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Archives for June 2018

Disposal of nuclear waste which is in large a by-product of reprocessing to produce nuclear weapons materials will have impacts to the environment via its disposal as grouted waste in the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF).

SRS Watch · June 25, 2018 ·

These two documents, posted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 25, 2018, discuss predictions related to amount of iodine-129 and technetium- 99 in the solidified waste to be left forever in the ground at SRS.

Filed Under: Latest News

In its annual report (for 2017), the French reprocessing and plutonium-proliferation company Orano (formerly AREVA) documents that reprocessing by other countries in France is essentially over, a positive for nuclear non-proliferation.

SRS Watch · June 25, 2018 ·

As some peddle the fake news that European countries are vigorously pursuing reprocessing of highly radioactive spent fuel – to remove weapon-usable plutonium – this report from the heart of the French reprocessing industry sets the record straight.

Filed Under: Latest News

MOX NEWS FLASH, June 25, 2018: For defrauding the US Government of over $6 million at the MOX project – due to fake receipts

SRS Watch · June 25, 2018 ·

– Phillip Thompson was sentenced this afternoon in federal court to 23 months in Butner prison medical facility in North Carolina, followed by 3 years probation.  Home  detention denied but sentenced reduced due to health issue. 

Filed Under: Latest News

State of South Carolina files motion in MOX termination federal case, June 25, 2018

SRS Watch · June 25, 2018 ·

1:18-cv-01431-JMC Date Filed 06/25/18 Entry Number 29 Page 1 of 28​ – motion linked here

Also posted in docket on June 25, 2018:  “MOTION for Summary Judgment by State of South Carolina.

Filed Under: Latest News

The US Senate passes DOE funding bill on June 25, 2018 – allocates $220 million for MOX termination and $0 for MOX construction – the failed MOX project remains doomed

SRS Watch · June 25, 2018 ·

Senate news release of June 25 linked here:

Senate Energy & Water report, page 107: ​ “MOX Construction.—The Committee recommends $220,000,000 for closeout costs associated with the termination of MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility construction,

Filed Under: Latest News

Sentencing for one MOX fraudster postponed by federal court in Columbia, SC on June 22, 2018, sentencing for 2nd guilty fraudster still on for June 25 – expect a prison sentence and fine for submitting fake receipts in the MOX fiasco

SRS Watch · June 22, 2018 ·

“NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF HEARING: Sentencing set for 6/25/2018 02:30 PM as to Aaron Vennefron (mbro, ) (Entered: 06/22/2018)”

​”NOTICE OF RESCHEDULED HEARING as to Phillip Thompson Sentencing set for 6/20/2018 10:00 AM cancelled and rescheduled to: Sentencing set for 6/25/2018 01:30 PM in Columbia # 3,

Filed Under: Latest News

Will the ill-informed federal judge in the district court in Columbia, SC rule on June 21, 2018 on DOE’s request to “stay” her preliminary injunction halting termination of the failed MOX project?

SRS Watch · June 21, 2018 ·

Once she denies the stay the matter will likely be ripe to be addressed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration requested the “stay”

Filed Under: Latest News

“Terminate MOX” gets a boost from President Trump – in June 20, 2018 statement on the Senate Appropriations bill (which may pass on June 21 & which has $0 for MOX construction & $220 million for MOX termination).

SRS Watch · June 20, 2018 ·

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503

June 20, 2018 (Senate)

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
Senate Amendment to H.R.

Filed Under: Latest News

WARNING to potential workers at the MOX debacle: Don’t be punked by MOX job advertisements by CB&I/McDermott/Orano/Areva MOX Services.

SRS Watch · June 19, 2018 ·

The MOX fiasco rightfully remains on a termination track and pursuit of employment at the mismanaged project is ill advised and not a positive on one’s resume. Plus, we’re not sure these are real jobs or just being posted –

Filed Under: Latest News

J. Michelle Childs, the confused judge who issued a preliminary injunction on June 7, 2018 to stop MOX termination and who has little grasp on the problems with the bungled MOX project and who is ignoring laws passed by Congress, is due to sentence two defendants who have pleaded guilty to defrauding the MOX project (via submission of false receipts).

