The MOX fiasco rightfully remains on a termination track and pursuit of employment at the mismanaged project is ill advised and not a positive on one’s resume. Plus, we’re not sure these are real jobs or just being posted –
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J. Michelle Childs, the confused judge who issued a preliminary injunction on June 7, 2018 to stop MOX termination and who has little grasp on the problems with the bungled MOX project and who is ignoring laws passed by Congress, is due to sentence two defendants who have pleaded guilty to defrauding the MOX project (via submission of false receipts).
See notices below in Docket 1:15-cr-00888-JMC – sentencing set for June 25, 2018 in federal court in Columbia, SC
After a decade of potential fraud,
DOE MOX Update
TV report on DOE’s filing of an appeal to the federal judge’s June 7 “preliminary injunction” stopping MOX termination for now – with SRS Watch. Why are no politicians speaking up for MOX workers?
Another bump in the legal road before DOE takes more action in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals: Federal district judge in Columbia, SC denies DOE’s June 15, 2018 request for a “stay” of her “preliminary injunction” that halted MOX termination.
See June 26, 2018 “ORDER AND OPINION” – “CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, the court DENIES Defendants’ Motion for Stay of the Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal (ECF No.
Small leak discovered in SRS high-level waste tank – not reported by a feckless DOE-SRS but rather by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
DNFSB weekly report, June 15, 2018, linked here
“H-Tank Farms: SRR has been conducting heel removal in Tank 15. Tank 15 is an old-style tank that had 26 previously identified leak sites.
June 25, 2018: We’re attending the federal court proceeding on sentencing for one of the parties who defraud the MOX project – stand by for updates after the 1:30 p.m. hearing
“NOTICE OF RESCHEDULED HEARING as to Phillip Thompson Sentencing set for 6/20/2018 10:00 AM cancelled and rescheduled to: Sentencing set for 6/25/2018 01:30 PM in Columbia # 3,
DOE & MOX booster bamboozling – with $enator Lindsey Graham as the head bamboozler – on MOX and plutonium “pits” (for nuclear weapons) rightly faces tough sledding in Congress
– read about it here:
“Congress Pushes Back on Nuke Agency’s Unnecessary Plutonium Buildup”
Project on Government Oversight (POGO) blog, June 13, 2018
http://www.pogo.org/straus/issues/nuclear-security/2018/congress-pushes-back-on-nuke-agency-unnecessary-plutonium-buildup.html
SRS Watch in “Judge’s Injunction Prevents DOE From Halting MOX Project”
Engineering News-Record, June 13, 2018 – article liked here
“Fallout”
While noting the importance of maintaining a pathway for removing plutonium from the state,
MOX workers are rightly leaving the MOX boondoggle in swarms, yet CB&I/McDermott/AREVA/Orano MOX Services started posting for new jobs at the failed MOX project again on June 13, after halting such postings when DOE began terminating the bungled project on May 10, 2018v
WE ASK MOX WORKERS and others in the know: Why would any properly qualified, motivated individual apply for a job at a project that DOE, Congress and the Trump Administration has placed a dead-end pathway?
As downblended plutonium from SRS is being dispoed of in DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, it’s worth learning more about DOE’s take on the two accidents in 2014 that closed the facility for over a year.
What REALLY Happened at WIPP? – The Tale of Two Fires
by Los Alamos National Lab, June 12, 2018
presentation linked here
“Judge throws wrench into plan to split plutonium ‘pit’ production” between SRS and Los Alamos National Lab
Albuquerque (New Mexico) journal, June 12, 2018
It’s tritium processing that makes SRS a key nuclear weapons site
DOE solicits contract to transport 6,000 highly radioactive rods containing tritium gas (to boost the explosive power of nuclear weapons) from TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear plant in Tennessee to SRS,
Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Allowing Construction of Bungled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS to Continue for Now, halting Formal Termination
Judge Fails to Understand that the Failed MOX Project will Not Result in Plutonium Removal from South Carolina, with link to key documents – SRS Watch news here
June 18,
Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Allowing Construction of Bungled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS to Continue for Now, halting Formal Termination; Judge Fails to Understand that the Failed MOX Project will Not Result in Plutonium Removal from South Carolina
SRS Watch News Flash
Ruling Throws Spanner into NNSA’s Effort to Convert MOX to an Unneeded Nuclear Bomb Facility (to Make Plutonium “Pits” For Nuclear Weapons)
With Court Ruling,
“GUIDANCE FOR THE JULY 9-11, 2018, MONITORING ONSITE OBSERVATION VISIT TO THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY”
“The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is planning an onsite observation visit on July 9-11, 2018, to the U.S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Site, Saltstone Disposal Facility to monitor activities related to the disposal of non-high-level waste,
Picture South Carolina’s Last Stand (to Protect the MOX Debacle):
Hearing before federal court in Columbia, South Carolina on State of South Carolina’s weak case to stop termination of the MOX project, postponed until June 5, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
Update of 1:45 p..m. on June 5 – Judge Childs did not rule yet. State of SC to file more documents on June 6.
