ECA Update: May 6, 2013
Published: Mon, 05/06/13
Committee Launches Webpage for Nuclear Waste Bill Feedback
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee May 1, 2013 WEBSITE WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee launched a webpage where the public and interested parties can submit comments on a discussion draft of comprehensive nuclear waste management legislation released by a bipartisan group of senators last week.
Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. - the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development - and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, sponsored the draft bill, which implements recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future.
The webpage and instructions on how to submit comments on the draft bill can be found on the committee's website here. The discussion draft, a one-page summary, section-by-section analysis, list of questions, and alternative policy options offered by Senators Alexander and Feinstein can be found here.
Week Ahead: Congress goes nuclear Carlo Munoz, The Hill May 3, 2013 Lawmakers in the House and Senate are going nuclear in their first week back from a short recess.
The future of the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise will be at the top of the agenda when the heads of the House and Senate Armed Services committees get back to business on Tuesday.
The heads of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will update the Senate defense panel on America's national security laboratories and their work to maintain the U.S. ballistic arsenal.
In the House, defense lawmakers on Wednesday will meet with the NNSA chief from the Department of Energy to get details on the administration's nuclear weapons work for fiscal 2014.
That same day, members of the House defense committee will hear from Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Madelyn Creedon and Michael Gilmore, the head of the Defense Department's weapons testing division, on the capabilities of America's missile defense shield.
Creedon and Strategic Command chief Air Force Gen. Bob Kehler will go before the House defense panel on Thursday to discuss the missile shield and efforts to improve and maintain the nuclear weapons enterprise.
On the Senate side, Creedon, Gilmore and the service heads in charge of nuclear weapons and missile defense will make their case Thursday for those programs in the 2014 defense budget plan.
The hearings come as House Republicans are gearing up to wage another fight this year over a new East Coast missile defense site.
Sixteen Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee fired the first shot Tuesday, sending a letter urging House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) to include $250 million in funding for the site in this year's Defense appropriations bill.
The committee members, which included Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said they would also be putting the $250 million in this year's defense authorization bill, which approves Pentagon spending and sets defense policy.
While defense legislators in Congress will spend most of this week focused on America's nuclear posture, lawmakers are also planning to wrap up hearings on the defense budget.
First up will be Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh, who will defend the service's spending plan to members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
Both service leaders will make appearances before the Senate and House Appropriations Defense subcommittees on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
This year's round of budget defense hearings will likely be the last for Donley, who will be stepping down from the service's top spot in June, ending a nearly five-year run as the Air Force's top civilian.
Navy leaders including Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos will also hit the hearing circuit on Capitol Hill next week. All three will appear before the Senate appropriations Defense subpanel on Tuesday to testify on the budget blueprints for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Navy acquisitions chief Sean Stackley and Vice Adm. Allen Myers, deputy chief of naval operations for capabilities and resources, will provide information on the Navy's plan to build a 300-ship fleet to Senate defense lawmakers on Wednesday.
Stackley told House members in April that the budget plan does not do enough to support the Navy's long-term shipbuilding plans.
Navy leaders plan to spend an average of $15.1 billion per year over the five-year plan to build up to the 300-ship force. But after that, projected funding levels for shipbuilding "will not be sufficient" to keep pace with the Navy's plan, according to Stackley.
As a result, Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes (R-Va.) is spearheading what he calls "a new framework" for a sustained increase in shipbuilding.
"We are entering the decade of sea power ... [so] what is the risk to the United States" if naval power continues to fall by the wayside, Forbes asked during a hearing.
Forbes's move sets the stage for a battle over the Armed Services panel's spending plan for fiscal 2014.
The Navy's shipbuilding strategy would have the fleet top out at 300 warships over the next three decades, but that number could drop if anticipated funding levels set by Congress fall off track.
Lawmakers to Hagel: Tell us how to implement sequestration Chris Carroll, Stars and Stripes May 3, 2013 WASHINGTON -- With no sign sequestration will be averted, two top lawmakers are asking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to provide a plan within months to cut $52 billion out of President Barack Obama's 2014 defense budget request.
Obama last month sent Congress a $526.6 billion base Pentagon budget request for next year. But the request didn't take into account a federal law capping the base budget at $475 billion unless a deadlocked Congress finds a way to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit.
