Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
“SRS experienced the three radiological events recently.”
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
February 21, 2020 report
SUBJECT: Savannah River Site Activity Report for Week
Radiological Protection: SRS experienced the three radiological events recently.
As the coronavirus spreads in the US and South Carolina – location of the Savannah River Site – what is the US Department of Energy doing concerning the 11,000 employees at SRS?
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) March 19 meeting on SRS was cancelled and has now been rescheduled for June 1, 2020, but we wonder if that will happen.
“Non-Proliferation Treaty turns 50 as US funds new nukes” — by Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a sister organization of SRS Watch in the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA),
March 10 Update: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has notified SRS Watch that due to the coronavirus “and other issues” that the March 19 “Public Hearing on the Status of the Savannah River Site”
“The White House gave this nuclear agency a giant funding increase. Can it spend it all?”
Uh, no…..
Article in Defense News, March 3,
Is the scheduled start-up of the far over-budget, far behind-schedule Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at risk?
The SWPF facility is key to SRS high-level waste management.
Government Accountability Office (GAO), March 3, 2020: “NNSA’s Modernization Efforts Would Benefit from a Portfolio Management Approach”
“The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is conducting four programs to modernize nuclear weapons,
The federal court decision is the final death blow of the MOX debacle but that zombie project has morphed into a contractor money machine (for the $R$ Plutonium Bomb Plant –
“Feinstein, Markey Request GAO Study on Affordability of Nuclear Weapons”
Feb 27 2020
Washington – Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) today requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine if nuclear modernization activities undertaken by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are sustainable and affordable investments in our national security.
DOE Plans for $4.6 Billion Cost to Convert the Ill-Constructed MOX Plant into a Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at Savannah River Site by 2026-2030; Money to be Spent on Top of $8 Billion Wasted on MOX
Plan to Seek $442 Million for PBP in Fiscal Year 2021 Confirmed in Feb.
“The all clear has been given regarding the emergency event.”
—–UPDATE 12:57 p.m.—–
The all clear has been given regarding the emergency event.
The emergency event was declared due to a security event when a vehicle attempted to enter a secure area of the site for routine work activated explosive detection devices.
SRS Watch in “Proposed budget would almost triple plutonium spending”
Santa Fe New Mexican, February 24, 2020
Tom Clements, executive director of the nonprofit Savannah River Site Watch,
DOE Budget Documents Reveals Massive, Unrealistic Funding Request for Plutonium Bomb Plant at SRS
Columbia, South Carolina – New budget-request documents released by the U.S.
Time to End US-Germany Cooperation Aimed at Importing, Dumping Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel at DOE’s Savannah River Site, According to SRS Watch; Storage at Jülich Only Viable Option
SRS-JEN Work for Others Agreement Modification 6 and Attachments,
The most recent case brought against MOX Services, contractor in charge of the failed plutonium fuel (MOX) project at SRS, moves slowly though the federal court system.
SRS Watch on the crazy, costly, unjustified proposal for a Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at SRS:
“Why Does Trump Want to Spend Billions on New Nukes?
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving to advocate for spent fuel reprocessing in the US?! If so this is total madness designed simply to funnel taxpayer money to any company, like Orano,
SRS Watch in “Donald Trump Wants Billions of Dollars for New Nukes — The administration of Pres. Donald Trump wants to boost by billions of dollars the federal government’s production of plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.”
UPDATE: DOE chickens out, hides in shadows and won’t today release budget details, tells taxpayers to TAKE A HIKE!
SRS Watch news: DOE’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2021 Blows up Debt and Heightens Risk of New Nuclear Arms Race;
SRS Watch Formal Comments on “Draft Environmental Assessment for the Commercial Disposal of Defense Waste Processing Facility Recycle Wastewater From the Savannah River Site”
SRS proposes to dispose of 10,000 gallons of high-level liquid tank waste via a grouted material dumped in a commercial low-level waste facility.
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration has Posted Performance Evaluation Documents for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions for FY 2019; “Award Fee” Bonus Again Inexplicably High
Bonus Documents Released in Advance of DOE Budget Request to Congress for FY2021,
ANA/SRS Watch: “MEDIA ADVISORY: WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S FY 2021
NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND CLEANUP BUDGET REQUEST
February 6, 2020 –
COMMUNITIES PUSH BACK AGAINST REPORTS OF HUGE NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUDGET INCREASE
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA)/SRS Watch news release, February 4, 2020
Multiple sources indicate the FY2021 budget request from the Trump Administration will seek a dramatic increase in funding for nuclear weapons—an unprecedented leap of 20% over current spending levels,
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) has filed the following request:
1) All National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) FY 2019 Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs),
NNSA says: Just shut up and give us the money for the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP), even if it’s not justified or needed. Planning for large-scale nuclear war is profitable for DOE contractors and taxpayers don’t have the right to challenge our “logic”
“In nuclear spending fight, it’s Trump allies vs. White House budget office”
Defense News, January 23, 2020
WASHINGTON — A new fight over America’s nuclear budget has erupted from behind the scenes,
“Lawmakers Assured Review of Nuclear Weapons Work [on plutonium “pits] to Be Open”
Associated Press, Jan. 22, 2020
“Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation say they’ve been assured by U.S.
SRS Watch radio interview on the crazy & co$tly scheme to turn the failed MOX plant into an unjustified Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP); a lawsuit under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) may loom
WBAI News with Paul DeRienzo,
Sierra Club program for January 27, 2020 will be on the proposed Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at SRS
The John Bachman Group of the Sierra Club,
