Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
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.
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 &
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.
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”
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 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,
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,
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.
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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,
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 –
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”
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.
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”
“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.”
“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,
All you’ll need to know about U.S. nuclear weapons – a force built to fight an all-out nuclear war, not just for deterrence, funneling massive amounts of our money into the pockets of war profiteers.
Irradiated research reactor fuel from Finland’s FiR reactor was recently shipped into the U.S. port of Savannah, Georgia and then transported cross county to a TRIGA reactor in Denver,
South Carolina Environmental Law project (SCELP) takes on the issue of environmental review of production for plutonium pits for nuclear weapons!
Read about it and more admirable work of SCELP in their February 2021 news update.
Groups ask Biden for wider environmental review of nuke work
Associated Press in Washington Post, February 17, 2021
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Watchdog groups want the Biden administration to reconsider a decision by a U.S.
“Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab Opens Office in the City of the Santa Fe (“Holy Faith”) of Peace and Environmental Protection”
News from Nuclear Watch New Mexico,
“West Texas is on track to get even more nuclear waste — thanks to the federal government”
A hazardous waste disposal company in Andrews County wants to handle more dangerous levels of nuclear waste.
“SUMMARY OF DECEMBER 9, 2020, WEBINAR CALL RELATED TO EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LABORATORY AND THE CENTER FOR NUCLEAR WASTE REGULATORY ANALYSES TO SUPPORT TANK FARM CLOSURE AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE”
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) – thanks for their oversight! – reports high radiation levels in new high-level waste processing facility at SRS, now undergoing start up –
CAUTION urged to future well drillers at what was once the Savannah River Site and Idaho National lab – vaults with radioactive waste may lurk below! Subsurface material disposed of as “Waste Incidental to Reprocessing”
“152 Jülicher Castoren stehen immer noch „an Ort und Stelle“ – Ein Erfolg für Westcastor?”
“152 Jülich Castors Still “in Place” – A Success for Westcastor?”
Plans to dump highly radioactive graphite spent fuel from Germany on SRS faces strong opposition in Germany.
“NNSA Nuclear Plan Shows More Weapons, Increasing Costs, Less Transparency”
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) new Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP) doubles the number of new nuclear warhead programs compared with the previous plan from 2019.
“Under Trump, the nuclear weapons industry has boomed – Expansion could be scaled back as President-elect Biden and Congress prioritize pandemic and recession problems.”
SRS Watch in “DOE publishes reactor impact statement”
Idaho Falls Post Register, December 21, 2020
“The U.S. Department of Energy has released the draft environmental impact statement for a test reactor it would like to build at Idaho National Laboratory.”
Congress has finally posted funding language for Fiscal Year 2021.
Full Omnibus bill: https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf
Division D – Energy & Water funding:
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20201221/BILLS-116RCP68-JES-DIVISION-D.pdf
page 108
Plutonium Pit Production.-The agreement reiterates House direction regarding plutonium pit production and clarifies that the plan to complete a resource-loaded integrated master schedule shall include all pit production-related project and program activities that shall provide additional details within high-level milestones for projects based on GAO best practices.
DOE needs to fully reveal what’s going on with the start-up of the new high-level waste processing facility – Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) – at SRS.