Sequestration in 2013 will slash $37 and $40 billion from the defense budget, and has already caused training rotations to be eliminated, air wings to be grounded and ship deployments canceled, defense officials say.
The prospect of a bipartisan agreement to avert sequestration appears slim, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and ranking member Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., wrote in a letter to Hagel sent Thursday.
The pair wrote that "the budgets passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives all assume that we will avoid sequestration in fiscal year 2014. To date, however, there has been virtually no sign of movement toward a bipartisan agreement that would enable us to do so."
The problem is that many members of Congress and the public see sequestration as an effective way to cut the budget, they wrote.
Levin and Inhofe asked Hagel to submit a package of proposed reductions by July 1, making clear the potential damage that sequestration could cause.
"We recognize that it will not be easy to put together such a package," they wrote. "In our view, however, a concrete demonstration of the painful choices the Department would have to make to cut $52 billion from its budget may be our last, best hope of avoiding sequestration altogether."
Hagel has already ordered DOD officials to conduct a "strategic choices and management review," due May 31, to examine the potential effects of sequestration. In addition to a broad-ranging look at DOD operations, the study will examine whether the Pentagon can meet the requirements of a new strategy that calls for a rebalancing of U.S. power toward Asia. But the review is not intended as a detailed budget cutting package, officials said.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins said the department would respond directly to the senator's request about how to implement sequestration in 2014, a possibility defense leaders are keen to avoid.
"The readiness of our force is rapidly eroding due to mandatory sequestration cuts, and we are deeply concerned about sequestration continuing into the next fiscal year," Robbins said.
Accountability Office wants new bidders for $20B NNSA contract Mike Gellatly, Aiken Standard April 30, 2013 The Government Accountability Office issued a ruling this week that upholds protests lodged against the award of a $22 billion contract to manage the Y-12 Complex in Washington and Pantex nuclear weapons facility in Texas. This award could have a direct impact on the Savannah River Site and its tritium operations.
The GAO is recommending the National Nuclear Security Administration reopen the procurement on the huge management contract and seek more input from the bidders on possible cost savings under their contract offerings.
"GAO sustained these protests on the basis that NNSA failed to follow the publicly-stated solicitation criteria, which provided that the agency would evaluate the feasibility and size of each offerer's proposed cost savings resulting from the consolidation of the management and operation of these sites," said Ralph O. White, managing associate general counsel for procurement law at GAO.
"Specifically, GAO concluded that NNSA failed to meaningfully assess the majority of each offerer's proposed cost savings and based its source selection decision on the unsupported assumption that all cost savings proposed by every offerer would be achieved."
GAO found that NNSA did not evaluate the real-world cost savings contained in the contract proposals, but instead made the award to Consolidated Nuclear Services based on an assumption that the stated cost savings were valid. CNS is a team headed by Bechtel and Lockheed Martin.
CNS had stated it could save the government an estimated $3.2 billion over the next decade under its proposal, which was challenged by the other two bidders.
"The challenged contract, awarded ... contemplates the consolidation of management and operating activities at NNSA's Y-12 National Security Complex, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and NNSA's Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, as well as the construction of a new uranium processing facility at the Y-12 Complex," White wrote. "The contract also contemplates the possible exercise of an option to subsequently add the management and operation of NNSA's Savannah River Tritium Operations, located near Aiken. NNSA has stated that the total value of this contract is $22.8 billion."
It has been recommended that the agency reopen the procurement, request additional information from the bidders about their proposed cost savings, and evaluate the relative size of each's proposed cost savings, consistent with the solicitation's provisions. At the conclusion of this review, GAO recommended that NNSA make a new source selection decision.
What the Senate Energy Panel Would Look Like Under Chairwoman Landrieu Amy Harder, Government Executive April 30, 2013 If Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., takes over the gavel of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee next Congress, she is in a prime spot to lead on an issue that's critically important to her state--energy--and finally get past the finish line her signature policy issue: energy revenue-sharing for coastal states. But even if Landrieu wins reelection (and that's a big if), several other dynamics would influence how much she is able to lead on that committee.
