ECA Update: July 3, 2014

Published: Thu, 07/03/14


Happy Fourth of July

 DOE land transfer - where are the Asset Revitalization Initiative (ARI) Reports?

 Local communities and DOE constantly have successes and struggles when it comes to shrinking DOE/NNSA's footprint and the community reusing DOE's land and other assets.  Over the years, the lessons learned from the closure sites have been that DOE has saved hundreds of millions in cleanup costs and created job opportunities.  However, with the success comes the struggles, a minority of decision-makers in DOE still think that these formerly contaminated sites (or perceived to be contaminated) should be sold to communities that have lost thousands of jobs - despite the fact the community has to invest millions to improve the site to prepare it for reuse.  Further, some at DOE still think that the community indemnification legal authority that ECA and many at DOE fought so hard to obtain - to ensure that these sites can be reused quickly and economically and that the community and lenders do not incur liabilities for DOE's pre-existing contamination - still should not be provided to certain communities.

 Through this ECA has published reports on the outcomes and now DOE has published its own reports.  ECA recently participated in meeting at the former Mound site in June where DOE announced that the following reports are in concurrence at headquarters and that ECA expects to see soon: 

 1.ARI Tool Box for Sustainable Asset Management and Reuse

- collection of best practices on reuse for DOE and NNSA sites to partner with communities for reuse of DOE/NNSA unneeded assets.

 2.Land and Asset Transfer for Beneficial Reuse

 - communicates DOE's past successes in disposing of land and facilities

3.Asset Transfer to Build a Diversified Economy

-communicates ways DOE sites, labs and programs create opportunities for economic development.

 4.Impacts of DOE Sites on their Local Economies

    -provides data on DOE's impact at 6 sites on the impact on the local economy (I am sure it only says positive things but I would still like to read it).

 The reports (assuming we get to read them soon) are a step forward for DOE to release its data on successes and issues that have arisen from the asset revitalization program.

NNSA Should Establish a Clear Vision and Path Forward for Its Security Program
GAO-14-208: Published: Jun 30, 2014.
Implementation of security reforms from 2009 to 2012 generally varied among National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites. According to Department of Energy (DOE) and NNSA officials and contractors, some of these efforts helped manage security costs and enhance productivity, among other benefits, but may also have increased security risks and reduced security performance at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) in Tennessee and other NNSA sites, depending on how the sites implemented the reforms. For example, NNSA's headquarters Office of Defense Nuclear Security (DNS) conducted in-depth reviews at sites and recommended elimination of certain expenditures, for a potential savings of $53 million. However, not all of these cuts were implemented by the sites, and NNSA has limited quantifiable data on the benefits of these or other actions. NNSA officials and contractors at several sites also noted that some recommendations made during the reviews may have encouraged inappropriate risks by, for example, calling for cuts in what some of the officials or contractors described as critical protective force posts and patrols. Full report can be found at:  http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-208
 
Report: Two Years After Y-12 Break-In, U.S. Nuclear Security Still 'Chaotic,' July 2, 2014, By Douglas P. Guarino, Global Security Newswire
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/report-two-years-after-y-12-break-us-nuclear-security-still-chaotic/ 
"Two years after an 82-year-old nun was able to infiltrate a nuclear weapons site in Tennessee, the U.S. approach to securing such facilities remains 'chaotic,' a government report released this week suggests.
"The report to Congress by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office quotes unnamed National Nuclear Security Administration officials describing the agency's current approach in this manner. 'Dysfunctional' is another adjective the unidentified officials have used to characterize the situation, according to the report."
 
A new measure of success, Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground 
http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2014/07/01/new-measure-success/  
"Earlier today, I asked Consolidated Nuclear Security President Jim Haynes if there'd been anything unusual happen on the contractor's first day on the job. He replied: "No, it's gone according to plan. We haven't had any nuns crossing the fence or any major safety incidents.'"
 
WIPP Updates:
Just a reminder that our next WIPP town hall meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. July 10 at Carlsbad City Hall. Live streaming of the meetings can be seen at http://new.livestream.com/rrv/ 
We will be holding July's other WIPP town hall meeting on July 24. 
 
According to the Department of Energy, WIPP has moved into its Phase 2 recovery efforts. Read more about it here: http://www.wipp.energy.gov/wipprecovery/recovery.html
 
The Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center received a special community vigilance honor from the Carlsbad Department of Development last week. Here's a short video about CEMRC if you want to know more about the organization. http://www.cemrc.org/resources/
 
Finally, here's a commentary about the WIPP February incidents that recently appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican. 
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/reader-view-wipp-a-molehill-made-into-a-mountain/article_b2dca54c-58d7-5565-8365-5c78b78ae1d1.html 
 
More Information
 
 
 
 
 
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