Here are some Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by SRS Watch – which indicate how slow DOE processes FOIA (counter to DOE regulations). Such slow response to FOIA request by public interests groups like SRS Watch undermines public confidence and hurts transparency and openness. But is anyone at DOE paying attention to this? Not DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who has done nothing as far as we can tell to make DOE’s FOIA response much better.
The FOIA offices need more resources and the program offices need clear instructions to respond to requests when the FOIA officers ask for documents.
Here are some examples of DOE foot dragging when it comes to FOIA requests (for discreet documents that should exist). We could give more, of much worse delays.
1. FOIA request for congressional mandated public-private funding plan for Versatile Test Reactor (VTR, with possible plutonium fuel fabrication at SRS. After years of foot dragging DOE finally responded – no funding plan exists, due to that and no funding by Congress in Fiscal Years 2022 & 2023, the project is dead: HQ-2022-00588-F – Final Response Letter acm signed
2. Still no response for request for plutonium pit aging plan, as required by Congress in the 2021 appropriations act: initial NNSA response for plutonium aging plan July 26 2021 The NNSA FOIA office claims a response is being worked on: “The Estimated Time of Completion (ETC) for FOIA 21-00276-R is 1 Aug 23. The case is undergoing a declassification review!” We shall see…
3. FOIA request on report required by Congress on moving the ARIES facility from Los Alamos to SRS – makes plutonium oxide from plutonium pits, to be used in plutonium downblending (for disposal in the WIPP facility in New Mexico): initial NNSA reponse on moving ARIES to SRS Sep 25 2020 On May 10, 2023, the NNSA FOIA office says the document(s) should be available soon: “I wanted to provide you with a status update regarding FOIA 20-00244-R. We expect an ETC of 31 May 23 to provide you with responsive records if not sooner!
4. Our request for any new agreement between SRS and the pertinent German entity (JEN) on bringing AVR reactor spent fuel to SRS for processing and dumping – still no response but SRS says “We have received documents from the contractor that are responsive to your request. At this time, we are working through redactions with them. It is our intent to provide you as much information as possible. We are set to have a meeting with all parties early next week. Following that meeting, my hope is that we will all be in agreement and can send you the documents. Thank you for your patience.” This FOIA request isn’t much delayed and is a “best case” example but it’s beyond the mentioned 30-60 day response time that was committed to. Fingers crossed for a response soon! Here’s the acknowledgement response (date should be March 1, 2023): SRO-2023-00646-F Clements first letter German spent fuel agreement March 1 2023