Energy Department looks ahead as it achieves waste-cleanup milestone at INL Idaho Statesman March 4, 2017 As a major radioactive waste cleanup milestone was celebrated at the Department of Energy’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project this week, many are now considering what the future holds for the facility and its 700 employees.
Last week, Fluor Idaho employees finished retrieving some 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from a dirt-covered pile at the facility — a delicate process underway for the past 14 years. Gov. Butch Otter, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and others
congratulated employees for the accomplishment at an AMWTP event Thursday.
“Today’s a big day,” Wasden said. “There was a lot of creativity, and a lot of commitment by a lot of people to make this all happen. It’s kudos to the Department of Energy, and the contractors and the crews — they really went out of their way to get this job done.” >>Continue readingWIPP Shipping Queue Gelling; Oak Ridge, LANL at Back of Line This Year Exchange Monitor March 7, 2017 PHOENIX — The first three sites to ship transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico will be privately operated Waste Control Specialists of Andrews, Texas; the Idaho National Laboratory, and
the Savannah River National Laboratory, a senior DOE official said here Monday.
DOE has not yet decided
which of those three will go first, but all are ahead of the Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories, Todd Shrader, head of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, said in a panel discussion here at the annual Waste Management Symposium.
“The first group will be WCS [Waste Control Specialists] in Texas, Idaho, Savannah River will be the first couple months of shipments,” Shrader said. “Then, eventually, we’ll move on to Oak Ridge and then Los Alamos will be the next.” >>Continue
readingDOE publishes report on federal agency options for purchasing power from SMRs DOE-NE February 28, 2017 Kutak Rock LLP and Scully Capital Services, Inc., with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, have produced a report studying the options available to federal agencies to buy power from small modular reactors (SMRs). The report, posted below, is designed to serve as a resource to federal agencies interested in procuring power generated by SMRs.
>>View report here Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Nuclear Energy
Innovation and Modernization Act Press Release, Sen. Mike
Crapo March 3,
2017 Idaho Senator Mike Crapo joined Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works (EPW), and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) in introducing S. 512, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA).
S. 512 will promote innovation in the nuclear sector by enabling processes for licensing new reactors. This legislation will modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by establishing new transparency and accountability measures to the commission’s budget and fee programs. The
bill will develop the regulatory framework necessary to enable the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors.
Additionally, the Act will improve the efficiency of uranium regulation. Finally, it will bring transparency and accountability to the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE)
disposes of the American public’s stockpile of excess uranium. >>Continue readingCantwell, Murray Push for Better Worker Safety Protection, End
Retaliation Against Hanford Workers and Whistleblowers U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources March 8, 2017 Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote the Acting Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to
urge implementation of safety recommendations for Hanford workers and to encourage protection of whistleblowers. The senators also requested that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) review the third-party company who handles workers’ compensation claims at Hanford, Penser North America,
Inc.
Hanford workers and union representation have expressed concern that, after exposure to dangerous materials at the workplace, medical claims are not being adequately addressed. The senators write: “We have been
informed of multiple accounts of claims being dismissed on arbitrary grounds, tactics bordering on intimidation and actions taken to discredit worker claims. The seriousness of these allegations demands action.” >>Continue
readingNNSA sorting through hiring freeze, budget options Defense News March
1, 2017 WASHINGTON – The head of the National Nuclear
Security Agency (NNSA) is trying to sort out what effect a civilian hiring freeze will have on his agency at a time when officials are working overtime to ensure a series of nuclear warhead modernization programs do not fall behind schedule.
Frank Klotz opened his speech at the Exchange Monitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington by acknowledging that he “fully expected my
career in public service to end in January 20,” a reference to the confusion about whether he would be asked to stay during the transition to the Trump administration.
Ultimately, Gov. Rick Perry – Trump’s choice for Secretary of Energy, who may be confirmed as soon as this week – asked Klotz to stay on. While he would not put a specific timetable on his tenure, the NNSA head
indicated he plans to stay until he is asked to leave. >>Continue readingNew MOX review by NRC contradicts previous NNSA evaluation The Augusta Chronicle March
7, 2017 Just one week after a scathing review from one federal agency, new documents from another agency shine contradictory light on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released its annual review of MOX in a letter to CB&I Areva MOX Services President and Chief Operating Officer David Del Vecchio. The findings are positive and stand in contrast to the strong language in the review conducted by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration over the same
period.
Both annual reviews covered project performance in 2016. Like much of the MOX project, including completion percentages, financial figures and forecast operational dates, separate entities seem to disagree
about what’s happening at the construction site. >>Continue readingMANHATTAN PROJECT NATIONAL PARK Foundation Document Released for Manhattan Project National Historical
Park NPS February 27, 2017 The National
Park Service (NPS) and US Department of Energy (DOE) are excited to announce the public release of the final Foundation Document for Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
This document is result of public input and joint planning by the DOE and the NPS. In February 2016 the NPS and DOE held workshops in Los Alamos, NM; Hanford, WA; and Oak Ridge, TN. Open houses were held in each of the three communities to gather input from stakeholders and interested parties.
The Foundation Document is designed to affirm the park’s core mission and significance, key resources and values, and the
interpretive themes that tell its stories. Formally established in November 2015 to preserve portions of three World War II sites where the United States developed the first atomic weapons, the park marks the history of the people, science, and events that led to creation of the atomic bomb in the top-secret effort known as the Manhattan Project. >>Continue reading |
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| April
2017 | | 5 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Event |
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| June
2017 | | 7 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Event |
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| August 2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY
ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA
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| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup Workshop Alexandria, VA |
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| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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