Judge has a heavy lift trying to force DOE to prepare NEPA documents on plutonium disposition and it appears she can’t force mediation between the state & feds,
“Judge doesn’t rule on plan to scrap MOX; jobs still in limbo”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 5, 2018
Correction to article: SRS has about 13 metric tons of plutonium stored (in the old K-Reactor) and not 8 MT.
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) questions safety basis and worker exposure at SRS facilities that process tritium (for nuclear weapons).
Tritium is what now makes SRS a key nuclear weapons site.
DNFSB letter of june 4, 2018 about “concerns regarding the revised tritium facilities safety basis and analyses identified thus far.”
Key document on unneeded and unjustified production of nuclear weapons “pits” (“plutonium core” in above diagram) at SRS and Los Alamos publicly released on June 4, 2018 as a DOE filing in federal court proceeding on the failed MOX project:
Final Report for the Plutonium Pit Production Analysis of Alternatives, October 2017, DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration
Opppsss! Truck pulling empty spent fuel cask out of L-Area – where spent fuel is stored in a pool – drops trailer with empty spent fuel cask on board.
We’re don’t know but betting the cask had transported damaged NRU reactor fuel from from Chalk River Laboratories in Canada to SRS. Shhh….DOE doesn’t like to talk about that damaged fuel being dumped on SRS….
Event for the House Nuclear Cleanup
“Report: MOX project dead, more waste and 1,800 jobs from replacement”
Important article on news released on May 31, 2018 by SRS Watch and Nuclear Watch of New Mexico:
“Report: MOX project dead, more waste and 1,800 jobs from replacement”
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico & SRS Watch
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico & SRS Watch news release, May 31, 2018:
Groups Release Key DOE Documents on Expanded Plutonium Pit Production,
“Report: MOX project dead, more waste and 1,800 jobs from replacement”
SRS Watch & Nuclear Watch of New Mexico news release on DOE documents on plutonium “pit” production covered in article:
“Report: MOX project dead, more waste and 1,800 jobs from replacement”
“NM senator, reps fight back on ‘pits’ plan” [to produce pits at SRS & on SRS plutonium to WIPP]
Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal, May 26, 2018
South Carolina Takes Last-Ditch Longshot to Save MOX Zombie Project: “Attorney General Alan Wilson files for injunction to stop shutdown of MOX project in SC”
May 25, 2018 filing by the State of South Carolina to stop the termination of the MOX fiasco at SRS by DOE, the White House & Congress. All of a sudden,
We’ll check the federal court calendar but this article reports that the hearing on the injunction to halt termination of the plutonium fuel (MOX) fiasco will be held on Friday, June 1, at 10:00 a.m. in the federal court in Columbia, South Carolina.
If you’re in Columbia, please attend.
“S.C. attorney general files motion for injunction to stop MOX shutdown”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, May 25, 2018
AIKEN — South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a motion in federal court Friday seeking an injunction to stop the U.S.
$enator MOX (Lindsey Graham) Aims to Halt All Spending at the Failed MOX Project, Leading to Termination of All Employees and Site Abandonment –
Last Shot at Saving his Favorite Boondoggle Next Year, but his Approach could Backfire, Spelling Doom for Workers who would be Involved in Project Termination and Facility Repurposing
The bogus save-MOX amendment by Senator Graham in the Senate Armed Services Committees would disallow any funds from being spent on project termination or reuse of the MOX plant.
Senate Appropriations Committee “Markup” on May 24, 2018 of Energy & Water Spending – for DOE in Fiscal Year 2019 – Termination of MOX is Affirmed
Chair of Energy & Water Subcommittee – Senator Alexander – and Ranking Member – Senator Feinstein – stand by MOX termination; Senator Lindsey Graham rants in support of the MOX fiasco with various Inaccurate and misleading statements (hoping nobody notices),