Plutonium Disposition Red Team Report Leaked on August 20:
The report – linked here – affirms what Savannah River Site Watch has been saying for over two years – that the mismanaged MOX program needs at least $800 million/year to be viable. Congress is only funding it to the tune of $345 million/year, and $800 million/year for two decades or more is simply not available in the DOE budget. This means that the MOX program has been on an unofficial shut-down track but now it’s time to officially pull the plug on the MOX boondoggle and end the massive waste of money on this mismanaged project. Time to formally hold NNSA, DOE and CB&I AREVA MOX Services accountable for this debacle!
“Final Report of the Plutonium Disposition Red Team” linked here – dated August 13 and marked “Official Use Only”
Plutonium Disposition Red Team Report Update, August 19 —
SRS Watch was informed on August 18 that The MOX Red Team report was delivered to the Secretary’s office yesterday (17 August). DOE will make the report available to interested parties after the appropriate reviews for public release are complete. SRS Watch does not know how long the review will take or why DOE is not being open about that. A test for the report is if it will explore waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by CB&I AREVA MOX (dis)Servcies, the contractor that has grossly mismanaged the failed MOX project.
Savannah River Site Watch news
For Immediate Release, Saturday, August 8
“Red Team” Report on Plutonium Disposition May be Delivered to DOE a Week Late, on August 17
SRS Watch Has Been Told that Review of Report Must Take Place before Public Release; Team Membership by Former MOX Contractor Questioned by SRS Watch
Sibiu, Romania (*) — A key document on the fate of the disposition of surplus weapons plutonium may be delivered to the U.S. Department of Energy a week late, Savannah River Site Watch has learned. The report was to have been delivered to DOE on August 10 but the new date may be August 17, according to the public interest group Savannah River Site Watch.
On June 25, Secretary of Energy Moniz established the “Red Team” to analyze two plutonium disposition options – via plutonium fuel (MOX) and via disposal as waste in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). A DOE official told the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council at its meeting on July 9 in Columbia, SC that the Red Team report would be delivered to DOE on August 10. (SRS Watch was in attendance and heard the date mentioned.)
It is believed that due to the complexity of the work that the team needs more time to evaluate the options, both of which face unique problems.
“The MOX project has been proven to be financially unsustainable and Congress is only funding it to a level to shut it down and the Red Team report will likely have little impact on the project’s dire financial state as the money doesn’t exist to save it,” according to Tom Clements of SRS Watch. “An option cheaper than MOX will have to be pursued and we still believe that immobilization of plutonium in existing high-level waste is the sole option that should have been pursued from the start of the program 20 years ago.”
SRS Watch has been told that the Red Team report must undergo review before it will be released publicly. An administrator with the Red Team emailed SRS Watch on July 30: ” DOE will make the red team report available to interested parties after the appropriate reviews for public release are completed.” SRS Watch calls on DOE to quickly conduct the review and release the report to the public.
SRS Watch submitted documents for formal review by the Red Team and it was confirmed by an NNSA official that they would be shared with team members.
SRS Watch has obtained a list of members of the Red Team – see “notes” below. It is of concern that a contractor that worked on the MOX project has a number of members of the Read Team,” said Clements. “While having worked on aspects of the MOX project have have advantages, I’m concerned that Navarro’s formal participation may indicate a bias and we would like DOE to explain why it appears that no contractor that has worked on non-MOX options is on the team.”
SRS Watch is also releasing new aerial photos of the MOX plant taken on July 30 by High Flyer. The photos may be used with “credit to High Flyer, courtesy of SRS Watch.” The photos indicate hat the outside security wall is still not finished and that there is new excavation on the south side of the facility. It is unknown what that excavation is but it could be for piping. Openings on the MOX plant have not been closed and it is believed that most of the work is taking place inside the facility. SRS Watch has been told by NNSA and MOX workers of construction problems and that internal piping had to be removed but it is unknown if an investigation about this and cost and construction impacts is being conducted.
