“ARIES Oxide Production Program Dilute and Dispose LCCE Overview,
Material Management and Minimization Program”
Los Alamos National Laboratory / Pit Disassembly and Processing
Los Alamos,
Latest News
Congressional Appropriators Render Huge Blow to MOX Boondoggle
– September 10, 2018 – MOX Cut by a Massive One-third, and Spending on MOX Construction can be Waived
MOX TO BE DEVASTATED! When passed by the full Congress,
It’s crazy to plan to shuttle plutonium around just to please a court that hasn’t followed the plutonium disposition program – watch for more push-back from Nevada.
“Supplemental Analysis for the Removal of One Metric Ton of Plutonium from the State of South Carolina to Nevada, Texas and New Mexico”
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration,
If you want to learn how DOE’s Savannah River Site (Near Aiken, SC) fits into the DOE nuclear weapons complex take a look at this report by the Congressional Research Service, Sept. 6, 2018.
SRS is home to the other massive, failed nuclear construction project in the state: the $17-billion plutonium fuel ( MOX) factory
“The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Overview of Department of Energy Sites”
“Sens. Heinrich, Udall ask Perry to suspend order on nuclear oversight” – in order to protect essential roe of Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) at DOE sites
anta Fe New Mexican, Sept. 5, 2018 – article linked here
Letter from Senators Heinrich and Udall, September 5, 2018 – linked here
Obtained by SRS Watch –
$9 billion nuclear reactor debacle of South Carolina Electric & Gas exposed in Sierra Magazine, September/October edition
“A Nuclear Energy Meltdown Scrambles Southern Politics – South Carolinians have some of the highest electricity bills in the country, thanks in part to nuclear energy”
article,
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s “REPLY BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS” in matter of federal court proceedings concerning the termination of the MOX boondoggle and removal of plutonium from South Carolina
REPLY BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS, filed with Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals – linked here
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT (from the filing)
South Carolina’s theory of the case relies on the incorrect assumption that the Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to leave plutonium in South Carolina permanently.
SRS Watch in article on how the plutonium fuel (MOX) debacle is again being set up for termination by Congress and DOE:
“MOX protection not included in defense authorization measure signed by Trump”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, August 14, 2018
Key documents accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2019 –
Meeting in Columbia, South Carolina on the uranium leak at the Westinghouse fuel plant – August 30, 6:30 p.m.
LOWER RICHLAND COMMUNITY MEETINGS
WITH COUNCILMAN NORMAN JACKSON
6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. Thursday, August 30, 2018 Lower Richland Sheriff Substation 2615 Lower Richland Blvd., Columbia, Topic: Water,
MOX Debacle Layoffs Likely Coming Starting October 1 – Start of Fiscal Year 2019 – No Matter What Happens
Did you notice that the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019 – signed into law on August 13 – only “authorizes” $220 million for MOX construction and includes language allowing the Secretary of Energy to “waive”
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspection of Bungled MOX Construction Project Reveals Violation with Faulty Welds
– Why is the media avoiding covering this issue?
“MIXED OXIDE FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY- NRC INSPECTION REPORT
NUMBER 70-3098/2018-003,” August 7, 2018 –
HOT NEWS FLASH – August 6, 2018 (Hiroshima Day)
Federal judge denies SCE&G’s request for “preliminary injunction” to halt a reduction in customers’ bills for failed nuclear reactor project at VC Summer!
Starting August 7 the nuclear charge will be reduced from
18% to 3.2% of a customer’s bill.
“Hiroshima Remembrance,” August 5, 2-4 p.m., State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina.
As SRS profiteers ponder an expanded and unjustified role for nuclear weapons production at SRS, on the 73rd anniversary of the bombing, there will be a “Hiroshima Remembrance,” August 5,
“NNSA Must Solve Pit Problems This Year, STRATCOM Commander Says”
Exchange Monitor, August 3, 2018 – article linked here
The Pentago takes on Senator Graham and boosters of the costly MOX debacle…
Article by SRS Watch on the MOX fiasco in the Summer 2018 “South Carolina Sierran,” of the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club
“United States Department of Energy Takes Steps to Halt Bungled Plutonium MOX Project at Savannah River Site: Judge Places Decision on Hold”
Also see other environmental stories of interest in the newsletter,
Posted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on July 30, 2018:
SAVANNAH RIVER SITE SALT WASTE DISPOSAL [of high-level waste by-product]
NRC Onsite Observation Visit
July 9-11, 2018
“Annual Radioactive Waste Tank Inspection Program – 2017, July 2018”
by Savannah River Remediation (contractor)
Report “SRR-STI-2018-00146 Revision 1” – linked here
NOTE: The document was posted on August 28, 2018 in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s digital library (ADAMS).
