DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD (DNFSB) weekly report,
November 30, 2018
TO: Christopher J. Roscetti, Technical Director
FROM: M. T. Sautman and Z. C. McCabe, Resident Inspectors
SUBJECT: Savannah River Site Activity Report for Week Ending November 30,
Blog
Is the US DOE’s 63-year old H-Canyon reprocessing plant, the last such facility in the US, safe to operate?
The jury’s out on that question. the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) thankfully continues to monitor the status of the aging H-Canyon’s radioactive air discharge tunnel
DNFSB weekly report for November 23,
Good for a laugh: whiny, extremely ignorant rant conceding defeat over the MOX boondoggle – another “journalist” who fell prey to his own fake “news” about the failed plutonium fuel project
“Scuttlebiz: After five years of bureaucratic strangulation, MOX is dead”
Sadly DOE will figure out more ways to pry money out of the hands of hard-working taxpayers,
ATTENTION Beleaguered Tax-Paying Patriots who have footed the bill for the grossly mismanaged MOX Boondoggle:
Due to secrecy simply to hide information from the public about the embarrassing MOX debacle, DOE/NNSA is not posting information like this: Notice of MOX boondoggle project layoffs under the WARN Act for South Carolina
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MOX fake news media concedes on its favorite budget-busting debacle (MOX)
Well, well looky here – MOX fake news media concedes on its favorite budget-busting debacle (MOX) – this “news” outlet repeatedly and pro-actively ignored that the MOX project was headed to termination and printed false “information”
Plutonium proliferators/profiteers take a major hit as the welcome decline of reprocessing of commercial spent fuel – for stockpiling of weapon-usable plutonium – continues.
SRS Watch promises to continue to work for an end to reprocessing and the nuclear weapons proliferation threat it poses.
“Commercial nuclear reprocessing ends at Sellafield site”
SRS stores about 13 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium and receipt of plutonium from DOE sites has been stopped for several years.
Now that MOX is dead, will this plutonium go to WIPP in New Mexico to be disposed of as the waste that it is?
“Maintaining Continuity of Knowledge on Nuclear Waste Destined for Geological Repositories.
“First round of MOX layoff notices being sent out”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, November 8, 2018 – article linked here
More indications that problems with the “exhaust tunnel” at the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at the Savannah River Site may result in a serious accident in case of a seismic event.
Now, it’s an issue with functionality of emergency diesel generators to maintain ventilation.
SRS Occurrence Report, November 8, 2018 – linked here
“On October 31,
Picture NO PEIS, NO PITS!
SRS Watch in articles on DOE’s effort to expand plutonium “pit” production at SRS – for nuclear weapons – without preparing legally mandated environmental documentation (Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement –
BOMBS AWAY?! Uh, not so fast – we do not want a new “mission” at SRS that leads to more plutonium waste and needless preparation for nuclear war….
An overview of an analysis about making plutonium “pits” for nuclear weapons includes the bungled MOX plant at SRS. The South Carolina public will not trade one nuclear debacle –
“U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION JULY 9 – 11, 2018, ONSITE OBSERVATION VISIT REPORT FOR THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY” – dated November 1, 2018
How will the cap over the buried nuclear waste cells – a by-product of cesium removal from high-level nuclear waste in the SRS tanks – perform and when will it leak?
No PEIS? No Pits!
SRS Watch, Nuclear Watch New Mexico (Los Alamos National Lab), Tri-Valley Cares (Lawrence Livermore National Lab, CA) news release, October 31, 2018
Watchdog Groups Claim Nuclear Agency is Moving Forward to Manufacture New Plutonium Bomb Cores in Violation of National Environmental Law and Public Review –
Fraud and Imprudence: Hearing into South Carolina Electric & Gas on Failed Nuclear Reactor Construction set for Nov. 1
Friends of the Earth news release, October 29, 2018 – linked here
Fraud and Imprudence: Hearing into South Carolina Electric & Gas on Failed Nuclear Reactor Construction set for Nov.
Shipping plutonium around for no reason don’t make no sense, y’all!
