ECA 

June 18, 2012

 

DOE has released a draft of the guidebook, Developing Large-Scale Renewable Energy Projects at Federal Facilities Using Private Capital.

 

The guidebook can be used by local communities and CROs to develop renewable energy projects on DOE land.

 

DOE is accepting comments on the draft through July 2, 2012.

 

GUIDEBOOK 

 

FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE  

 

 

Manhattan Project sites expected to become new national park
Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
June 15, 2012

 

WASHINGTON -- Sites of the once super-secret Manhattan Project, which led to the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II, could soon become a national park under legislation expected to pass Congress.

 

The bill would designate sites at Los Alamos, N.M., Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Hanford, Wash., as the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

 

But at least one anti-nuclear activist expressed concern that "such a park, if done in a historically inaccurate and biased way, could end up presenting a false picture of the development of nuclear weapons and the monumental costs and ongoing environmental impacts of the Cold War."

 

"Given their political influence, those that have profited off nuclear weapons would likely have a disproportionate say in the park's development and could turn it into some kind of nuclear Disneyland," said Tom Clements, nonproliferation policy director of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

 

Scott Miller, senior counsel at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, responded: "Anyone who has visited Little Bighorn, Manzanar, Andersonville or Little Rock Central High School, for example, understands that these National Park Service sites aren't about cotton candy and thrill rides.

 

"The National Park Service's mission there is to preserve and objectively interpret what is often complex and contentious history, so current and future Americans have a real opportunity for a deeper understanding of these important events," he added.

 

 

Nuclear waste need not be a radioactive debate
The Washington Post
June 12, 2012

 

AS THE SENATE on Wednesday begins considering President Obama's nomination of Allison Macfarlane to lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), it should remember that lawmakers helped create the expensive and risky mess that currently serves as nuclear waste policy in America. The status quo is the result not of any grand design but of a ­quarter-century of political fighting -- and Congress is largely responsible for cleaning it up.

 

Nuclear power holds great promise to provide electricity with practically no greenhouse emissions, if government can deal with the radioactive byproducts. But the not-in-my-back-yard-ism of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and other politicians has all but killed the waste-disposal project at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, the site Congress chose in 1987 for a permanent repository. Instead, waste is piling up in the back yards of dozens of communities across the United States, at sites that weren't designed for long-term storage.

 

Under existing law, the federal government can't begin accepting spent nuclear fuel for even an interim storage site in the absence of Yucca or some other permanent repository. So waste continues to accumulate at reactor sites -- 72,000 tons so far, three-fourths of it sitting in cooling pools like those that overheated at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, threatening Japan with much more radioactive contamination.

 

 

With vit plant safety, Chu could get personal
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
June 16, 2012

The possibility of a serious problem once the Hanford vitrification plant begins operating weighs heavily on Energy Secretary Steven Chu, he said Friday during a visit with Hanford workers in Richland.

 

He is likely to assemble the sort of panel of brilliant and creative thinkers he brought together after the Fukushima, Japan, nuclear disaster and the Gulf oil spill, he said.

 

He might become personally involved, carving out a week to spend on the issue at Hanford with the project's engineers, he said.

 

Chu was in the Tri-Cities on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to meet with small and large groups of Hanford employees to discuss the importance of safety. He told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board he would travel to the Tri-Cities and meet with Hanford workers after the defense board questioned the nuclear safety culture at the Hanford vitrification plant.

 

 

N Reactor Placed In Interim Safe Storage
DOE Press Release
June 14, 2012

RICHLAND, WASH. - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) River Corridor contractor, Washington Closure Hanford, has completed placing N Reactor in interim safe storage, a process also known as "cocooning."

 

N Reactor was the last of nine plutonium production reactors to be shut down at DOE's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. It was Hanford's longest-running reactor, operating from 1963 to 1987.

 

"In the 1960's, N Reactor represented the future of energy in America. The reactor was successful in both its defense and civilian duties for more than two decades," said David Huizenga, Senior Advisor for the DOE Office of Environmental Management. "Now, the cocooned N Reactor stands as a symbol of what we can achieve with large-scale cleanup at Hanford. Congratulations to each and every worker for their significant role in N Reactor and Hanford cleanup," he said.

 

 

Shaw AREVA MOX Services Achieves 10 Million Safe Work Hours Without a Lost Workday
The Aiken Leader
June 14, 2012

 

Aiken, South Carolina -- Shaw AREVA MOX Services announced today that it achieved a new safety milestone during construction of the nation's first Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility. This week the project surpassed 10 million consecutive work hours without an injury resulting in a lost workday.

 

"While this is a significant accomplishment for a project of this size, complexity and importance, the most important element of this milestone is what it means for the people behind the number," said Kelly Trice, president and chief operating officer of Shaw AREVA MOX Services. "Our 2,800 employees and subcontractors responsible for building the MOX facility are working safely each day and returning home to their families."

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a typical construction site in the U.S. experiences one lost workday for every 125,000 hours worked. In the span of 10 million hours worked, a typical site would have 80 lost workday cases on average.

 

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