The “dump on SRS option” may still officially be on the table but it’s looking more and more like it’s dead.
Archives for April 2018
What’s up concerning preparation of plutonium oxide – from nuclear weapons “pits” – for disposition of plutonium as waste?
Report by Los Alamos National lab: “ARIES Oxide Production Program at LANL,” February 2015, for the Government Accountability Office audit – presentation linked here
“SCE&G Nuclear Reactor Construction Fiasco Overshadows Parallel Failure of DOE’s Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at the Savannah River Site; New Nuclear Bomb Project Coming to SRS?”
Article in Spring 2018 edition of the Congaree Chronicle, South Carolina Sierra Club newsletter
Chronicle linked here (and here: https://tinyurl.com/y9esdzd4) see page 18 for article above;
Friends of the Earth, with SRS Watch staff support, has begun running ads on the SCE&G’s VC Summer nuclear reactor debacle.
See the April 26th hard copy of The State, Columbia, SC, or the April 27th edition of the Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier.
Digital adds, slightly different from the print ad are also being run –
In letter to SRS Watch, the new DOE site clean-up boss, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, acknowledges the importance of hearing the views of the “local communities surrounding SRS”, congratulates SRS Watch for our work and looks forward to working together.
See April 26, 2018 letter to SRS Watch linked here.
DOE news release of March 30, 2018:
Anne Marie White Sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management
Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB), in report released on April 24, 2018, concludes that a undetected fire in the Solid Waste Management Facility could exceed the 2-hour response time, potentially posing a risk of higher radiation doses to workers
“Fire Detection and Response Time at the Solid Waste Management Facility at the Savannah River Site” – “Staff Issue Report” linked here
“Conclusion. The Board’s staff review team concluded that SWMF cannot adequately protect the assumption of a two-hour fire department response.
All Hail the Mothership! Nuclear Ship Savannah
“NUCLEAR SHIP SAVANNAH – ISSUANCE OF AMENDMENT 15 TO REVISE
THE LICENSE TO ALLOW DISMANTLEMENT AND DISPOSAL”
In an April 23, 2018 letter and safety evaluation, the U.S.
“Was the 2007 law that jumpstarted S.C. nuclear project unconstitutional? Attorneys ask circuit judge to decide”
Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier, April 20, 2018
Article on US disposition of surplus weapons plutonium, with SRS Watch – has some errors in it and High Flyer was not credited with MOX plant photo
“America’s nuclear headache: old plutonium with nowhere to go”
Reuters, April 20, 2018
U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission, April 20, 2018 – assessment of DOE’s monitoring of environmental leaks from the high-level nuclear waste tanks at SRS.
The tanks and the highly radioactive waste in them are the biggest environmental threat at the site. See: “TECHNICAL REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING REPORTS FOR F-AREA [FTF] AND H-AREA TANK FARM [HTF] FACILITIES”
Friends of the Earth (with SRS Watch staff support) and Sierra Club in article on news event on Dominion Energy’s performance in Virginia
“Critics Warn SC Legislators Against Dominion, Citing Actions in Virginia”
Free Times, Columbia, South Carolina weekly, April 18, 2018
Attention MOX workers, April 12, 2018
Please let us know what expectations you have as the MOX project enters the termination phase. As we don’t hear a single politician or DOE manager speaking up for you,
Combined News Posts March & April 2018
Friends of the Earth (with SRS Watch staff support) mentioned in article on how Dominion Energy – which wants to take over SCANA/SCE&G – is not such a good actor back home in Virginia:
“Utility trying to buy SCANA draws fire for its influence,
Radioactive Mouse Found in High-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Area at Savannah River Site; Mouse Reported to have Radioactive Surface Contamination More than 10 Times Levels in Regulations
Radioactive Mouse Incident Rises to Level of being only “Occurrence” Reported in SRS “Quarterly Legacy Contamination Report, January 2018 Through March 2018”
Columbia, South Carolina – A mouse contaminated with a high level of radioactive material was found in a building located in the midst of tanks storing highly radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site,