More revealed about DOE and its unneeded, costly “advanced” reactor project:
“There are Faster, Cheaper, Safer and More Reliable Alternatives to the Energy Department’s Proposed Multibillion Dollar Test Reactor”
DOE’s plan for new, “advanced” reactor stumbles into the usual cost overrun mire even before the “Versatile Test Reactor” gets off the ground
Well, no surprise here as DOE and its contractors always aim to run far over budget with new, large and complex projects. Think MOX. Thankfully, we beat back the “Energy Park”
“Guest column: Dangerous history of pit production”
See the op-ed on risks of plutonium “pit” production (for nuclear weapons) at SRS. The op-ed exposes the sad story of pit production at the now-closed Rocky Flats site near Denver,
SRS Watch news on continuing MOX debacle, March 29, 2019
Review of “Accuracy” of CB&I Areva MOX Services Payments to HVAC Contractor Intermech by DOE NNSA Reveals “Lack of Due Diligence,” Questionable Payments, Faulty Work; Document Obtained by SRS Watch Raises Similar Concerns as Federal Fraud Case involving MOX Services and Wise Services
“Concerns” and “Findings” in “Assessment Report” by NNSA of Management by MOX Services of Intermech Subcontract Underscores Need for Deeper Investigations into Possible Fraud,
In Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 28, 2019, the administrator of DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) admits pulling off plutonium pit production, for nuclear weapons, will be a challenge in the repurpsed MOX plant at SRS – beyond conceptual work that project has not been authorized or funded by Congress
To underscore that the plutonium fuel (MOX) project is totally dead, DOE Secretary Perry congratulates Congress for having the courage to terminate the MOX project
DOE has posted the nuclear weapons budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2020 – it goes crazy over nuclear weapons-related activities, including pit production at SRS, but doesn’t mention the timeline for the required Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on the pit proposal.
Time for Congress to get the national security budget-cutting ax out to protect us from the threat of a new Cold War!
“Trump’s 2020 Nuclear Weapons Budget Escalates New Arms Race”
DOE posts its Fiscal Year 2020 budget request to Congress – volume #5 – for Environmental Management (clean-up).
The document is extremely thin on details. See page 237+ for cursory SRS discussion. Note on page 270 that DOE intends to stop payment-in-lieu of taxes to local communities: “The decrease is associated with reduction of discretionary payments in-Lieu-of-Taxes to support the focus on cleanup mission.”
SRS Watch news, March 21, 2019
NRC Issues Final Inspection Report for MOX Plant Construction with Two Violations; Failure to Keep Records for Stored Equipment may Pose Challenges for its Future Use in a “Repurposed” Facility
Columbia,
Good to see the Sierra Club oppose unjustified, unauthorized, unfunded plutonium pit production – for nuclear weapons – at the shuttered MOX plant at SRS
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raises concerns about a seismic hazard at the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) in Nevada, which received 1/2 metric to n of weapon-grade plutonium secretly and needlessly shipped from SRS.
March 21, 2019 DNFSB letter & report – linked here
“Conclusions. As part of the 10-year assessment of the DAF seismic hazard, the previous site contractor,
Trump set to amp up Cold War-type nuclear arms race involving SRS. Absurd!
More DOE budget request numbers for FY 2020 are out (on March 18, 2019) and the DOE budget has “weapons activities” at SRS doubling from $300 million to $605 million.
Be alert to the movement of UK-flagged spent fuel carrier PACIFIC EGRET
ATTENTION MARINERS AND SHIP SPOTTERS near Charleston, South Carolina! Be alert to the movement of UK-flagged spent fuel carrier PACIFIC EGRET. March 16, 2019 alert, based only on information available to the general public.
South Carolina flips from “New Nuclear Ground Zero” to “Dead Nuclear Ground Zero!”
