ECA Pre-Election Day Message and News Update
Published: Mon, 11/05/12
News Update
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Election Day marks beginning of mad political scramble in Congress
Russell Berman, The Hill
November 4, 2012
Russell Berman, The Hill
November 4, 2012
For Congress, the election on Tuesday isn't the end of a long journey but the beginning of a mad scramble.
When lawmakers wake up on Nov. 7, they will have seven weeks -- and just about 16 scheduled legislative days -- to resolve an array of tax and spending questions that must be addressed by the end of the year.
The campaign has frozen negotiations over the expiring tax rates and the looming spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff, as both parties await a decision by voters on control of the White House and each chamber in Congress.
The election itself may not determine the outcome of the lame-duck session, but it will reset the leverage that each party holds.
Here are five election scenarios and their impact on the start of the fiscal cliff talks:
Obama wins a clear but narrow victory
Barring a late and as-yet-undetected shift, a reelection victory by President Obama is likely to be narrow, making it difficult for him to claim a clear mandate from the voters. The House will almost surely stay in Republican hands, and the latest polls suggest Democrats will likely maintain a slim majority in the Senate.
All eyes will be on Obama to see how he interprets his victory.
Will he try to seize a governing mandate and demand that Republicans bow to his push to end the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy? Or will he reach out to GOP leaders and attempt to quickly piece together a deficit grand bargain like the one he failed to strike last year with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)?
Look for Republicans to argue that a narrow Obama victory and a continuing House majority represents an endorsement of the status quo by the voters -- a mandate not for Obama but for divided government.
"If the president is narrowly reelected and tries to portray it as a mandate to ride roughshod over the people's House, which will also have been reelected, he'll be starting his second term off by repeating the same mistakes with which he began his first term," a House GOP leadership aide warned.
The aide said the electoral mandate would be for "both parties to work together and find common ground between their two positions."
At the same time, leading Republicans - including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) - have warned that taxes will "go up" if Obama is reelected, and Democrats are sure to hold them to those statements after Tuesday.
Obama wins reelection, but loses the popular vote
With national and battleground state polls diverging, a split between the popular and electoral vote appears plausible. While that scenario would leave Obama in the White House for another four years, it would make it virtually impossible for him to claim a clear mandate for the policies he ran on. The same would likely hold if Obama wins but Democrats lose control of the Senate.
Operatives in both parties say that although either of those scenarios could impact the leverage that Democrats and Republicans would carry at the outset of the lame-duck session, it is unlikely to significantly change the ultimate outcome, which would have to be a compromise on the fiscal cliff.
Romney wins presidency, Democrats hold the Senate
A win by Republican nominee Mitt Romney would shake up the lame-duck session of Congress, even though he would not take the oath of office until January. Officials say a Romney victory would torpedo the possibility of a big deficit deal before the end of the year and increase the odds of a congressional "punt" that kicks the major decisions on taxes and spending to the new administration.
President Obama will still hold the veto pen for another two months, and he has vowed to reject an extension of current tax rates for the wealthy. A major question is how big of a role a President-elect Romney would play in the lame duck session.
Two House Republican leadership aides said the party would look to Romney for guidance on what he wants to see happen. As of yet, however, Romney's transition team has not given them that direction.
Romney wins the presidency and Republicans win full control of Congress
A Republican sweep of the White House would allow the party to claim its own governing mandate and put enormous pressure on President Obama to bend both on taxes and on the automatic cuts slated to hit the Pentagon on Jan. 1.
Obama, of course, would retain power and Democrats would control the Senate through the lame-duck session, but Republicans would likely argue that any move by Obama to veto an extension of the Bush tax rates would be temporary because they could reinstate those cuts retroactively in 2013.
Pressure would also build immediately on Republicans to begin laying the groundwork to repeal the president's healthcare law early in the new year, a dynamic that could influence the politics if not the substance of the lame-duck session.
No outcome as election results unclear
This is the nightmare scenario for Congress: The presidential election is so close that no clear winner is determined on Tuesday night and, as with the 2000 election, a recount of ballots in one or more states means the outcome might not be known for weeks.
