Report: NNSA plan to build nuclear components at Los Alamos, Savannah River ‘potentially achievable’
Santa Fe New Mexican | 4/17/2019
A new federal report on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan to build nuclear weapons components at both Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina appears to accept the proposal, calling the two-site road map “potentially achievable.”
The report, delivered Tuesday to Congress, also said “sufficient time, resources, and management focus will be necessary” to accomplish the agency’s aggressive expansion of nuclear production in both states. A news release on the analysis said the plan was “comparable in costs” to other options considered, including doing all the work at Los Alamos.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, intends to produce at least 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030, a vast undertaking.
In May, the agency said 50 of these pits — the grapefruit-size fission cores used to trigger nuclear weapons — would be produced each year at a repurposed facility at the Savannah River Site, while the lab in Los Alamos would produce the remaining 30. This would be “the best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital undertaking,” the agency said.
However, the nation hasn’t produced even one war reserve pit in years, and the work will require significant infrastructure and management overhauls at both sites, which have struggled with safety issues.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Barnwell County to DOE: Don’t cut payments
The Augusta Chronicle | 4/17/2019
[ECA Note: Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) are and essential funding source for many local governments which host DOE's critical national defense facilities. The payments are made pursuant to federal law to compensate communities from the loss of tax revenues on properties condemned or acquired for DOE purposes, where such properties had previously been subject to state and
local taxes. PILT payment amounts are based on the "special burden" and impact that DOE sites present to host communities.
PILT funds are used by DOE-impacted communities to support schools, hospital districts, roads, critical infrastructure, and to provide fire, police, and other vital municipal services — all of which support DOE’s mission.
Moreover, PILT funds are used to provide essential municipal services to DOE sites at levels, and in quantities, that otherwise far outstrip the community’s tax base. PILT payments are an essential offset that is used by the community to provide the support services. Even so, PILT payments are significantly below what private companies would contribute to local tax revenues for
similar land and service usage.]
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An effort to reduce the U.S. Department of Energy’s payment to Barnwell and other counties is meeting with resistance from area governmental officials.
At Barnwell County Council’s monthly meeting on April 9, County Administrator Tim Bennett informed the council of grim news that there are efforts to reduce the Department of Energy’s payment in lieu of tax (PILT). According to Bennett, this would be highly detrimental to the already constrained county budget.
In a letter to Rep. James E. Clyburn and Rep. Joe Wilson, the county administrators from Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties implored these representatives to oppose any efforts to reduce the Department of Energy’s PILT. For Barnwell alone, the PILT represents 14 percent of the county’s operating budget - or $2.2 million - as well as another $2.2 million allocated to the school districts in Barnwell County.
The reason the county receives this money, according to the letter, is because the Department of Energy condemned 122,000 acres in the 1950s for the construction of the Savannah River Site. Approximately a third of Barnwell County property was removed from the tax roll, which is why the Department of Energy reimburses the county for the money it would have otherwise received in taxes.
HANFORD CLEANUP
Hanford's DOE leaders, contractors, and advisory board assess progress at the cleanup site
Tri-City Herald | 4/18/2019
Read the "Progress Edition" of the Tri-City Herald, where the DOE site manager for the Office of River Protection and Richland Opperations Office, Hanford contractors, and the site's Advisory Board review performace in 2018 and activities to come in 2019.
STORAGE & DISPOSITION
CONTRACTING & ACQUISITION
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Learn more about cleanup sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
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