We need to analyze these documents further, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rules in plutonium-removal case – upholds district court’s position to remove 1 MT of plutonium from SRS (which will only increase costs,
What we have been warning MOX workers about all year is about to happen – some paid attention & some didn’t:
Layoff notices for some MOX employees expected to go out next month
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, October 22, 2018
MOX Termination News, October 19, 2018
MOX contractor Orano/Areva cracks and finally issues MOX termination statement, October 18, 2018:
“Update on situation with the MFFF recycling plant in the United States” – linked here
&
New book by University of Texas (LBJ School of Public Affairs) on problems plutonium fuel (MOX) faces worldwide (not in US), especially given the steady decline of reprocessing of highly radioactive spent fuel:
“Plutonium for Energy? Explaining the Global Decline of MOX”
“The Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project is pleased to announce publication of its new open-access book: Plutonium for Energy?
MOX’s LAST GASP – Why would such a screwed up dead-end project that adds to the deficit and raises proliferation concerns be protected by President Trump, who would have to go against the NSC, OMB, DOE, NNSA & Congress to even delay termination of the pathetic mega-boondoggle known as MOX….jobs and payola by Senator Lindsey “MOXie” Graham to contractors ain’t enough reason to save this mess for even a second more…..
Trump intervention the last hope for nuclear fuel facility at Savannah River Site
Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, front page print edition, October 18, 2018
>>>>
Did Senator Lindsey “MOXie” Graham and his Ill-Informed “Save MOX Brigade” Strike Out in Last-Ditch Effort with President Trump on October 18, 2018?
Senator Graham isn’t tweeting about the Oct. 18 MOX meeting with Trump and his news release – linked here – isn’t posted on his website. That news release has nothing in it about Trump’s reaction at the meeting.
More on global efforts to stop stockpiling of weapon-usable plutonium and get plutonium out of commerce (such as via proliferation-inducing reprocessing of spent fuel and use of MOX fuel):
“An Alternative to the Continued Accumulation of Separated Plutonium in Japan: Dry Cask Storage of Spent Fuel”
Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, October 16, 2018
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25751654.2018.1527886
ATTENTION PATRIOTS AND TAXPAYERS BEING GOUGED BY THE US MOX DEBACLE:
As Senator Lindsey “MOXie” Graham plans at last-ditch Hail-Mary meeting with President Trump to try and save the already dead MOX project, the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC) will join the Graham pro-MOX cheerleading squad,
MOX DOOM: Near Final Chapter! S.C. Attorney General & S.C. Nuclear Advisory Council throw in towel on MOX. Boondoggle News of October 15, 2018
At the Oct. 15 meeting of the Nuclear Advisory Council, a nuclear industry cheer-leading group of marginal value to the state, the attorney representing the State of SC admitted that they have lost in their effort to stop the Fourth Circuit Court of appeals from lifting the “stay”
SRS Watch in “DOE Terminates MOX Contract, Likely Killing Controversial Project”
Engineering News-Record, October 15, 2018
article linked here: https://www.enr.com/articles/45529-doe-terminates-mox-contract-likely-killing-controversial-project
NNSA requesting MOX termination in official notice
[Note: NNSA has “Ordered” MOX termination.]
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, October 12, 2018
https://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20181012/nnsa-requesting-mox-termination-in-official-notice
Trump administration kills contract for plutonium-to-fuel plant
The MOX Boondoggle and MOX Boosters – especially self-serving politicians like $enator Lindsey Graham and Rep. Joe Wil$on – Have Run Out of Road on the MOX Scam!
SRS Watch in various MOX-is-Over articles, October 12, 2018:
Multi-billion dollar mistake? Feds move to abandon over-budget nuclear fuel plant
The State,
Stunning MOX Termination News!
SRS Watch news release on MOX termination letter we obtained – October 12, 2018 – news release linked here
DOE Notifies MOX Services that Contract to Construct Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant is Terminated;
MOX DOOM and GLOOM – Court Allows Boondoggle to be Terminated Once and for All!
Big-spending MOX boosters like Senator Lindsey Graham and Rep. Joe Wilson have run out of road – THE MOX SCAM is OVER!
SRS Watch news on court ruling,
Bombs Away? Not So Fast….
As the Democrats have taken over the House Armed Services Committee, a discussion will begin in earnest about nuclear weapons policy and the wisdom of spending $1 trillion on weapons modernization over the next 30 years.