SRS Watch in article on failed plutonium MOX project, painfully headed towards termination at the Savannah River Site
“South Carolina Fights U.S. Plan to Abandon Nuclear Project Employing 1,800 – Department of Energy is spending $1.2 million a day on facility designed to dispose of surplus weapons-grade plutonium”
Blindly pro-MOX US federal judge in Columbia, SC steps back and passes the issue of the status of the MOX project termination to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA, which has already, in response to DOE’s appeal, set a hearing on the matter for September 25-28, 2018
Filed in State of South Carolina v. United States, Docket 1:18-cv-01431 on July 16, 2018:
TEXT ORDER: This matter is before the court pursuant to Defendants’
SRS Watch in: “DOE memo: MOX support could jeopardize other Savannah River Site missions”
“The Department of Energy is signaling to South Carolina authorities that its effort to keep the mixed oxide facility alive could be jeopardizing other opportunities — including the proposed pit mission at Savannah River Site,
The Long, Painful, Costly March to MOX Failure Continues, Poca a Poca Amigos!
Rulings by Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on hearing on DOE’s efforts to halt the MOX debacle – the court is set to hear DOE’s appeal from a lower court on September 25-28,
Leadership of South Carolina House & Senate file on behalf of the public to join federal court case in which SCE&G is attempting to have two laws on its bungled nuclear project thrown out, July 3, 2018:
Filings by Speaker of the House Jay Lucas, including a proposed order:
– intervention – linked here
“Proposed Answer” by judge to SCE&G – linked here
Filing by Speaker pro tempore Hugh Leatherman –
MOX Doom postponed a bit as workers get breathing room to find new jobs: “Appeals Judge Declines DOE Request to Lift Order Protecting MFFF”
Exchange Monitor, July 2, 2018 – article linked here
“The Department of Energy’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) will enjoy judicial protection from the federal ax for essentially the rest of the government’s 2018 fiscal year after an appeals court on Friday decided not to immediately lift a lower court’s ban on closing the plant.
Disposal of nuclear waste which is in large a by-product of reprocessing to produce nuclear weapons materials will have impacts to the environment via its disposal as grouted waste in the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF).
These two documents, posted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 25, 2018, discuss predictions related to amount of iodine-129 and technetium- 99 in the solidified waste to be left forever in the ground at SRS.
In its annual report (for 2017), the French reprocessing and plutonium-proliferation company Orano (formerly AREVA) documents that reprocessing by other countries in France is essentially over, a positive for nuclear non-proliferation.
As some peddle the fake news that European countries are vigorously pursuing reprocessing of highly radioactive spent fuel – to remove weapon-usable plutonium – this report from the heart of the French reprocessing industry sets the record straight.
MOX NEWS FLASH, June 25, 2018: For defrauding the US Government of over $6 million at the MOX project – due to fake receipts
– Phillip Thompson was sentenced this afternoon in federal court to 23 months in Butner prison medical facility in North Carolina, followed by 3 years probation. Home detention denied but sentenced reduced due to health issue.
State of South Carolina files motion in MOX termination federal case, June 25, 2018
1:18-cv-01431-JMC Date Filed 06/25/18 Entry Number 29 Page 1 of 28 – motion linked here
Also posted in docket on June 25, 2018: “MOTION for Summary Judgment by State of South Carolina.
The US Senate passes DOE funding bill on June 25, 2018 – allocates $220 million for MOX termination and $0 for MOX construction – the failed MOX project remains doomed
Senate news release of June 25 linked here:
Senate Energy & Water report, page 107: “MOX Construction.—The Committee recommends $220,000,000 for closeout costs associated with the termination of MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility construction,
Sentencing for one MOX fraudster postponed by federal court in Columbia, SC on June 22, 2018, sentencing for 2nd guilty fraudster still on for June 25 – expect a prison sentence and fine for submitting fake receipts in the MOX fiasco
“NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF HEARING: Sentencing set for 6/25/2018 02:30 PM as to Aaron Vennefron (mbro, ) (Entered: 06/22/2018)”
”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,
Will the ill-informed federal judge in the district court in Columbia, SC rule on June 21, 2018 on DOE’s request to “stay” her preliminary injunction halting termination of the failed MOX project?
Once she denies the stay the matter will likely be ripe to be addressed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration requested the “stay”