood of a repeat with the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant looms large.
Investigations into fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement are urgently needed before "repurposing" the partially finished MOX building into an Plutonium Bomb Plant (for production of plutonium "pits" for new nuclear weapons).
If you have information about problems with the MOX boondoggle and the resulting cover-up, please get in touch: srswatch@gmail.com
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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 & striving to halt proliferation of weapons-usable materials ---
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 -
SRS Watch News
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,
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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,
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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..
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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,”
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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).
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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,
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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,
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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,
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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,
Read MoreNuclear Reactor Construction Debacle: SRS Watch Views New Nuclear Reactors at Vogtle Site in Georgia
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.
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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,
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The federal environmental lawsuit brought by public interest groups asking for the court to order DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to prepare a “Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” (PEIS) on all aspects of plutonium pit production and radioactive waste disposal is on a new schedule, as issued by the judge in Columbia South Carolina on December 19,
Read MoreLatest News
“The sad legacy of the Savannah River plutonium plant”
Atlanta Journal-Constituion, November 6, 2024
Op-ed by Allie Maloney, a native Georgian and graduate of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, is a Scoville Peace Fellow for the Nuclear Information Project at Federation of American Scientists.
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Photo: Cover of document obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by SRS Watch and other groups with so many pages blacked out so as to coverup need for research on pit aging. That decision by NNSA isn’t over yet. Meanwhile, NNSA has not presented evidence that plutonium “pits”
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“NNSA Loses Environmental Regulation Lawsuit”
A U.S. District Court judge ruled on Sept. 30 that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct a proper analysis of alternatives that takes into consideration environmental impacts after significantly modifying plans for plutonium pit production in 2018.
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Westinghouse Official to be Sentenced on November 20 for Role in South Carolina Nuclear Reactor Construction Debacle at V.C. Summer Site
Columbia, SC – After various delays, the sentencing of the last admitted felon in the collapse of the ill-fated V.C. Summer nuclear reactor construction project is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Columbia,
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Drones spotted over US nuclear reactors in 2022, 2023 and 2024 – US Nuclear Regulatory Commission lists in response to Freedom of Information Act request
These lists are interesting but don’t reveal if the drones flights were by hobbyists or something else. A number of different reactors are listed as well as BWXT,
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“Plutonium just had a bad day in court”
“In a major decision whose consequences are still being assessed, a federal judge declared that plutonium pit production — one ingredient in the U.S. government’s $1.5 trillion nuclear weapons expansion — has to be performed in accordance with the nation’s strongest environmental law”
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A faulty idea that must be rejected: Restart of the VC Summer nuclear reactor construction boondoggle
A cursory “report” by the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC) – and discussed at the NAC’s October 15, 2024 meeting in Columbia, SC – promotes restart of the construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the VC Summer site north of Columbia,
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The Department of Energy’s SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) is to meet on September 16 & 17 at the Hipp-Close Building, 8th Floor at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.
The agenda for the meeting and times of the meeting can be found here: September 2024 Agenda-3
The CAB is made up of citizens who voluntarily serve but the CAB under the control of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM),
Read MoreSRS Watch Official Comment: DOE Backing of Sodium-Cooled Reactor a Risky & Costly Venture in Wyoming
The U.S. Department of Energy is throwing a huge amount of tax payer money at so-called “advanced reactors,” hoping something will stick. Nothing so far looks promising but one project, the Natrium reactor, by TerraPower, claims to have started construction near Kemmerer, Wyoming. But really all they have done is some site clearing.
Read More“Another reason to cancel the Sentinel missile: the rising cost of its nuclear warhead” – at Savannah River Site & Los Alamos National Lab
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, by Stephen Young (Union of Concerned Scientists), May 23, 2024
As widely reported, the estimated cost for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile recently rose dramatically,
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This is what failure looks like. Photo by High Flyer – of canceled, in 2017 , VC Summer nuclear reactor units 2 & 3 in foreground and unit 1 (operating) by lake in background. Customers are paying 5.6% of their bill to Dominion Energy, which took over when SCANA went bankrupt due to the project’s failure.
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Nuclear Weapons at Any Price? Congress Should Say No
Scientific American, May 13, 2024, By Sharon K. Weiner
Costs are skyrocketing to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Instead of turning a blind eye, Congress should demand fiscal oversight and make hard decisions balancing costs with deterrence
Bipartisanship seems rare in Congress these days.
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