Oppenheimer’s Legacy: South Carolina and SRS at the Center of the New Nuclear Arms Race
In case you missed the August 16,
Blog
Say What?! DNFSB Reports Leaking, Ignored Uranium Drum in DOE’s Aging H-Canyon Reprocessing Plant at SRS
An often-ignored but important agency – the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) – which conducts oversight of DOE activities reveals that a leaking radioactive drum “believed” to be uranium waste was “discovered”
Recommendation for Spent Fuel Reprocessing Study at SRS Reflects Profound Lack of Understanding, Fails to Move Forward
A draft recommendation before the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) to explore reprocessing of commercial spent fuel at SRS is misguided, poorly written and reveals profound ignorance of SRS abilities and the problems associated with reprocessing.
Oppenheimer Legacy: South Carolina, the Center of the New Nuclear Arms Race – Wednesday, August 16, 2023, 7-8:30 p.m. ET, Presentations & Discussion on Zoom
Photo in post: Don’t Dump Rocky Flats Plutonium Pit Production on South Carolina! 1992 at gates of Rocky Flats pit-production facility, nbear Boulder, Colorado, with current SRS Watch director (standing under the center of the billboard,
Federal Judge Sets New Schedule in Or Lawsuit Demanding Full Environmental Review of Plutonium “Pit” Production for New Nuclear Weapons
The federal judge in Columbia, South Carolina has issued a new schedule for the public interest lawsuit asking for preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) concerning the plan to produce plutonium pits –
DOE Grants SRS Watch Appeal of FOIA on German Spent Fuel Import – SRS Search “Inadequate”
The DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals has decided in favor of SRS Watch and granted our appeal of an inadequate search for documents relevant to our FOIA request related to import and dumping of Ger man spent fuel at SRS.
Barbies Say “No to Nuclear War” and SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant at Showings in Columbia, South Carolina
At showings of the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” at The Nickelodeon Theater in Columbia, South Carolina, in July 2023, pink-clad Barbies have been leafletting and engaging film attendees concerning the renewed threat of nuclear war,
Hiroshima Nuclear Bombing Commemoration, August 6, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina & Learn about the Proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant, Key to the New Nuclear Arms Race
Please attend this event in Columbia, South Carolina on August 6, 2023, to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima (uranium bomb) and Nagasaki (plutonium bomb).
Sierra Club Call to Action to Oppose Plutonium “Pit” Production at SRS — Clean-up not build-up!
South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club: Action alert against plutonium pit production for new nuclear warheads, July 2023:
Call to Action to Oppose Plutonium “Pit” Production —
“Safety Lapses at Los Alamos National Laboratory” – Sadly, such Reporting is Dead when it comes to SRS
While investigative journalism is dead concerning SRS – to the detriment of our democracy – good that it still lives in New Mexico:
“Safety lapses at Los Alamos National Laboratory –
SRS Watch Files Appeal to Inadequate SRS Response to FOIA Request for Documents on the Now-Terminated Scheme to Dump Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel at SRS
An email provided to SRS Watch in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveals that the German entity notified SRS in October 2022 that the scheme to dump German spent fuel –
Rocky Flats Horror Show: Film about Plutonium Pit Production Disaster in Process – The Plutonium-Contaminated, Closed Rocky Flats Pit-Production Site in Colorado is a Stark Reminder of the Threats of Pit Production at SRS and the Risks of a New Nuclear Arms Race
Plutonium pit production – for the core of nuclear weapons – was an environmental and health disaster at the Rocky Flats plant near Denver, Colorado. Officially closed in 1992,
Challenges to Plutonium “Pit” Fabrication and New ICBMs to Use Pits, Pressure to Return to Nuclear Testing
Do challenges in plutonium pit fabrication for a new ICBM pose the risk of a return to nuclear weapons testing in Nevada?
“As America’s Nuclear Arsenal Upgrades, Usual Testing is Scrapped”
State Department Promises to Drag its Feet in Providing Information on Nuclear Waste from Spain to the U.S. – Re 1966 Palomares Nuclear Weapons Accident that Scattered Plutonium near Palomares, Spain, with Waste Dumped at SRS
U,S. State Department won’t respond until November 2025 to an information request about more nuclear waste that could come to SRS from a nuclear weapons accident in Spain in 1996!
