Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
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
Lawsuit Filed Against Biden Administration Over Nuclear Bomb Core Production Plans
Federal agencies’ refusal to review cross-country expansion of plutonium pit production violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act,
Advocacy Groups to Announce Legal Action on DOE’s Plans for Plutonium Bomb Plants at Savannah River Site and Los Alamos National Lab – to Make Plutonium “Pits” (Cores) for New Nuclear Weapons,
Documentation from the U.S. Department of Energy that the 2030 Target Date for Production of 50 Pits Per Year at the Proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) –
Officially, the cost of the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant doubled last week in DOE’s nuclear weapons budget request for Fiscal Year 2022, from $4.6 billion to a whopping $11 billion.
Great move! South Carolina Sierra Club opposes proposed $11-billion SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant, questions NNSA’s $603 million funding request for pit project in Fiscal Year 2022 budget released on May 28;
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Revised License Renewal Schedule for the
Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC
Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility
Docket 70-1151
SNM -1107
The schedule for the release of the draft EIS on the Westinghouse uranium fuel plant near Columbia,
Department of Energy Budget Roll-Out Bungled, Request for Fiscal Year 2022 Reveals Savannah River Site Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) Cost Soars to Staggering $11.1 Billion; SRS Plutonium Pit Project Requests $603 Million in FY22,
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S FY 2022 NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND CLEANUP BUDGET REQUEST of Friday, May 28, 2021 – Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (of which Savannah River Site Watch is a proud member)
The White House is releasing its detailed Fiscal Year 2022 budget on Friday,
US experts to Prime Minister Trudeau: Canada’s support for plutonium fuel undermines global efforts to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons
The May 25, 2021 letter expresses concern about the Canadian government’s financial support of Moltex – a startup nuclear company that proposes to extract plutonium from CANDU irradiated nuclear fuel.
Nonproliferation, security issues of advanced reactors & associated nuclear fuel cycles to be addressed by National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel, May 17-18, 2021: “Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles &
Stay tuned for the release by the US DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration of a “Critical Decsion-1” determination on the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant. CD-1 would approve the basic project design and present an update cost range.
