ECA Update: October 10, 2012
Published: Wed, 10/10/12
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Areva to help develop US storage facility
World Nuclear News
October 9, 2012
World Nuclear News
October 9, 2012
An Areva-led team of companies has been selected by the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) as its commercial partner for developing the concept of a consolidated used nuclear fuel storage facility in south-eastern New Mexico.
ELEA was created in 2006 by Eddy County, Lea County and the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad to secure funding from the Department of Energy to site a used fuel recycling facility as well as an advanced recycling reactor under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). However, ELEA announced in 2011 that it was interested in hosting an interim used fuel storage facility. Eleven companies or consortiums responded to ELEA's initial request for interest to develop the storage facility. In February 2012, ELEA issued an additional request for interest.
ELEA and Areva will now negotiate a memorandum of understanding to develop the contractual framework for moving forward with the potential development of an above-ground interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel at ELEA's site, which comprises some 390 hectares of land in Lea County, about 34 miles east of Carlsbad and 37 miles west of Hobbs.
Areva executive vice president for back-end services, David Jones, said: "Areva salutes ELEA for offering a potential solution to America's stalled used nuclear fuel management program. Areva supports the implementation of a sustainable and safe used fuel management strategy for the US, and we believe that current and future used nuclear fuel inventories require an integrated approach, including centralized interim storage, recycling and ultimate disposal." He added, "Areva remains committed to continuing its ongoing engagement with states and communities interested in potentially hosting used fuel management facilities."
Areva said that it will also include the expertise of subsidiaries Areva Federal Services and Transnuclear "to offer total system solutions for used fuel/radioactive waste management, and comprehensive transportation services for the entire nuclear fuel cycle."
South-eastern New Mexico already hosts two significant nuclear facilities - the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad and Urenco's National Enrichment Facility (NEF) in Eunice - and is set to host a third. Located in a 655-metre-deep geologic salt formation, WIPP is the final resting place for transuranic waste - material contaminated with man-made radioisotopes that are heavier than uranium - from the US defence sector. The facility is the world's first underground repository for the permanent disposal of transuranic radioactive waste, and has been in operation since 1999. Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued International Isotopes with a licence to construct and operate a plant in Lea County to deconvert depleted uranium hexafluoride tails in order to recover fluorine gas and other chemical by-products.
Federal responsibility for all US civil used nuclear fuel was enshrined in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which was amended in 1987 to designate Yucca Mountain as the sole initial repository for the country's high-level nuclear waste, effectively tying the entire US high-level waste management program to the fate of the Nevada site. However, with billions of dollars since being spent on evaluating Yucca Mountain, the Obama administration eliminated the project's funding in early 2010 and the DoE subsequently withdraw its licence application.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future - set up in early 2010 to identify future directions for the management of the USA's high-level nuclear wastes - has called for "immediate efforts to commence development of at least one geologic disposal facility and at least one consolidated storage facility, as well as efforts to prepare for the eventual large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from current storage sites to those facilities."
Stopgap spending measure provides clarity to sequester threat
Kellie Lunney, Government Executive
October 4, 2012
The potential sequestration scheduled for January 2013 creates a lot of uncertainty for the government, but if that dreaded scenario occurs, then the recently enacted six-month spending measure makes some things clearer.
Federal employees have wondered how the six-month continuing resolution funding the government through March would affect the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 2, 2013. One Government Executive reader asked, "I think a lot of us are confused about how the CR at 2012 levels inter-relate with sequestration impacts. Will we toodle along at 2012 funding levels for six months and then [see] draconian cuts in the second half of the year if the reductions are implemented?"
The short answer is, no. Here's the long answer: If lawmakers can't agree on an alternative, then agencies will use the sequestration formula to assign cuts in January to more than 1,200 budget accounts, as the law mandates. Those cuts will be apportioned throughout the remaining nine months of fiscal 2013; the figures in the formula are based on the current six-month continuing resolution that sets fiscal 2013 funding at the level the 2011 Budget Control Act mandates, keeping spending at the fiscal 2012 rate for agencies and federal programs with an across-the-board increase of 0.6 percent over the base rate, for a total of $1.047 trillion.