SRS Watch, March 13, 2019: VC Summer AP1000 “Combined Operating License” (COL) termination for halted units 2 and 3 – not something you’ll see every day! This is the final nail in the coffin of new reactors in South Carolina &
Annual radiation monitoring and status report for Nuclear Ship Savannah (NSS)
Annual radiation monitoring and status report for Nuclear Ship Savannah (NSS) for Calendar Year 2018, posted on March 11, 2019 by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The fate of long-retired ship now berthed in Baltimore,
President Trump’s federal budget request overview for Fiscal Year 2020 has been posted
on March 11, 2019 – needs congressional review, changes & approval & EISs; includes 11% cut in DOE; proposes funds for “repurposing” of MOX facility for plutonium pit production at SRS and an increase in “dilute &
If you’ve followed the unfaltering mega-hype by nuclear industry PR machine about “small modular reactors,” you may be interested in this article.
“The Pentagon wants to boldly go where no nuclear reactor has gone before. It won’t work.”
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Feb. 22, 2019 – article linked here
What devilish enemy would dare target an operating nuclear reactor on a US military base in a war zone?!
SRS Watch in “U.S. Pivots From Nuclear Reactor Fuel to Bomb Cores”
Environment News Service, posted
Feb. 19, 2019 – article linked here
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) refuses, so far, to prepare the legally mandated Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on pit production.
So, is this how the MOX shakedown worked?!
Do tell!
We think we’re on the cusp of figuring out they ran the MOX $cam off the back of patriotic taxpayers…
If you’re a former MOX worker or have information,
HOT NEWS on CB&I AREVA MOX Services fraud, waste, abuse & mismanagement
– complaint filed by Department of Justice under False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Act — Update, February 19, 2019
Amazing to see: “United States of America vs Defendant CB&I AREVA MOX Services LLC and Defendant Wise Services Inc”
“Who? Me?!” cries MOX Services! It was them (Wise Services) who defrauded the MOX project not us little ole innocent program managers!
It’s gone almost unnoticed, but did you see that CB&I Areva MOX Services brought a federal case against Wise Services in November 2018, claiming it was Wise Services that was responsible for millions of $$$ in fraudulent charges paid by NNSA and not MOX Services?!
SRS Watch shares the concern in this article about PACER: “Attacking a Pay Wall That Hides Public Court Filings”
As crazy and anti-transparency as it sounds, did you know the public must pay 10 cents per page to download federal court papers, via the court’s PACER system? SRS Watch –
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Terminates License (“Construction Authorization”) for Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant at DOE’s Savannah River Site; MOX Project now Officially Dead – Any Hope of Reviving Bungled Project is Shattered
SRS Watch news, February 11, 2019
See NRC letter and two enclosures linked in “notes” at end of release
Columbia,
Rock Out Against Plutonium Pit Production at SRS!
Thanks to the Guacamole Fund, SRS Watch will be tabling on Friday, February 8, 2019 at the Bonnie Raitt-James Taylor concert at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
Rock On!
Thanks to our friend Bonnie Raitt for requesting that Savannah River Site Watch table at the Bonnie Raitt/James Taylor concert on February 8, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina!
We gathered a bunch of letters against the unjustified expansion of nuclear weapons production –
State of Nevada filing with Nevada federal district court, February 7, 2019: “PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR INJUNCTION PENDING APPEAL”
“Due to Nevada’s concerns about the DOE’s actions, the State has appealed this Court’s January 30, 2019, Order, which denied its motion for a preliminary injunction during the litigation of this case.
Appeal by State of Nevada to block further plutonium shipments from SRS to South Carolina has on February 5, 2019 been assigned a case number by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but no hearing date yet set
“Office of the Clerk United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Post Office Box 193939 San Francisco, California 94119-3939 415-355-8000 February 05, 2019
Short Title:
State of Nevada v.
Low quality obfuscation from DOE
Low quality obfuscation from DOE – which doesn’t answer what happened to the “missing” 1/2 tonne of plutonium – was it shipped to Pantex in Texas or another DOE site,
Filings by State of Nevada in Nevada district court, in plutonium shipment docket (3:18-cv-00569)
“Weapons-grade plutonium secretly sent to facility north of Las Vegas”
Las Vegas (Nevada) Review-Journal, January 30, 2019 – linked here
“Plutonium shipped from Savannah River Site to Nevada, court filing states”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 30, 2019 – linked here