Right now, Landrieu is the third-most-senior Democrat on the panel, after Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who has already announced he is retiring, and current Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is also the second-most-senior Democrat on the powerful--and coveted--Senate Finance Committee. With the retirement announcement of Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., last week, and the conventional wisdom suggesting Wyden wouldn't say no to the Finance gavel, Landrieu is poised to be the top Democrat on the committee. If Democrats keep control of the Senate, she would chair what's arguably the most powerful committee for the state she has represented since 1996.
When it comes to energy issues, Landrieu is one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate. She, along with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., vote more reliably with Republicans on most energy and environmental issues than with the Democratic Party led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. This dynamic has led to rumors that Reid could seek to maneuver around Landrieu to ensure that a more moderate Democrat--such as fourth-in-line Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state--gets the Energy gavel in 2015 instead. Several people close to Landrieu who are familiar with the Democratic seniority system in picking chairs dismissed this possibility.
"At a time when the party is trying to establish strong beachheads in the South, as well as places like the Mountain West, that would seem to be headed in the wrong direction," said Paul Bledsoe, president of consulting firm Bledsoe & Associates, who worked on energy and climate issues for then-President Clinton and for Democratic members in Congress.
"At least to date, Democrats have never violated the seniority rule," said McKie Campbell, who retired recently from the Senate after serving as staff director for Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for the past several years. "I think it would be one heck of a fight were he to do that."
In fact, precedent indicates that Reid doesn't interfere when members with differing political perspectives rise in the ranks to chair key committees, such as Baucus at Finance and now-retired Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., at Homeland Security. But that doesn't mean Reid wouldn't influence the committee's business in more implicit ways.
"The bigger question would be how it would affect the ability of bills the Energy Committee passes out to go to the floor," McKie said. He noted that Reid bypassed the Finance Committee to bring to the floor legislation that would empower states to collect taxes from online sales. Baucus opposes the legislation. Would Reid ensure that bills Landrieu pushes in the Energy Committee don't make it to the floor if he and other more liberal members of the Democratic caucus oppose the legislation? It's a question Senate staffers and those close to Landrieu are asking.
Reid's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Wyden has expressed an interest in pursuing Landrieu's revenue-sharing legislation this Congress, but he hasn't officially signed on as a cosponsor yet, and it's unlikely the measure will become law before Election Day 2014. If that's the case, Landrieu could face another hurdle: Her partner-in-crime on this issue, fellow coastal-state Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaskka, the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will no longer be able to serve as ranking member next Congress because of the GOP's term limits. Murkowski is in the last third of her six-year term as ranking member. She still has the full six years to serve as chairwoman.
That means if Democrats keep the Senate, Landrieu will likely have Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., as her ranking member. Barrasso is a big supporter of fossil fuels (his state produces 40 percent of all coal mined in the U.S.). But as a senator from a landlocked state that already benefits from a piece of the energy-royalty pie, Barrasso doesn't view Landrieu's revenue-sharing quest with the same urgency as Landrieu and Murkowski do. According to a spokeswoman, Barrasso hasn't taken a position on the Landrieu-Murkowski revenue-sharing legislation. (Ironically, a graphic on Landrieu's website uses Wyoming to compare what interior states get in energy royalties compared with coastal states.)
Although not the desired outcome for the Democratic Party, Landrieu would probably have the best chance at passing her revenue-sharing legislation next Congress if Republicans take control of the Senate in 2014, which would set up Murkowski as chair and she as the ranking member.
The pair's good working relationship and both of their reputations for working with members of the opposite party could bode well for broader energy legislation.
"That kind of demonstrated success and building the 60 votes of support necessary to get things over the finish line, that is a match that would be very hard to beat in terms of making meaningful change," said Tom Michels, who worked on energy issues for Landrieu from 2006 to 2010. "I think there is huge potential there."
But until Election Day 2014, Landrieu will be trying hard to get work done in the committee under Chairman Wyden--and to make sure voters back in Louisiana know about it.
The week ahead: EPA nominee Gina McCarthy faces Senate committee vote Zack Colman, The Hill May 6, 2013 A Senate Committee will vote Thursday on whether to advance President Obama's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the full Senate.
Gina McCarthy, who heads the agency's Office of Air and Radiation, is expected to pick up Democratic support in the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Republicans will be a tougher sell.
Given the EPA's political nature as a regulator, Obama's pick to lead the agency figured to be the toughest slot to fill on his energy and environment team. GOP lawmakers and industry have railed against EPA pollution and emissions rules they consider economically burdensome.
The EPA contends the economy would benefit from reduced healthcare costs and improved public health.
Capitol Hill will be buzzing with several hearings this week.
On Tuesday, two subpanels of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will take on the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
That committee is the latest in a series of House panels to address the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, which Republicans and centrist Democrats support.
The pipeline is under federal review and is at the center of a fierce political and lobbying battle.
Witnesses include Lynn Helms, who directs North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources, and Brigham McCown, a principal with United Transportation Advisors and a former senior official with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration under former President George W. Bush.
Recently confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will make her first appearance as secretary before the Senate during a Tuesday hearing.
Jewell will represent the administration as the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment reviews the Interior Department's proposed budget.
Also Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power will examine the geopolitical impact of expanding natural-gas exports.
The Obama administration is weighing 20 applications to send natural gas to nations that lack a free-trade agreement with the United States. Under federal law, such deals must be in the national interest, and therefore draw more scrutiny.
Export proponents argue shipping some to non-free-trade nations would give European allies a trading partner other than Russia, which dominates that market. Japan also is seeking U.S. natural gas to fill the energy gap the nation created when it shuttered 48 of its 50 nuclear reactors.
Witnesses include former Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan (N.D.) and Bennett Johnston (La.), as well as Michael Breen, executive director with the Truman National Security Project.
The budget for the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management is the subject of a Tuesday hearing for a House Appropriations Committee subpanel.
Neil Kornze, principal deputy director with the bureau, will testify.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will mark up several hydropower bills and comprehensive energy-efficiency legislation on Wednesday.
The energy-efficiency bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), is viewed as a bellwether of congressional appetite on the issue.
The bill directs the federal government to employ energy-saving practices, creates voluntary efficiency standards for new building codes and establishes a state-based private financing program to encourage energy-efficiency upgrades.
Forthcoming federal rules on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, headline a Wednesday House Natural Resources Committee hearing.
Interior is expected to release draft rules governing the controversial drilling practice on federal lands soon.
Republicans and industry largely oppose the rules, contending they'll be overly prescriptive and duplicative. They want states to continue regulating fracking.
But green groups and some Democrats want stronger oversight of the drilling method, which has sparked fears of pollution.
A House Appropriations Committee subpanel will tackle the EPA's proposed budget during a Wednesday hearing.
Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe will represent the agency.
A Thursday House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing will discuss how electric utilities and regional operators are adjusting to changing energy inputs.
Utilities are using natural-gas-fired generation more frequently, while ramping down use of coal. At the same time, renewable energy is also coming online in greater volumes.
The hearing will discuss how those changes are affecting the reliability of the electric grid.
A New Authority For Nuclear Waste James Conca, Forbes April 30, 2013 Last Thursday, four Senators in a bipartisan team released draft legislation aimed at reaching a long-term solution to the question of where to put the Nation's nuclear waste (Senate Energy).
Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) worked closely with the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), to propose actual legislation that would implement recommendations made last year by the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear
This legislation comes at a delicate time when America is in limbo following the halting of the politically-mired Yucca Mountain Project, the nation's first selected high-level nuclear waste disposal site. The Blue Ribbon Commission was formed to address this limbo and they made some very ingenious and useful recommendations (BRC recs).
Two specific recommendations were seized upon by the Senate as being the means to break the nuclear log jam and flow towards a strategy that could actually work:
1) formation of a new government agency outside of the Department of Energy, in this draft called the Nuclear Waste Administration, to execute the program. In order to do so, Congress will give this agency control of the Nuclear Waste Fund, a rate-payer tax collected for commercial spent nuclear fuel. In addition, this Nuclear Waste Administration will get supplemental appropriations to deal with defense nuclear waste.
2) interim storage for spent nuclear fuel and consideration of the possibility of separating high-level defense waste from commercial spent fuel, ending our history of co-mingling these very different waste streams, something that has led to many intractable problems and the huge costs at Yucca Mountain.