Congress has not passed any fiscal 2013 appropriations bills yet, which made the continuing resolution necessary to avoid a government shutdown on Sept. 30. Regardless of what lawmakers do for the rest of fiscal 2013 after the current CR expires on March 27 -- pass another CR, pass a budget through the regular appropriations process -- the spending reduction levels that sequestration triggered already would be in effect based on that $1.047 trillion figure because it's the discretionary spending cap dictated by the Budget Control Act for fiscal 2013 and it will be the government funding measure in place on Jan. 2. Of course, if lawmakers halt or delay sequestration through legislative action at any time, that's another story.
If Congress allows sequestration to take effect, then it will result in savings of $109 billion governmentwide in fiscal 2013, for a grand total of $1.2 trillion in savings through fiscal 2021. It will affect thousands of agency projects, programs and activities, with reductions split equally between defense and nondefense spending (about $55 billion each) in fiscal 2013.
The Office of Management and Budget released a congressionally mandated report in September that estimated sequestration would impose cuts of 9.4 percent in nonexempt defense discretionary funding and 8.2 percent in nonexempt, nondefense discretionary funding. A 2 percent cut would hit Medicare providers, 7.6 percent would affect other nonexempt nondefense mandatory programs, and 10 percent would be applied to nonexempt defense mandatory programs. Those figures were based on fiscal 2012 spending levels, which are slightly below the $1.047 billion CR, so the percentage reductions trigged by sequestration could be a little lower than OMB projected. The difference, however, would be nominal and still significantly impact government operations.
Turner Not Convinced Y-12 Managers Were Unaware Of Security Failings
Douglas P. Guarino, Global Security Newswire
October 9, 2012
WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Michael Turner (R-Ohio) said on Tuesday he remains skeptical of claims that senior managers at the Y-12 National Security Complex were unaware of operational failings that enabled an 82-year-old nun and two other peace activists to infiltrate the nuclear weapons facility in July.
The National Nuclear Security Administration and its private manager for Y-12, Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services, "continue to maintain that senior leadership had no knowledge of any of the conditions of the failures," Turner said following a visit to the Tennessee site on Monday. "I expressed to them on-site that it is unfathomable and not credible that the systems would have had such repeated failures and have such great vulnerability and no one knew."
A camera that would have recorded the trespass had not been in working order since early 2012, a report by the Energy Department's inspector general found last month. In addition, there was a long waiting list of site security equipment in need of repair, according to the assessment.
The perpetrators were able to cut through multiple fence lines in order to reach the secured area that houses weapon-grade uranium and other nuclear arms operations.
Since the break-in, NNSA officials and their contractor have taken various steps to address security concerns at Y-12. Babcock & Wilcox late last month said it would end an arrangement under which WSI-Oak Ridge, a division of G4S Government Solutions, handles protection duties at the site.
An NNSA spokesman said at the time the decision to terminate the security firm's contract came "after the top leadership of WSI at Y-12 were removed and are no longer welcome at DOE sites, and the officers associated with the incident were fired, demoted or suspended without pay." Joshua McConaha also noted that three federal officials with security oversight jobs had been reassigned, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Energy Department officials have also cited other actions since the incident, including increasing the number of patrols at the site, and bringing in a security expert from its Pantex site in Texas.
Turner told reporters on Tuesday he was satisfied with efforts to investigate the matter and make necessary corrections at Y-12. In addition to the inspector general and internal contractor investigations, the DOE Health, Safety and Security Office was also reported to have completed a probe stemming from the break-in.
"I'm confident at this point that they're pursuing the issue vigorously of holding senior management responsible and we will see unfolding greater actions, I believe, as they're investigation concludes," Turner said. "They indicated there were investigations that were ongoing that would have the net result of holding people accountable. I'm comfortable that those investigations are proceeding vigorously."
Turner also said he believed "that the security at Y-12 today is better than it's ever been" and that the "problems that existed the day of the intrusion have been addressed."
The lawmaker, chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, nonetheless questioned whether security concerns are being adequately addressed across the NNSA complex of nuclear arms sites. The Obama administration has ordered all Energy Department installations housing atomic substances to formally verify that they are adhering to protective standards, according to news reports.
The lawmaker referenced a letter he recently sent to President Obama on the issue, along with legislation he introduced Sept. 21 that would transfer security of nuclear weapons manufacturing sites to the Defense Department.
