The DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals has decided in favor of SRS Watch and granted our appeal of an inadequate search for documents relevant to our FOIA request related to import and dumping of Ger man spent fuel at SRS. The request has been “remanded” back to SRS to conduct an adequate search. See the order here: FIA-23-0022 FOIA appeal order August 1 2023
We already know that the import has been canceled but we have been seeking documents about what DOE knew about that and how they reacted to the government agency JEN in Germany.
See SRS Watch post of July 12, 2023 about our Freedom of Information Act request, including documents obtained, and about our appeal: https://srswatch.org/srs-watch-files-appeal-to-inadequate-srs-response-to-foia-request-for-documents-on-the-now-terminated-scheme-to-dump-highly-radioactive-german-spent-fuel-at-srs/
See many other relevant posts about this issue on the SRS Watch website – search for “German” or “Germany,” for example.
Decision by the Office of Hearings and Appeals are posted weekly on their website. Here’s the August 7, 2023 post for our victory in this FOIA case: https://www.energy.gov/oha/articles/summary-decisions-july-31-2023-august-04-2023
“FOIA; Appeal Granted
On August 1, 2023, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) granted the Freedom of Information ( FOIA) Appeal filed by Savannah River Site Watch (Appellant) from a determination letter issued by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Field Office (SRO). On appeal, the Appellant challenged the redaction of portions of an email provided with the second determination letter and the adequacy of the search in regard to its request for communications. After reviewing the redacted records, we found that there was no justification for the redaction of the email. After reaching out to SRO and the SMEs who completed the search, we also determined that they had not conducted a search reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents. Therefore, we remand to SRO, which shall reconsider the redactions made in the released email, clarify the scope of the request with the Appellant, conduct a new search, and issue a new determination. (OHA Case No. FIA-23-0022)”
See “Decision and Order” to our appeal: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/FIA-23-0022.pdf
SRS Watch has communicated with the SRS FOIA office to further define the “scope” of the request and the timeframe. Let’s hope SRS does a better job in responding this time.
Photos: SRS Watch represented outside nuclear research site in Juelich, Germany, where the spent fuel in question is stored & director Tom Clements, on left, lobbying in German Bundestag in Berlin against German spent fuel dumping on SRS.