Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
“Plutonium: How Nuclear Power’s Dream Fuel Became a Nightmare”
by friends and colleagues of SRS Watch – by Frank von Hippel (Author), Masafumi Takubo (Author), Jungmin Kang (Author)
This book provides a readable and thought-provoking analysis of the issues surrounding nuclear fuel reprocessing and fast-neutron reactors,
“Nuclear waste could remain in Jülich for even longer”
“Der Atommüll könnte noch länger in Jülich bleiben”
WDR German radio,
SRS Watch in “Nuclear Cleanup Sites Can Endure Prolonged Use of Skeleton Crews, Sources Say”
Federal and industry sources said this week they don’t foresee major environmental or public safety concerns emerging if the current level of reduced staffing at Energy Department nuclear cleanup sites due to COVID-19 lingers for months.
“New earthquake report shows risks “ten times as high”
This is troubling – on a new analysis on the nuclear bomb plant under construction by NNSA at Y-12 in Oak Ridge,
Letter to DOE, April 1, 2020: Request for two-month extension of the April 24, 2020 comment deadline for the draft Supplement Analysis to the 2008 Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for continued operations of Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOEIEIS-0380- SA-06) in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SRS has slapped a lid of secrecy on “minimum mission-critical activities” that are occurring at the site – no explanation given for that terminology or what it covers. Shameful and potentially dangerous!
“Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements”
Congressional Research Service (CRS), updated March 26, 2020
report linked here: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL33865.pdf
When will Congress allow the CRS to post reports so the public can see them in a timely manner?
DOE admits Los Alamos National Lab to look at production of 80 plutonium pits/year – to fuel the new nuclear arms race – which underscores the requirement for preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement ( PEIS) on the matter,
Well, some things in life are predictable. The US nuclear industry is seeking relief that goes far beyond immediate COVID-19 impacts.
In addition to seeking help for the floundering Votgle reactor construction project in Georgia,
It’s still looking like SRS thinks the COVID-19 virus situation is mostly a hoax. WHEN will SRS start acting responsibly and declare certain jobs “essential,” like high-level waste management and security of plutonium,
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety board (DNFSB), mandated to oversight of certain DOE activities, confirms SRS “denied or delayed access to information, facilities, or personnel meetings that were necessary for the Board to perform its mission.”
What’s the status of start up of a key SRS facility to process liquid high-level waste? DOE has said that the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) would start in March 2020 but then said April and then that it would be in Fiscal Year 2020.
“SRS experienced the three radiological events recently.”
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
February 21, 2020 report
SUBJECT: Savannah River Site Activity Report for Week
Radiological Protection: SRS experienced the three radiological events recently.
As the coronavirus spreads in the US and South Carolina – location of the Savannah River Site – what is the US Department of Energy doing concerning the 11,000 employees at SRS?
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) March 19 meeting on SRS was cancelled and has now been rescheduled for June 1, 2020, but we wonder if that will happen.
“Non-Proliferation Treaty turns 50 as US funds new nukes” — by Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a sister organization of SRS Watch in the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA),
March 10 Update: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has notified SRS Watch that due to the coronavirus “and other issues” that the March 19 “Public Hearing on the Status of the Savannah River Site”
“The White House gave this nuclear agency a giant funding increase. Can it spend it all?”
Uh, no…..
Article in Defense News, March 3,
Government Accountability Office (GAO), March 3, 2020: “NNSA’s Modernization Efforts Would Benefit from a Portfolio Management Approach”
“The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is conducting four programs to modernize nuclear weapons,
The federal court decision is the final death blow of the MOX debacle but that zombie project has morphed into a contractor money machine (for the $R$ Plutonium Bomb Plant –
“Feinstein, Markey Request GAO Study on Affordability of Nuclear Weapons”
Feb 27 2020
Washington – Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) today requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine if nuclear modernization activities undertaken by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are sustainable and affordable investments in our national security.
DOE Plans for $4.6 Billion Cost to Convert the Ill-Constructed MOX Plant into a Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at Savannah River Site by 2026-2030; Money to be Spent on Top of $8 Billion Wasted on MOX
Plan to Seek $442 Million for PBP in Fiscal Year 2021 Confirmed in Feb.
“The all clear has been given regarding the emergency event.”
—–UPDATE 12:57 p.m.—–
The all clear has been given regarding the emergency event.
The emergency event was declared due to a security event when a vehicle attempted to enter a secure area of the site for routine work activated explosive detection devices.
SRS Watch in “Proposed budget would almost triple plutonium spending”
Santa Fe New Mexican, February 24, 2020
Tom Clements, executive director of the nonprofit Savannah River Site Watch,
The most recent case brought against MOX Services, contractor in charge of the failed plutonium fuel (MOX) project at SRS, moves slowly though the federal court system.
SRS Watch on the crazy, costly, unjustified proposal for a Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at SRS:
“Why Does Trump Want to Spend Billions on New Nukes?
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving to advocate for spent fuel reprocessing in the US?! If so this is total madness designed simply to funnel taxpayer money to any company, like Orano,
SRS Watch in “Donald Trump Wants Billions of Dollars for New Nukes — The administration of Pres. Donald Trump wants to boost by billions of dollars the federal government’s production of plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.”
NNSA says: Just shut up and give us the money for the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP), even if it’s not justified or needed. Planning for large-scale nuclear war is profitable for DOE contractors and taxpayers don’t have the right to challenge our “logic”
“In nuclear spending fight, it’s Trump allies vs. White House budget office”
Defense News, January 23, 2020
WASHINGTON — A new fight over America’s nuclear budget has erupted from behind the scenes,