A House Republican leadership aide said congressional officials are worried about the prospect but do not have definite plans for what to do in that event. While a number of less controversial legislative items could be addressed without a clear winner in the presidential election, aides and lawmakers have long acknowledged that talks on the fiscal cliff will hinge on the outcome.
Political observers and lobbyists believe the most likely result of a disputed election would be for Congress to buy time by temporarily extending current tax rates and delay the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.
Candidates Vow to Fund Ohio Nuclear Fuel Plant
Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal
November 4, 2012
The presidential candidates have spent months attacking each other for energy policies that allegedly give unfair handouts to industry. But when it comes to a struggling energy company seeking taxpayer dollars for a plant in Ohio--a key state in the presidential race--they are on the same page.
The USEC Inc. USU +1.04%plant under construction would employ about 400 people making nuclear fuel. The U.S. government says it is crucial to maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
USEC has been on federal life support since June, when the Department of Energy arranged to give it about $280 million. The company's stock has been trading below $1 a share and it has been warned by the New York Stock Exchange it could be delisted.
Spun off from the Department of Energy in 1992, USEC was supposed to develop into a profitable private company selling enriched uranium to the government and commercial nuclear power generators. But its commercial business, based at an older plant in Kentucky, has higher costs than competitors that use newer technology.
Its future rides on the Ohio plant, which could house thousands of centrifuges, each 40 feet tall. If successful, the plant would give the U.S. an efficient, all-American source of enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
But the company says it needs $2 billion from a U.S. loan-guarantee program--the same program that took a $500 million hit from the bankruptcy of solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC.
Critics say the U.S. could get enriched uranium from others who already make it efficiently. They point to a New Mexico plant owned by a European consortium, which does business with U.S. commercial nuclear plants. "The continued subsidization" of USEC "places taxpayer funds at great risk," said Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R., Texas) in a June letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation of the government's support for the company.
But the two presidential candidates have a different view.
Last month, Republican Mitt Romney visited Piketon, Ohio, home of USEC's new plant, and said he supported giving the facility "the most modern technology" to make nuclear fuel. The Obama administration agrees, saying a U.S. source of the material is necessary to avoid reliance on foreign technology.
In the final presidential debate Oct. 22, Mr. Romney repeated his opposition to government programs that involve "investing in companies," singling out electric-car and solar companies that got loans from the Obama administration.
Ryan Williams, a Romney campaign spokesman, said the candidate's positions weren't at odds. "Mitt Romney believes it is vital that the United States have a secure source of tritium," said Mr. Williams, referring to an ingredient in nuclear weapons that is produced in nuclear reactors. "Unlike President Obama, he will not make empty promises [or] play politics with these issues."
An Obama campaign spokesman declined to comment on USEC. Department of Energy officials said the process of allotting funds for USEC isn't political. The $280 million it approved in June will support 120 centrifuges working in tandem and allow USEC to test its technology, but the department said it hasn't decided whether to provide the $2 billion loan guarantee.
In his first presidential campaign four years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama visited Portsmouth, Ohio, near the USEC plant. Jeff Albrecht, a real-estate developer who owns the hotel where Mr. Obama stayed, says he discussed USEC personally with the candidate and won assurances of support for the Ohio project. Mr. Albrecht says he now is frustrated because the loan guarantee hasn't come through.
The U.S. is in no danger of running out of enriched uranium or tritium for at least 15 or 20 years, officials say. The question is what happens after that.
Urenco Ltd., the European consortium, says it is willing to sell enriched uranium from its New Mexico plant to Tennessee Valley Authority, a U.S. government-owned utility, even if that material is subsequently used to make tritium for weapons.
USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson played down the financial risk to the government from giving the company loans.
"This is an established company in an established market that is simply moving to a new technology," he said. But he said private funding for such advanced technology was hard to come by. "We are not manufacturing backyard barbecues," Mr.
Report: White House could blunt sequester
Austin Wright, Politico
November 5, 2012
The major shock waves from sequestration are avoidable -- at least for the first few weeks.
