Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
US-Germany Research Cooperation over Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel Reprocessing at DOE’s Savannah River Site Drags On, Continues to Violate Nuclear Non-Proliferation Norms
The Savannah River Operations Office has responded to a Freedom of information Act (FOIA) request from Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) pertaining to the import and processing of highly radioactive German spent fuel at SRS.
Storage of plutonium “pits” (core of nuclear weapons) aren’t being stored to safety requirements at DOE’s Pantex site in Texas.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff report “Pantex Plant Pit Inventory Review”
On March 16, 2022, the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released its annual plans for nuclear weapons. Called the “Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan,” it lays out NNSA support for keeping the US on the footing to fight a full-scale nuclear war.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), which conducts oversight of DOE projects , has confirmed that plutonium from SRS was taken to the Pantex site in Texas,
DOE Oversight Board Releases Critical Assessment of SRS Plutonium Pit Plant, Presents Safety Observations in Advance of Facility’s “Preliminary Design,” to “Ensure Adequate Protection of Public Health and Safety”
Ruling by Federal Judge on Public Interest Lawsuit on the Plutonium Pit Issue Expected Soon
Columbia,
UPDATE on March 9, 2022: Looks like the end is at hand for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). It is due to get knocked out of the House Omnibus funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2022 funding &
SRS Watch has requested of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that key construction completion dates be released to the public about the construction of the $30+ billion Vogtle nuclear reactors by Southern Nuclear (parent of Georgia Power) in Georgia,
SRS Watch appreciates the donations from the True Blue Charitable Fund and Guacamole Fund for donations to cover our operating expenses. The annual support of our work on SRS and nuclear and openness issues is of highest importance to us.
As anticipated, the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), serving its Department of Defense (DOD) client, has instructed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to take steps to increase production of tritium gas in the commercial Watts Bar Nuclear Bomb Reactors (WBNBRs) in Tennessee.
Stunning and irresponsible: the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has admitted to SRS Watch that it has failed to review its regulation of the plutonium fuel (MOX) debacle at SRS!
“Burned nuclear worker, troubled history raise EPA concern over SC atomic fuel plant”
Front page article in The State, Columbia, SC, December 6, 2021
linked here: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article256294532.html
SRS Watch report on role of the Westinghouse military-commercial dual-use facility in nuclear weapons:
Crossing the Line: South Carolina Nuclear Weapons Secrets Exposed –
Nuclear Hotseat podcast: “Plutonium Pits Lawsuit re: Savannah River Site in South Carolina, Los Alamos in New Mexico”
– with update on our lawsuit against DOE for failure to prepare a Programmatic EIS on expanded pit production at SRS (via the proposed Plutonium Bomb Plant) and at Los Alamos National Lab,
According to communication fro m the NRC’s Region 2 to SRS Watch, Dominion Energy’s VC Summer unit 1 reactor north of Columbia, South Carolina has been shut down due to a transformer fir report on November 17.
Article, behind paywall in The State news paper, front page Nov. 21, 2021, is based on the SRS Watch report released on November 19, 2021: “Crossing the Line: South Carolina Nuclear Weapons Secrets Exposed”
“Plutonium could go to New Mexico next year. It will come from the Savannah River Site” – SRS plutonium has already been shipped to WIPP in New Mexico but the amounts could ramp up,
Details of Secretive Work at Westinghouse Commercial Nuclear Fuel Plant in Columbia, SC , Key to All U.S. Nuclear Weapons held by the Department of Defense, Revealed in SRS Watch Report Released Today
The Report Crossing the Line: South Carolina Nuclear Weapons Secrets Exposed,
Groups Fire Back at Feds’ Move to Dismiss Plutonium Pit Lawsuit
Federal agencies continue to reject a full review of the public safety and environmental risks of producing nuclear bomb cores across multiple cross-country sites.
The former CEO of SCANA, Kevin Marsh, has agreed to a 24-months prison sentence and a $5 million fine for his role in the fraudulent scheme to construct the VC Summer reactors in South Carolina.
SRS employment holds steady near 11,500 during Fiscal Year 2021, with DOE having only about 500 employees out of that figure, with most of them being contractors.
There does not appears to be a significant uptick in employment by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration for the proposed project to convert the never finished plutonium fuel (MOX) building into the SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant.
“Stumbling plutonium pit project reveals DOE’s uphill climb of nuclear modernization”
Opinion piece in The Hill, by Tom Clements, Director of SRS Watch
The inability of SRS to pull off the MOX project now haunts plutonium pit plans –
US attorney details illegal acts in construction projects, sealing the fate of the “nuclear renaissance”
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, August 31, 2021
By Tom Clements | Savannah River Site Watch,
Amazingly, the NRC denies industry friendly petitions that claim “a little radiation is good for you.”
“Petition for Rulemaking; Denial: Linear No-Threshold Model and Standards for Protection Against Radiation”
Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
NRC inspection report of the Nuclear Ship Savannah, August 10, 2021:
“U.S. Department of Transportation, N.S. Savannah – NRC Inspection Report 05000238/2021001”
https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML21222A096
“On July 12,
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has posted updates, with many photos, on construction of two massive 32-million-gallon concrete “tanks” to hold redefined high-level nuclear waste processed via the new Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) from the SRS high-level waste tanks;
Massive construction crane available! Start the bidding! Could be featured in a memorial to the two large, failed nuclear construction projects in the US: Vogtle in Georgia &
Two Nuclear Weapons Facilities in South Carolina Play a Key & Intertwined Role in the Dangerous Preparation for Nuclear War: Savannah River Site (Aiken, SC) &
SRS Watch news, July 30, 2021: Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel Plant in Columbia, South Carolina Quietly Released by Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Groundwater Contamination Issues and Ever-Present Accident Threat Don’t Justify 40-Year License Extension
Draft EIS Glosses Over Current Contamination and Ignores Future Impacts;
SRS Watch files two important Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – on 1) plutonium aging and 2) lessons learned from the plutonium fuel (MOX) debacle:
#1.
“DEFENDANT MARSH’S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE OBJECTIONS TO THE PRESENTENCE INVESTIGATION REPORT”
Request granted by court: “WHEREFORE the Defendant, Kevin Marsh, respectfully moves this Court for an order extending the deadline in which he can file objections to the Presentence Investigation Report until August 2,
Feds face suit over plan to build atomic weapons component factory in SC
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, June 29, 2021
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article252441373.html
