ECA Update: March 24, 2014
Published: Mon, 03/24/14
|
All Things MOX and Not
Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization
March 2014
Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization
March 2014
All the recent headlines have been about the Administration's decision to place the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) in "cold-standby". It all started with the President's FY15 budget proposal. The White House Management and Budget Office said in a briefing document that "This current plutonium disposition approach may be unaffordable ... due to cost growth and fiscal pressure."
As a result of this action, South Carolina's Governor Haley decided to file a lawsuit against the Department of Energy. The lawsuit states "DOE decided not to proceed with the immobilization portion of the hybrid strategy, leaving the construction and operation of the MOX facility as the only strategy to dispose of surplus plutonium in the United States.,"
What is not being discussed in the "main stream" media, although potentially key to the lawsuit, is the plutonium, more specifically, the plutonium already being stored at SRS. There is the potential for more to come and the very good likelihood that it will stay at SRS indefinitely. With MOX, even at the high price tag, there is a disposition path which could be achieved in 5-6 years given the 60-70% construction status. Even if an alternative being proposed or studied by DOE is cheaper than MOX, will it achieve the removal of plutonium faster? It is surprising that the media, anti-nuclear special interests groups and the general public is not making the removal of plutonium the primary driver in the MOX discussion.
As indicated in a 2005 GAO report, SRS has already received nearly 1,900 containers of plutonium from the Rocky Flats site in Colorado, and stabilization and packaging is still ongoing at other DOE sites. DOE estimated it will have nearly 5,700 plutonium storage containers that could eventually be shipped to SRS.
Overall the US has declared 61.5 MT of plutonium to be excess to potential use in nuclear weapons, out of the inventory of 99.5 MT held by the US Government in 1994 after the end of the Cold War. Click here for the Plutonium Balance. From the 61.5 MT of excess plutonium, at least 41.1 MT is likely to prove suitable for MOX fuel fabrication. Up to 9 MT of non-weapons-grade plutonium and very impure plutonium (non-"MOXable") will be disposed by other methods, including disposal to WIPP as TRU waste or by co-disposal with High Level Waste. DOE is currently evaluating optimum pathways for approximately 6 MT of non-pit metal and oxide, which could include processing to meet MOX requirements or processing.
Governor Haley's lawsuit is not the only attempt to ensure plutonium leaves the state of South Carolina. Back in 2002, then Governor Hodges suggested that the state of South Carolina would likely sue DOE over its decision to begin plutonium shipments to SRS. He sought legally binding obligations from DOE that the plutonium will not remain indefinitely in South Carolina.
In an April 12, 2002 letter, then Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, promised Hodges that DOE would incorporate assurances into a revised Record of Decision, but refused to enter into a consent decree with the state that would give his pledge the binding force of a court order. He further claimed that judicial intervention into the pending shipments would be wholly irresponsible, especially at a time when we have clear evidence that terrorist groups are seeking access to nuclear materials. He further admonished the potential South Carolina lawsuit, by saying it would amount to "an attempt to conduct national security and foreign policy affairs through the judicial process" and "goes beyond what we can do."
He also outlined what he called a string of concessions to ease the governor's concerns. Among them is a formal commitment to take the plutonium back if the MOX conversion plant falls behind schedule or runs into funding trouble. Click here for a copy of the Hodges/Abraham correspondence.
The national security and terrorist situation has not changed and may even be more heighten in 2014. Plutonium promises need to be kept!
Los Alamos lab turns to Texas to temporarily store radioactive waste
Reuters
March 20, 2014
(Reuters) - The Los Alamos National Laboratory has found a temporary home in Texas for roughly 1,000 barrels of radioactive junk left in limbo after a radiation leak led to a prolonged shutdown of New Mexico's only nuclear waste disposal facility.
Los Alamos, one of the leading U.S. nuclear weapons labs, said earlier this month it had been forced to halt shipments of its radioactive refuse some 300 miles across the state to the nation's only underground nuclear repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad.
The repository has remained closed while the U.S. Department of Energy investigates the origins of a radiation leak that occurred there on February 14, exposing at least 17 workers to radioactive contamination. It was the first such mishap since the facility opened in 1999.
