SRS Watch in:
“Nuclear agency reports ‘apparent’ violations at MOX plant”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 30, 2016
photos above and to left: MOX boondoggle construction site in F-Area at SRS, June 20, 2016, can be used with this credit: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – photos of MOX plant legally taken in full compliance with FAA regulations – yes, this is what a $8-12 billion concrete box looks like – this debacle has been brought to you by DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX $ervice$
and their political minions (Senator Lindsey “MOXie” Graham and Representative Joe Wilson)
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“Cancel the plutonium fuel [MOX] factory”
The Hill, July 18, 2016
blog linked here
“Twenty years ago, in the Clinton Administration, both of us helped launch a program to build a factory to turn the excess plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear reactors. At that time, the full life-cycle cost estimate to make this plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel was expected to be less than $2 billion dollars. Now, however, with official cost estimates ballooning to over $30 billion, it is clear that the project has become too expensive. It is time to stop throwing good money after bad and pursue cheaper alternatives that will serve our national security better.”
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photo: Traditional shipment method for AVR spent fuel – a la East Germany style? Well, more like it’s a “shipment” by local Juelich activists who want the spent fuel to be securely stored where it’s now located (at the Forschungzentrum Juelich) and not shipped to either SRS or the Ahaus facility.
“Schlag gegen US-Option: Erneut Schwierigkeiten für Export des Atommülls aus Jülich und Ahaus”
“Blow to US-option: More difficulties for export of nuclear waste from Jülich and Ahaus”
— in “die ‘neue’ Linke online Zeitung” – 29 Juli 2016
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“US-Umweltschützer sind für “No Action” beim Jülicher Atommüll”
— in “Der Ahauser” – 29 July 2016
Google translate: “US environmentalists are for “No Action” at the Jülich nuclear waste”
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German WDR radio reports on SRS Citizens Advisory Board vote on July 26 against bringing German commercial spent fuel to SRS – July 28, 2016
“Offenbar keine USA-Lösung für Jülicher Atomüll”
“Apparently no US solution for Jülich nuclear waste”
photo below: Voting by SRS Citizens Advisory Board in 13 to 5 vote against receipt and processing of German commercial spent fuel at SRS, July 26, 2016, New Ellenton, South Carolina community center, (near the SRS main gate), by SRS Watch
Opinion column by leader of Aiken, SC Sierra Club:
“Savannah River Site reporting should maintain neutrality”
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, July 28, 2016
op-ed linked here
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Victory on German spent fuel dumping issue!
SRS Watch in “Savannah River Site board votes to officially oppose accepting German spent nuclear fuel”
Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, July 26, 2016
article on public victory linked here
&
“Savannah River Site advisory group says ‘No’ to German fuel, long-term nuclear waste storage”
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, July 27, 2016
photo: SRS CAB members vote on July 26 against import and dumping of German spent fuel at SRS, photo by SRS Watch
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“Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions
under NEPA – 33rd Edition – July 2016 – U.S. Department of Energy, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance”NEPA = National Environmental Policy Act
“DOE Offices are encouraged to be inclusive in providing potentially interested parties with opportunities to review NEPA documents. This Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA is primarily intended to supplement lists that Departmental Offices compile for individual projects or facilities. It complements the EIS Distribution Guidance. The Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance updates this Directory annually in July and may issue revisions throughout the year as new information becomes available.”
website explaining “Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA (DOE, 2016) – linked here
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Reprocessing of highly radioactive spent fuel – the removal of plutonium from spent fuel, with a host of troublesome waste streams – is on the decline worldwide.
If you ever hear the false claim from a booster of reprocessing that France reprocesses for Europe, point out this new AREVA document that confirms that reprocessing of European spent fuel in France is all but over with. Reprocessing of domestic spent is on its last legs in Great Britain and continued reprocessing of domestic spent fuel in France is under growing stress.
