“The Erosion of Independent Health and Safety – Oversight of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex”
An Arms Control Association Virtual Briefing
November 12, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
SRS Maintains Silence on Safety Board Recommendations about Fire Suppression at Nuclear Lab where Fire Occurred on Oct. 28, 2026
Finally some journalism on the fire at the nuclear lab at Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) – on Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) concerns about SRNL’s fire-suppression system – and DOE still will not respond about the status of the fire suppression system and if the DNFSB recommendations were followed or not
“Watchdog cites earlier fire safety warnings after Savannah River lab fire”
Fire with Radiological Release at Savannah River National Lab! DNFSB Warned about Fire Suppression Problems.
On October 28, 2026, a fire in a lab at the Savannah River National Lab was reported, with at least one worker harmed and contaminated air vented without filtration.
German Highly Radioactive Spent Fuel not Dumped at SRS Unnecessarily on the Move in Germany, from Jülich to Ahaus
Photo of citizen protest along the transport route – © m@rcel.press
German highly radioactive spent fuel (uranium impregnated graphite balls) on the move – almost got dumped on SRS but for citizen and SRS Citizen Advisory Board opposition:
“A 60,000-pound steel cask holding up to 1,900 graphite fuel balls from a German reactor shut down 38 years ago rolled out at 10:40 at night under a police helicopter and reached a storage hall 105 miles away at 1:40 a.m.,
NRC Releases List of Drones Spotted Over US Nuclear Plants, 2024-2026; Reminds of US SRS “Drone Scare” Hype in 2016
NRC listing of drones reported over various US nuclear power plants, 2024-2026, posted in the NRC’s digital library on October 26, 2026 – includes Oconee & VC Summer in South Carolina –
“US government’s dangerous rush to produce new plutonium pits,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, October 22, 2026
“The US government’s dangerous rush to produce new plutonium pits”
>> article by Dr. Dylan Spaulding, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Curtis T. Asplund, assistant professor in the Department of Physics &
DOE okays construction of the next home for the nation’s largest supply of nuclear warhead triggers
Georgia Public Broadcasting, Wednesday, October 20, 2026
“On Monday, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued its approval of full-scale construction at the SRPPF to produce up to 125 war reserve plutonium pits annually.
DOE Refuses to Release New Cost Estimate for SRS Plutonium Pit Plant – Why? Cost Expected to be more than $15+ Billion over 2021 Estimate
DOE Hides Just-Approved, Official Cost Estimate of SRS Plutonium Pit Plant, Keeps
Public in the Dark about Size of Escalating Cost for New Nuclear Weapons Facility,
Old B&W Post-WWII Movies Posted by DOE, from Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Days
“AEC Films Available Online at the National Archives”
Check out the post-WWII nuclear movies posted by DOE’s Office of Legacy Management:
https://www.energy.gov/lm/atomic-energy-commission-films-available-online
“The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), established in 1946,
ATTENTION: No Containment Planned for newcleo’s MOX-Fueled Lead-Cooled Reactors at SRS!
ATTENTION please: NO containment structure planned for newcleo lead-cooled reactors planned for SRS! newcleo plans for its plutonium-fueled (MOX) lead-cooled fast reactors to have “functional containment”
Confirmation that Plutonium “Dilute & Dispose” Program Ended, Equipment Transferred to Plutonium Pit Project
DOE has confirmed, via a weekly report of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), that the program at SRS to dispose of surplus weapons plutonium as waste – in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico –
Alert! Proposal for Another Costly Plutonium Fuel “Factory” at SRS – MOX2.0?! newcleo Bumbles into Plutonium Proliferation La La Land
Hold on, Monsieur, we’re not sure your expensive SRS plutonium dreams will survive close examination….
The first attempt to build a plutonium fuel (MOX) plant –
DOE Unleashes Chaos with DOE/Amentum Gas/Nuke AI Data Center “Proposal” by Washington “Elites” for SRS; SRS Watch Responds with FOIA Request, Call for Openness
DOE’s AI imagination goes off the rails: You may have seen that entities outside of South Carolina and apparently in DOE’s HQ, without consulting the public, made the following announcement on July 20,
“Public Interest Groups Warn NNSA on Plutonium Giveaway” in Letter by South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP), September 8, 2026
Public Interest Groups Warn NNSA on Plutonium Giveaway
South Carolina, September 8, 2026 – Today, the South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP) sent a letter of demand to the Department of Energy (DOE) and its semi-autonomous agency,
“Once secret report on atomic weapons production released as greens fight plans in SC, NM,” The State, August 14, 2026 – The “report” is no endorsement of a rush to new pit production
“Once secret report on atomic weapons production released as greens fight plans in SC, NM”
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, by Sammy Fretwell, August 14, 2026
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article316871213.html
[Note: The reporter failed to discern between the 2019 JASON recommendation to “manufacture”
SRS Watch Files PEIS Comment on JASON Report Showing Plutonium Pit Aging NOT Impacting Nuclear Weapon Performance, Undermining NNSA’s Rush to Establish Rapid Plutonium Pit Manufacturing, August 13, 2026
Supplementary Comment on Draft Plutonium Pit PEIS (DOE/EIS-0573) & Attachments, by Tom Clements, Savannah River Site Watch, www.srswatch.org
Filed with NNSA on August 13, 2026
>>> We request that members of the public also file a comment based on the JASON “Plutonium Report”
DOE’s Illegal Attacks Against DNFSB Safety Oversight Board: “Trump administration denies nuclear safety watchdog crucial access”
“Trump administration denies nuclear safety watchdog crucial access” – a crucial independent, federal agency is under attack by DOE – SRS Watch met with staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on August 10,
“Plutonium aging in U.S. nuclear arsenal not affecting weapons’ performance, study finds,” Santa Fe New Mexican, August 11, 2026
“An independent scientific advisory group to the federal government found that the plutonium in the United States’ existing nuclear weapons stockpile is “aging slowly” and degradation issues “do not call into question present weapons performance.”
