Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
See the “REPORT” that goes with “ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2019,” page 107:
“MOX Construction.—The Committee recommends $220,000,000 for closeout costs associated with the termination of MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility construction,
“2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the Atomic Age. The Savannah River Watershed is host to 5 commercial nuclear reactors, a nuclear bomb complex, a radioactive waste dump. and 2 new reactors under construction.
blog by Tom Clements, SRS Watch, for International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), May 23, 2018 – with links to key documents
posted on IPFM website at:
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2018/05/us_department_of_energy_t.html
Where’s the MOX termination plan?
McDermott/CB&I/Orana/Areva MOX Services documents massive amounts of material stored in warehouses via its “MOX TV.” For example, see video for February 28,
1. The State of South Carolina claims – in a May 22 letter linked here – that it will bring a lawsuit to try and save MOX,
We’ll get to see how the broken MOX spin machine is reacting to the bitter defeat of MOX termination. SRS Watch will be there to observe and comment.
SOUTH CAROLINA NUCLEAR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
Oconee Nuclear Station
Operations Training Center,
May 21, 2018 letter to Congress on new nuclear bomb facility to make plutonium “pits” for nuclear weapons – letter led by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and signed by SRS Watch and Nuclear Watch of New Mexico
Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Feinstein:
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced last week that it plans to repurpose the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina to produce plutonium pits used in nuclear weapons.
Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, front page print edition, Sunday, May 20, 2018
The article compares MOX termination to the failed construction by South Carolina Electric &
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) notes problems at the Savannah River National Laboratory – Matters not revealed by DOE and (as far as we know) not covered by local media,
– meeting looks to be closed to the public – to discuss concerns about safe operation at the Savannah River Site
“Savannah River Site Conduct of Operations Safety Management”
DOE oversight entity – Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety board – raises more question with SRS about safety of the radioactive gas “exhaust tunnel” from the H-Canyon reprocessing plant. Would the tunnel collapse under seismic stress?
see “TECHNICAL REVIEW: GROUNDWATER MONITORING AT AND
NEAR THE PLANNED SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY
(DOCKET NO. PROJ0734),” May 17, 2018 – linked here
Conclusion: “The Z Area groundwater characterization study documented a plume in SRNS-RP-2015-00902.
20 Year of Fighting this Misguided Boondoggle has Finally Paid Off for the Public!!!
Union of Concerned Scientists, May 14, 2018 new release on mismanaged MOX project termination –
MOX Boondoggle Backers Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson Staggered by Shameful Lo$$
With official MOX termination looming, who in Congress, DOE and MOX Services will be held accountable for MOX fraud,
UPDATE of the afternoon of May 10: McDermott may now be the contractor to oversee MOX termination
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission informs CB&I AREVA MOX Services that it has received CB&I notice that ownership is changing to McDermott International,
Who will be held accountable for this massive rip-off of US
taxpayers?
Secretary of Energy Perry delivered to Congress the “waiver” – in the form of a memo on the lifecycle cost estimate of the non-MOX “dilute and dispose”
The last MOX funds for construction will be spent 30 days after delivery of this letter – on June 10, 2018. Letter linked here.
Perry sent his waiver letter on MOX construction and we wave goodbye to MOX and say good riddance.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Office of Cost Estimating and Program Evaluation (CEPE)
Surplus Plutonium Disposition Dilute and Dispose Option Independent Cost Estimate (ICE) Report
April 2018
And linked in UCS news release: Energy Department Makes the Right Decision to Kill MOX Program
Plutonium “pit” production would unnecessarily expand the nuclear weapons role of SRS and result in import of plutonium into South Carolina and produce a host of toxic waste streams likely to be dumped on site.
Will funding in Fiscal Year 2019 for termination of the badly bungled MOX project be discussed?
Energy & Water Subcommittee website linked here
Subcommittee Markup –
The funding request for Fiscal Year 2019, according to Chairman Simpson, would allow for only “a limited amount of construction at the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility” as termination details are developed and implemented.
According to the May 4, 2018 edition of the Exchange Monitor, Virginia Kay, deputy director of the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Material Disposition, said that the report would be delivered in a “Juneish”
“Meeting 7: Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Study in Progress: Public Meeting
Topics: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Nuclear and Radioactive Waste Management
May 2,
How will the “combination” of McDermott and Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&) impact things at the MOX debacle, where CB&I Project Services Group is struggling with high worker turnover rates,
Why haven’t fiscal conservatives rallied earlier to kill this chronic abuse of taxpayers?
in “Nuke Agency Needs Budget Accountability —
Just like the Pentagon,
The “dump on SRS option” may still officially be on the table but it’s looking more and more like it’s dead.
Report by Los Alamos National lab: “ARIES Oxide Production Program at LANL,” February 2015, for the Government Accountability Office audit – presentation linked here
Article in Spring 2018 edition of the Congaree Chronicle, South Carolina Sierra Club newsletter
Chronicle linked here (and here: https://tinyurl.com/y9esdzd4) see page 18 for article above;
See the April 26th hard copy of The State, Columbia, SC, or the April 27th edition of the Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier.
Digital adds, slightly different from the print ad are also being run –
“Fire Detection and Response Time at the Solid Waste Management Facility at the Savannah River Site” – “Staff Issue Report” linked here
“Conclusion. The Board’s staff review team concluded that SWMF cannot adequately protect the assumption of a two-hour fire department response.