That's the gist of a new report by OMB Watch, which says the White House has the authority to effectively delay the effects of the across-the-board budget cuts by several weeks to allow time for Congress to cut a deal with either President Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney, depending on who wins the presidency.
In other words, the lame-duck Congress could be off the hook.
"Folks in general are underestimating the chances that sequestration will happen and overestimating the immediate effects of it," said report author Patrick Lester, the group's director for federal fiscal policy. "Sequestration won't be an immediate disaster at all."
For that reason, he explained, lawmakers have a powerful incentive to wait until January -- after the 113th Congress is sworn in -- to resolve the issue. In addition, he said, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of the year could greatly increase the odds of a deficit-cutting grand bargain in January -- but not December.
That's because any deal reached in December would probably increase taxes above current rates. But a deal reached in January -- following the scheduled tax increases -- would likely reduce taxes for most Americans below the rates set to take effect at year's end.
"It could be the exact same package in January and December," Lester told POLITICO. "But in January, it would be called avoiding sequestration and tax hikes. In December, it would be called a 'tax increase.'"
In his report, Lester offers several strategies for pushing the onset of sequestration past Jan. 2, when the automatic cuts are set to begin kicking in -- $1.2 trillion over 10 years, nearly equally divided between domestic and defense programs. First, he suggests, the White House Office of Management and Budget could schedule the brunt of the cuts for later in the fiscal year -- in hopes that Congress will reach an alternative deficit-reduction agreement before then.
"OMB could decide to continue funding at current rates for the first few days or weeks of the new year, with offsetting reductions planned for later in the year, by which time sequestration may have been canceled," Lester said.
He also said the Pentagon and other federal agencies could shore up critical programs through reprogramming requests, which are often used by the Defense Department to move funds from one program to another.
That might not be popular with a few key members of Congress, particularly Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who often objects to defense reprogramming. But given that the government will be in extremis, Lester said, there might be no other way.
"Transfers and reprogramming authority will give agencies substantial ability to redirect cuts away from sensitive areas of spending," Lester explained in the report.
And he said most federal agencies would be able to avoid immediate layoffs or furloughs. Instead, the agencies could freeze hiring and promotions.
"The administration has the ability to manage things and hold things together for a while," Lester said. "All the things that would happen in the defense world would still happen -- if sequestration holds past January."
Boehner Expects 'Bridge' On Fiscal Cliff
Reid Wilson, National Journal
November 5, 2012
MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- House Speaker John Boehner doesn't expect a grand bargain avoiding the fiscal cliff to materialize in a lame duck session of Congress, but that doesn't mean the country is headed over the edge. Instead, Boehner said Sunday, he thinks Congress and the White House will find a way to punt the looming deadlines on the debt ceiling, the Bush tax cuts and the budget sequester into 2013.
"Lame ducks aren't noted for doing big things. And frankly I'm not sure that lame ducks should do big things. So the most likely outcome would be some type of a bridge," Boehner said in an interview with National Journal Sunday, aboard a campaign bus taking him around Ohio in a final sprint before Election Day. "But the impact of the election is certainly going to have an impact on how this plays out."
"Fixing the tax code has to happen. Solving our debt crisis and our entitlement crisis, that has to happen. I would argue that fixing our regulatory environment in America has to happen. But I frankly believe all these things are going to happen regardless of who wins the election. The outcome of the election will have a big impact on what those fixes look like," he added.
Boehner said he spoke with President Obama briefly in September, and that he keeps lines of communication open with some Democrats in Congress. He has spoken to Democratic members of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of senators who met recently at Mount Vernon to discuss a solution. But Boehner sounded skeptical of any chance at a successful resolution coming out of the Gang's discussions.
"I've talked to those guys. I don't know how they fit into this process," he said. "They've got the same challenge in the Gang that we have. It's just a matter of people getting serious."
Boehner said he still has hope for some kind of grand bargain, even if Congress has to punt it to the 113th session that begins in January. He said he maintains a "solid" relationship with both Democratic leaders and with President Obama. But he said the ball is in Democrats' court.