That left a quandary for Los Alamos, which faces a strict June 30 deadline to dispose of roughly 1,000 temporary storage drums of radiation-contaminated waste. The lab said on Thursday that waste would be sent to the Waste Control Specialists facility in Andrews County, Texas.
The waste that will go to Texas includes clothing, tools, rags, debris, soil and other items contaminated with low levels of radiation, Los Alamos said. It will be held in Texas temporarily, pending the reopening of the New Mexico repository.
According to Los Alamos lab spokesman Matt Nerzig, the waste will begin to be shipped to the temporary site in early April, ahead of the June deadline set by the state environmental department to remove it from the Los Alamos campus.
Established during World War Two as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the world's first atomic bomb, Los Alamos remains one of the leading nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities in the United States.
A massive wildfire that raged at the edge of the complex in 2011 burned to within a few miles of a collection of radioactive waste drums temporarily stored at the site. Since then, Energy Department and state officials have made the removal of the waste a top environmental priority.
Nuclear-Weapons Site [Middlesex, NJ Landfill] to Get Third Cleanup
The Wall Street Journal
March 21, 2014
MIDDLESEX, N.J.--The federal government has decided to clean up radioactive contamination at a landfill here that has been cleaned twice already, in the latest sign of the nation's struggle with the legacy of the U.S. nuclear-weapons program.
A spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the landfill has been approved for inclusion in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, or Fusrap. The Corps is cleaning up some two dozen sites around the country under Fusrap, which was created in the 1970s to deal with radioactive contamination left over from the weapons-building program and other federal atomic activities.
A spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the landfill has been approved for inclusion in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, or Fusrap. The Corps is cleaning up some two dozen sites around the country under Fusrap, which was created in the 1970s to deal with radioactive contamination left over from the weapons-building program and other federal atomic activities.
The Middlesex landfill was highlighted in a series of Wall Street Journal articles last year examining the contamination left behind at scores of sites in some three dozen states where factories and other facilities did federal nuclear work during World War II and the Cold War. Many of these sites are near where people live.
The Journal discovered a range of problems, including incomplete records that hampered cleanup work and even locating some sites; failures to find and remove all the contamination at some sites; and cleanups that have stretched on for decades. Some cleanup work also has been hindered in recent years by federal budget cuts.
Federal nuclear officials say they have cleaned dozens of sites and are working hard to deal with the rest. They say that none of the locations pose any imminent threat to the public--though some critics disagree.
The problems and delays in the radioactive cleanup work are "totally unacceptable," said Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat whose district includes a Fusrap site where the cleanup was completed in 2012 some 30 years after the contamination was discovered. "We need to find the resources to deal with it." Mr. Kennedy said the Journal stories had "helped raise awareness" in Congress about the issue.
Sen. Robert Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), whose state contains a troubled Fusrap project outside Pittsburgh, sent a letter Friday to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging "robust funding" for the cleanup program. "It is imperative that this program get the funding it needs in order to ensure proper remediation of these locations," the letter said.
Mr. Casey believes adequate funding would mean a "significant" increase from fiscal 2014's budget of about $103.5 million, said a spokeswoman. He and his staff are looking to recruit others in the Senate to back an increase. Fusrap budgets, formerly $140 million to $150 million annually, have been reduced to around $100 million in recent years. Federal officials have estimated the contaminated Pennsylvania site alone could cost $500 million to rectify.
Mr. Casey's initiative could add momentum to an effort begun last year in the Appropriations Committee, which recommended increasing Fusrap's budget to $195 million. The panel saw "an opportunity to accelerate some of the cleanup effort,s" based on "an awareness that there was still a lot of work needed," said a committee spokesman.
For 2014, the House proposed $103.5 million, about the same as the Obama administration's proposal, and that was the amount finally settled on, said the Army Corps spokeswoman.
Ronald Dobies is also frustrated by the pace of Fusrap cleanup efforts. The mayor of Middlesex, a hamlet of about 14,000 people some 30 miles from New York City, Mr. Dobie said: "It has taken a hell of a long time to go a little distance."