“Traitement des combustibles usés provenant de l’étranger dans les installations d’AREVA NC la Hague – Rapport 2015″
This coal plant debacle sounds an awful like the MOX boondoggle:
“Piles of Dirty Secrets Behind a Model ‘Clean Coal’ Project”
New York Times, July 5, 2016
When will DOE/NNSA/CB&I AREVA MOX Services be investigated for waste, fraud abuse & mismanagement of the MOX project? They can run but they can’t hide forever. For example, when will the FBI provide the public service it’s beholden to provide and investigate potentially illegal activities at MOX?
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Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, June 30, 2016
—with photo of citizen and “Stop Plutonium” and”Cut MOX Pork” signs
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“Judge hears arguments in South Carolina MOX plutonium case”
Charleston Post & Courier, June 30, 2016
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“Drone reports at SC nuclear weapons site spark federal scrutiny”
The State, Columbia, SC, June 30, 2018
>>>> Note: SRS Watch has absolutely no knowledge of any kind about drones at SRS or anywhere else. Even if drone use over SRS is legal, as reported today (June 30) by WRDW-TV (Savannah, Georgia), this matter may merit investigation by authorities. Plane overflight of DOE sites is legal, but the FAA recommends a 2000-foot altitude over such sites. In any event, our SRS oversight work continues.
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Recall a knock on the door by FBI agents of a colleague in the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA):
“When the FBI comes knocking… or Living in a nation on high alert”
by Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), October 5, 2016 – linked here
Who played the FBI in this case and why? The intimidation didn’t work. The FBI agents came off as looking foolish for not having done their homework and for being duped.
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“The Security Firm That Employed the Orlando Shooter Protects American Nuclear Facilities”
The New Yorker magazine, June 27, 2016
Right after the Orlando shootings, SRS Watch asked SRS if the new security company at the Savannah River Site (SRS) – Centerra – thoroughly reviewed all the employees it inherited in November 2014 from G4S, the company the shooter worked for.
See SRS Watch – SRS email messages of June 12, 2016 and June 14 and Centerra news release of June 14 concerning security personnel at the Savannah River Site and the status of personnel security reviews by Centerra – linked here
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Wait, the shipment of 331 kilograms of plutonium from Japan to SRS didn’t impact Japan’s status as a latent nuclear weapons state?! (DOE has still to justify why 236 kg of that plutonium, of UK origin, was dumped on June 4/5, 2016 at SRS….)
“Japan could get nuclear weapons ‘virtually overnight,’ Biden tells Xi”
Japan Times, June 25, 2016
“Referring to Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test and missile launches in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Biden said that if China and the United States fail to take effective action against North Korea, “What happens if Japan, who could go nuclear tomorrow? They have the capacity to do it virtually overnight.””
Information Circular 549 – Japan’s voluntary reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency, August 28, 2015 – Japan holds 10.5 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium domestically & 37 metric tons of plutonium at reprocessing plant in the UK and France. Enough is enough! It’s past time for Japan to stop reprocessing and plutonium stockpiling!
SRS Watch staff have been calling since the early 1990s for a halt to Japan’s pursuit of reprocessing and plutonium stockpiling. The fact that the US Government has enabled Japan to pursue plutonium stockpiling has undermined the credibility of nuclear non-proliferation policies and anything the US says on the matter. Lesson to be learned: NGOs have been leaders on this matter but we welcome when governments finally listen and act.