"The House has done its job. We passed a bill to replace the sequester back in May. It's sitting over in the Senate. We passed a bill in July to extend all the current tax rates. It's sitting over in the Senate. You know, at some point, the Senate can't just keep ducking and hiding. The Senate's got to produce something. I guess we'll have to see what they're able to produce," he said.
Some Democrats, notably Sen. Patty Murray, have suggested going over the fiscal cliff as a way to better the party's political hand. Boehner said Sunday that Congress could hypothetically fix the Bush tax cuts and sequester retroactively, but that time is short -- and the window for action is narrowing.
"There isn't a whole lot of time," he said. "One thing that nobody's quite recognized yet is that the AMT relief for this tax year has not been extended. That means instead of 4 million people getting hit by the AMT, alternative minimum tax, you're going to have 30 million Americans hit by the alternative minimum tax. And they're going to start filing by the end of January. The IRS is going to have to give them some forms. I don't know how that issue is dealt with."
In negotiations last summer over an increase in the debt ceiling, Boehner said he had put some of his party's sacred cows on the table.
"A year and a half ago, the president and I had long negotiations. I was willing to put revenue on the table in exchange for fundamental reform of the entitlement programs. And I don't mean trimming around the edges, I mean fundamental reform. If we're going to go solve this problem, let's go solve it. If we're going to rip the Band-aid off, let's rip it off," Boehner said.
But, he added: "I think it's important that we avoid the fiscal cliff, but that doesn't mean I'm interested in raising tax rates and killing jobs."
Recovery Act Exceeds Major Cleanup Milestone, DOE Complex Now 74 Percent Remediated
EM Press Release
November 2, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Office of Environmental Management's (EM) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Program recently achieved 74 percent footprint reduction, exceeding the originally established goal of 40 percent. EM has reduced its pre-Recovery Act footprint of 931 square miles, established in 2009, by 688 square miles. Reducing its contaminated footprint to 243 square miles has proven to be a monumental task, and a challenge the EM team was ready to take on from the beginning.
In 2009, EM identified a goal of 40 percent footprint reduction by September 2011 as its High Priority Performance Goal. EM achieved that goal in April 2011, five months ahead of schedule, and continues to achieve footprint reduction, primarily at Savannah River Site and Hanford. Once EM achieved the original target, new targets were set for the balance of fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013. These targets were surpassed and additional gains are not expected through the balance of the Recovery Act program.
"This milestone represents true success in our site cleanup mission and makes it possible for us to consider other uses for our site assets," EM Recovery Act Program Director Thomas Johnson said. "The vast majority of our cleanup challenges have involved chemicals and radioactive contamination. This achievement indicates that vast areas of the EM sites can now support other beneficial uses."
In recent years, largely due to Recovery Act funding, sites have made huge gains in a short time period to greatly accelerate the cleanup process across the DOE Complex. Cleaned up sites have met regulatory requirements and are now available for potential reuse by DOE or other entities. Significant soil and groundwater cleanup and facility decontamination and decommissioning was accomplished at the 18 sites that received Recovery Act funding. Below are a few highlights from the major contributing sites.
Savannah River Site
With over $1.615 billion in Recovery Act funding, SRS reached a major milestone by remediating 85 percent of the site's footprint. This success contributed greatly to the overall DOE national goal of 40 percent footprint reduction by cleaning up more than 260 square miles of the site's 310 square miles.
Hanford
Portsmouth
The nearly $120 million Recovery Act investment in the site completed the site's original Recovery Act scope ahead of schedule and under budget. About $23 million in savings from that original scope was used for additional cleanup. Recovery Act reduced the site's footprint by more than 1.6 million square feet.
SLAC, Mound, and Idaho
Many other sites contributed to the success of the Recovery Act's footprint reduction goal.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
WIPP received a total of $172 million in funding from the Recovery Act. The goal was to accelerate TRU waste characterization at generator sites, and complete infrastructure enhancements and upgrades at the WIPP Site. Many of these upgrades included construction of water management structures and site access roads and the procurement of new equipment to replace existing aging equipment. Additionally, these funds resulted in the cleanup of eight small quantity sites ahead of what was originally scheduled. For more information on the success of WIPP's Recovery Act workers, visit http://www.wipp.energy.gov/pr/nr.htm.