The military "has the capabilities, training and cultural mindset needed to secure" the NNSA facilities, Turner has argued, but some skeptics have raised doubts over the legislation's workability. A Reconstruction-era law limiting the powers of the armed forces on U.S. soil is one of several obstacles that could complicate Turner's efforts, the critics have said.
Turner has also argued that language in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2013 that would remove the Energy Department's ability to oversee NNSA sites is justified by the Y-12 incident. Democrats and the Republican leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, meanwhile, have said the break-in shows that the legislation is flawed and that the nuclear weapons facilities need more DOE oversight, not less.
Enterprise reactors to be buried at Hanford
Associated Press
October 8, 2012
RICHLAND, Wash. --
The reactors from the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Enterprise will be buried at the Hanford nuclear reservation after the ship is taken out of service.
The Tri-City Herald reports ( http://is.gd/84H59f) the Energy Department agrees with a Defense Department environmental assessment to use Hanford. The Navy has been using a Hanford trench since 1986 to bury reactors from its decommissioned nuclear-powered ships and submarines.
The Navy plans to decommission the 51-year-old Enterprise in December. Reactor disposal will take six to eight years.
Yucca nuclear waste site proponents push for final court decision
Steve Tetreault, Stephens Washington Bureau
October 1, 2012
WASHINGTON - Groups that have sued to force the Obama administration to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project are asking federal judges to finalize a decision.
A three-judge panel in August delayed ruling until after Congress completed work on spending bills for 2013, a decision based on the idea that lawmakers might add clarity to the dispute over the Nevada program terminated by President Barack Obama.
But a six-month, "continuing resolution" spending bill that Obama signed into law last Friday says nothing about Yucca Mountain either way, according to court documents filed Friday.
That means the judges can rule now, said attorneys for plaintiffs that include South Carolina and Washington state, Aiken County in South Carolina and Nye County in Nevada.
"This continuing resolution contains no statutory text specific to the issues in this case," attorneys said in their status report. "The parties remain in the same position they were in at oral argument" in May.
The groups are seeking a ruling in the belief they have the upper hand. Judges Brett Kavanaugh and A. Raymond Randolph, two of the three judges who heard the case in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, wrote in August that they probably would rule in favor of the plaintiffs.
Yucca Mountain supporters want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be ordered to resume license hearings to bury nuclear waste at the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, arguing the commission illegally halted proceedings last year.
The nuclear safety agency said it had stopped the process for lack of funds after the Obama administration stopped budgeting for it. Only $10 million remains, nowhere near enough to conduct meaningful hearings, the agency said.
DOE Exceeds 2012 TRU Waste Cleanup Goal at Los Alamos National Laboratory
DOE Press Release
October 3, 2012
CARLSBAD, N.M., October 3, 2012 -The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Central Characterization Project (CCP) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) exceeded a fiscal year 2012 goal of characterizing and shipping 800 cubic meters of transuranic (TRU) waste, fulfilling a commitment to the state of New Mexico.
The 800 cubic meters goal was exceeded by more than 100 cubic meters, with the vast majority of the TRU waste characterized as defense related TRU and permanently disposed at WIPP.
To accomplish this achievement, the WIPP CCP increased the amount of waste that was certified, ensuring it met all the requirements for disposal at WIPP. This resulted in the ability to increase shipments to WIPP to total as many as 10 per week, which happened the last two weeks of September. In total, 916 cubic meters of TRU waste was removed from LANL aboveground inventory by September 30. The LANL-Carlsbad Office also provided additional operators to Los Alamos so the available waste could be shipped.
"This important achievement for both LANL and the Department of Energy (DOE) and contractor Team demonstrates our commitment to the clean up of legacy TRU waste at Los Alamos," said DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO), which provides oversight for WIPP and the National TRU Program, Manager Joe Franco. "The LANL Framework Agreement with New Mexico to remove the above-ground TRU waste currently stored at Area G at LANL by June of 2014 remains the highest priority."
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is a U.S. Department of Energy facility designed to safely isolate defense-related transuranic waste from people and the environment. Waste temporarily stored at sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP, which began waste disposal operations in 1999, is located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad, N.M.