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>>> briefing by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), UK, 21st June 2016 – linked here
exclusive photos: Pacific Heron (19 June) and Pacific Egret (20 June, on arrival in the port of Barrow-in-Furness, UK, ©Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) – can be used with credit
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”SCE&G asking for $852 million more to finish Summer nuclear plants”
The SCANA-owned utility also seeks a new fixed price contract option
Utility says future cost overruns would belong to construction contractor Westinghouse
S.C. public interest agency says price tag would not be “fixed”; likely to cost more
The State, Columbia, SC, front page, June 14, 2016
article, with SRS Watch, linked here
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Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, June 10, 2016
Expect the DOE to release the Environmental Assessment on this scheme in June. The EA will be to continue R&D on the AVR & THTR graphite spent fuel but not actually import it. The export from Germany of that material is illegal and will run into legal problems if an export license were to be applied for. At this point, some at SRS just want a next payment from the Forschung Zentrum Juelich (FZJ), where some of the waste, is stored, to continue work by Savannah River National Lab (SRNL) on reprocessing the material.
photo: Greenpeace Germany image on the long-closed AVR reactor at Juelich: “South Carolina not a Nuclear Waste Dump for Germany”
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Attend if you can! Date may change so stay tuned
Feb. 9, 2016 filing by State of South Carolina linked here
—–from SC federal district court website (your must register & it’s hard to manage) – in case case# 1:16-cv-00391-JMC:
“NOTICE of Hearing on Motion 10 MOTION for Summary Judgment, 6 MOTION to Intervene, 20 MOTION to Stay, 17 MOTION to Dismiss : Motion Hearing set for 6/30/2016 10:00 AM in Columbia # 3, Matthew J. Perry Court House, 901 Richland St, Columbia before Honorable J Michelle Childs. ***Please note this hearing will include all pending motions not ruled upon prior to the date of the hearing***(asni, ) (Entered: 05/24/2016)
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF )
ENERGY; ))DR. ERNEST MONIZ, in his official capacity as )
Secretary of Energy; )) NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY )
ADMINISTRATION; and )) LT. GENERAL FRANK G. KLOTZ,
>>>>> Is the law under which the plutonium removal is being sought phony?
see SRS Watch news – October 27, 2015 – linked here
“Failure of MOX Project at the Savannah River Site Legally Mandates DOE to Begin Removal of 1 Metric Ton of Weapons Plutonium from South Carolina by January 1, 2016 or Face $1 Million/Day in Fines
In Reality, the Plutonium-Removal Law is a Farce Used by Senator Lindsey Graham to Hold South Carolina Hostage to Endless Spending on the Failed, Mismanaged MOX Project of CB&I AREVA MOX Services
Plans for Plutonium Shipments from Los Alamos in New Mexico to SRS Must be Suspended”
photo: Matthew J. Perry Court House, 901 Richland St, Columbia, SC
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“Barrow ships’ controversial plutonium cargo from Japan unloaded at the US Port of Charleston. Several weeks of an extended voyage from Japan unaccounted for”
– briefing by Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), 7th June 2016, Cumbria, UK (near the Sellafield nuclear site) – linked here
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Ship Tracking by SRS Watch and Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE) forces confirmation from US DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of arrival of plutonium transport ships
June 6, 2016
NNSA news release:
“NNSA Announces Arrival of Plutonium and Uranium from Japan’s Fast Critical Assembly at Savannah River Site and Y-12 National Security Complex”
WASHINGTON (June 6, 2016) – A shipment of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)’s Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) reactor arrived safely at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., and Y-12 National Security Complex near Oak Ridge, Tenn.
NNSA statement linked here
news articles:
Plutonium shipped through Charleston to SRS
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, June 6, 2016
&
Japanese Plutonium Arrives in SC, Despite Haley’s Objections
Associated Press, June 6, 2016
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“Break It Down: Plutonium” [and SRS…]
— on the”On Second Thought” radio program, Georgia Public Broadcasting, June 6, 2016, with SRS Watch director Tom Clements
“The Nuclear Security Summit took place in Washington, D.C. in March and Georgia came up in the discussions among international leaders. Why? Because Japanese and American officials have decided to send 730 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium to the Savannah River Site, a nuclear reservation on the Georgia-South Carolina border. There’s a lot of concern over this decision, but what exactly is plutonium and why is it dangerous?”
listen here: http://gpbnews.org/post/break-it-down-plutonium
photo by DOE, K-Reactor, where 13 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium are stored at SRS, material which has no clear disposition path out of SRS
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See c
Why is SCE&G keeping customers in the dark about nuclear construction costs? As of June 6, 2016, a SCE&G customer can look at their bill and not know anything about the pay-in-advance nuclear construction charge.