Critics: Sandy Showed Nuclear Plants' Vulnerability to Weather, Sabotage
Douglas P. Guarino, Global Security Newswire
November 1, 2012
WASHINGTON - The danger Hurricane Sandy posed to nuclear power plants along the East Coast highlights some of the same vulnerabilities that terrorists looking to release harmful radiation into the environment could exploit, watchdog groups said this week.
The unprecedented storm posed two main challenges to atomic energy facilities: rising water levels and interruptions to the electricity grid. Both have the potential to disrupt crucial cooling systems at the plants, and particularly those for pools used to cool spent reactor fuel. If spent fuel rods overheat and are exposed to air, they can cause fires and dangerous radiation releases.
In Lacey Township, N.J., the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant faced both of these challenges. High water levels threatened to submerge a water pump motor used to cool water in the plant's spent fuel pool, Reuters reported. The situation, caused by a combination of rising tide, wind direction and storm surge affecting the Atlantic Ocean and adjoining estuaries, prompted the facility to declare an emergency "alert," according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In addition, the Oyster Creek plant at one point experienced a power disruption that necessitated the use of two backup diesel generators, according to Reuters.
While such auxiliary power can usually keeping cooling systems for a nuclear reactor itself operating, activists warn that NRC regulations do not require that such resources also be connected to the mechanisms that cool spent fuel pools.
"As soon as the electric grid goes down, water circulation pumps stop operating," Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with the group Beyond Nuclear said in a statement released during the storm.
Pool water can begin to boil within "several hours" of loss of cooling, he noted, and could leave fuel rods exposed within "several to many days."
Kamps told Global Security Newswire that the same problems could be caused by an intentional attack.
"While high winds can knock out the electric grid so too can sabotage or terrorism," Kamps said. He added that "normal cooling water flow pathways and mechanisms," threatened by high water during the storm at Oyster Creek and other nuclear plants, "could also be disrupted intentionally."
In the event of a disruption to the usual spent fuel pool cooling system, power plant operators could use firefighting equipment in an attempt to replenish water lost through evaporation. Japanese authorities tried similar tactics during the Fukushima Daiichi disaster last year. Watchdog groups argue that relying on this is insufficient, however.
Steam generated by a boiling spent fuel pool "could short circuit critical safety systems throughout the nuclear plant," Kamps said.
Robert Alvarez, who served as a senior adviser to the Energy secretary during the Clinton administration, noted that spent fuel pools were originally designed for temporary storage lasting no longer than five years. He cited a 2006 study by the National Academy of Sciences that said pools at nearly all of the more than 100 reactors in the United States now contain high-density spent fuel racks that allow about five times more waste to be stored in the pool than was originally intended.
"The Oyster Creek spent fuel pool is currently holding about 3,000 irradiated assemblies (including a recently discharged full core) containing about 94 million curies of cesium 137 - more than three times more released from all atmospheric nuclear weapons tests," Alvarez, now a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, said by e-mail. "Whether or not mega-storm Sandy portends what's in store for the near future, it's still too risky to use high-density spent fuel pools as de facto indefinite storage for some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet."
Watchdog groups have long advocated for an NRC rule that would require used fuel rods to be removed from pools and placed in hardened, dry casks as quickly as possible. Alvarez said dry casks at the Fukushima Daiichi site were "unscathed" by the earthquake and tsunami that threatened the plant's spent fuel storage pools last and caused meltdowns in three reactors.
Even in a worst-case scenario, the "consequences of a breach in a dry cask in terms of radioactive releases is about 2,500 times less than a spent fuel pool fire," Alvarez said. "Whereas a spent fuel pool fire could create life-threatening contamination of hundreds of square miles."
Following the Fukushima disaster, watchdog groups petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to immediately require a number of upgrades at U.S. atomic energy plants. Among the activists' demands were that the commission require dedicated backup power systems for spent fuel pools and that fuel rods be removed from the pools after five years.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials rejected the activist's demands that they act immediately on these items, but agreed to consider them in their long-term review of lessons to be learned from Fukushima. Kamps said the threats posed by this week's storm underscored the urgency of requiring such upgrades.