The draft legislation stresses the BRC's emphasis on a Consent-Based Process, meaning to actively seek agreement from all levels, local to tribal to State to Federal, but focusing on a ground-up open process versus a top-down dictum that, in large part, led to the failures of the past.
This new Nuclear Waste Administration would be headed by an Administrator appointed by the President, who would manage the nuclear waste program in place of DOE.
The formation of an agency dedicated to nuclear waste unearths this issue and provides the authority, flexibility, and control of the funding needed to accomplish this very technical task. The new ability to store spent fuel before having a disposal site will help, as will the ability to separate defense nuclear waste from spent nuclear fuel.
But in the end, the level of funding available will force this new entity to do this right, to find the right geology and avoid picking less optimal geologic formations that we think we can re-engineer to suit our needs by throwing more money at it.
There is only enough funding to carry this out in the best geology with the best strategies. We're broke and we need to get smarter. This legislation is the first smart step we've taken in some time.
While some say this legislation would not stay the many lawsuits flying over the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (Federal Court Wastes DOE), I can't imagine that if Congress sets a new path with such significant changes in policy, that it would not indicate to the courts their movement away from the NWPA and an acknowledgement of its inadequacies, which are the basis of the lawsuits.
The members appeared enthusiastic and committed. Senator Feinstein said, "This draft implements recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission and...establishes a desperately needed nuclear waste policy, employing a consent-based approach that will expedite waste removal from at-risk locations and decommissioned plants."
Senator Alexander added, "Nuclear power is our greatest source of low-cost, clean, reliable electricity, and to power our 21st-Century economy, we need to solve the problem of where to put the used nuclear fuel. This bill would solve the problem by making local, state, and federal governments equal partners in the process, putting an end to what's become a decades-long stalemate."
The reason the Senators feel optimistic that this approach might work, is that a successful example of many of the BRC's recommendations is already on display for them at the only deep geologic nuclear waste repository that is actually operating. The WIPP site in New Mexico (Nuke Us) has already disposed of over 70,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste, basically bomb waste, some of it hotter than anything in those leaking high-level radioactive tanks everyone is so worried about (Tri-City Herald). The process by which WIPP was selected and opened is very similar to the one envisioned by the BRC.
Since nuclear waste has now become a State-rights issue, it is critical that the States most affected, i.e., those that have the problem and those that have a solution, integrate this new strategy into their plans, and develop an independent multi-state agreement. This multi-state compact would then approach the new Nuclear Waste Administration, then together they would approach the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and if that passes, Congressional approval would follow.
The Senators are taking comments on the draft legislation, and related policy issues, until May 24th, and would like to hear from experts, utilities, conservation groups, the Blue Ribbon Commission itself and other stakeholders (Senate Energy). I encourage all to comment.
Cleanup work shifts to mercury as new Y-12 water treatment plant announced John Huotari, Oak Ridge Today May 3, 2013 Cleanup work in Oak Ridge could shift from radiological contamination to mercury contamination, and a new $120 million water treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce mercury as workers tear down four contaminated buildings that were used to make nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s, officials announced Friday.
"This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era--mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways," said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. He said mercury contamination can cause brain and nervous system damage in people who eat contaminated fish.
Alexander was at Y-12 on Friday along with other federal and state officials to help announce the new water treatment plant, which will be at the head of East Fork Poplar Creek on the south side of Y-12"s main production area. The plant would be connected to a Y-12 storm water system, and it could begin operating in 2019. It would be able to treat 1,500 gallons of mercury-contaminated water per minute.
That is expected to be helpful as federal officials and contractors tear down the four buildings, which used mercury to separate lithium for nuclear weapons. Demolition work, which would include soil removal, could start in 2021 on the Beta 4 building at the west side of the West End Mercury Area and then move east to Alpha 5 and Alpha 4. Another contaminated building, Alpha 2, will also be torn down.
Alexander said the mercury was used in Oak Ridge a half-century ago as the United States built up its nuclear arms. There were once about 200,000 gallons of the toxic metal here, and about 18,000 gallons--enough to fill two gasoline tankers--have been lost to the environment or otherwise unaccounted for. Some of it ended up in the water, the senator said.
But most of the mercury is safely stored in casks, Alexander said. He said a review by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2009 said those casks shouldn't leak.