In the late 1940s, contaminated material from a nearby nuclear-weapons facility was spread over 5 acres in Middlesex, according to federal records. In the 1960s and again in the 1970s, the site went through cleanups.
In 2001, yet more contamination was found, this time near a residential street.
The site will officially be put back into Fusrap in the coming fiscal year, the Army Corps spokeswoman said. There isn't yet any projected cost or completion schedule.
The Journal discovered a range of problems, including incomplete records that hampered cleanup work and even locating some sites; failures to find and remove all the contamination at some sites; and cleanups that have stretched on for decades. Some cleanup work also has been hindered in recent years by federal budget cuts.
Federal nuclear officials say they have cleaned dozens of sites and are working hard to deal with the rest. They say that none of the locations pose any imminent threat to the public--though some critics disagree.
The problems and delays in the radioactive cleanup work are "totally unacceptable," said Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat whose district includes a Fusrap site where the cleanup was completed in 2012 some 30 years after the contamination was discovered. "We need to find the resources to deal with it." Mr. Kennedy said the Journal stories had "helped raise awareness" in Congress about the issue.
Sen. Robert Casey Jr. (D., Pa.), whose state contains a troubled Fusrap project outside Pittsburgh, sent a letter Friday to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging "robust funding" for the cleanup program. "It is imperative that this program get the funding it needs in order to ensure proper remediation of these locations," the letter said.
Mr. Casey believes adequate funding would mean a "significant" increase from fiscal 2014's budget of about $103.5 million, said a spokeswoman. He and his staff are looking to recruit others in the Senate to back an increase. Fusrap budgets, formerly $140 million to $150 million annually, have been reduced to around $100 million in recent years. Federal officials have estimated the contaminated Pennsylvania site alone could cost $500 million to rectify.
Mr. Casey's initiative could add momentum to an effort begun last year in the Appropriations Committee, which recommended increasing Fusrap's budget to $195 million. The panel saw "an opportunity to accelerate some of the cleanup effort,s" based on "an awareness that there was still a lot of work needed," said a committee spokesman.
For 2014, the House proposed $103.5 million, about the same as the Obama administration's proposal, and that was the amount finally settled on, said the Army Corps spokeswoman.
Ronald Dobies is also frustrated by the pace of Fusrap cleanup efforts. The mayor of Middlesex, a hamlet of about 14,000 people some 30 miles from New York City, Mr. Dobie said: "It has taken a hell of a long time to go a little distance."
In the late 1940s, contaminated material from a nearby nuclear-weapons facility was spread over 5 acres in Middlesex, according to federal records. In the 1960s and again in the 1970s, the site went through cleanups.
In 2001, yet more contamination was found, this time near a residential street.
The site will officially be put back into Fusrap in the coming fiscal year, the Army Corps spokeswoman said. There isn't yet any projected cost or completion schedule.
State to feds: 'We mean business' at Hanford
KING 5 News
March 21, 2014
The state of Washington is preparing to take the most aggressive action in four years against the U.S. Department of Energy for the federal government's failure to adhere to waste laws and legally binding cleanup schedules at the Hanford Site - a sign of state officials' growing frustration with lack of progress in the decades-long nuclear waste cleanup.
The more aggressive stance will come in two parts, according to email communications obtained by KING 5. On Friday, the state Department of Ecology ordered a new, faster timetable for pumping out a massive double-shell waste tank -- designated AY-102 -- that is slowly leaking highly radioactive waste. Next week, the state will communicate to the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice that the government is in violation of the 2010 consent decree governing the Hanford cleanup -- a step that could lead to court action to force more changes at Hanford.
News of the two actions come days after Gov. Jay Inslee met with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Olympia to discuss the government's plan for starting up the Waste Treatment Plant -- a $13 billion project to convert the most deadly radioactive waste at Hanford into stable glass logs for long-term storage. The plant is already years behind schedule, with work halted on a key part over concerns that the technology could fail and spew radiation over the nearby Tri-Cities.
