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.
Blog
Sentencing of Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, for Fraud in Terminated South Carolina Nuclear Reactor Construction Project, Inching Closer – How Much Time will the Admitted Felon Get?
“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” & more articles on lawsuit against plutonium pit production
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 by Public Interest Groups Against Biden Administration Over Nuclear Bomb Core Production Plans at SRS, Los Alamos
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 SRS, Los Alamos – June 29
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 for SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant Delays to 2035 and Doubling of Cost to $11.1 Billion
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) –
Trouble for Nuclear War Planners: SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) Cost Blasts Through the Roof: $11 Billion…$14 Billion…$18 Billion?!
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 News! Sierra Club (South Carolina) Opposes SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant Funding Request for Fiscal Year 2022, Supports Programmatic EIS on $11-Billion Pit Plant – Advisory May 30, 2021
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;
Release of Draft EIS on Westinghouse Uranium Fuel Plant near Columbia, South Carolina Delayed Again, to July 2021 & License Extension Likewise Delayed
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,
DOE Admits in Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request that Cost of SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant Soars to $11.1 Billion, but Annual Funding Levels Not Enough for Project Viability
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,
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability/SRS Watch: What to Look for in Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Waste in Fiscal Year 2022 DOE Budget on May 28, 2021
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 Nonproliferation Experts Express Concern about Moltex Plutonium Project and Proliferation Risks to Prime Minister Trudeau
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.
“Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles & Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors,” May 17-18, 2021
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 &
Cost Estimate for SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant to Soar to $10+ Billion? Causing Trouble for Contractors and Boosters Pushing New Pit Plant and “Money Pit” ICBM “Needing” New Plutonium Pits?
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.
Annual Report on Nuclear Ship Savannah (NS Savannah) Posted by NRC, Still Docked in Baltimore
The annual final safety report for the Nuclear Ship Savannah was publicly posted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 10, 2021. The NS Savannah, defueled for decades, was the nation’s first and only nuclear-powered commercial vessel.
Groups, Including SRS Watch, Notify Biden Admin of Impending Lawsuit Over Nuclear Bomb Core Plans, with First “Pits” for Provocative, Costly Ground Based Strategic Deterrent
Groups Notify Biden Admin of Impending Lawsuit Over Nuclear Bomb Core Plans
Multi-state coalition says DOE’s plans to massively expand plutonium pit production violate a major environmental law and constitutes an environmental injustice.
HALEU (High Assay Low Enriched Uranium) Poses New Security Risks: DOE; Centrus HALEU Project to be Permitted to Produce Weapon-Grade Uranium (HEU)?
In a just-released presentation, the US Department of Energy has outlined gaps in physical protection regulations to protect “High Assay Low Enriched Uranium.” HALEU is being touted for fuel for fanciful “advanced reactors”
Signs of Trouble at 66-Year-Old H-Canyon Reprocessing Plant; Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble with SRS Spent Fuel Storage?
Looks like personnel at the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant can’t even hang a warning sign correctly. If they don’t sweat the small stuff what about the big stuff?
SRS Watch Director Presented Community Service Award for Volunteer Efforts in Columbia, SC
SRS Watch director Tom Clements garners community service award in Columbia, South Carolina. Craig Currey, head of the Transitions homeless center, and a representative of United Way, presented the award at a luncheon on April 7,
DOE: Different Materials Usable for a Nuclear Explosion, Like Neptunium and 4 Kg Reactor-Grade Plutonium in a “DOE SQ” (New Term it Seems)
A report just made public by the U.S. Department of Energy confirmss that it’s not only weapon-grade plutonium that can be used for a nuclear device.
The report by Los Alamos National Lab and dated March 31,
Hype Shifts from SMRs to Illusory “Advanced Reactors,” Biden to Follow?
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) are slated to hold meetings on illusory “advanced reactors” and the fuels for them.
1.
DOE’s NNSA Reveals it’s Out of Money. Flat Broke. Busted. Nothing Left for Beneficial Nuclear Non-Proliferation Program to Convert Reactor from Weapon-Grade Uranium Fuel.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has revealed that it has spent all of our money. Busted flat. Nothing left. Nada. Zilch. Nichts.
Well,
NRC Seeks to Dodge Environmental Law in its Review of “Centrus High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium Demonstration Project,” Groups Request Programmatic EIS
“HALEU IN PORTSMOUTH, Ohio? Nuclear weapons and other grave risks”
Alert from Beyond Nuclear: “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is poised to forego a more comprehensive National Environmental Policy Act review of American Centrifuge Plant/Centrus’s scheme to generate High Assay Low Enriched Uranium in Portsmouth,
New “Nuclear Posture Review” (NPR) to Assess Need for New Nuclear Warheads and Plutonium Pit Plan, including Proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant
In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has confirmed that a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is getting underway., as anticipated. The NPR will review new nuclear warheads for which new plutonium pits will be made –
Articles: Plutonium pit production at proposed Plutonium Bomb Plant under review? Plutonium “disposition” at SRS via H-Canyon reprocessing plant into waste tanks
SRS Watch in two plutonium articles of interest, both posted in the Aiken Standard on March 17, 2021:
“Ongoing ‘review’ forces Pentagon official to pull out of SC pit production briefing”
Proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant Faces More Challenges – Appears to be Under Review
Plutonium pit project – initially to produce pits for new warheads (first W87-1, then W93) – under formal review? The unneeded, unjustified the SRS Plutonium Bomb plant is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Follow the money: “INSIDE THE ICBM LOBBY: SPECIAL INTERESTS OR THE NATIONAL INTERESTS”
Read why the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant is not needed to make new plutonium pits for the new ICBM (with W87-1 warhead), while Northrop Grumman gets rich: “INSIDE THE ICBM LOBBY: SPECIAL INTERESTS OR THE NATIONAL INTERESTS”
SRS Watch to NRC: Release Secret Draft EA on High-Assay LEU Production at Piketon, for Public Comment
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is quietly moving toward licensing a Centrus facility in Piketon, Ohio to produce “high-assay low- enriched uranium” (HALEU). Why the secrecy?
HALEU is 5% to 20% enriched in uranium-235,
“U.S. continues push to restart plutonium pit production” at SRS and Los Alamos, for Preparation for All-Out Nuclear War and not Deterrence
“U.S. continues push to restart plutonium pit production”
Physics Today, March 5, 2021
“The government is preparing two facilities to fabricate the cores of nuclear weapons despite concerns over the safety and necessity of the endeavor.”
34 Metric Tons of Plutonium – Yes, 34! – Could be Headed to SRS for Fabrication in K-Area into Fuel for Unjustified Reactor – But Trouble Awaits the Project
“New reactor fuel mission floated for SRS, DOE documents show”
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, March 5, 2021, article linked here:
Comments on draft EIS on the VTR by Tom Clements,