Savannah River Site Watch : Freedom of Information Act Documents

FOIA request  to NNSA for plutonium and pit aging plant by NNSA to Congress, July 16, 2021:  FOIA request for pit aging report by SRS Watch July 16 2021

FOIA request to NNSA for MOX “lessons learned report,” July 20, 2021:  initial FOIA request MOX lessons learned July 20 2021

FOIA response from DOE’s office of Hearing and Appeals, partially overturning denial of FOIA request by SRS Watch for “Memorandum of Understanding” between SRS and Germany (JEN) of research by Savannah River National Lab into processing and dumping German AVR spent fuel at SRS, December 13, 2018.  SRS has not provided the MOU as of Feb. 8, 2019 despite a letter reminding SRS of the decision of the Office of Hearings and Appeals.linked here

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FOIA response from DOE’s NNSA cover letter concerning SRNL-Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagencooperation (JEN) on AVR spent fuel processing and import, May 27, 2021:  FOIA SRO-2021-00684-F Clements final letterlk-1SRS JEN Mod 8 cover letter

linked here

SRS Watch FOIA request for response above, March 1, 2018 – linked here

FOIA response, DOE, memo of August 1, 2013, affirming no proliferation risk to leave AVR and THTR spent nuclear fuel in Germany; no reason to import to SRS for processing and dumping

linked here

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FOIA response from SRS of July 5, 2018:

“Characterization of Concrete Exposed to the H-Canyon Exhaust”
January 2018
SRNL-TR-2017-00356, Revision 0

document linked here

SRS FOIA cover letter of July 5, 2018 – linked here

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FOIA response to SRS Watch on lack of delivery to Congress the annual MOX fiasco report, April 24, 2018

response letter inked here

FOIA response to SRS Watch, on determination that no Award Fee Plan is now required for MOX debacle, February 22, 2018

response letter linked here

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DOE FOIA response, February 22, 2018 – claim that no award fee determination (bonus) is now required to be made for performance of CB&I AREVA MOX Services for construction of mismanaged MOX project in Fiscal Year 2017

non-response letter linked here

DOE award fee determination for MOX boondoggle in Fiscal Year 2016, February 21, 2017 – fee awarded is historically low and performance
determined to be abysmal

response documents linked here

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CB&I AREVA MOX Services “rework” memo, October 2016, “Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility – Construction Rework Definition, Reporting and Assessment Desktop, Revision 3,” response dated December 28, 2017

FOIA response document linked here:  https://tinyurl.com/yawjvgrg

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FOIA response to SRS Watch, January 17, 2018 – claims there is no plan to receive and store Special Nuclear Material (highly enriched uranium and plutonium) and nuclear weapons from North Korea

document linked here

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FOIA documents to SRS Watch – “Unmanned Aerial System (USA) Reported Sightings on SRS,” dated December 15, 2016 and received on
​September 22, 2017

linked here

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“Critical Decision-0” (CD-0) documents on “dilute and dispose” method of plutonium disposition, received July 6, 2017 from DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

NNSA letter to SRS Watch, which accompanied documents below, dated July 6, 2017 and linked here

Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program Requirements Document for the Proposed Dilute and Dispose Approach, NNSA, Material Management and Minimization, M3-SR-16-0009, Revision 0, August 30, 2016, 21 pages, linked here

MISSION NEED STATEMENT, Surplus Plutonium Disposition Project Dilute and Dispose Approach, NNSA, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3), M3-SR-16-0013, Revision 0, August 25, 2016, 14 pages, linked here

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FOIAs on inept SCE&G’s failed nuclear reactor construction project & South Carolina state agencies:

1. FOIA to  SC Office of Regulatory Staff (aka Office of Rubber Stamp), May 12, 2017 – linked here

Initial response to request to SC Office of Regulatory Staff, re SCE&G meltdown documents, May 25, 2017 – linked here

2. FOIA to SC Public Service authority (Santee Cooper), May 18, 2017 – linked here

Initial response to request to Santee Cooper, re SCE&G meltdown documents, June 6, 2017  – linked here