See copy of SCE&G bill here – with no breakdown of nuclear construction costs. Does SCE&G think that an ignorant customer is a compliant customer?
While customers of Georgia Power and South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) are forced by unjust state laws (that need to be changed) to bear all risks and cost of the new nuclear plant construction projects, at least Georgia Power customers can see a line item on their monthly bill for “Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery.” Thanks to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) for the successful effort to require this of GA Power.
SCE&G refuses to let customers easily determine the monthly charge for the nuclear project at the VC Summer site in South Carolina. As the project now faces another $852 million cost overrun and more cost increases and schedule delays are likely, it’s time for SCE&G to start putting the nuclear cost on the bill!
In the coming days, SCE&G will file for the ninth (yes 9th!) pay-in advance rate hike to pay for financing cost of the new reactor project. This rate hike will be only to cover financing costs. We are already paying 15.5% of our SCE&G bill for the nuclear financing costs and that soon will likely be around 18%. What will happen to bill when the much higher capital (construction) costs go into the rate base?
— image of Georgia Power bill courtesy of Nuclear Watch South
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Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, May 29, 2016 – commentary by South Carolina AARP linked here
On May 26, SCE&G has filed with the South Carolina Public Service Commission a request to raise the cost of the twin-unit AP1000 reactor project at the VC Summer site a whopping $852 million over the last increase in 2015. See filing in Docket 2016-232-E here.
And, on May 26, SC&G notified the PSC that it would be filing for the 9th pay-in-advance rate hike to pay for the nuclear project. When approved by a compliant PSC, the SCE&G bill will be well over 15% for the nuclear project and that’s just for financing costs. Imagine what will happen when capital (construction costs go into the bill. See letter to PSC here.
Photo of VC Summer nuclear site: “©High Flyer, special to SRS Watch” – March 6, 2016 – can be used with credit
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SRS Watch will be tabling at the Jackson Brown concert on May 29 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Guacamole Fund, which supports us via sales of blocks of special tickets, set up the tabling event for us. Thanks, Guacamole!
If you attend the concert stop by and say hello. We’ll have a letter to sign to Governor Nikk Haley (South Carolina) against DOE’s plans to import more nuclear waste and plutonium to SRS.
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“Federal judge rules out third party in MOX suit, while Senate committee express ‘growing concern’ over facility”
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 27, 2016
If the Senate Armed Services Committee is expressing concern to the DOE secretary about mismanagement of the MOX project the committee needs to affirm its own responsibility in allowing the failed project to drag on and on and on without proper oversight and investigations.
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Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, May 26, 2016
A draft SRS Citizens Advisory Board letter against the German waste import was suppressed by DOE and CAB management, which did not allow discussion at the CAB meeting on May 23 despite the letter being duly approved by the CAB’s Nuclear Materials Committee and passed to the full CAB for discussion – linked here. A similar version of this letter, in the form of a draft statement, may be discussed at the Nuclear Materials meeting on June 7, 2016 in New Ellenton, South Carolina.
Will there be further interference by DOE or will the CAB be allowed to follow its normal procedures in dealing with the statement against the German nuclear waste import?
Recall that DOE has already stated in a memo – linked here – that there is no proliferation risk if the waste is left in Germany. But some at SRS pursue it as an unjustified money-making research venture that will only make the waste-management situation worse at SRS.
— photos above from rally in Juelich, Germany on May 21, 2016, against the shipment of the nuclear waste casks from the site where some of them are now stored (Forschungzentrum Juelich)
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May 21, 2016 in Germany: Demonstrations against moving high-level nuclear waste (in CASTOR casks) from the Juelich research site to either Ahaus or to the United States (Savannah River Site), via the port of Nordenham.