Aiken Standard editorial to SRS contractors: Be honest about jobs plan
Aiken Standard Editorial
October 5, 2012
The Savannah River Site employees thousands of people, uses billions of dollars and employs world-class management teams to undertake its complex work. This is highly technical, highly-skilled work that plays a vital role in the future and modern history of the United States.
But yet, the management and operations contractor and liquid waste team seem to have no concrete plans for the future of their workforce.
The "Bomb Plant" has been the economic engine of the Aiken-Augusta for decades, and its workforce population has ebbed and flowed throughout. Now, in 2012, with missions being completed and stimulus money spent, there will obviously be significant trimming of workforce fat.
So why can't the folks at the top of that chain be open with their colleagues and their community about layoffs? Why can't management teams plucked from successful, multinational conglomerates let their people know how the workforce will be restructured?
In late August, SRNS announced it was initiating a voluntary program for employees to leave their current positions, or retire, and they would be compensated, with the amount reflecting experience.
But this was a single event, not the first of several, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) said.
"There are no plans for new reductions in force," SRNS spokeswoman Barbara Smoak said then.
A few weeks later, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediations (SRR) announced the exact same workforce reduction plan.
Dean Campbell, SRR spokeswoman, said there was no target number of people or dollar amount to cut and no involuntary separation planned.
Then, one week later, in the wake of much rumor and many questions, SRNS admitted they were considering more cost-cutting ventures that included the seemingly drastic option of closing the DOE facility down for three weeks.
But yet, when this second round of these most-recent SRNS layoffs there is no sign of foresight, planning or honesty from SRNS as to the future of their workforce.
"No decision has been made concerning this option (plant closure or furlough), and this is only a consideration at this time," Smoak said.
In an industry of deadlines 5, 10 and 20 years off, and $8 billion extensions, claims of having no knowledge of separate initiatives to dispose of excess staff or how many staff future projects need does not smell right.
Though SRS is a secure site, with militarylike protection from Wackenhut and their scary black helicopters, it should not mean that the fate of their workforce should be equally hidden.
UCOR cuts 91 more jobs
Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground
October 4, 2012
URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, the Dept. of Energy's Oak Ridge cleanup manager, today confirmed that 91 more jobs had been eliminated at the East Tennessee Technology Park site, with most of those workers associated with the K-25 demolition project.
According to UCOR spokeswoman Fran Smith, the cuts involved "65 building trades workers, 17 staff augmentation subcontractors, and nine other subcontractor personnel -- five teamsters and four electricians."
"These releases are the result of work being completed and the necessity to remain within available funding," Smith said.
On Monday of this week, UCOR announced that 21 subcontractor employees had been released from work by the DOE contractor, and that followed 41 jobs reductions the previous week.
UCOR has avoided using the term layoffs because the workers are being let go from the DOE-sponsored work and returning to their full-time employers or subcontractor. But most of the let-go employees are reportedly out of work because there is no fall-back work available.
DOE IG Management Alert: The 2020 Vision One System Proposal for Commissioning and Startup of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant
DOE IG Management Alert
October 9, 2021
The Department of Energy (Department) is considering a proposal known as the 2020 Vision One System (2020 Vision) that would implement a phased approach to commissioning the $12.2 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) including making the Low-Activity Waste (LAW) facility operational approximately 15 months before commissioning the remainder of the project. Although the implementation of the phased approach offers potential benefits, early operation of the LAW facility presents significant cost, technological and permitting risks that could adversely affect the overall success of the Office of the River Protection Project's mission of retrieving and treating Hanford Site's tank waste in the WTP and closing the tank farms to protect the Columbia River. Despite identified challenges, the Department had not developed a detailed analysis of the costs, benefits and risks of the proposal even after such steps were recommended by two independent review teams. Department officials told us that they completed a high level business analysis of certain WTP costs. However, our review found that this effort did not include a cost analysis with sufficient detail to satisfy the recommendations in the external review reports. Additionally, key technology attributes needed for the proposal may not be adequately developed to support operations. In response to our findings, Department management concurred with our recommendations, and proposed and initiated corrective actions to develop a more detailed business case analysis and to gain stakeholder input on the early treatment of LAW prior to making a decision to proceed with the proposal.
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