SRS Watch · June 18, 2018 ·

See notices below in Docket 1:15-cr-00888-JMC – sentencing set for June 25, 2018 in federal court in Columbia, SC

After a decade of potential fraud,

Filed Under: Latest News

DOE MOX Update

SRS Watch · June 18, 2018 ·

TV report on DOE’s filing of an appeal to the federal  judge’s June 7 “preliminary injunction” stopping MOX termination for now – with SRS Watch.  Why are no politicians speaking up for MOX workers?

Filed Under: Latest News

Another bump in the legal road before DOE takes more action in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals: Federal district judge in Columbia, SC denies DOE’s June 15, 2018 request for a “stay” of her “preliminary injunction” that halted MOX termination.

SRS Watch · June 15, 2018 ·

See June 26, 2018 “ORDER AND OPINION” – “CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, the court DENIES Defendants’ Motion for Stay of the Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal (ECF No.

Filed Under: Latest News

Small leak discovered in SRS high-level waste tank – not reported by a feckless DOE-SRS but rather by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

SRS Watch · June 15, 2018 ·

DNFSB weekly report, June 15, 2018, linked here

“H-Tank Farms: SRR has been conducting heel removal in Tank 15. Tank 15 is an old-style tank that had 26 previously identified leak sites.

Filed Under: Latest News

June 25, 2018: We’re attending the federal court proceeding on sentencing for one of the parties who defraud the MOX project – stand by for updates after the 1:30 p.m. hearing

SRS Watch · June 14, 2018 ·

“NOTICE OF RESCHEDULED HEARING as to Phillip Thompson Sentencing set for 6/20/2018 10:00 AM cancelled and rescheduled to: Sentencing set for 6/25/2018 01:30 PM in Columbia # 3,

Filed Under: Latest News

DOE & MOX booster bamboozling – with $enator Lindsey Graham as the head bamboozler – on MOX and plutonium “pits” (for nuclear weapons) rightly faces tough sledding in Congress

SRS Watch · June 13, 2018 ·

– read about it here:
“Congress Pushes Back on Nuke Agency’s Unnecessary Plutonium Buildup”
Project on Government Oversight (POGO) blog, June 13, 2018
http://www.pogo.org/straus/issues/nuclear-security/2018/congress-pushes-back-on-nuke-agency-unnecessary-plutonium-buildup.html

Filed Under: Latest News

SRS Watch in “Judge’s Injunction Prevents DOE From Halting MOX Project”

SRS Watch · June 13, 2018 ·

Engineering News-Record, June 13, 2018 – article liked here

“Fallout”

While noting the importance of maintaining a pathway for removing plutonium from the state,

Filed Under: Latest News

MOX workers are rightly leaving the MOX boondoggle in swarms, yet CB&I/McDermott/AREVA/Orano MOX Services started posting for new jobs at the failed MOX project again on June 13, after halting such postings when DOE began terminating the bungled project on May 10, 2018v

SRS Watch · June 13, 2018 ·

WE ASK MOX WORKERS and others in the know:  Why would any properly qualified, motivated individual apply for a job at a project that DOE, Congress and the Trump Administration has placed a dead-end pathway? 

Filed Under: Latest News

As downblended plutonium from SRS is being dispoed of in DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, it’s worth learning more about DOE’s take on the two accidents in 2014 that closed the facility for over a year.

SRS Watch · June 12, 2018 ·

What REALLY Happened at WIPP? – The Tale of Two Fires

by Los Alamos National Lab, June 12, 2018

presentation linked here

Filed Under: Latest News

“Judge throws wrench into plan to split plutonium ‘pit’ production” between SRS and Los Alamos National Lab

SRS Watch · June 12, 2018 ·

Albuquerque (New Mexico) journal, June 12, 2018

article linked here

Filed Under: Latest News

It’s tritium processing that makes SRS a key nuclear weapons site

SRS Watch · June 12, 2018 ·

DOE solicits contract to transport 6,000 highly radioactive rods containing tritium gas (to boost the explosive power of nuclear weapons) from TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear plant in Tennessee to SRS,

