ECA Update: March 11, 2015
Published: Wed, 03/11/15
DEQ reaches agreement with Energy over Idaho lab violation Idaho Statesman March 5, 2015 LINK The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy that resolves violations of state hazardous waste laws for missing its deadline for emptying tanks of highly radioactive sodium bearing waste. DEQ issued the notice of violation against the federal agency when it missed the Dec. 31 deadline for emptying underground storage tanks that don't meet current standards. The tanks contain 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing nuclear waste. Under the terms of the agreement DOE will develop a new schedule by April 3 to permanently remove the tanks from service no later than Dec. 31, 2018, and pay a civil penalty of $648,000. The deadline grew out of a consent order dating back to 1992 that had ordered the waste removed by 2012. DEQ extended the deadline to 2014. DOE has built a plant to turn the waste into a solid at a cost of more than $500 million but it is undergoing testing. If DOE fails to meet any deadline DEQ will require it to pay a penalty of $1,200 for each violation for each non-empty tank for each day in noncompliance rising to $2,000 for each violation in 180 days. If DOE determines the treatment plant won’t work it agrees to pay $2 million. GOP chairman pushes nuke regulators on Yucca waste site The Hill March 4, 2015 LINK Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is criticizing nuclear power regulators for not asking for money to review the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada. Alexander, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with authority over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), pressed the commissioners, saying that their budget request does not move Yucca forward. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a balance of unspent funding that you are supposed to use to continue the licensing process,” Alexander said in his prepared remarks for the Wednesday hearing. “But more resources will be required, so I think it’s fair to ask the question: Knowing that there are additional steps and they will cost money, why would you not request additional funds in your budget?” Alexander has long been an advocate of nuclear power, owing in part to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He has proposed that the government adopt a goal of getting 100 new nuclear reactors operating. Getting Yucca into service would help the nuclear power industry and give them more certainty, resolving what Alexander described as a “25-year stalemate” on nuclear waste. The NRC completed a safety evaluation report on Yucca last year, and the next step would be to work on an environmental impact statement and restart stalled hearings on the matter. “Money is available for these activities, and I want to hear why there is no request to use it,” he said. Congress designated Yucca in 1987 to be the nation’s site to construct a permanent storage of nuclear waste. But opposition from Nevada officials, environmentalists and others has stalled it. The Obama administration has refused to defend an application for Yucca submitted by the Bush administration’s Energy Department to the NRC. All of the recent budget requests from Obama ask for no money to move ahead on Yucca. New bill revives Nevada veto over nuke waste at Yucca Mountain Las Vegas Review-Journal March 10, 2015 LINK WASHINGTON — A bill introduced Tuesday by four Nevada lawmakers would give the state new veto power over storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. The legislation would require the governor, affected counties and cities, and affected tribes to sign off before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could authorize construction of a nuclear waste repository. The Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act was written to apply to any state. But Nevada has been at the forefront as pro-Yucca lawmakers have stepped up efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain program terminated in 2010 by the Obama administration. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said the Nevadans’ bill “ensures that our voices are heard and respected when it comes to our state’s future.” Titus and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., sponsored the bill in the House. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced it in the Senate. “No state, including Nevada, should be forced to accept waste against its will,” Heller said. Reps. Mark Amodei and Cresent Hardy, both R-Nev., were not announced as co-sponsors in a delegation that in the past has spoken with one voice on Yucca Mountain. Their offices did not immediately comment. The bill envisions a scenario — the NRC poised to approve construction of a permanent nuclear waste site — that could be more than a decade away, if ever. But it signals that Nevada lawmakers plan to continue fighting if Yucca Mountain re-emerges as the top choice. The Department of Energy spent more than 20 years and $15 billion studying the mountain ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas before the plug was pulled on the project. “The act introduced today will give a voice to state and local governments and save our country from making another costly mistake like Yucca Mountain,” Reid said. The veto measure could be unholstered as an amendment if congressional committees get to where they are considering new legislation to turn the green light back on for the Nevada site. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., a leading advocate of picking up the Yucca project where it left off and trying to make it worthwhile for the state of Nevada to drop its longstanding opposition, said he doubted the veto legislation could succeed. “This latest gambit stands little chance in the House of Representatives where the Yucca Mountain project enjoys overwhelming, bipartisan support,” Shimkus said. “As we continue to follow the law, I’m eager to work with willing partners at all levels of government to find the right mix of incentives to make Yucca Mountain an asset to both the State of Nevada and the nation.” The original Nuclear Waste Policy Act gave Nevada a veto over Yucca Mountain, and then-Gov. Kenny Guinn exercised it in April 2002. But Congress overrode the governor’s veto — 306-117 in the House and 60-39 in the Senate. The new legislation would not give Congress the ability to override a state’s refusal to host a waste site. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who is working on nuclear waste issues as chairman of the Senate energy and water subcommittee, on Tuesday pointed to those votes a dozen years ago and to recently released studies by NRC staff that concluded Yucca Mountain could be safe, with conditions on its use. “Congress has already approved Yucca Mountain as our country’s current nuclear waste repository, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said we can safely store nuclear waste there for up to one million years,” Alexander said. “Continuing to oppose Yucca Mountain is to ignore both the law and science.” But Nevada sponsors said their bill is consistent with the policy of the Obama administration and the recommendations of a blue ribbon commission that was formed to develop nuclear waste management strategy after the Yucca program was scrapped. The commission, whose members included now-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, recommended the government seek volunteers to host nuclear waste facilities through a “consent-based” process that could include setting state and local benefits for volunteering. “The people of Nevada deserve to have a seat at the table in the nuclear waste storage conversation,” Heck said. “Allowing the governor, local government units, and Indian tribes to review proposals and make a determination on the project… will ensure the safety of Nevada’s citizens and our environment.” D.C. officials coming to city on Manhattan Project park mission The Oak Ridger March 5, 2015 LINK The Manhattan Project National Historical Park is another step closer to reality, according to information from Oak Ridge Council member Chuck Hope. At Tuesday night’s City Council work session, Hope, who recently attended an Energy Communities Alliance meeting in Washington D.C., told fellow Council members that some of his time in D.C. was used to meet with National Park Service and Department of Interior representatives about the park. Hope said about 15 representatives from those agencies will be in Oak Ridge March 25 and 26. “Of the three park sites, we are the first introductory meeting to be held,” Hope explained in a Wednesday phone interview. The park, in a concept unique to the NPS, will span the three main Manhattan Project towns of Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M. The NPS and DOI representatives will travel to Hanford in April and Los Alamos in June, Hope said. He said Oak Ridge’s story requires a different thought process and design than other national parks. “We have pushed a hub-and-spoke design — with the hub near the Civic Center or the American Museum of Science and Energy,” the Councilman stated. One of the spokes, Hope said, would be the former K-25 Site and the proposed Historical Interpretive Center at that location. “The advantage of the removal of the K-25 building is that there is already a memorandum of understanding between the city and the U.S. Department of Energy to build an interpretive center there,” he said. Other “spokes” around the community would be the United Church, Historic Jackson Square, the Alexander Inn, and the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge “The Children’s Museum is in an historic building,” said Council member Hope, adding that there are several other steps that have to happen in the process before a park is fully operational and ready for visitors. Usually, Hope said, the NPS owns all the property in a park. But in Oak Ridge, the DOE still has active operations that require isolation and security — and that makes this park unique and the DOE, NPS and DOI are all working on memorandums of understanding around current park operations. “They hope to have that MOU in place by the end of the calendar year,” Hope said. This park is the first new park proposed in the NPS system in more than 20 years, Hope said. Normally it takes about five years from conception to implementation for a park, he said. “Oak Ridge is going to work progressively to that,” said Hope, indicating that some work had already begun. The removal of the historic K-25 Building and the work to refurbish Jackson Square are both examples of work underway, said Hope, who added there’s another advantage at the K-25 Site. “We can use the unused second floor of the K-25 fire station for the Interpretive Center.” Hope, City Manager Mark Watson, Roane County Executive Ron Woody and others held an early morning meeting on Wednesday to prepare for the upcoming DOE/DOI visit. He said there would be time during the visit for “meet-and-greets” with the representatives and time for media access, as well. The national park project has been a decade-long effort that began in 2004. After several attempts, legislation was passed and signed in Washington. D.C., to approve the park in late 2014. Site reaches glass-pouring milestone The Aiken Standard March 8, 2015 LINK Submitted photo The Defense Waste Processing Facility’s Melter 2 set a record by pouring its 10 millionth pound of glass. Melter 2 is 12-years-old, and has operated 10 years beyond its expectancy The Savannah River Site happily reported that the second melter ever installed at the Defense Waste Processing Facility, or DWPF recently poured its 10 millionth pound of glass in an effort to treat radioactive waste. The melter – affectionately called the “heart” of the defense facility – is pumping at a record pace, Site officials said. According to a press release, the melter is a 65-ton, teapot-shaped vessel that treats high-level radioactive waste being stored in SRS waste tanks. The melter blends the waste with a glasslike material to form a molten-glass mixture. The mixture is then poured into stainless-steel canisters, which are decontaminated and stored on-site until a permanent storage facility is identified. Melter 2 is 12 years old, and though it is operating 10 years beyond its life expectancy, it is still working safely and efficiently, officials said. Over time, the melter has poured 2,589 canisters, compared to the 1,339 canisters poured by Melter 1. “Since beginning operations, DWPF has poured more than 15 million pounds of glass and has immobilized more than 55 million curies of radioactivity,” said Jim Folk, the acting assistant manager for waste disposition. Folk added that the canister production is crucial in eliminating the Site’s hazardous waste. “Every canister poured means we are reducing the single most substantial environmental risk to people and the environment in the State of South Carolina,” he said. Efforts to dispose of liquid waste are performed by Savannah River Remediation, the Site liquid waste contractor. The contractor is composed of personnel from a team of companies led by AECOM with partners Bechtel National, CH2M HILL and Babcock & Wilcox. Critical subcontractors for the contract are AREVA, EnergySolutions and URS Professional Solutions. CHPRC vice president takes job at Savannah River Tri-City Herald March 5, 2015 LINK Ty Blackford is leaving his position as vice president of decommissioning, waste, fuels and remediation services for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. at Hanford April 9 to take a CH2M Hill job in South Carolina. He has been named tank closure and regulatory director at Savannah River Remediation. He has worked for more than 20 years at Hanford. “His vast experience and expertise supported many cleanup milestones,” said John Ciucci, president of CH2M Hill at Hanford. Blackford was one of the original vice presidents for the Hanford contractor and played a strong strategic and leadership role, Ciucci said. |
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