The order issued Friday deals specifically with AY-102, a massive waste tank that has been at the center of a year-long KING 5 investigation, Hanford's Dirty Secrets. KING 5 exposed the government's contractor in charge of the tanks, Washington River Protection Solutions, ignored scientific evidence for nearly a year that the tank was leaking. The series also revealed the company lacked mandatory plans to deal with the leak and wasted millions of tax dollars on projects deemed unusable specifically because the tank was falling apart.
According to a plan released on March 7, the federal government said it would not begin pumping the leaking double-shell tank until 2016 at the earliest. State and federal waste laws require leaking tanks to be emptied within 24 hours or whatever is practical.
Friday's order dramatically speeds the timetable for pumping out AY-102. The state said removal of liquid waste in the tank is to begin by September 1, with the removal of harder-to-retrieve solid waste to begin by December 1, 2015. The entire tank must be emptied by Dec. 1, 2016.
"Waiting another two years, at best, to initiate actions to address this hazardous condition is neither legally acceptable nor environmentally prudent. The state cannot afford further delays on removing waste from this tank," said Maia Bellon, Ecology's director.
Ecology also ordered the Department of Energy and WRPS to more closely monitor AY-102 to ensure that the leak does not allow radioactive materials to escape into the environment.
The Department of Energy said it was "disappointed" that Ecology issued the order without advance notice, especially after Secretary Moniz flew to Washington to brief the governor. "We have been actively monitoring and inspecting all of the double shell tanks at Hanford," Energy's statement says. "The Department believes there are risks associated with pumping Tank AY-102 at this time. The tank is not leaking into the environment, and there is no immediate threat to the public or the environment posed by AY-102.
Asked about what message the order sends, Ecology Director Maia Bellon told KING 5: "I expect the federal government to take this order very seriously, to understand that we mean business when it comes to ensuring the laws of our state are met, to ensuring that we prevent threats to public health and the environment."
Bellon added: "And I expect the federal government to execute on this order and to work cooperatively with the state to pump the AY-102 tank and to continue to move forward on effective and good management at the Hanford facility."
Bellon said the federal government can appeal Ecology's order within 30 days, but she defended the state's plan as giving the Energy Department sufficient time to position equipment and monitor the tank before starting to pump on September 1.
Pace of cleanup
After meeting with Moniz on Monday, Inslee said the Energy secretary's briefing failed to satisfy the state's demands that the overall Hanford cleanup be expedited. Specifically, the Energy Department had agreed to have the Waste Treatment Plant in initial operation by 2019 and in full production mode by 2022. The federal government has already said it will miss those deadlines by years.
The more aggressive stance will come in two parts, according to email communications obtained by KING 5. On Friday, the state Department of Ecology ordered a new, faster timetable for pumping out a massive double-shell waste tank -- designated AY-102 -- that is slowly leaking highly radioactive waste. Next week, the state will communicate to the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice that the government is in violation of the 2010 consent decree governing the Hanford cleanup -- a step that could lead to court action to force more changes at Hanford.
News of the two actions come days after Gov. Jay Inslee met with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Olympia to discuss the government's plan for starting up the Waste Treatment Plant -- a $13 billion project to convert the most deadly radioactive waste at Hanford into stable glass logs for long-term storage. The plant is already years behind schedule, with work halted on a key part over concerns that the technology could fail and spew radiation over the nearby Tri-Cities.
The order issued Friday deals specifically with AY-102, a massive waste tank that has been at the center of a year-long KING 5 investigation, Hanford's Dirty Secrets. KING 5 exposed the government's contractor in charge of the tanks, Washington River Protection Solutions, ignored scientific evidence for nearly a year that the tank was leaking. The series also revealed the company lacked mandatory plans to deal with the leak and wasted millions of tax dollars on projects deemed unusable specifically because the tank was falling apart.
According to a plan released on March 7, the federal government said it would not begin pumping the leaking double-shell tank until 2016 at the earliest. State and federal waste laws require leaking tanks to be emptied within 24 hours or whatever is practical.
Friday's order dramatically speeds the timetable for pumping out AY-102. The state said removal of liquid waste in the tank is to begin by September 1, with the removal of harder-to-retrieve solid waste to begin by December 1, 2015. The entire tank must be emptied by Dec. 1, 2016.
"Waiting another two years, at best, to initiate actions to address this hazardous condition is neither legally acceptable nor environmentally prudent. The state cannot afford further delays on removing waste from this tank," said Maia Bellon, Ecology's director.
Ecology also ordered the Department of Energy and WRPS to more closely monitor AY-102 to ensure that the leak does not allow radioactive materials to escape into the environment.
The Department of Energy said it was "disappointed" that Ecology issued the order without advance notice, especially after Secretary Moniz flew to Washington to brief the governor. "We have been actively monitoring and inspecting all of the double shell tanks at Hanford," Energy's statement says. "The Department believes there are risks associated with pumping Tank AY-102 at this time. The tank is not leaking into the environment, and there is no immediate threat to the public or the environment posed by AY-102.
Asked about what message the order sends, Ecology Director Maia Bellon told KING 5: "I expect the federal government to take this order very seriously, to understand that we mean business when it comes to ensuring the laws of our state are met, to ensuring that we prevent threats to public health and the environment."
Bellon added: "And I expect the federal government to execute on this order and to work cooperatively with the state to pump the AY-102 tank and to continue to move forward on effective and good management at the Hanford facility."
Bellon said the federal government can appeal Ecology's order within 30 days, but she defended the state's plan as giving the Energy Department sufficient time to position equipment and monitor the tank before starting to pump on September 1.
Pace of cleanup
After meeting with Moniz on Monday, Inslee said the Energy secretary's briefing failed to satisfy the state's demands that the overall Hanford cleanup be expedited. Specifically, the Energy Department had agreed to have the Waste Treatment Plant in initial operation by 2019 and in full production mode by 2022. The federal government has already said it will miss those deadlines by years.
Both the governor and Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued statements after the Moniz meeting saying the state was considering legal action to force the government to live up to its agreements at Hanford.
According to internal state emails obtained by KING 5, representatives from Gov. Inslee's office and the Department of Ecology gave Sen. Patty Murray a "high-level debrief" on the state's new consent decree plan on Tuesday.
According to internal state emails obtained by KING 5, representatives from Gov. Inslee's office and the Department of Ecology gave Sen. Patty Murray a "high-level debrief" on the state's new consent decree plan on Tuesday.
Asked to comment on possible legal action, Ferguson said Friday: "The people of our region deserve a comprehensive plan forward to address Hanford Cleanup. As both the Governor and I stated earlier this week, we are reviewing all options to enforce the obligations set forth in our 2010 consent decree and the Tri-Party Agreement - and we will have more to share soon."
Hanford is considered one of the most contaminated places on the planet. Located in southeastern Washington, the 586-square-mile reservation was home to massive factories that produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear arsenal. Starting in 1943 and lasting until 1989, the plutonium production produced huge volumes of waste, including 56 million gallons of radioactive liquid and sludge that's been kept in carbon steel tanks.
Hanford is considered one of the most contaminated places on the planet. Located in southeastern Washington, the 586-square-mile reservation was home to massive factories that produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear arsenal. Starting in 1943 and lasting until 1989, the plutonium production produced huge volumes of waste, including 56 million gallons of radioactive liquid and sludge that's been kept in carbon steel tanks.
The Bellingham Herald: DOE's lack of specifics hurts relations with state, public
The Bellingham Herald
March 22, 2014
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz ought to be commended for traveling to Olympia last week to discuss Hanford cleanup with Gov. Jay Inslee.
But our desire to congratulate Moniz is tempered by the lack of substance provided during their conversation.
Last month, Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson sent a letter to Moniz, requesting a plan that would "contain the specificity, detail and comprehensiveness which has thus far not been provided" on how DOE proposes to amend the 2010 court-enforced consent decree.
DOE has alerted the state that it won't meet all the legal deadlines for cleanup outlined in the decree but hasn't produced a detailed proposal for the state to review.
"We made it clear last month we were expecting a comprehensive plan for a path forward, and I was disappointed with the scope of the federal government's approach," Ferguson said after the meeting with Moniz.
The decree covers deadlines for the Hanford vitrification plant being built to treat up to 56 million gallons of waste held in underground tanks.
No project is more essential to eliminating the risk posed by the radioactive and toxic wastes left from decades of plutonium production at Hanford. The lack of details regarding DOE's plans for the facility would be alarming if it was an isolated problem.
But the situation appears to be part of a trend back toward the bad old days when DOE gave little more than lip service to the notion that Hanford's stakeholders are key to the cleanup process.
We didn't draw that conclusion on our own. Complaints about the department's lack of candor cut a wide swath through the political spectrum.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., have said that DOE has failed to keep them informed about critically important Hanford activities or plans, Herald staff writer Annette Cary reported.
The Hanford Advisory Board, which includes representatives of a variety of groups interested in the environmental cleanup, has repeatedly made the same complaint.
In September, DOE released what it called a "framework" for talking about retrieving and treating the waste now held in underground tanks, but it contained few technical details or information on cost or schedule.
HAB sent a formal letter of advice to DOE in December asking for an open and transparent process to resolve issues with the vitrification plant in response to the release of the framework document after a year of near silence.
"We are surprised at the paucity of details it contains, and the near complete absence of solutions suggested for the major technical issues," the letter said.
Last week's meeting between Moniz and Inslee did little to bring any clarity to the technical issues hindering the vit plant's construction.
And it clearly did little to bring the state and DOE into alignment. On Friday, the state ordered DOE to start emptying liquid waste from a Hanford double-shell tank with an interior leak by Sept. 1 -- 18 months ahead of DOE's schedule.
The state complained that after months of discussions, it is clear the federal government was not willing to address state regulations requiring it to remove waste from the tank in a timely manner.
Deteriorating relations between DOE and the state are troubling. Ferguson said during a recent visit to the Tri-Cities that "the time comes when you have to explore legal options" and the state is close to that.
A partnership between the state and DOE would be far more productive than an adversarial relationship, but that can't happen until DOE is more forthcoming with details about cleanup plans.
Moniz made a good first step toward repairing its rapport with the state by traveling to Olympia. Now he needs to follow up with an new openness.
DOE to close Hanford lab with 81 workers
Tri-City Herald
March 19, 2014
Richland -- The Department of Energy told employees Wednesday that it plans to stop operating the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility in central Hanford within a year.
Some 81 people work at the laboratory, including 18 employees of Mission Support Alliance and about 60 employees of its subcontractor, RJ Lee, which operates the lab.
No information was available Wednesday on the fate of those jobs. The work done at the lab is expected to be transferred to offsite laboratories.
Closing the lab will reduce infrastructure costs and the savings can be used to conduct additional environmental cleanup work, said Matt McCormick, manager of the DOE Richland Operations Office, in a message to Hanford workers.
Offsite labs can provide the same analytical services at significantly lower costs, he said. He expects an average savings of $12 million a year, most from eliminating the cost of maintaining and operating the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility.
Mission Support Alliance, DOE's support-services contractor at Hanford, is expected to have a plan prepared within 60 days for the shutdown of the 40,000-square-foot lab and the fate of about a dozen nearby buildings used for sample archiving, data management and canister cleaning.
More is expected to be known then about the timing of the closure and what will happen to the workers at the lab, including at least 42 Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) workers.
"The work in question is ours and we intend to fight for it," said Dave Molnaa, HAMTC president.
HAMTC does not have details yet on the announced change, but it expects DOE to provide full transparency in transition discussions and to ensure that a lab contracted to perform services will use HAMTC personnel, he said. DOE has agreed to engage in labor discussions whenever privatization is proposed, he added.
The Mission Support Alliance contract includes sample analysis as assigned work, but the contract will be modified to delete that work.
The Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility was built in the early 1990s and opened in 1994 to analyze samples with trace amounts of chemicals and radioactive materials from Hanford surveillance and monitoring activities and from environmental cleanup work. Among its work is looking at samples of air, water, soil, vapor and sludge.
Twenty years ago, DOE and its regulators were not confident that offsite labs could perform the volume of work needed and do it quickly, McCormick said in his memo.
But the capacity and turnaround times of offsite labs have improved since then and shipping has become faster and more reliable, he said. Hanford contractor Washington Closure Hanford already is using offsite labs rather than the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility, and contractors at other DOE sites across the nation also successfully ship their samples offsite, McCormick said.
Washington Closure, which is responsible for Hanford cleanup along the Columbia River, has contracts with several labs to ensure flexibility, access and quality control, said Washington Closure spokesman Peter Bengtson. The labs include TestAmerica in Richland.
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. is the main user of the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility for its work to clean up and monitor groundwater and for central Hanford environmental work. Mission Support Alliance also uses the lab for samples in its surveillance and environmental monitoring work.
Washington River Protection Solutions accounts for a small percentage of the lab's work. It is responsible for 56 million gallons of waste in underground tanks.
Samples of high-level radioactive waste from Hanford tanks will continue to be sent to the 222-S Laboratory in central Hanford, which will operate as usual.
When the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility is no longer needed, it will be kept in a low-cost maintenance and surveillance mode until it is demolished. Because of its low risk to the environment, demolition is not expected to be done soon.
TN Governor touts economic potential of nuclear site
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
March 22, 2014
OAK RIDGE -- Gov. Bill Haslam got a firsthand look Friday at a piece of Oak Ridge property that has a prized history and -- according to the governor -- a big future as well.
Haslam and a contingent of local and state officials received a "tutorial" from the U.S. Department of Energy on cleanup operations and reindustrialization efforts at the former uranium-enrichment plant now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park.
Workers recently finished tearing down the historic K-25 building, opening up even more space at the 70-year-old government plant that is gradually being converted to private uses.
The governor said the sprawling site could be a unique attraction for economic development.
"As a state, we have a real vested interest in what happens here," Haslam said when he met with the news media Friday morning.
"Finding 2,000 mostly flat acres in East Tennessee is next to impossible," he said, noting that the site is also within three miles of Interstate 40, seven minutes from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with easy access and a ready infrastructure.
"It's incredibly exciting to see the economic development potential of this property," Haslam said.
While some parts of the East Tennessee Technology Park are already being leased to private companies, much of the site still bears contamination associated with its nuclear legacy and will require additional cleanup projects.
Demolition of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 building -- and its uranium-processing equipment -- required the better part of a decade and a billion dollars. Tons and tons of radioactive rubble were hauled from the site and shipped to nuclear landfills for burial.
Workers on Friday were still busy excavating some of the plant's underground structures and monitoring contamination levels at the site, which will help determine what future cleanup actions are needed.
Many of the plant's other buildings were demolished before that, but a few remain -- including the nearby K-27 building -- which was a sister operation to the K-25 uranium facility. Before workers start demolition of K-27, however, they will first tear down the old K-31 building.
DOE recently gave URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge cleanup manager, the authority to start pre-demolition work at K-31. The demolition should be fairly easy compared to K-25 and other facilities because the uranium-processing equipment has already been removed -- basically leaving the 20-acre building's shell.
It will be years before the entire site is cleaned up and ready for development, and Haslam emphasized Friday the need to finish the cleanup activities.
"The cleanup is important to us because it opens up a window of opportunity by having this big a piece of property right here in East Tennessee," the governor said.
The big site could be used for manufacturing or other purposes, and Haslam said one key recruiting tool would be the proximity of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the technologies being developed there. He cited the nearby Carbon Fiber Technology Center, which is working to reduce the cost of manufacturing carbon fiber so that it could be more widely use in reducing the weight of cars and many other purposes.
Haslam indicated that the Oak Ridge site could be a good fit for an automotive plant or other transportation-related industries.
"I think you always want to recruit to your strengths," he said. "I think the nation's best national lab is five minutes away. Anything that can be related to other work here in Oak Ridge is a natural. One of the things we've started to see at the state is that's a huge advantage."
Former senators go nuclear
The Hill
March 19, 2014
Former Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) are getting behind an industry-backed effort to raise the profile of nuclear energy and highlight the risks of closing power plants.
Bayh and Gregg said Wednesday that Nuclear Matters, for which they serve as co-chairmen, wants to raise awareness of nuclear plant closings, but is not yet suggesting solutions to the problem.
Bayh and Gregg said Wednesday that Nuclear Matters, for which they serve as co-chairmen, wants to raise awareness of nuclear plant closings, but is not yet suggesting solutions to the problem.
"There is what I would call a perfect storm of factors threatening the nuclear power production in the United States," Bayh told reporters. "They're going to have some significant consequences for consumers, for our economy, for our climate policy. And yet this has really been under the radar in terms of public recognition."
Nuclear Matters largely blames current market structures, government policies and competition from cheap natural gas for the threat to nuclear power.
"We have a number of power plants ... which are at risk because of the economics of the times," said Gregg, who writes a weekly column for The Hill. Recent plant closings include ones in Vermont and Wisconsin, he said.
But Bayh and Gregg stressed that their campaign -- at least for now -- is strictly about public education. Nuclear Matters will likely propose some policy changes to stem the tide of plant closings at a later point.
Nor is the group pushing for more nuclear plants to be built.
"The issue of how you address this I think requires that first you have people understand the problem," Gregg said. "It's important that the average American ... understands the importance of nuclear power and its benefit in the daily life of the average American."
Bayh and Gregg specifically couched nuclear power in terms of climate policy. Nuclear plants do not emit greenhouse gases, so they should be an important part of President Obama's climate change policy, they said.
"If you care about making progress and reducing greenhouse gases, you have to care about the challenges that face nuclear power today," Bayh said.
Associated Press
March 19, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) -- William Magwood, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission whose criticism helped lead to the ouster of the agency's former chairman, said Wednesday he soon will be leaving the five-member commission.
Magwood, 52, a Democrat, has served on the NRC since 2010. He was one of four commissioners -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- who wrote to the White House in 2011, complaining that then-NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko was a bully responsible for a tense and unsettled work environment, and that women at the NRC felt particularly threatened.
The letter said the four commissioners had "grave concerns" about Jaczko, adding that his bullying style was "causing serious damage" to the agency's mission to protect health and safety at the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors.
Jaczko, a Democrat, announced his resignation in May 2012, ahead of a report by the agency's inspector general that largely upheld his fellow commissioners' complaints.
Magwood is set to start in September as director general of the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency, an arm of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental organization of 31 countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
Magwood called the post a tremendous honor and said he appreciated the Obama administration's "strong support" for his nomination. "I will take with me the vital lessons I have learned from my time at the finest safety regulator in the world," the NRC, he said in a statement.
Magwood served on the NRC during the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan, and he traveled to Japan to assess damage and visit other nuclear plants. He voted along with colleagues in favor of changes in U.S. policy intended to ensure safety of commercial nuclear reactors.
But it was his public criticism of Jaczko that drew the most attention on Capitol Hill and at the White House.
In a stunning public rebuke, Magwood and three other commissioners sat next to Jaczko in December 2011 and told Congress that the NRC chairman was an intimidating bully whose actions could compromise the nation's nuclear safety.
Magwood told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Jaczko had bullied and belittled at least three female staff members, one of whom told Magwood she was "humiliated" by what Magwood called a "raging verbal assault."
Magwood disputed a claim by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that the allegations against Jaczko were politically motivated. Jaczko worked for Reid before taking over as NRC chairman in 2009, and Reid expressed strong support for Jaczko throughout his tenure.
Reid is the leading congressional opponent of a now-shelved nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Jaczko made a series of decisions is his role as chairman that aided Reid's goal -- supported by the Obama administration -- to prevent the Yucca Mountain site from opening.
In an interview with the Huffington Post after Jaczko's resignation, Reid lashed out at Magwood, calling him "a treacherous, miserable liar" who had deceived Reid about opposing Yucca Mountain. "He's a first-class rat ... (and) a tool of the nuclear industry," Reid said.
Magwood declined to comment Wednesday.
Before joining the NRC, Magwood served in the Clinton administration, where he headed the Energy Department's Office of Nuclear Energy. He also was a top official at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing the electric industry, and worked at Westinghouse Electric Corp.
 |
|
More Information |
|
To help ensure that you receive all email with images correctly displayed, please add ecabulletin@aweber.com to your address book or contact list |
|
to the ECA Email Server |
|
If you have trouble viewing this email, view the online version |