Y-12 was built to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II. The lithium separation operations started in 1955 and ended in 1963.
Mark Whitney, environmental management manager in the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office, said mercury contamination at Y-12 is the greatest environmental risk on the Oak Ridge Reservation. He said remediation work began in the 1980s, and federal officials used about $250 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on the work and to help design the new water treatment plant.
Susan Cange, deputy environmental management manager in the Oak Ridge Office, said the amount of mercury that flows into East Fork Poplar Creek varies, but the waterway generally has a concentration of about 400 parts per trillion. State water quality criteria call for a concentration of 51 parts per trillion or less, she said.
East Fork Poplar Creek starts at a spring at Y-12 and flows through Oak Ridge before joining West Fork Poplar Creek at the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park. Twenty miles of the stream in Anderson and Roane counties have been included on a state list of impaired waterways due to mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, among other pollutants, and a fishing advisory is in effect. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation proposed including it again on the 2012 list.
Alexander said radioactive cleanup work at ETTP has involved hundreds of millions of dollars, and as more progress is made at the plant, including on demolition projects at the K-25 and K-27 buildings, a larger part of the roughly $400 million budgeted for environmental cleanup work in Oak Ridge each year should go toward mercury remediation.
"We have children who want to pick crawdads out of Poplar Creek and Tennesseans of all ages who want to eat the fish, but they're warned off by signs because of dangerous mercury levels," Alexander said. "We need to make cleanup of existing mercury contamination at the facilities at Oak Ridge a top priority in the future."
In April, Alexander asked energy secretary nominee Ernest Moniz whether the cleanup of mercury contamination in Oak Ridge would be a priority under his leadership, and he asked Moniz to support the planned water treatment facility. Alexander said then that it will cost billions of dollars to clean up the contamination.
Other officials at Friday's announcement included TDEC Commissioner Robert J. Martineau Jr., DOE Senior Advisor for Environmental Management David Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg, deputy regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Rep. Joe Wilson to give overview on SRS furloughs at town hall Mike Gellatly, Aiken Standard May 2, 2013 Congressman Joe Wilson, R-S.C., will hold a town hall meeting in Aiken today, looking to address the recent concerns of furloughs due to sequestration at the Savannah River Site.
Wilson will be at the USC Aiken Convocation Center on Robert M. Bell Parkway answering questions and making remarks from 10 to 11 a.m.
"From day one, I have been opposed to sequestration because I knew the disastrous effects it would have on our economy and our national security," Wilson said Thursday. "The recent budget shortfalls that are forcing furloughs at the Savannah River Site are a direct result of inaction by the president and his Office of Management and Budget. For well over a month, I have been proactive on behalf of my constituents to encourage the quick consideration of the reprogramming request. Unfortunately, due to inaction, thousands of jobs are at risk of furlough at the Savannah River Site and vital national security missions have been placed on the backburner."
The town hall comes on the back of Wilson, along with Congressmen Tom Rice and Jeff Duncan, joining in the sending of a letter to the Office of Management and Budget again asking that it expedite the request for funds.
"On April 1, 2013, more than 2,500 dedicated workers began working 32-hour weeks as a result of inaction regarding this reprogramming request," the letter reads.
The exact amount of funds being reprogrammed is kept secret; although, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said earlier this year that the amount was $80 million. Wilson's office has repeatedly asked for the amount, but has not had his requests fulfilled.
"As we inch closer to its full implementation, it is my responsibility as a member of Congress to do my best to advocate for those who may be affected," Wilson said. "As a result, I have invited constituents to attend a town hall meeting where we will provide a brief overview of current efforts being taken to combat the furloughs and provide information to the SRS community about what can be done to protect the Site's vital mission."
New Mexico Environment Department Presents WIPP Its Highest Recognition for Environmental Excellence DOE Press Release April 30, 2013 CARLSBAD, N.M., April 30, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was recognized by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) with Green Zia Environmental Leadership Program (GZELP) Gold Level membership for excellence.
The GZELP annually recognizes organizations and businesses for their demonstration of environmental leadership in support of pollution prevention and sustainability. The Gold Level is the highest GZELP recognition. WIPP was chosen by the NMED as a Silver Level Leader in 2012 and Bronze Level Leader in 2011.