Difficulties of finding plutonium pit workers in New Mexico; but plutonium pit staffing problems worse at SRS has no nuclear-bomb manufacturing experience & no experience since 1980s in processing molten plutonium
This article about new nuclear bomb production at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico is of importance because the same thing is happening at SRS. The “defense”
In Response to NNSA’s Refusal to Release Information on Plutonium Pit Aging, SRS Watch Files FOIA Requests
DOE is using “pit aging” as a justification to fabricate new pits for new nuclear weapons. We challenge them to back up their claim with scientific data!
SRS Watch Updates Long String of Public Interest Victories Over Misguided SRS projects
Major Savannah River Site (SRS) Public Interest Victories – For a Cleaner, Safer Site
Stopped operation of the Allied General Nuclear Services (AGNS) reprocessing plant,
SRS Watch Requests Nonproliferation Review of Production of HALEU (Uranium Enriched to 20% U-235)
SRS Watch, in response to a DOE notice that an Environmental Impact Statement would be prepared on production and availability of High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU), has requested that a Nonproliferation Impact Assessment (NPIA) be prepared related to the HALEU program.
DOE Breaks 6 Years of Unjustified Silence, Finally Complies with Environmental Commitment Concerning Now-Terminated German Spent Fuel Import Scheme
Embarrassed DOE Forced to Finally Publicly Admit Failure in Scheme to Dump German High-Level Nuclear Waste on SRS, But SRS Watch Learned Much Earlier that the Project was Dead and Informed the Public Months Ago,
DOE’s Spotty Response to FOIA Requests Harms Openness and Transparency: Is DOE Secretary Granholm Paying Attention???
Here are some Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by SRS Watch – which indicate how slow DOE processes FOIA (counter to DOE regulations). Such slow response to FOIA request by public interests groups like SRS Watch undermines public confidence and hurts transparency and openness.
DOE Belatedly Admits it Stiffed Congress on Plan for Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), More Confirmation VTR is Dead
DOE finally confirms that the congressionally required public-private funding plan for the plutonium-fueled Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) doesn’t exist.
Why did it take over two years to make this embarrassing admission?
“Dealing with a debacle: A better plan for US plutonium pit production” at SRS & Los Alamos National Lab
If you are following the issue of production of plutonium “pits” for new nuclear weapons, you will want to check out this April 27, 2023 article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists:
Dealing with a debacle: A better plan for US plutonium pit production
By Curtis T.
SRS Watch and other ANA Groups Meet with Congressional Staff, Administration Offices, Express Concern about DOE Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Waste Projects
Members of our grassroots network of public-interest groups around DOE sites – the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), of which SRS Watch is a member – met with the Office of Environmental Management (EM) on April 25 to voice concern about site clean-up issues.
Cancel SRS plutonium bomb plant: “Dealing with a debacle: A better plan for US plutonium pit production”
Read why there is no “need” for a nuclear bomb factory (to make plutonium cores for new nuclear weapons) at SRS:
“Dealing with a debacle: A better plan for US plutonium pit production“
German Federal Government Concurs: Plan to Ship German Spent Fuel to SRS is Dead
German Federal Government Concurs with Termination of Plan to Ship Highly Radioactive Spent Fuel from Germany to U.S. DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina
Decade-long Effort Funded by Germany to Develop Reprocessing Technique at SRS for Irradiated Graphite Fuel has Ended,
Congressman raises spectre of exploding costs for SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant
As always, complex nuclear projects for DOE are always delayed and run far over budget. Now we see that happening with the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant and the missile for which new pits would be supplied (for the W87-1 warhead).
SRS Watch submits comments on draft EIS on plutonium “disposition”
Comments by Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch) on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program (SPDP EIS) (DOE/EIS–0549:
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program)
27-page comments of SRS Watch posted here: Comments on Pu disposition draft EIS Clements March 16 2023
The comments by SRS Watch,
Silence on German spent fuel import plan remains a black eye on a derelict DOE
The Department of Energy continues to violate a committee made under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by refusing to update the public and the SRS Citizens Advisory Board about the status of the scheme to import,
A warning on the Biden budget proposal for FY24: “Biden Releases Record NNSA Nuclear Weapons Budget”
Nuclear Watch New Mexico reviews proposed Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget and finds some very alarming things, March 13, 2023:
Biden Releases Record NNSA Nuclear Weapons Budget
Santa Fe,
SCANA Official in Charge of Construction of Failed VC Summer Nuclear Project to be Sentenced on March 8, 2023
SRS Watch news: SCANA Official in Charge of Construction of Failed VC Summer Nuclear Project to be Sentenced in Federal Court on March 8, 2023; Admitted Felon Faces 5-Years in Prison but Asks for 15-Month Sentence;