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FOIA Request to SRS for Arrival and Offloading of Canadian Liquid high-Level Nuclear Waste,  with shielding problems noted, May 15, 2017

request linked here

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NNSA response to request for legally mandated annual report on MOX facility, May 10, 2017 – report due to Congress by February 15, 2017 was NOT prepared

FOIA response of May 10, 2017 to SRS Watch linked here

report required by:  PUBLIC LAW 107–314—DEC. 2, 2002, BOB STUMP NATIONAL DEFENSE UTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2003

SEC. 3182. DISPOSITION OF WEAPONS-USABLE PLUTONIUM AT SAVANNAH RIVER SITE.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ314/pdf/PLAW-107publ314.pdf

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Drone Scare Over SRS – 2016

FOIA request by SRS Watch for drone evidence, Nov. 14, 2026: drone SRS overfight FOIA Nov 14 2016

Initial response from SRS, Nov. 28, 2016: drone FOIA initial response SRO-2017-00202-F IR rcvd Nov 28 2016

Main response from SRS, with listing of drone sightings as of Dec. 15, 2016, cover letter dated Sept. 22, 2017:  FOIA received on drones September 22 2017

SRS Watch news release on FOIA documents – cover letter dated Sept. 22, 2027 – Feb. 14, 2018, with “drone” photo (small aircraft): news on drone scare 2016 FOIA Feb 14 2018

Email to SRS Watch, stating no documents will be provided to informal request about drones at SRS, July 2016:  emails from SRS 2016 denying informal drone document request

SRS public affairs presentation on drones to SRS CAB, May 22, 2017: SRS_UAS_Overview SRS CAB May 22 2017

FOIA response to NNSA for CB&I AREVA MOX Services MOX monthly construction reports – two examples:

Monthly Cost, Schedule, & Variance Report
October 2015

MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility
Monthly Status Report
October 2015

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FOIA documents for funding and research cooperation between SRS and Forschzungzentrum Juelich on German spent fuel processing and dumpingInitial FOIA request filed by SRS Watch, November 29, 2016 – linked hereAcknowledgement of recipt of FOIA request by SRS, December 7, 2016 – linked here

​
—–Plant Vogtle whistleblower – FOIA by SRS Watch, fraud for welding equipment fake receipts?   August 2016

linked here

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FOIA documents obtained by SRS Watch via mail on December 13, 2016 on Canadian NRX spent fuel dropping incident in L-Basin at SRS

linked here

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FOIA requests by SRS Watch for:

 – Report on incident in the L-Basin involving dropping of NRX spent fuel (Chalk River Labs, Canada), August 17, 2016 – linked here & SRS acknowledgement letter, august 24, 2016, linked here

– SRS “Nuclear Materials Plan” for 2015 and 2016, November 2, 2016 – linked here & SRS acknowledgment letter, Nov. 10, 2016, linked here

– SRS reports and photos related to Summer 2016 drone scare at SRS, November 14, 2016 – linked here

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FOIA response letter from DOE/NNSA – no “nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment” has been prepared by NNSA on reprocessing tecnique being developed by SRS on German spent graphite fuel, January 21, 2015

NNSA letter to SRS Watch linked here

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FOIA request to DOE for U.S. legal analysis of commercial spent fuel from Germany to SRS, for reprocessing and dumping, April 4, 2015

SRS Watch FOIA request linked here

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Initial acknowledgment letters from DOE to a FOIA request for 1) MOU between SRS and Germany paying more money ($3 million?) for development of a new reprocessing technique for German gas reactor spent fuel & 2) “feasibility study” by Savannah River National Lab about technical aspects of the new reprocessing technique:

1. March 5, 2015 response letter from SRS;

2. March 13, 2015 response letter from DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Note:  As of March 13, 2015 DOE is apparently still refusing to prepare a “nonproliferation impact assessment” on the proliferation concerns associated with the new reprocessing technique.

