DOE finally confirms that the congressionally required public-private funding plan for the plutonium-fueled Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) doesn’t exist.
Why did it take over two years to make this embarrassing admission? What is Congress doing on being stiffed by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy?
In a May 2, 2023 response to a SRS Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request – HQ-2022-00588-F – Final Response Letter acm signed – DOE admits a VTR funding report required by Congress does not exist:
“Your request was assigned to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) to conduct a search of its files for responsive documents. NE started its search on March 17, 2022, which is the cut-off date for responsive documents. NE has completed its search but did not locate any documents responsive to your request.
Therefore, pursuant to Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) § 1004.4(d), I am unable to provide any responsive documents for NE.”
The report on a public-private partnership on VTR funding was required to be delivered to Congress in late January 2021 – per requirements of Appropriations funding for Fiscal Year 2021. (See language in the SRS Watch FOIA request of July 23, 2021: request for VTR plan SRS Watch July 23 2021 resubmitted Dec 16 2021.)
Note in the FOIA response they did not include a date for the original SRS Watch request, which was July 23, 2021. As the request was totally ignored and no acknowledgement of receipt of it was sent to SRS Watch, the same request with its original July 2021 date with the July date was resubmitted on December 16, 2021.
Plutonium fuel for the VTR could have been made at SRS or Idaho National Lab (INL). The reactor was slated for INL. As the reactor would have run off plutonium it posed a proliferation risk. Likewise, a large volume of plutonium waste (transuranic waste, TRU) from fuel fabrication would have had to be dumped in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, straining its capacity.
The mishandling of this request shows that the FOIA office is in shambles and Secretary Granholm is doing nothing to correct it or improve DOE openness. Sad. And very detrimental to good government and public participation.
Notice that the pro-VTR National Academy of Sciences report released last week – Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States (2023) – says this about the VTR:
“Congress did not fund the VTR project in FY 2022 or FY 2023. The project is in standby status.”
Where did they come up with the project being on “standby” and what’s the definition of that term and who made such a “standby” decision? Is this just pro-VTR wishful thinking influenced by the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and VTR backers? As Congress hasn’t funded this projects, it’s dead.
Image: DOE rendering of VTR
Other outstanding SRS Watch FOIA requests that we are being stiffed by DOE/NNSA on: