A draft recommendation before the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) to explore reprocessing of commercial spent fuel at SRS is misguided, poorly written and reveals profound ignorance of SRS abilities and the problems associated with reprocessing. It appears that the draft recommendation is being pushed to show SRS can jump on the reprocessing bandwagon being promoted by DOE.
See the draft recommendation posted here: Draft Rec – Fuel Rod Recycling-1 August 15 2023
Reprocessing at SRS would mean spent fuel import, more high-level nuclear waste generation and more stockpiled plutonium, all of which the public will reject for SRS. Reprocessing, as suggested, could not be accomplished in the H-Canyon reprocessing plant in any case. That facility is slated for closure in the late 2020s and would not have but minimal capacity even if it could be converted to reprocess commercial spent fuel.
The draft recommendation will be discussed, according to an email from CAB management “On August 15, 2023, the SRS CAB will hold subcommittee meetings from 4:00pm to 7:45pm. The subcommittee meetings will take place at the DOE Meeting Center, which is located at 230 Village Green Blvd, Suite 220, Aiken, SC 29803. Please see the attached agenda and DOE Response to Recommendation 379.”
UPDATE, August 17: The CAB’s Nuclear Materials committee did not advance to draft recommendation to the full CAB for a vote. The backers of the recommendation realized its many flaws, particularly that the issue of commercial spent fuel is not in the purview of the CAB. The statement by SRS Watch against the draft recommendation helped inform the committee – see it here: Comments by SRS Watch on reprocessing draft recommendation SRS CAB Aug 15 2023
When this recommendation is defeated, watch for reprocessing boosters to pursue another angle with reprocessing, like promotion of building a new reprocessing plant at SRS, for which no need will ever be demonstrated. The thought of such a facility, at, say $25 billion oy of public coffers, is too tempting for special interests to ignore.
DOE photos: 68-year-old H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS, which was used to separate nuclear weapons materials, with a by-product high-level nuclear waset stream pumped into 51 HLW tanks at SRS (43 are still open)