Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
“Nuclear Weapon Accident Response Overview”
Flag Words for Accidents and Incidents Involving Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear weapon accident defined as
An unexpected event due to accidental circumstances involving
U.S.
“Top ex-SCANA official Stephen Byrne pleads guilty in SC nuclear fiasco fraud case”
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, July 23, 2020
Stephen Byrne,
‘Now I Am Become Death’: The Legacy of the First Nuclear Bomb Test
The 75th anniversary of what’s known as the Trinity explosion, the world’s first nuclear weapon test,
Thursday, July 23, 2020 guilty plea by SCE&G nuclear debacle mastermind Stephan Byrne. BE THERE – federal court house, Columbia, South Carolina – for this historic event!
Trump Plan to Build Nuclear Bombs Divides a Scarred Factory Town
Bloomberg, July 9, 2020, by Ari Natter and Charlie McGee
A factory along South Carolina’s Savannah River produced tritium and plutonium for U.S.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, an independent agency which provides much-needed oversight of DOE facilities, has issued a critical assessment of actions DOE is taking at the Savannah River Site to make its tritium-processing operations safer.
The US Senate “report” that goes along with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 is out. Amongst a host of things, the plutonium pit issue gets some oversight.
SRS Watch has inquired of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the death of an employee at the BWXT highly enriched uranium (HEU) facility in Lynchburg, VA.
NATIONAL NETWORK OF WATCHDOG GROUPS OPPOSES FUNDING FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS TEST PREPARATION:
CALLS PROPOSAL “DANGEROUSLY DESTABILIZING” AND “ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE.”
Today, three-dozen nuclear watchdog organizations,
SRS nuclear war boosters – contractors & NNSA deep staters – sweating bullets over lack of $R$ Plutonium Bomb Plant being affirmed by key House subcommittee
The US House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces (of the Armed Services Committee) today sent a strong signal that the $R$ Plutonium Bomb Plant has weak support.
“Failed [MOX] Plutonium Project’s Final Chapter Is Fire Sale for Parts”
By Ari Natter, Bloomberg, June 18, 2020
U.S. conversion factory’s equipment is on the auction block
After $8 billion spent,
Noted nuclear non-proliferation expert Dr. Frank von Hippel speaks up against the proposed, unjustified SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant:
“Why a decision on a second US plutonium-pit-production factory should be delayed”
Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREP) raises concern about safety of storage of highly enriched uranium (HEU) – bomb-grade uranium – at DOE’s Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge,
BOOM!!! Tritium in Nuclear Warheads = Boosted Nuclear Explosive Force; SRS Watch Requests Report
This National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) notice in the June 11, 2020 Federal Register underscores that the postponed meeting by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on SRS tritium operations needs to be held ASAP.
Stephen Bryne, former official with South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G – taken over by Dominion Energy – admits fraud in the failed construction of two new nuclear reactors at the VC Summer site in South Carolina.
“Japan should end its nonsensical effort to recycle nuclear fuel”
One day Japan’s costly, dangerous and failed program to reprocess highly radioactive spent fuel and stockpile plutonium will end.
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on surplus plutonium disposition? That’s the call in the new report (April 30) of the National Academies of Sciences on disposal of 48 metric tons of plutonium,
“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.
