U.S. DOE Releases Details of Environmental Meeting on June 24 on Import to Savannah River Site of German High-Level Nuclear Waste and Wrongly Claims there would be a Plan for its “Disposition”
Unprecedented Import of Commercial Spent Fuel, via Charleston, South Carolina, for Dumping at SRS May Violate International Norms Related to Nuclear Waste Management
Federal Register Notice of June 4: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf
Columbia, SC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has moved a step closer to what is believed to be the first import into the United States from a foreign country of highly radioactive commercial spent nuclear fuel. As there is no disposition path in the United States for such highly radioactive nuclear waste, there is concern that DOE is complicit in Germany’s plan to dump a daunting nuclear waste problem on the U.S.
DOE has today provided more details in a Federal Register notice about a June 24 meeting to be held near the 310-square mile Savannah River Site (SRS) on the proposed import of the hard-to-manage commercial spent fuel from Germany. DOE proposes to import 455 large storage casks of the unusual highly radioactive waste, which poses a management challenge in either Germany or the United States, over a period of three years via the port at Joint Base Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.
According to Savannah River Site Watch, a public interest group located near SRS, the planned import of commercial spent fuel may well be a violation of both the international “Convention on Nuclear Safety,” signed in 1994, and ratified by both Germany and the United States as well as the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,” also ratified by both countries. The two countries must explain how the proposed shipment of the commercial spent fuel to the US does not violate the conventions establishing international safety and management norms. The 5th Review Meeting of the Joint Convention will take place beginning on May 11, 2015.
The Federal Register notice states that an “environmental assessment” (EA) would be prepared to “analyze the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to accept, process, and disposition” of the import of spent fuel, in the unusual form of graphite spheres contained uranium and thorium, from the AVR and THTR-300 experimental gas-cooled reactors.
“While DOE is presenting the import of this spent fuel as step being taken for nuclear non-proliferation reasons, it is becoming clearer that the main driver is the lack of will by Germany to properly address its own nuclear waste problem,” said Tom Clements, director Savannah River Site Watch. “While some at SRS are eyeing the large sum of money that could be made on processing the spent fuel at SRS, Germany is obligated to implement the best practices in managing its own highly radioactive commercial spent fuel and that does not include dumping their problem on the Savannah River Site.”
According to SRS Watch, given a halt to plans to develop a a high-level waste repository in the United States and no final disposal facility at SRS, the notice is erroneous as there is no disposition plan for this waste nor any other high-level waste now at SRS. The only option for the waste, even if processed, would be long-term storage in one problematic form or another. “DOE is totally erroneous is presenting that a disposition path exists in the U.S. as such is clearly not the case,” said Clements. “DOE must clarify that there is no known disposition path in the U.S. for the German commercial nuclear waste being considered for import.”
The notice states that an environmental meeting on the proposal will be held on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, from6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Drive, North Augusta, South Carolina 29841. The notice also includes information as to where written comments can be sent.
SRS Watch encourages the public to attend the “scoping meeting” and make comments on both the proposed import of the German waste and also the trend of SRS to accept foreign nuclear waste and plutonium.
SRS Watch is aware that the total number of irradiated graphite spheres (the size of a billiard ball) is 290,000 for the AVR fuel and 605,000 for the THTR fuel. Both reactors were experimental commercial facilities, not research reactors. The issue of export to the U.S. has only come up in the last few years given lack of German will to manage the problematic gas reactor spent fuel.
The highly radioactive material from them is now stored in 30-tonne CASTOR casks at the two sites and is described in the Federal Register notice:
“The EA will to analyze the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to accept, process, and disposition used nuclear fuel from Germany containing approximately 900 kilograms (kg) of HEU from the United States. The used nuclear fuel is composed of kernels containing thorium and U.S.-origin HEU embedded in thousands of small graphite spheres. The United States provided the HEU to Germany between 1965 and 1988. The fuel was irradiated at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor (AVR) reactor, which operated from 1967 to 1988, and the Thorium High Temperature Reactor (THTR)-300, which operated from 1983 to 1989. These reactors operated as part of Germany’s program to research and develop pebble bed reactor technology. AVR reactor fuel is stored at Juelich, Germany, and the THTR–300 reactor fuel is stored at Ahaus, Germany.” Due to irradiation and radioactive decay, it is unknown how much HEU remains in the spent fuel. [The German word “versuchs” means “experimental.”]
The notice mentions three possible ways to manage and process the spent fuel but as no final disposition path exists it would stay at SRS, raising public concern about the proposal and larger issue of importation of nuclear waste and foreign plutonium to SRS. It appears that DOE may be attempting to keep the import of the spent fuel in its domain without involvement of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the U.S. licensing agency for commercial nuclear waste import. This will be raised at the June 24 meeting by SRS Watch.
“The NRC may well have a licensing role for this commercial venture if DOE decides to pursue it,” said Clements. “DOE must fully explain how this proposal is not simply a commercial waste management operation disguised as nuclear non-proliferation and so far they have fallen far short of an adequate explanation.”
Concerning transportation, today’s notice states “Under the proposed action, the German government would work with DOE to transport the used fuel by oceangoing vessel to the United States in DOE/U.S. Department of Transportation-certified Type B casks. The used fuel would be received at Joint Base Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, and then the casks would be transported by rail to SRS. DOE estimates that this could involve approximately 455 casks received over a period of approximately 3 years.”
Notes:
1. Federal Register notice, June 4, “Environmental Assessment for the Acceptance and Disposition of Used Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium From the Federal Republic of Germany”
text: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/html/2014-12933.htm
pdf: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-04/pdf/2014-12933.pdf
2. “Statement of Intent” between The U.S. Department of Energy & two German government entities, signed on March 28/April 1, 2014:
https://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/statement_of_intent_march_april_2014.pdf
3. Kein Export von Jülicher Atommüll nach South Carolina – SRS Watch statement against proposed export of spent fuel from Germany to the Savannah River Site, March 8, 2014 at Fukushima event in
Jülich, Germany,
http://www.westcastor.de/srs.htm
4. SRS Watch news release, May 30 – with links to key documents in “notes”:
https://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/savannah_river_site_watch_news_german_waste_sr_may_30_2014.pdf
Dumping of Waste from Juelich, Ahaus on SRS to be Opposed: Waste is in 457 30-tonne CASTOR Casks Holding 895,000 Graphite Balls
5. Convention on Nuclear Safety:
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf449.shtml
6. Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/1997/infcirc546.pdf
http://www-ns.iaea.org/conventions/waste-jointconvention.asp