Documents Reveal Reactors Could Be Fueled by Radioactive Fuel Reprocessed at SRS, Leading to More Importation of Dangerous High-Level Radioactive Waste into South Carolina

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Filed under Department of Energy, Environmental, Nuclear bombs, Nuclear materials, Nuclear waste, Nuclear weapons, Obama Administration, South Carolina, The Obama Administration
Tagged as Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, CFR 830, Department of Energy, DOE, Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, Friends of the Earth, Garry Flowers, GE-Hitachi PRISM SMR, H-Canyon, Hyperion memorandum, Hyperion SMR, modular reactors, MOX fuel, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, PRISM prototype, Radioactive Waste, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Savannah River Site, Tom Clements
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has issued its “first periodic Report to Congress on Infrastructure Needs in the Department of Energy’s Aging Defense Nuclear Facilities.” Below are the excerpts on aging issued related to the H-Canyon reprocessing plant and the tanks containing radioactive nuclear waste. These are the main things at SRS we need to keep a close eye on for accidental release of radioactive material or accidents harming workers or the public (till the MOX plant stats operation…if it ever does…..hope not…). Tom Clements
http://www.hss.energy.gov/deprep/2010/FB10S10A.PDF
September 10, 2010
To the Congress of the United States:
“The Department of Energy (DOE) continues to rely on aging facilities to carry out hazardous production missions. Examples of this persistent problem include the 9212 Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex (portions of which are more than 60 years old), the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility at Los Alamos (55 years old), and the first high-level waste tanks built at the Hanford and Savannah River Sites (up to 56 years old). There are other examples of degrading and aging facilities that will require significant capital expenditures for replacement or for repair and upgrade of key systems.”
MOST SIGNIFICANT SAFETY-RELATED INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES
Savannah River Site, H-Canyon – Aging Systems and Structures
“The board encouraged DOE to continue aging management evaluations of H-Canyon and adopt a strategy to address age-related degradation. Components showing localized degradation include canyon wall concrete, the sand filter cileing, electrical wiring, and the canyon roof liner.”
Savannah River Site, Concentration, Storage, and Transfer Facility (Tank Farms) – Aging Tanks and Systems:
“DOE continues to store liquid wastes in some of the old noncompliant tanks. DOE expects these old tanks will contain waste through 2018. Support systems require increased attention for monitoring and repair. The Board issued a letter dated January 6, 2010, encouraging DOE to develop more efficient tank inspection techniques.
Filed under Uncategorized
Tagged as 9212 Complex, Aging Defense Nuclear Facilities, Bomb Plant News, Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Department of Energy, H-Canyon, Hanford, MOX plant, Nuclear waste, Nuclear weapons, Savannah River Plant, Savannah River Site, SRS, Tank Farms, Tom Clements, Y-12 National Security Complex
Savannah River Site
Do you want DOE at the to add you to a new e-mail list (as part of an effort by them to do better outreach to the concerned public about future use of the site)?
If you been following the vague DOE proposals for “energy parks” at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina or at Piketon in Ohio, you will know that I have been pushing DOE for not having a clear “energy park” policy and for failing to involve all stakeholders and the public in the decision-making process involving future use of the sites. At SRS, amongst other things, the SRS boosters still have their eyes set on a reprocessing “park,” which DOE officials have urged them to pursue, and at Piketon a consortium of Duke and Areva has announced the aim is to build an EPR reactor at the site. The public has so far been cut out of any planning with DOE on these projects or any other possible uses of the sites.
(I’m attending the SRS Citizens Advisory Board this afternoon and all day Tuesday and will have my ears open to anything said about the “energy park” idea.)
In response to my concerns, a DOE Assistant General Counsel recently wrote to me and said that “my office and DOE,’s Savannah River Operations Office (Operations Office) are in active discussion, and the Operations Office is currently working to establish a process that will provide transparency and meaningful public participation in relation to plans to utilize land at the Site as an energy park and with regard to relevant NEPA procedures.”
As part of what I assume is the above transparency effort mentioned above, DOE-SRS e-mailed me last Friday and said that “We are trying to expand our notification to include you and other non government organizations interested in SRS.” The e-mail went on to ask if I would help them pull together a list of NGO contacts, which would want to receive information from DOE about things at SRS. I don’t know if DOE is making this effort at Piketon or other sites but what they do here may be indicative of how DOE handles the “energy park” approach at other sites.
While I don’t want to be doing DOE’s work, I do think it important that any groups, which want to be informed of things happening at SRS, particularly about planning for any “energy park,” be on this list. They should have been doing a better job at outreach in the past but I am willing to help them get better in working with environmental stakeholders and not just with contractors and local special interest groups. We need to let them see that NGOs a re concerned about what happens at the site for any “energy park” proposals so I hope many of you will want to be on their list.
Thus, if you want your organization to be on DOE’s notification list for SRS activities, please affirm your interest to me and I’ll pass your name, organization name and e-mail address on to the SRS Office of External Affairs.
For more information contact Tom Clements@ tel. 803-834-3084/ cell 803-240-7268/ tomclements329@cs.com.
Filed under Actions, Actions | Events, Conferences, Environmental, Events & Actions, Nuclear bombs, Nuclear materials, Nuclear waste, Nuclear weapons, Obama Administration, South Carolina, The Obama Administration
Tagged as DOE, energy park” policy, Environmental, Nuclear, nuclear proliferation, Nuclear bombs, Nuclear waste, Nuclear weapons, Savannah River Site, SRS, SRS Citizens Advisory Board, Tom Clements