“The executive summary of a congressionally mandated study conducted by the scientific group JASON,
FOIA Document from NNSA: No Scientific Justification Now for Rapid Plutonium Pit Production; SRS Pit Project should be Placed on Hold
In response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, DOE’s NNSA forced to release technical report that does not support a rapid return to production of plutonium “pits”
As We have Warned for Years: Date for Closure of Dangerous High-Level Nuclear Waste Tanks at SRS Slips, from 2037 to 2041
Savannah River Site high-level nuclear waste tank closure has again slipped, as we have been warning for years. Environmental threats to South Carolina and Georgia to endure.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki – Columbia, SC Community Remembrances, August 9th & 18th, 2026
Hiroshima & Nagasaki – Columbia, SC Community Remembrances, August 9th & 18th, 2026
SUNDAY August 9th 5PM-6PM, Columbia Friends Meeting
120 Pisgah Church Road, Columbia, SC 29203
We’ll gather at Columbia Friends Meeting for a simple remembrance of the bombings of Hiroshima and and Nagasaki — a chance to pause,
“Nuclear Watchdog Sues for Plutonium Pit Production “Special Study”” – Challenging the Coverup by DOE about “Need” for New Plutonium Pit Production
“Nuclear Watchdog Sues for Plutonium Pit Production “Special Study””- August 4, 2026
— a big thanks for this action by Nuclear Watch New Mexico (co-plaintiff with SRS Watch in our successful plutonium pit NEPA lawsuit)
Santa Fe,
The Horror of Hiroshima – Eye Witness Account by U.S. Journalist John Hershey. Should be Required Reading by Children near SRS
The Horror of Hiroshima – Eye Witness Account by U.S. Journalist John Hershey
Every school child in the US should be required to read John Hershey’s book “Hiroshima,”
DOE Claims to Pursue Gas-& Nuke-Fueled Data Center at SRS – Really?!
Really?! Don’t swallow this DOE “news” too quickly: “NNSA Selects Amentum for AI Data Center and Energy Project at Savannah River Site,” July 20, 2026
Well, we gotta throw a bucket of cold water on this half-baked proposal.
DOE Set to Unleash “Plutonium Folly” with Aging HB-Line at SRS, Breaking Environmental Law in the Process?
Where’s the environmental-impact review of restarting the HB-Line at SRS to purify plutonium? Looks like DOE may be violating or on the verge of violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for failure to analyze the impacts of starting up this aging facility.
Environmental Shocker: South Carolina Proposes Investigation of Disposal of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel in “Boreholes,” SRS Watch News based on FOIA Request, July 17, 2026
In an Environmental Shocker, South Carolina Proposes Investigation of Disposal of Highly Radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel in “Boreholes,” Part of a Submission to DOE for a “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus” –
Georgia Public Radio: “Nuclear watchdogs seek answers on plutonium pit need before comment deadline,” July 16, 2026
“Nuclear watchdogs seek answers on plutonium pit need before comment deadline”
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), July 16, 2026 8:42 AM, By Jillian Magtoto
For the first time since the 80s,
“The End of Another Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program” – The Aiken Chronicles, Aiken, SC, July 12, 2026
“The End of Another Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program”
“The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has put the brakes on the surplus plutonium Dilute and Dispose program and reassigned K-Area surplus plutonium processing capabilities to the plutonium pit production defense mission.
“Consequence Analysis of Major Fires at Plutonium Pit Production Facilities” [SRS, Los Alamos] – Science & Global Security, July 10, 2026
“Consequence Analysis of Major Fires at Plutonium Pit Production Facilities”
Science & Global Security journal, July 10, 2026
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08929882.2026.2690796
Abstract
As the United States reestablishes large-scale plutonium pit production,
SRS Watch Files FOIA Request for Scheme for Subsidized Nuclear Facilities at SRS, July 9, 2026
The South Carolina Department of Commerce has submitted a fanciful proposal to the Department of Energy that the state “host” what DOE calls a “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.” This citizen-subsidized “campus”