For now, the commission "is focused on the current situation with the plants," according to NRC spokesman David McIntyre, who emphasized that "all of them are safe and have performed according to design and their license conditions.
"If there are lessons to be learned from Sandy, we will look at them, but we do not have the luxury that [the watchdog groups] have of being able to jump to conclusions before a situation even plays out," McIntyre added.
In total, the Hurricane Sandy impacted at least a half-dozen nuclear plants, Reuters reported. Other affected sites include Unit 1 of the Salem, N.J. plant - which was shut down due to high water and debris - and Indian Point 3 in New York, which went offline due to fluctuations in the power grid caused by the storm.
John Keeley, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents the nuclear power industry, noted that the majority of nuclear plants "in the path of the storm continued to produce electricity" and that the "ones that did shut down did so safely and securely."
New Hanford Advisory Board chairman named
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
November 3, 2012
A former college dean who is a frequent volunteer living in Portland was elected Friday as the new chairman of the Hanford Advisory Board.
Steve Hudson will assume leadership of the board from Susan Leckband, who faced a term limit at the end of six years as chairwoman.
The board is made up of representatives from diverse groups -- including local governments, organized labor, Hanford nonunion workers, tribes, public health, environmental groups and civic groups. Members reach consensus on advice for Department of Energy and its regulators on environmental cleanup at Hanford.
Hudson represents Hanford Watch, an Oregon-based group, on the board and has been chairman of the board's Public Involvement and Communication Committee. He recently served as board vice chairman after expressing interest in leading the board.
He was the only board member nominated as chairman who agreed to serve. His election was unanimous.
"I have been stunned by the spectacular maturity shown here," Hudson said.
Members have fostered and encouraged diversity on the board, he said.
Board members with sometimes opposite views -- including pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear -- have learned to calmly find issues they agree on in order to reach consensus on written advice offered to DOE and its regulators.
The board has earned a reputation for developing positions that are not always popular, Hudson said.
Hudson was an English instructor, department chairman, then division dean for liberal arts and mathematics at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus from 1966 to 2006. He has experience working with budgets, people and communities to address sensitive issues, he said.
He's served as assistant director for a high school soccer program, a library advisory board member and a volunteer on teacher and student tutoring groups. Those positions and work on advisory committees related to his college positions have allowed him to work with gifted people struggling to solve difficult problems in a way that satisfies a demanding public, he said in his application.
He plans to make frequent trips to the Tri-Cities, as some previous board leaders who lived outside the Tri-Cities have done. The unpaid position requires up to 20 hours of work per week.
Leckband, who represented nonunion and nonmanagement Hanford employees on the board before she became chairwoman, plans to stay on the board and will fill in as interim vice chairwoman as a nominating committee finds candidates.
"What a privilege it has been to serve all of you and Hanford cleanup," Leckband said. "I've loved it."
Agency representatives and board members praised her leadership.
"You have tended the board's business with grace and diligence and have led board meetings with humor, kindness and persistence," Ted Sturdevant, Washington State Department of Ecology director, wrote in a letter.
"Under your tutelage, the board has been able to work through a wide spectrum of issues that often had contentious opinions on all sides," he added.
She also was an advocate for the board in other venues, such as writing opinion pieces for the Herald, and speaking at regional and national meetings, and to students, he wrote.
In one way, Hudson may have a difficult time measuring up.
Leckband baked often, and she shared the treats.
"I look forward to Steve being chairman," said board member Bob Parks. "He's no Betty Crocker, but I think we can help him with that."
DOE won't force term limits for Hanford Advisory Board seats
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
November 5, 2012
The Department of Energy will not impose term limits for any Hanford Advisory Board seats as appointments are made for 2013, according to David Huizenga, senior adviser for DOE's Office of Environmental Management.
He made the announcement in a recent letter to the board before its meeting Thursday and Friday in Richland.
Instead, DOE will work with the Hanford Advisory Board's Executive Issues Committee to continue discussions and consider the recommendations the board made to DOE in September concerning DOE's issues with the board.
