SRSW

The memo – linked here – outlines the host of difficult to manage nuclear waste forms that would have to go back to Germany in case a loophole is allowed in Germany’s nuclear waste management legislation for export spent fuel for conditioning,

SRS Watch Releases DOE’s Devastating FY 2016 Assessment of CB&I AREVA MOX Services’ Construction of Troubled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant at Savannah River Site (SRS) – “Award Fee Determination”

A PROJECT IN DISARRAY:  MOX — Chronic Funding Problems, Construction Challenges and the Project’s Fate

PPT presentation by Savannah River Site Watch,

It’s been a very bruising week in federal court for the debacle known as MOX and now this devastating news about MOX nuts! 

We edge ever closer to finding out about the true extent of the “rework”

Will the DOE Swamp be Drained or Filled Up with More of Our $$$$$? 

Our readers will know that DOE has teamed up with Chalk River Labs in Ontario,

— Congress will initially keep the plutonium fuel MOX project at the shut-down funding level (of $340 million/year);
— Reports will underscore that the $17 billion MOX plant construction at SRS is not viable due to cost challenges and chronic design and construction problems;

On December 19, 2016, SRS released the bonus fee for Centerra-SRS, the private company providing security at SRS, for the period April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2016. But something is very odd with the bonus fee discussion:  there is no mention of the SRS “Drone Scare”

SRS Official States Delay in Shipment of Liquid High-Level Waste from Canada has DOE Headquarters “In a Lather”

full SRS Watch news release linked here

Documents obtained by SRS Watch on December 13,

December 10, 2015:  Is fuel containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) at the UK’s Dounreay site in Scotland on the way to SRS?  (see article linked below) 

Why doesn’t the UK deal with its own nuclear materials and send it to the Sellafield nuclear site (as has been the plan by the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)?!  

MOX Construction Worker Stand Down on November 17 Due to Safety Incidents?  NNSA Won’t Confirm

SRS Watch Files FOIA Request for Documents,

SRS Watch Calls for Halt to Incoming Nuclear Waste Until an Exit Plan is Developed and Implemented

Columbia, SC – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is now reviewing the transport cask planned to be used for shipment of research reactor spent nuclear fuel from the University of Alberta,

Due to reports that some workers for CB&I AREVA MOX Services (and subcontractors) at the MOX plant were faking urine tests in order to appear drug-free and that the contractor was not implementing a proper drug-testing program,

SRS Watch letter of October 12, 2016 to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the proposal of the “Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group” to consolidate spent fuel from South Carolina reactors,

NRC Affirms Two Welding Related Violations at MOX Plant, Waives $35,000 “Civil Penalty;” NRC Requires Contractor to Physically Inspect All Welded Equipment Installed in the MOX Plant

Given the Current Violations and Persistent Rumors of Welding and Construction Problems,

Savannah River Site Watch – South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club – League of Women Voters of South Carolina

Public Interest, Conservation Groups Oppose Effort by New Company to Consolidate Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel from South Carolina Reactors at Location Near the Savannah River Site

News Release  – 

August 31, 2016: Why are the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and CB&I AREVA MOX Services dragging their feet in resolving the issue of potentially faulty welds in six plutonium-handling gloveboxes supplied to the bungled MOX project at the Savannah River Site?

Savannah River Site is honored to have director Tom Clements participate in activities from August 3-9, 2016 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on the 71st anniversary of the bombings.  

CB&I AREVA MOX Services Issued Two Violations by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Improper Documentation for Safety-Related Components to Support Floor Panels in MOX Plant;

NRC’s Office of Investigations Reviews Allegation of False Welding Documentation,

SRS Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) Rejects DOE Plan to Import German High-Level Nuclear Waste, Vote Not Binding but Reflects Public Opposition to Waste Import from Juelich and Ahaus

news release linked here

SRS CAB position statement of July 26,

Savannah River Downblending Program for Surplus, Non-Pit Plutonium”  (vs MOX  debacle)

— from the presentation:

•DOWNBLENDING PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
•Downblending Pu oxide reduces safeguards attractiveness level
•Pu oxide downblending previously demonstrated at SRS,

Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch, will be participating in panel discussions from August 2-10, 2016 in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagaski, Japan about plutonium proliferation and the failure of the US plutonium fuel (MOX) project.

SRS Watch Alert: More nuclear waste coming in to the Savannah River Site with no exit strategy? Why consider U.S. Navy reactor disposal at SRS given the wet climate and permeable soils and that SRS is a clean-up site?

As SRS/DOE/Centerra leaked the “news” about supposed drones over SRS and unknown SRS security personnel inexplicably involved SRS Watch in the matter – though we know absolutely nothing about it –

Court Filings of June 21, 2016 by DOE also State No International Plutonium Shipments to SRS for the Next Two Years

SRS Watch news release linked here

>>>>>  

SRS Watch statement on plutonium arrival at SRS – linked here

As we have suspected for the last few days, SRS Watch can confirm that the ships carrying 331 kgs of plutonium from Japan have arrived.

Who me?!  The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has clarified that it does not regulate drug testing or drug use at the MOX plant at the Savannah River Site.

In response to a May 2,

Faked tests or faked testing? Or not?  Use of synthetic urine or not?  Attention CB&I AREVA MOX Services and NNSA: for the sake of worker and public safety, please publicly explain and defend your drug testing program at the MOX site.

SRS Watch Obtains MOX Fiscal Year 2015 Award Fee Documents for CB&I AREVA MOX Services via FOIA request, Publicly Releases them as DOE’s NNSA and CB&I AREVA MOX Services Fail to Do So

MOX Services Rated “Satisfactory” for Bonus Fee Award for FY 2015

NNSA Determines “Overall performance below the level needed for successful project execution” and Drug Testing Inadequate!!!!

“Trillion Dollar Trainwreck: Out-of-control U.S. nuclear weapons programs accelerate spending, proliferation, health and safety risks” — Report on the US DOE’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to Congress, by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability,

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) releases signed “Record of Decision” (ROD) on disposing of 6 metric tons of plutonium located at SRS in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP),