SRS Watch News

Department of Energy Budget Roll-Out Bungled, Request for Fiscal Year 2022 Reveals Savannah River Site Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) Cost Soars to Staggering $11.1 Billion; SRS Plutonium Pit Project Requests $603 Million in FY22,

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S FY 2022 NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND CLEANUP BUDGET REQUEST of Friday, May 28, 2021 – Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (of which Savannah River Site Watch is a proud member)

The White House is releasing its detailed Fiscal Year 2022 budget on Friday,

Stay tuned for the release by the US DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration of a “Critical Decsion-1” determination on the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant. CD-1 would approve the basic project design and present an update cost range.

Groups Notify Biden Admin of Impending Lawsuit Over Nuclear Bomb Core Plans

Multi-state coalition says DOE’s plans to massively expand plutonium pit production violate a major environmental law and constitutes an environmental injustice.

“HALEU IN PORTSMOUTH, Ohio?  Nuclear weapons and other grave risks”

Alert from Beyond Nuclear: “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is poised to forego a more comprehensive National Environmental Policy Act review of American Centrifuge Plant/Centrus’s scheme to generate High Assay Low Enriched Uranium in Portsmouth,

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is quietly moving toward licensing a Centrus facility in Piketon, Ohio to produce “high-assay low- enriched uranium” (HALEU). Why the secrecy?

HALEU is 5% to 20% enriched in uranium-235,

 

DON’T DUMP ROCK FLATS ON SOUTH CAROLINA!

Public efforts to stop plutonium pit production at SRS have now reached 30 years old.

Biden Administration Asked to Review Plutonium Pit Expansion Plans

News release, February 12, 2021 – by South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP), SRS Watch, Nuclear Watch New Mexico &

SRS Watch has submitted comments in response to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed and unjustified  “Versatile Test Reactor” (VTR) which is facing big funding challenges in Congress. 

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) Needed on Plutonium Disposition and All Plutonium Waste Streams Designated for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) – including from Plutonium Disposition,

SRS Watch accepts the new challenge to act patriotically and for the good of the nation. Will the new administration respond in kind? We have just mailed our first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of the Biden administration,

The United States and Canada have concluded a multi-year campaign to dump liquid high-level nuclear waste on the Savannah River Site. But indications are that more dumping from Canada is being considered.

Challenges Facing Host of Savannah River Site Projects in 2021; SRS Must Strive to Better Serve Public

Proposed and Unjustified SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP),

DOE Announces Release of Draft EIS on Versatile Test Reactor (VTR); Lacking Justification and Due to Proliferation Risks, VTR Project Must Not Go Forward – SRS Watch news,

Chairman of House Armed Services Committee Reveals Great Skepticism in NNSA’s Ability to Covert SRS MOX Facility to Plutonium Pit Production, Refers to $6 Billion Project as Potential “Rat Hole”

Representative Adam Smith Asserts that Failed Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS is “Pretty Close to White Collar Crime”

The powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee,

New Aerial Photos Released of the Trio of Failed Nuclear Projects in South Carolina & Georgia: Plutonium Fuel/MOX (Proposed to be Converted into a Plutonium Bomb Plant) and the Vogtle &

New Aerial Photos of VC Summer Nuclear Construction Site Obtained Day After Former SCANA CEO Agrees to Plead Guilty to Fraud for His Role in Failed Nuclear Reactor Construction Project;

An initial take: Two dodgy characters close to the Biden transition merit in-depth investigation

Check out this quick comment about Mignon Clyburn and Ernest Moniz –

Ship Carrying Radioactive Waste (Stronium-90) from France to Arrives in Charleston, SC 

Three U.S.-Supplied Strontium-Bearing Electricity Generators to be Trucked to Nevada to by Dumped in Ground-Level Trench in Area 5 at the Nevada National Security Site;

Safety Board Notes “Hard Shutdown” of the Key Cesium-Removal Step during Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Startup; For Second Time, DOE Failed to Publicly Reveal Operational Problems with SWPF,

Ship Carrying Radioactive Waste (Stronium-90) from France to Arrive in Charleston, SC around Nov. 16; Three U.S.-Supplied Strontium-Bearing Electricity Generators to be Trucked to Nevada to DOE Nuclear Waste Dump;

Safety Board Confirms Rumors about Problems with Start Up of Salt Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River Site; DOE-SRS has Refused to Provide an Update on Status of the Facility until after the SRS Watch News Release – Why?

Savannah River Site Watch, Nuclear Watch New Mexico (Santa Fe, NM) and Tri-Valley CAREs (Livermore, California) news, November 5, 2020:  DOE Issues Controversial Decision to Pursue a Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP) at Savannah River Site (SRS);

The focus these days of Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette seems to be putting out as many news releases as possible about his travels and money that DOE is doling out.

SRS Watch news, October 13, 2020: Sentencing Postponed for SCANA Official who Admitted Felony Fraud in Nuclear Construction Project; Federal Attorney Indicates “Additional Targets” being Investigated and that the Investigation Will Continue at Least a Year

Columbia,

U.S. Department of Energy Confirms 11.5 Metric Tons of Plutonium Stored at Savannah River Site; SRS Watch Supports DOE Assertion that Plutonium Storage “Not Posing any Additional Risk to Communities Surrounding the SRS”

An Additional 35 MT of Plutonium could come to SRS for Processing as Waste and for Plutonium Pit Production for Nuclear Weapons Yet Politicians in South Carolina Remain Silent about associated Risks

Columbia,

Environmental Impact Statement on Savannah River Site Plutonium Bomb Plant is Inadequate; Dodges Need for New Nuclear Bomb Facility, Overlooks Key Environmental Issues and Claims no Environmental Justice Issues –

DOE Decision to Dispose of Unirradiated Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Stored at Los Alamos National Lab in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant must be Reviewed in Environmental Impact Statement and Non-Proliferation Assessment

Unprecedented Disposal as Waste of Useless Test MOX Fuel,

Request of SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) to Closely Monitor Plutonium Issues at SRS – Large Amount Set to Come in with Risks of Environmental Issues, Possibility of being Stranded (like Plutonium Imported for Bungled MOX Project)

DOE,State of South Carolina Agree on Paper to Remove a Total of 9.5 Metric Tons of Plutonium from Savannah River Site – But Total Amount of Plutonium at SRS is Now 11.5 MT and DOE Plans to Bring in ~35 Metric Tons More for Processing for Disposal (via “Dilute &

Despite chronic operational a problems and on-site soil and groundwater contamination, the Westinghouse uranium fuel-fabrication facility near Columbia, South Carolina is seeking a 40-year license extension for its operations.