SRS Watch supports this action by our German colleagues against dumping high-level spent fuel at SRS. We call on DOE to halt the unjustified waste-import proposal.
At SRS the graphite spent fuel balls from the long-closed AVR and THTR gas-cooled reactors will only add to the SRS waste burden and there is no long-term disposal plan for the waste. The scheme is only being pursued because some at SRS are chasing the money that some in Germany would pay to process and dump the waste here and keep the aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant operating.
21. Mai 2016 – Ahaus-Jülich – Autobahn-Aktionstag
Mit Aktionen zwischen Ahaus und Jülich
http://westcastor.blogsport.de/
WDR German TV news coverage, May 21 starts around 11′ 24″ – linked here
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Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, May 17, 2016
ATLANTA — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atlanta-based inspectors noted three issues in the construction of the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River Site.
NRC Issues MOX Plant Construction Violations!
Though we regard the inspections by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the MOX plant to be cursory and are told that they can be fooled, the NRC has cited CB&I AREVA MOX Services for construction violations. It’s a big step for the NRC to take and we expect inspections to get more serious given the continued rumors of design and construction problems.
“MIXED OXIDE FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY- NRC INSPECTION REPORT NUMBER 70-3098/2016-001” –
April 29, 2016 – linked here
“Based on the results of this inspection, the enclosed report documents findings which were determined to involve violations of NRC requirements.”
Violations include:
“This NCV is associated with the inadequate design control activities of ECR-008080 which resulted in the fabrication by welding of safety-related structural steel fire doors and their concrete anchors that were not designed or fabricated in accordance with the AWS D1.6 minimum fillet weld sizes for small diameter studs.”
“This NCV is associated with the inadequate design control activities of FCR-004483 which resulted in the fabrication by welding of safety5 related structural steel built up members that were not designed or fabricated in accordance with the AWS D1.6 prohibited joint design requirements.”
“The detailed inspection activities identified NCV 70-3098/2016-01-02, associated with failure to meet bolted connection requirements for HSA ductwork; and NCV 70-3098/2016-01-04, associated with the failure to maintain appropriate controls for the inspection planning of QL-1 systems, components and structures.”
NRC’s April 29, 2016 MOX inspection report linked here
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Here’s an updated “Part 21 report” – on suspect vendor-supplied items – to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The gloveboxes were supplied by B
yers Precision Fabricators to the MOX project. The report states: “The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is evaluating a nonconforming condition associated with vendor non-adherence to standard welding procedure specifications during fabrication of six gloveboxes. No basic components have been determined to contain a defect.”We assume that like all other Part 21 reports this one will be swept under the rug by the NRC. Will the NNSA will prove itself capable of inspecting the gloveboxes for its own project to determine if they should be rejected or be rebuilt?
April 26, 2016 report linked here
Article in Hendersonville, NC Times-News paper, September 12, 2012: “
U.S. Department of Energy honors Byers Precision Fabricators – Hendersonville company provided special equipment for use at the Savannah River nuclear site in S.C.” – linked here—–
“UK-US air transports of high enriched uranium: global security at risk for commercial gain”
(w/ credit to SRS Watch at end of article)
The Ecologist, UK, 3rd May 2016
“Planned air transports of high-enriched uranium from Dounreay in Scotland to the US state of Tennessee would risk of accident or a terrorist seizure of weaponusable nuclear material, writes Ernie Galsworthy. The motive for the transport appears to be purely commercial – and would thus put the public at needless risk for the sake of a cut-price nuclear waste / fuel deal between US and UK authorities.”
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“Can the US-Russia plutonium disposition agreement be saved?”
Pavel Podvig in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, April 28, 2016
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“MOX Contractor Slammed for Poor Performance”
by Project on Government Oversight (POGO),
May 2, 2016
blog linked here
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