"This is a real, positive step forward," said outgoing board Chairwoman Susan Leckband. "We are part of the solution. That's what we asked for."
In September, some DOE officials in Washington, D.C., were considering changes to the board structure, including term limits for certain seats. It is the third time since the turn of the new century that DOE has moved to impose changes on the board that some members have interpreted as an attempt to exert more control over the board or even rid it of members with opinions it disliked.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act charter that covers all DOE environmental management advisory boards requires term limits.
But the Hanford Advisory Board, at almost 19 years old, was formed before the Federal Advisory Committee Act was created.
It assigns most seats to organizations picked to represent a diverse group of people -- including tribes, civic groups, local governments, unions and universities that pick their own representatives and alternates to the board. DOE then approves the appointments.
However, among the 32 seats on the board are seats for the public-at-large and Hanford workers, which have no group to pick them and have been targeted for term limits in the latest round of DOE-proposed changes to the board.
Some federal officials believe some turnover on the board is needed, and ethnic, racial and gender diversity can benefit boards, said Cate Alexander, the designated federal officer for DOE's eight Environmental Management Site Specific Advisory Boards, in September.
Hanford Advisory Board members said the board appeared to be diverse by age, gender and race, but that it has had difficulty recruiting and retaining Hispanic members.
The board recommended to DOE in September that it work with the board if it wants changes, rather than imposing term limits or other changes.
Solutions to provide diversity could include looking at attendance to see if seats could be opened up, adding another board position for the public or encouraging groups represented on the board to consider diversity as they choose new representatives for the advisory board, the board told DOE.
"We need to remove ambiguity from the issue," said Dana Bryson, the deputy designated federal officer for the Hanford Advisory Board, Friday.
DOE has been waiving requirements for term limits in the charter, but it needs to be clear on how the charter is implemented to end the recurring debate, he said.
One possibility would be to change the charter, which is redone and renewed every two years, he said.
"(The Hanford Advisory Board) is very unique and DOE values HAB," he said. "We need to assure HAB is maintained as a productive, functioning organization."
The board's Executive Issues Committee is expected to meet with DOE officials and have a proposal ready by the board's next meeting in February.
Mystery growth on Savannah River Site nuclear waste not spreading
Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle
November 4, 2012
Scientists still don't know what created the mysterious bacteria found growing on Savannah River Site's spent nuclear fuel, but there might be an easy way to get rid of it.
"We're considering a mechanical remedy," said Maxcine Maxted, the site's spent fuel program manager, during a presentation last week to the SRS Citizens Advisory Board.
The white, stringy "cobwebs" were first observed in October 2011 among fuel assemblies submerged 12 to 17 feet in the site's L Area basin, where aging nuclear materials from foreign and domestic research reactors are stored and guarded.
An assessment concluded it was "biological in nature" and had infested about 7 percent of the 3.5-million-gallon basin.
"Of course it's really not a cobweb, and it's not from a spider," she said, adding that genetic tests of samples found about 3,000 different kinds of bacteria.
In recent months, observers noticed areas where the cobwebs were removed for sampling have not become reinfested.
"At this point, it's not increasing," she said. "The spots where we vacuumed up samples are not coming back."
The simple remedy, she said, might be to just physically remove the material.
Although rare, bacterial colonies have been observed in a few nuclear environments, including a Canadian reactor and at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, where a growth developed in the site's spent fuel basin after its 1979 accident.
"This material is still different, though, because nobody's ever seen it in a stringy structure," Maxted said. "But we now know it's not growing or spreading."
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ECA Board
Election Notice
ECA Executive Committee elections will be held on December 12, 2012.
If you would like to nominate someone or if you are interested in running for a position, please contact Bob Thompson (BThompson@ci.richland.wa.us), Amy Fitzgerald (AFitzgerald@cortn.org), or Pam Brown-Larsen (PBrown@ci.richland.wa.us).
Current ECA Board Nominations
Chair: Mayor Tom Beehan, Oak Ridge
Vice Chair: Council Member Chuck Smith, Aiken County
Secretary: Nominee needed
Treasurer: County Councilor Fran Berting, Los Alamos |