Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
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.
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.
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 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,
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).
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,
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,
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,
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;
SRS Watch and friends visited the Crackerneck Wildlife Management Area and Ecological Reserve, which is located on the Savannah River Site and only open a few times a year (like Saturdays in March 2023),
To: Members of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board & the Public
From: Tom Clements, Director, Savannah River Site Watch
Re: Update on DOE plan to import highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany
In a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI),
Will export of uranium from the United States to Russia help pay for the war? How long will uranium export and import go on? Will a new export license be sought after the current license expires on December 31,
District Court Denies Department of Energy’s Motion to Dismiss Plutonium Pits Suit
Aiken, SC — In a win for public participation and environmental protection, the United States District Court of South Carolina denied the Department of Energy’s motion to dismiss a 2021 legal action filed by multiple citizen groups.
Document withheld from Public Reveals DOE Cost Estimate for Plutonium Pit Project at Savannah River Site Hits $16.5 Billion, Over $5 Billion Higher than Current Public Estimate
A key U.S.
Plutonium Pondering
The Department of Energy must fully reveal how much surplus plutonium it has already sent from the Savannah River Site (SRS) and other DOE sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
U.S. DOE Plans to Export German Spent Nuclear Fuel to the Savannah River Site for Processing & Dumping have been Terminated after 10 Years, Yielding Good Outcome for South Carolina
Unsuccessful Effort to Illegally Export Spent Fuel from Germany to SRS Ends in Environmental Victory,
Those aiming to proliferate weapon-usable plutonium suffer yet another setback:
“Japan’s Rokkasho reprocessing plant, 25 years behind schedule, delayed again”
On 26 December 2022, Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited announced another delay in completion of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.
More FOIAs filed by SRS Watch – for MOX lessons learned & NNSA performance reviews
A second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request has been filed by SRS Watch for “lesson learned”
On November 11, 2022, SRS Watch was invited to have an information table at the Bonnie Raitt concert in Savannah, Georgia, one of our favorite venues. To the backdrop of great music –
Governor Michele Lujan Grisham of New Mexico has sent a letter, dated November 16, 2022, to President Biden in opposition to private plans for “interim” storage of highly radioactive commercial spent fuel in southeastern New Mexico.
Time again to rock against new nuclear weapons production at the Savannah River Site!
SRS Watch will be tabling on November 11, 2022 at Johnny Mercer Theater in Savannah,
DOE Official Heightens Concerns about Controversial Plutonium Bomb Plant at Savannah River Site by Admitting an Additional 6-Month Delay in the Project; Cost Could Jump $375 Million,
Key activities in South Carolina keep the state at the heart of the nuclear weapons arms race.
New plutonium pit production facilities at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina are being pursued to initially make pits (cores,
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issues Environmental Impact Statement on Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel Plant, Fails to Justify 40-Year Operating License Extension for Troubled Facility
Columbia,
Lawyers for three public interest groups, at the request of the federal judge in the case, filed an amended complaint on July 11, 2022 against DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) over its plans to expand plutonium pit production for new nuclear weapons..
Schedule for federal court proceedings against top Westinghouse official – Jeffrey Benjamin – at the VC Summer construction site for felony conspiracy & fraud in the failed construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors –
More public interest victories to add to the list of victories over 40 years!
In July 2022, there have been two significant developments at the U.S.
The new CDU-Green coalition in the North Rhine-Westphalia government has negative implications for the decade-long effort to dump German spent fuel on the Savannah River Site. That spent fuel is from the long-closed AVR gas-cooled reactor and the spent fuel is stored at Jülich.
A skeptical Congress is finally beginning to put some requirements on plutonium pit production, for new nuclear weapons, in the face of DOE’s effort to move forward without constraints.