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SRS Nuclear Materials Management Plans for Fiscal Year 2016 and Fiscal Year 2015

linked here

Draft observations on FY 2016 Plan by SRS Watch – linked here

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FOIA documents on German spent fuel reprocessing at SRS, received with SRS cover letter dated December 23, 2014:

1. Savannah River National Lab, October 2014, “Digestion and Analysis of High Temperature Gas Reactor Nuclear Fuels” –

linked here

2. SRNL and FZJ memo, Fall 2014, “Recovery of Uranium-Thorium from HTGR Fuel Using Salt-Based Graphite Digestion” –

linked here

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FOIA documents on SRS getting ordered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to halt improper spending of clean-up funds on promotion of “small modular reactors” (SMRs), the beginning of the end of the “Enterprise SRS” project which had been centered on the pursuit of imaginary  SMRs at SRS,  September 25, 2014

linked here

DOE presentation of December 8, 2014 – note that mention of SMRs has been scrubbed from what remains of the “Enterprise SRS” scheme : “Enterprise SRS Initiatives Progress Updates“

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DOE letter of December 8, 2014 to SRS Watch, acknowledging receipt of FOIA request for nuclear “nonproliferation impact assessment”
on the reprocessing of German commercial spent fuel at SRS.

linked here

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FOIA documents obtained from DOE on the proposed shipment of AVR commercial spent fuel to the Savannah River Site

Cover letter for FOIA request # HQ-2014-00405-F from DOE to Tom Clements, September 26, 2014

Document 1: Memorandum of Understanding Regarding C
ooperation Pertaining to the AVR Reactor — signed by officials of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor GmbH and Brown Boveri/Krupp Reaktorbau GmbH (Germany), August 2, 1965

Document 2: Agreement Between The Department of Energy Of The United States of America And The Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research And Technology Of The Federal Republic Of Germany On Cooperation In Energy Research, Science and Technology, and Development — signed by officials of the U.S. Department of Energy And The Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research And Technology Of The Federal Republic Of Germany, February 20, 1998

Document 3: U.S. Department of Energy 1-page letter to Dr. Georg Schuette, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, March 5, 2012

Document 4: Implementing Annex per Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany for the cooperation of research and development to support a decision on the acceptance and disposition of graphite-based fuel elements by the United States of America — signed by officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the U.S. Department of Energy, October 18, 2012

Document 5: Internal U.S. Department of Energy memo on Research and Development on Graphite Destruction for the Pebble Bed Fuel Elements, WFO-13-002, Germany, dated December 10, 2012

Document 6: Work for Others Agreement WFO-13-002 (Research and Development on Graphite Destruction for the Pebble Bed Fuel Elements) between Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC (SRNS) Operating Under Prime Contract No. DE-AC09-08SR22470 for the U.S. Department of Energy and the Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, December 2012

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FOIA denial, October 14, 2014 for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions documents on H-Canyon – prepared by the main contractor at SRS and thus paid for by tax payers out of the management contract – these documents should be released:

– “H-Canyon High Level Waste Minimization Plan,” August 2013;
– “Near-Term Experimental plan to Address Used Fuel Dissolution in H-Canyon,” April 2014

[Note that this second document uses the extra-legal term “used fuel.” This term is not defined by US law and it is thus unclear why a term that is not defined by law has been used, causing undue confusion about what is meant.  The term “spent nuclear fuel” is defined under US law – the Nuclear Waste Policy Act – and is the proper legal term. Both the NRC and EPA use the legally defined term.  It is believed but unknown that the extra-legal term “used (nuclear) fuel” has been improperly adopted by DOE and some contractors to indicate a bias to reprocessing.  DOE must stop using terms not defined by law and stop playing games with terminology.]

FOIA request to Savannah River Site of August 12, 2014 – for the following documents on the H-Canyon reprocessing plant:

H-Canyon High Level Waste (HLW) Minimization Plan, Sprague, R. M., P. W. McGuire, SRNL-L6000-2013-00035, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC, August 2013

Near-term Experimental Plan to Address Used Fuel Dissolution in H-Canyon,
Rudisill, T. S.,  SRNL-L3100-2014-00067, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC, April 2014

FOIA partial response on import of German high-level waste to SRS – key documents have been excluded and two have been sent to the infamous “FOIA graveyard” in Albuquerque for disposal; document indicates that “graphite -coated irradiated U/Th fuel particles” were imported from Germany for examination in “shielded cells” – May 23, 2014