The NMED, the state regulatory agency, selected WIPP based on continuing environmental achievements, including hazardous waste reduction, energy conservation and pollution prevention.
"We're honored to be recognized by NMED for environmental practices at WIPP, said DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Manager Joe Franco. The CBFO has responsibility for WIPP and the National Transuranic (TRU) Program. "WIPP is committed to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources so they're available for use by future generations. Credit goes to the WIPP team which is very deserving of this recognition."
NMED Secretary Ryan Flynn and New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Secretary F. David Martin presented the Gold Level Leader recognition to members of the WIPP team at a ceremony in Carlsbad on April 25, 2013. Secretary Flynn congratulated employees for their commitment to the environment and commended WIPP for improvements to recycling programs and reduced use of water, electricity and petroleum products.
WIPP is one of only three New Mexico organizations to achieve Gold Level status in 2013 for its documented improvements and associated cost savings for the period of October 2011 through December 2012. The organizations that were recognized have shown commitment to and innovation for reducing waste and natural resource use in New Mexico, according to the NMED.
The WIPP Team Program Leader Susan McCauslin, CBFO National Environmental Policy Act manager, said it takes a team effort to achieve Gold Level status. "We consistently review new projects and work packages to identify ways to conserve resources. Can we use recycled materials? Save water or fuel? It's a systematic process that requires everyone's participation if we are to improve."
In addition to McCauslin, Franco and Farok Sharif, president and project manager of Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), LLC, the WIPP management and operating contractor, those recognized from the CBFO, NWP, LLC, Regulatory Environmental Services (RES), NWP, LLC affiliate, and Xcel Staffing Companies included: Royce Allen, Joe Arrey, Joe Baca, George Basabilvazo, Billy Beeman, Randy Britain, Roy Byrd, Jason Chadwick, James Cobb, Francine Cohen, Curtis Cox, Shari Cullum, Joel Frier, Marty Gonzales, James Hedin, Jennifer Hendrickson, Bruce Jeffress, Richard Jimenez, Lynn Johnson, Stewart Jones, Cliff Kemp, Kendra Kessler, Red Keyser, Johnny Marrs, Judy McClemore, Helen Moore, Brian Navarrette, Jeff Neatherlin, Jimmy Neatherlin, Jamie Newton, Doug Pitzer, Butch Reid, Bobby Roberson, Rick Salness, Robbin Spoon, and Kenny Walker.
The GZELP is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program with emphasis on integrating environmental improvements into core business practices. Participating organizations and businesses that implement sustainable practices complete a GZELP application each year to document environmental achievements and set future goals. Since its inception in 1999, over 140 organizations and businesses have participated in the program.
WIPP is a DOE facility designed to safely isolate defense-related TRU waste from people and the environment. Waste temporarily stored at sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP is located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M.
Senator Martin Heinrich says WIPP a 'real success story' during Carlsbad visit Stella Davis, Carlsbad Current-Argus May 2, 2013 U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said Tuesday the Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has done an "amazing job" in meeting its mission of storing nuclear waste from DOE sites around the country.
"It's a real success story," he said.
Heinrich, a junior senator and a member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, met with Current-Argus staff during his swing through the southeastern part of the state and touched on a number of issues important to Eddy County and the state.
WIPP is located 27 miles east of Carlsbad and is the world's first underground repository of transuranic waste such as clothing, tools, rags, debris and other items contaminated with radioactive materials during research and production of nuclear weapons in the U.S.
In addition to discussing his views on WIPP, Heinrich also touched on issues that included oil and gas, land and water issues and the state's implementation of a health insurance exchange under the federally enacted Health Care for America, also known as Obamacare.
Heinrich said before nuclear waste began to be moved to WIPP from DOE sites around the country, storage was "hodge-podge" and the sites needed to be cleaned up and the waste disposed of in a safe manner.
In February, Heinrich co-authored a letter with Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and sent it to President Obama requesting that the administration include federal funding in the DOE's Defense Environmental Cleanup 2014 budget of at least $255 million for cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory and $222 million to operate and maintain WIPP.
"We are going to see if there is an opportunity to get more (funding) for WIPP," Heinrich said. "We have a new nominee for DOE secretary and I am going to make sure these issues (WIPP funding) are front and center."
