Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
UPDATE of the afternoon of May 10: McDermott may now be the contractor to oversee MOX termination
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission informs CB&I AREVA MOX Services that it has received CB&I notice that ownership is changing to McDermott International,
Who will be held accountable for this massive rip-off of US
taxpayers?
Secretary of Energy Perry delivered to Congress the “waiver” – in the form of a memo on the lifecycle cost estimate of the non-MOX “dilute and dispose”
The last MOX funds for construction will be spent 30 days after delivery of this letter – on June 10, 2018. Letter linked here.
Perry sent his waiver letter on MOX construction and we wave goodbye to MOX and say good riddance.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Office of Cost Estimating and Program Evaluation (CEPE)
Surplus Plutonium Disposition Dilute and Dispose Option Independent Cost Estimate (ICE) Report
April 2018
And linked in UCS news release: Energy Department Makes the Right Decision to Kill MOX Program
May 9, 2018 alert: DOE’s 2nd COUNTDOWN relevant to SRS is about to begin – delivery to Congress of the costs analysis of MOX vs. “dilute & dispose” for disposition of surplus weapons plutonium.
Freedom of Information Act response, April 24, 2018, to SRS Watch – citing no documents found by NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NA-20) – linked here
SRS Watch news release of March 15,
Plutonium “pit” production would unnecessarily expand the nuclear weapons role of SRS and result in import of plutonium into South Carolina and produce a host of toxic waste streams likely to be dumped on site.
Will funding in Fiscal Year 2019 for termination of the badly bungled MOX project be discussed?
Energy & Water Subcommittee website linked here
Subcommittee Markup –
The funding request for Fiscal Year 2019, according to Chairman Simpson, would allow for only “a limited amount of construction at the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility” as termination details are developed and implemented.
According to the May 4, 2018 edition of the Exchange Monitor, Virginia Kay, deputy director of the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Material Disposition, said that the report would be delivered in a “Juneish”
“Meeting 7: Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Study in Progress: Public Meeting
Topics: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Nuclear and Radioactive Waste Management
May 2,
How will the “combination” of McDermott and Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&) impact things at the MOX debacle, where CB&I Project Services Group is struggling with high worker turnover rates,
DOE Confirms Award Fee for MOX Services has been Terminated Starting with FY 2017; Annual Report on MOX Plant Not Delivered to Congress by February 15, as Legally Required,
Why haven’t fiscal conservatives rallied earlier to kill this chronic abuse of taxpayers?
in “Nuke Agency Needs Budget Accountability —
Just like the Pentagon,
The “dump on SRS option” may still officially be on the table but it’s looking more and more like it’s dead.
Report by Los Alamos National lab: “ARIES Oxide Production Program at LANL,” February 2015, for the Government Accountability Office audit – presentation linked here
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;
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 –
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
“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.
“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.
Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier, April 20, 2018
“America’s nuclear headache: old plutonium with nowhere to go”
Reuters, April 20, 2018
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”
“Critics Warn SC Legislators Against Dominion, Citing Actions in Virginia”
Free Times, Columbia, South Carolina weekly, April 18, 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,
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 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,
Memo on Needed “Rework” at MOX Plant Obtained via FOIA Request, Gives Hint at Extent of Construction Problems and Who Might Pay – Rework and Contractor Performance Merit Investigation
Columbia,
Columbia, SC – The budget deal revealed by Congress keeps the troubled plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site on life support and, in a significant new move,
