UPDATE on March 9, 2022: Looks like the end is at hand for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). It is due to get knocked out of the House Omnibus funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2022 funding & that’s likely to be adopted by the Senate. See page 133 pdf – the VTR gets minus $145 million below what was requested = $0 = a big fat goose egg: https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20220307/BILLS-117RCP35-JES-DIVISION-D.pdf
So, 34 metric tons of plutonium (surplus pits) won’t be brought to SRS to be processed into fuel for this unnecessary reactor. Thus, no associated risks and no plutonium waste at SRS. Even boosters weren’t betting on this Turkey Reactor so no tears in Aiken contractor town. They have bet the farm on the provocative, unneeded $20 billion Plutonium Bomb Plant. Will increased pursuit of plutonium pit reuse deal a further blow to the already over-budget, behind-schedule PBP?
UPDATE on March 11, 2022: The House and Senate have passed the Omnibus spending bill and funding for the VTR was eliminated. Thus, the project has been terminated. But watch them try to keep going with earlier funding or funding for INL or DOE labs. Lack of a private funding partner cooked the project’s goose. Section D – Energy & Water (DOE) – posted by the Senate – also see page 133 pdf for $0 for the VTR: https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20220307/BILLS-117RCP35-JES-DIVISION-D.pdf
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Documents obtained on March 7, 2022 by SRS Watch under a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) – aka Virtual Test Reactor (as that’s about all we’ll ever see) – is on shaky ground and hopes to be funded in Fiscal Year 2022 under a “continuing resolution.” Yet, it appear that work has slowed and that project documentation is being archived, indicating a lack of optimism. The project, with the reactor slated for Idaho National Lab, was not funded by Congress through the normal FY 22 budget process.
The plutonium fuel for the VTR – which poses a proliferation risk – could be fabricated at SRS or Idaho National Lab, from a whopping 34 metric tons of stored plutonium pits from retired warheads. NO THANKS, we don’t want that job – which would pose a safety hazard and creates a huge amount of transuranic waste – at SRS.
“Archival of project documentation within Confluence continued. Using a single tool will ensure that a usable archive is available for resuming work should funding be restored. Efforts to generate an index of all documents that can be made more broadly available while avoiding export control restrictions are also underway.” (from December 2021 FY22 Status report linked below)
Read details – but read between the lines as they are trying to keep a stiff upper lip about survival of the unnecessary, costly project:
January 2022 monthly report: https://srswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/January-2022-Monthly-Status-Report-Rev-3-Final-2-28-2022.pdf
December 2021 monthly report: https://srswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/December-2021-Monthly-Status-Report-Rev-2-FINAL.pdf