See April 26, 2018 letter to SRS Watch linked here.
DOE news release of March 30, 2018:
Anne Marie White Sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management
SRS Watch News
Attention MOX workers, April 12, 2018
Please let us know what expectations you have as the MOX project enters the termination phase. As we don’t hear a single politician or DOE manager speaking up for you,
Radioactive Mouse Found in High-Level Radioactive Waste Tank Area at Savannah River Site; Mouse Reported to have Radioactive Surface Contamination More than 10 Times Levels in Regulations
Radioactive Mouse Incident Rises to Level of being only “Occurrence” Reported in SRS “Quarterly Legacy Contamination Report, January 2018 Through March 2018”
Columbia, South Carolina – A mouse contaminated with a high level of radioactive material was found in a building located in the midst of tanks storing highly radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site,
NRC Confirms that it No Longer has Resident Inspector at Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant, Claiming Lack of Work; Admission Comes as Pro-MOX Senator States MOX Completion Far Below Earlier Claims
Memo on Needed “Rework” at MOX Plant Obtained via FOIA Request, Gives Hint at Extent of Construction Problems and Who Might Pay – Rework and Contractor Performance Merit Investigation
Columbia,
Congressional Funding Keeps Bungled MOX Project at Shut-Down Funding Level, Accepts Defense Committee Language for Conditions to Terminate MOX, Pursue Alternative and Remove Plutonium from S. Carolina
Columbia, SC – The budget deal revealed by Congress keeps the troubled plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site on life support and, in a significant new move,
ALERT TO MOX CRAFT WORKERS!
The spending agreement – linked in the SRS Watch news release below – allows Secretary Perry to terminate the MOX boondoggle 30 days after DOE has met the requirements for termination.
DOE Reveals it has No Plans to Receive Plutonium or Weapon-Grade Uranium (“Special Nuclear Material”) or Nuclear Weapons from North Korea, in Surprise Response to FOIA Request
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Response to SRS Watch linked here
Is Response Accurate or is there No Formal DOE Plan for Fate of N.
DOE Posts NNSA Budget Request, Confirms Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Fiasco “Final Termination” at Savannah River Site in 2021, Focus on “Dilute & Dispose” for Plutonium Disposition
Budget Request States Plans is to Ramp up Dilute & Dispose to Remove “1 metric ton (MT) of Plutonium from the State of South Carolina” and Dispose of 34 Metric Tons
National Nuclear Security Administration Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2019:
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/02/f49/DOE-FY2019-Budget-Volume-1.pdf
Columbia,
SRS Documents Debunk its Own Hyped Up “Drone Scare of 2016”
Does this SRS photo look like a drone to you? If so, please call the Savannah River Site and apply for a security job.
SRS Watch news,
SRS Watch Congratulates Trump Administration for Sticking with Sound Policy to Terminate Plutonium MOX Construction Fiasco at Savannah River Site
SRS Watch news release linked here
—– Friends of the Earth 2013 – Oink! youtube video on MOX fiasco – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PTwods3Y4
New Aerial Photos of Our 3 New-Nuclear Construction Debacles Released: MOX, Vogtle, VC Summer
February 5, 2018, Columbia, S.C. – New aerial photos of the three U.S. nuclear construction fiascos located in South Carolina or on the border have been released.
This Cool Cat Smells a Stinky MOX Rat
President Trump: RELEASE THE MOX MEMO!!!!
It’s February 2, 2018 and it’s time to release the memo outlining how the the plutonium MOX project at SRS failed and can never be made to work!
Picture SRS Watch Director Wins Conservation Award
Tom Clements, the director of Savannah River Site Watch and senior adviser with Friends of the Earth, was presented the “Conservationist of the Year” award by the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club at its annual awards banquet in Columbia,
December 19, 2017: SRS Watch Files FOIA Request for Plans to Bring Nuclear Weapons and Special Nuclear Materials from North Korea to DOE Sites, including Savannah River Site – For Storage and Disposition
In Event of an Avoidable, Unnecessary War with N. Korea and if Nuclear Weapons and Plutonium, Highly Enriched Uranium are Seized or Obtained, What would be the Role of NNSA and DOE Sites?
As MOX Remains on Shut-down Track, National Academies of Sciences Review of Non-MOX Disposal of Surplus Plutonium Gets Under Way with Meeting in Washington; Public Meeting to be Held Near Savannah River Site in Early 2018
NAS Committee to Review “Dilute & Dispose” of Plutonium as Nuclear Waste, in WIPP Facility; Plutonium Immobilization not Revived but has been best Disposal Option Since Inception of Surplus Plutonium Project
Columbia,
Seeing nothing but RED for a mismanaged MOX project that continues to teeter on the congressionally mandated precipice of oblivion
As we know and as is unavoidable due to on-going construction and management problems, the US Department of Energy again awards the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site a failing grade.
