Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
SRS Watch in WSB-TV (Atlanta, Georgia) report o n challenges posed by high-level nuclear waste at SRS and other DOE site
JACKSON, S.C. – A scathing government report showed years of mismanagement of nuclear waste disposal could be creating a real risk to people living near decades-old nuclear waste sites.
SRS not only has nuclear and chemical waste problems its got
COAL ASH problems….
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, April 28, 2019 – article linked here
– filling the facility with concrete – of the 235-F building, where Plutonium-238 was processed into fuel pellets for space probes. About 400 grams of that nasty isotope remains in the building.
Wise claims that employee Phillip Thompson was a rouge, criminal operative and that Wise knew nothing about his engagement in fraudulent behavior. Thompson should now be in federal prison in Ohio if he reported as promised.
Looks like DOE/NNSA is well on its way to mismanage any plutonium “pit” project at SRS & maximize costs and schedule delays. If anyone gets the report, which may be marked “Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information”
Representative Jim Cooper, who several years ago rightly deemed MOX a “zombie project,” calls out DOE for pouring money into the unauthorized, dangerous project to “repurpose” the shuttered MOX plant into nuclear bomb production (for plutonium pits).
More revealed about DOE and its unneeded, costly “advanced” reactor project:
“There are Faster, Cheaper, Safer and More Reliable Alternatives to the Energy Department’s Proposed Multibillion Dollar Test Reactor”
Well, no surprise here as DOE and its contractors always aim to run far over budget with new, large and complex projects. Think MOX. Thankfully, we beat back the “Energy Park”
See the op-ed on risks of plutonium “pit” production (for nuclear weapons) at SRS. The op-ed exposes the sad story of pit production at the now-closed Rocky Flats site near Denver,
To underscore that the plutonium fuel (MOX) project is totally dead, DOE Secretary Perry congratulates Congress for having the courage to terminate the MOX project
Time for Congress to get the national security budget-cutting ax out to protect us from the threat of a new Cold War!
“Trump’s 2020 Nuclear Weapons Budget Escalates New Arms Race”
The document is extremely thin on details. See page 237+ for cursory SRS discussion. Note on page 270 that DOE intends to stop payment-in-lieu of taxes to local communities: “The decrease is associated with reduction of discretionary payments in-Lieu-of-Taxes to support the focus on cleanup mission.”
March 21, 2019 DNFSB letter & report – linked here
“Conclusions. As part of the 10-year assessment of the DAF seismic hazard, the previous site contractor,
More DOE budget request numbers for FY 2020 are out (on March 18, 2019) and the DOE budget has “weapons activities” at SRS doubling from $300 million to $605 million.
ATTENTION MARINERS AND SHIP SPOTTERS near Charleston, South Carolina! Be alert to the movement of UK-flagged spent fuel carrier PACIFIC EGRET. March 16, 2019 alert, based only on information available to the general public.
Annual radiation monitoring and status report for Nuclear Ship Savannah (NSS) for Calendar Year 2018, posted on March 11, 2019 by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The fate of long-retired ship now berthed in Baltimore,
on March 11, 2019 – needs congressional review, changes & approval & EISs; includes 11% cut in DOE; proposes funds for “repurposing” of MOX facility for plutonium pit production at SRS and an increase in “dilute &
“The Pentagon wants to boldly go where no nuclear reactor has gone before. It won’t work.”
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Feb. 22, 2019 – article linked here
What devilish enemy would dare target an operating nuclear reactor on a US military base in a war zone?!
Environment News Service, posted
Feb. 19, 2019 – article linked here
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) refuses, so far, to prepare the legally mandated Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on pit production.
Do tell!
We think we’re on the cusp of figuring out they ran the MOX $cam off the back of patriotic taxpayers…
If you’re a former MOX worker or have information,
– complaint filed by Department of Justice under False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Act — Update, February 19, 2019
Amazing to see: “United States of America vs Defendant CB&I AREVA MOX Services LLC and Defendant Wise Services Inc”
It’s gone almost unnoticed, but did you see that CB&I Areva MOX Services brought a federal case against Wise Services in November 2018, claiming it was Wise Services that was responsible for millions of $$$ in fraudulent charges paid by NNSA and not MOX Services?!
As crazy and anti-transparency as it sounds, did you know the public must pay 10 cents per page to download federal court papers, via the court’s PACER system? SRS Watch –
“Due to Nevada’s concerns about the DOE’s actions, the State has appealed this Court’s January 30, 2019, Order, which denied its motion for a preliminary injunction during the litigation of this case.
“Office of the Clerk United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Post Office Box 193939 San Francisco, California 94119-3939 415-355-8000 February 05, 2019
Short Title:
State of Nevada v.
Low quality obfuscation from DOE – which doesn’t answer what happened to the “missing” 1/2 tonne of plutonium – was it shipped to Pantex in Texas or another DOE site,
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, January 30, 2019 – linked here
Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, Jan. 31, 2019
“This shipment does absolutely nothing to solve what happens to the plutonium at the Savannah River Site,” said Tom Clements,
U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission grants license exemptions to CB&I AREVA MOX Services for MOX fuel fabrication facility until such time the NRC terminates the license – Note that the license has not been terminated yet!