Heinrich said the completion of the defense legacy waste cleanup at Los Alamos is an important commitment that Congress and DOE have made to the community and the state, and he believes it should remain a top funding priority for the DOE.
Touching on the issue of the oil and gas drilling and production in Eddy County, Heinrich said the industry is providing a strong baseline for the economy. However, he said with the boom that is expected to continue in this region for several more years, there will be challenges for the industry in terms of infrastructure and getting the oil and gas to markets.
"There will be a need for adequate infrastructure such as pipelines to get to the markets beyond Eddy County," he said.
Asked about his view on Otero Mesa, located in the southern part of the state, and the decade-long fight over energy development there, Heinrich said, "It's a big place. It's amazing and diverse. I think with a smart conservation plan developed for Otero Mesa, it could have pristine areas and other development. But I need a lot more information to make a good decision on this and the proposal to designate it a national monument."
Otero Mesa is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, which is mandated to facilitate exploration, development and production of energy on appropriate public lands. During the Bush Administration, there was a strong push to advance oil and gas drilling on the Otero Mesa, a 1.2 million-acre expanse of undisturbed Chihuahuan desert grassland.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed Otero Mesa as a national monument, but it remains controversial, and President Obama has not taken action on the proposal.
Touching on the issue of the state's implementation of the Health Insurance Exchange that is required to be in place by October, Heinrich said he is worried that the state won't have it implemented in time.
"We have been following the progress and it's slower than we like," he said.
New Mexico received more than $130 million from the federal government to set up the exchange, and as yet, few details have come out about how it will work and if the electronic infrastructure has been put in place.
Plant Vogtle's spent fuel storage site delayed till October Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle April 30, 2013 A new storage facility for spent nuclear fuel that has been accumulating at Plant Vogtle for decades will go into operation a few months later than planned, according to Southern Nuclear officials.
The waste, part of 2,490 metric tons of the material statewide, has been stored in concrete-lined pools since Vogtle's first two reactors began operating in 1987 and 1989.
Because those pools will be filled to capacity in 2014, the company announced more than two years ago that it would construct above-ground "dry cask" facilities that will enable the material to be stored in Burke County for a longer time.
The initial placement of spent fuel in the first of two new storage areas at Vogtle was scheduled to occur in July but has been delayed by issues, including late delivery of equipment.
In an April 23 letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, company officials said the initial operation of the site is now scheduled for Oct. 14, which will still allow the dry cask site to begin operations well before existing pools reach capacity.
Aside from equipment delivery issues and preparing for final NRC demonstrations, the project has moved along smoothly, said Southern Nuclear spokeswoman Michelle Tims.
"Southern Nuclear has made good progress to date with respect to design and installation of the facility, despite the abnormal amount of rain experienced this spring," she said.
Plant Vogtle is among many plants whose spent fuel remains in limbo after the administration canceled the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, which was designed as a final disposal site for spent fuel and other radioactive wastes.
Under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department of Energy remains responsible for disposal solutions. Alternatives - including consolidated interim storage and reprocessing - are now being re-examined, with Savannah River Site possibly playing a role in such programs.
Many commercial nuclear plant operators, however, have lobbied for reinstatement of the Yucca Mountain project. Southern Co. executives who testified before a Blue Ribbon Commission exploring spent fuel disposal alternatives said its customers have paid about $1 billion into a nuclear waste fund that was to finance a permanent repository for spent fuel.
Plant Vogtle is among many sites where long-term cask storage systems are being built.
Cask storage is already in place at Vogtle's sister nuclear plants Hatch and Farley. Those sites are among 51 licensed cask facilities in 47 places in the U.S., according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
With no clear plan in sight for a national geologic repository, the NRC revealed in a 2011 Federal Register notice that it has drafted longer-term rules for storing both spent fuel and high-level radioactive wastes in their current locations for as long as 120 years.
Southern Nuclear told the NRC in 2011 that it expects to fill 110 dry storage casks by 2035 - all from the existing inventory of spent fuel from Units 1 and 2.
Two additional units - 3 and 4 - remain under construction nearby and will have their own independent storage sites for spent fuel when they begin commercial operation. Those startup dates are now projected for the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2018, respectively.
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