Quote of the month, which backs up our reporting that production of plutonium oxide in the HB-Line, for the failed MOX project, has ceased:
“Plutonium dissolution activities [in HB-Line] are on hold right now…[we] don’t anticipate that moving in the future.”
— Tony Polk, Director Nuclear Material Programs Division
DOE Savannah River Operations Office,
DOE Affirms Bungled Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Project at SRS is Not Sustainable and Must be Terminated
See October 12, 2017 presentation by Robert Raines, NNSA, Associate Administrator for Acquisition and Project Management to the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council:
Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF)
“Latest Government estimate [on MOX plant construction cost and schedule]: $17.2B and 2048 completion date”
New Aerial Photos of Partially Constructed Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Plant at DOE’s Savannah River Site Released as Rumors of Layoffs Emerge; Photos Reveal Little Work Progress on Exterior of MOX Plant as the Bungled Project Teeters on the Edge of Termination
Columbia, SC – Newly obtained aerial photographs of the plutonium fuel (MOX) plan at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site reveal little external progress on the partially constructed facility.
Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) approves recommendation against importing and dumping German spent fuel at SRS, at September 26, 2017 meeting in Charleston, South Carolina
Draft recommendation “Oppose Receipt of German SNF for Treatment and Storage in the U.S.” – linked here
Watch for the pro-dumping members of the CAB,
Status of Plutonium Oxide Production – supposedly for MOX fuel fabrication – in HB-Line? Why won’t SRS be honest and admit it’s ending? (OK, go ahead and laugh about that material being used for MOX as that ship is sinking, sinking, sinking….)
An SRS official admitted on August 8 at and SRS Citizens Advisory Board committee meeting that processing continues only for plutonium solutions in H-Canyon. But they can’t yet bring themselves to admit there are no more plutonium shipments from storage in the K-Area to HB-Line for processing.
Construction of MOX Facility Marks 10th Anniversary – No Celebration Expected Given Mismanaged Construction and as Project Remains on Life Support and On Track to Termination
Odds Falling that the Badly Bungled MOX Project Will Make it to its 11th Anniversary
Columbia, SC — With no fanfare expected and no reason to celebrate,
Please allow us to drone on…..SRS is pro-actively undermining its credibility by failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by SRS Watch in November 2016
See partial list of outstanding SRS Watch FOIA requests, July 24, 2017, linked here
Why is SRS refusing to release any evidence about the hyped up “Drone Scare of 2016”
2017 Nuclear Materials Management Plan for DOE’s Savannah River Site Reveals Plutonium Oxide Production in HB-Line is Halting – Setback for MOX as Main Source of Plutonium “Feedstock” Eliminated
SRS Watch news, July 20, 2017 – news release linked here
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board: Nuclear Material Shipment to H-Canyon and HB-Line Halted
Note: The news release posted on July 20 was clear in that processing of plutonium liquid in HB-Line would continue and that processing of plutonium from K-Area would cease.
MOX Showdown at High Noon, July 20, 2017:
MOX Termination on the Move in U.S. Senate
Senate Energy & Water chairman and ranking member vs $enator “MOXie” Graham, who stands alone in defending MOX waste for his client (CB&I AREVA MOX Services) —–
U.S. DOE Documents Obtained via FOIA Request Confirm “Mission Need” to Expand “Dilute and Dispose” Method of Plutonium Disposition at Savannah River Site, Replacing MOX
Dilute and Dispose Faces Hurdles, Including Capacity of WIPP Disposal Site in New Mexico
Columbia, South Carolina – U.S. Department of Energy documents confirm that DOE has officially justified disposition of larger amounts of surplus weapon-grade plutonium via “dilute and dispose,” an alternative to the mismanaged plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site.
MOX Workers Jumping Ship
July 10, 2017: We’re hearing turnover amongst workers at the MOX debacle remains high…they come…they get trained…they leave for higher-paying jobs where they can earn overtime = a formula for poor performance as termination of the project closes in.
MOX Albatross Weighing Heavier and Heavier on Necks of Senator Graham and Representative Wilson
The last quarter of the U.S. Government’s Fiscal Year 2017 has arrived and we expect more action by DOE to start shutting down the bungled plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
House Armed Services Committee Sets Stage for Termination of Mismanaged MOX Project; Defense Spending Bill Stipulates that Continuation of the MOX Project can be Waived by Secretary of Energy
Columbia, South Carolina – A pathway to terminate the troubled plutonium fuel (MOX) project at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) has been presented by the U.S.
Research reactor spent fuel from Peru to SRS – arrived late June, 2017. It’s not bomb-grade uranium so it wasn’t brought to the US for nuclear non-proliferation reasons….
Spent fuel from the RP-10 research reactor in Peru appears to have been transported on the ship Palermo, which left Peru on May 23 and went around Cape Horn –