Filed Under: Latest News

Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Allowing Construction of Bungled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS to Continue for Now, halting Formal Termination

SRS Watch · June 8, 2018 ·

Judge Fails to Understand that the Failed MOX Project will Not Result in Plutonium Removal from South Carolina, with link to key documents – SRS Watch news here

June 18,

Filed Under: SRS Watch News

Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Allowing Construction of Bungled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS to Continue for Now, halting Formal Termination; Judge Fails to Understand that the Failed MOX Project will Not Result in Plutonium Removal from South Carolina

SRS Watch · June 7, 2018 ·

SRS Watch News Flash

Ruling Throws Spanner into NNSA’s Effort to Convert MOX to an Unneeded Nuclear Bomb Facility (to Make Plutonium “Pits” For Nuclear Weapons)
 
With Court Ruling,

Filed Under: SRS Watch News

“GUIDANCE FOR THE JULY 9-11, 2018, MONITORING ONSITE OBSERVATION VISIT TO THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY”

SRS Watch · June 6, 2018 ·

“The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is planning an onsite observation visit on July 9-11, 2018, 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,

Filed Under: Latest News

Picture South Carolina’s Last Stand (to Protect the MOX Debacle):

SRS Watch · June 5, 2018 ·

Hearing before federal court in Columbia, South Carolina on State of South Carolina’s weak case to stop termination of the MOX project, postponed until June 5, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

Filed Under: Latest News

Update of 1:45 p..m. on June 5 – Judge Childs did not rule yet. State of SC to file more documents on June 6.

SRS Watch · June 5, 2018 ·

Judge has a heavy lift trying to force DOE to prepare NEPA documents on plutonium disposition and it appears she can’t force mediation between the state & feds,

Filed Under: Latest News

“Judge doesn’t rule on plan to scrap MOX; jobs still in limbo”

SRS Watch · June 5, 2018 ·

Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 5, 2018

article linked here

Correction to article: SRS has about 13 metric tons of plutonium stored (in the old K-Reactor) and not 8 MT. 

Filed Under: Latest News

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) questions safety basis and worker exposure at SRS facilities that process tritium (for nuclear weapons).

SRS Watch · June 4, 2018 ·

Tritium is what now makes SRS a key nuclear weapons site.

DNFSB letter of june 4, 2018 about “concerns regarding the revised tritium facilities safety basis and analyses identified thus far.” 

Filed Under: Latest News

Key document on unneeded and unjustified production of nuclear weapons “pits” (“plutonium core” in above diagram) at SRS and Los Alamos publicly released on June 4, 2018 as a DOE filing in federal court proceeding on the failed MOX project:

SRS Watch · June 4, 2018 ·

Final Report for the Plutonium Pit Production Analysis of Alternatives, October 2017, DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration

Fist section linked here

Second section linked here

Third section linked here

Fourth section linked here

Fifth section linked here

Filed Under: Latest News

Opppsss! Truck pulling empty spent fuel cask out of L-Area – where spent fuel is stored in a pool – drops trailer with empty spent fuel cask on board.

SRS Watch · June 1, 2018 ·

We’re don’t know but betting the cask had transported damaged NRU reactor fuel from from Chalk River Laboratories in Canada to SRS.  Shhh….DOE doesn’t like to talk about that damaged fuel being dumped on SRS….

Filed Under: Latest News

Event for the House Nuclear Cleanup

SRS Watch · June 1, 2018 ·

Filed Under: Events

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Recent Posts

  • Workshop on Plutonium Pit Production PEIS & New Nuclear Weapons: May 22, 2025
  • News Flash! Lawsuit Compels Nationwide Public Review of Plutonium Bomb Core Production by DOE’s NNSA, May 9, 2025 Federal Register
  • Talk on SRS, the Nuclear Arms Race & Upcoming Meetings on Plutonium “Pit” Production – May 10, Columbia, SC & livestream archived
  • SRS & Growing Nuclear Weapons Role: Talks April 28 (Aiken, SC) – with linked presentation – and May 10 (Columbia, SC)
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