SRS Watch News

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.

Public Interest Group Requests DOE Prepare “Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” on Plutonium Disposition, in Support of Recommendation by National Academies of Sciences Panel

Plutonium Disposition via “Dilute &

Stand By for Historic Guilty Plea: SCE&G Official Responsible for Nuclear Reactor Construction Debacle to Plead Guilty to Fraud in Federal Court in Columbia, South Carolina on July 23,

Move by DOD and Nuclear Weapons Boosters to Take Over DOE Nuclear Weapons Budget Authority and Gut DOE’s Environmental Management Budget must be Rejected; Boosters Pushing for Two Unjustified Plants to Fabricate Plutonium “Pits” for New and Old Nuclear Weapons Must Stand Down

Columbia,

WATCHDOG GROUPS FILE LEGAL PETITION WITH ENERGY DEPT: Allege Agency is Slow Walking “Record of Decision” Re: Plutonium Bomb Core Production to Prevent Judicial Review; Stage Set for Litigation on Expanded Production

June 24,

Secretive Sale of Surplus MOX Equipment by NNSA Perpetuates Cover-Up of Bungled MOX Project, Exposes Lack of Accountability to Taxpayers for Money Wasted on Construction and Equipment

MOX Project Wasted Vast Sums of Money on Stockpiling Huge Amounts of Equipment that Project Managers Knew would be Obsolete when the Project Began Operation – Investigations Needed

Columbia,

Numerous Comments Submitted on NNSA’s Draft EIS on the SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant; Question Need for Expanding Plutonium “Pit” Production to SRS, Call for Programmatic EIS to Review Pit Need

In Bizarre and Dangerous Twist,

SRS Watch news release, May 12, 2020:  Inadequate Los Alamos Lab Environmental Analysis of Plutonium “Pit” Production for 4000 New and Refurbished Nuclear Warheads Must be Amended by DOE to Cover Key Issues Overlooked

Options to “Reuse” Pits and Method to Purify Plutonium are Key Matters Totally Lacking from Draft Supplement Analysis,

DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration Extends by 15 Days Comment Period on Draft EIS on Proposed Savannah River Site Plutonium Bomb Plant, Period Extended from May 18 to About June 2

Columbia,

FOIA Documents Confirm Profiteers Still Pursuing Scheme to Dump Highly Radioactive German Spent Fuel (Graphite “Pebbles”) at SRS – Should be Terminated

SRS and the German entity Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagen (JEN) are still working on the scheme to import German highly radioactive graphite spent fuel from the Jülich,

“DOE Ignores COVID-19 Threat, Diverts Resources to Planning for Nuclear War by Releasing Draft Environmental Study on SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP)”

Today,

Why is Savannah River site management not telling the public what’s going on at SRS is response to the threat of the coronavirus?

As SRS management has failed to release a list of “mission-critical activities”

SRS Watch news, March 27, 202o:  “While the Nation Rallies to Confront Virus, Savannah River Site Takes Eye Off the Threat and Focuses on Planning for New Nuclear Arms Race  –

This is Very Worrying: SRS Action Against the Virus Comes Late, After Public Already Acting

The DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) on the afternoon of Monday,

“Request to Publish Notice of Draft Supplement Analysis in the Federal Register, DOE/EIS-0380-SA-06: Draft Supplement Analysis”

Public interest groups working for US DOE to fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its unjustified plans to produce more plutonium “pits”

We are hearing NOTHING about what DOE and the NRC are doing to protect public safety by working to make sure staffing at key operations – like SRS high-level waste management &

Is SRS and the German entity Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagen (JEN) still working on the scheme to import German highly radioactive graphite spent fuel from the Jülich storage site to SRS for reprocessing and dumping? 

Is the scheduled start-up of the far over-budget, far behind-schedule Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at risk?

The SWPF facility is key to SRS high-level waste management.

DOE Budget Documents Reveals Massive, Unrealistic Funding Request for Plutonium Bomb Plant at SRS

Columbia, South Carolina – New budget-request documents released by the U.S.