SRS Watch is proud to be able to regularly provide the public with aerial photos of the MOX plant construction, a service that neither DOE nor the MOX contractor, CB&I AREVA MOX Services, chooses to provide The photos are by High Flyer, who chooses to remain anonymous but feels it important for the public to be able to see the MOX plant and other nuclear construction projects in the area. “We are pleased to provide this service and will continue publicly releasing MOX plant photos as we receive them,” said Clements..
Notes:
1. MOX plant aerial photos – from July 30, 2015. Credit to High Flyer, special from or courtesy of SRS Watch. Can be used with that type of credit.
2. DOE news release announcing Red Team – not posted on DOE website:
DOE/NNSA news release, June 25, 2015
“Energy Department Announces New Red Team to Review Plutonium Disposition”
Press Release
News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940
For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 25, 2015
Energy Department Announces New Red Team to Review Plutonium Disposition
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the creation of the Plutonium Disposition Program Red Team to review plutonium disposition options and make recommendations.
Led by Dr. Thom Mason, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this team will provide an assessment of options to help the U.S. achieve its commitment to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium and provide a recommended path forward.
The assessment will address the MOX fuel approach, the downblending and disposal approach, and any other approaches that the team deems feasible and cost effective, taking into account cost, regulatory or other issues associated with a particular approach. The Red Team will provide its recommendations to the Secretary of Energy in August 2015.
Dr. Mason led a similar effort reviewing options to replace uranium capabilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 2014.
3. List of Red Team members obtained by SRS Watch – needs confirming:
Name Organization Coreorate Affiliation Red Team Role
Thom Mason ORNL UT-Battelle Chair
John Krueger ORNL UT-Battelle Project Leader
Dale Klein Navarro Participant
Steve Johnson Navarro Participan t
Dan Stout TVA TVA Participant
Brett Kniss LANL LANS Participant
Carol Burns LANL LANS Participant
Terry Michalske SRNL SRNS Participant
Bill Bates SRNL SRNS Participant
Alice Murray SRNL SRNS Participant
Bob logan LLNL LLNS Participant
Kelly Beierschmitt INL Battelle Energy Alliance Participant
Paul Howarth U .K. National Nuclear Laboratory Participant
Siegfried Hec ker Stanford University Stanford University Participant
Tyrone Troutman Navarro Participant
Dave Amerine Navarro Participant
Christopher Gruber Navarro Participant
Bob Merriman Navarro Participant
Tom Burns Navarro Parsons Participant
Tom Hunter Navarro Participant
(Note: Dale Klein was a big MOX booster in the mid-1990s when he was pushing for a MOX role by a group in Amarillo, TX billing itself as a plutonium center. Dan Stout at TVA also pushed MOX use by TVA, an effort that has stalled.)
4. Posting on Navarro website indicating past work on MOX project:
http://www.navarro-inc.com/news.html
“April 26, 2012
Navarro awarded contract to support NNSA NA-26 Navarro won an $8M contract to support the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Fissile Materials Disposition (FMD), which is also known as NA-26. We will provide technical and expert support services in support of FMD’s nuclear nonproliferation mission to dispose of Cold War legacy fissile materials. FMD is responsible for disposition of surplus, U.S. weapons-usable plutonium and highly enriched uranium, as well as providing technical support and resources in support of Russia’s efforts to dispose of weapon-grade plutonium.
Navarro will provide expert technical and advisory assistance related to the design, construction, operation of three key facilities related to the Fissile Materials Disposition Program: the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS); the Pit Disassembly and Conversion (PDC) facility; and the Waste Solidification Building (WSB). Navarro’s scope includes analysis of project schedules, cost profiles, performance data, technical evaluations, site/facility assessments, assisting with independent review/audits/surveillance of national laboratory Management and Operating (M&O) contracts or other prime contractor activities or products, and planning and logistical support of meetings in the U.S. and abroad, and assisting in procuring technical work with Russian entities or other involved countries.”