1444 words/ 1 June 2010/ General Accounting Office Reports & TestimonyGAORNAVolume 2010; Issue 6EnglishCopyright 2010 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. GAO-10-378 March 26, 2010
The end of the Cold War left the United States with a surplus of weapons-grade plutonium, which poses proliferation and safety risks. Much of this material is found in a key nuclear weapon component known as a pit. The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to dispose of at least 34 metric tons of plutonium by fabricating it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for domestic nuclear reactors. To do so, DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is constructing two facilities--a MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) and a Waste Solidification Building (WSB)--at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. GAO was asked to assess the (1) cost and schedule status of the MFFF and WSB construction projects, (2) status of NNSA's plans for pit disassembly and conversion, (3) status of NNSA's plans to obtain customers for MOX fuel from the MFFF, and (4) actions that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and DOE have taken to provide independent nuclear safety oversight. GAO reviewed NNSA documents and project data, toured DOE facilities, and interviewed officials from DOE, NRC, and nuclear utilities.
CRESP Newstories and Links related to risk-based cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and cost-effective, risk-based management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. CRESP seeks to improve the scientific and technical basis for environmental management decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) and by fostering public participation in that search.
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Monday, June 7, 2010
Sending more Hanford waste to Idaho would save cash
Annette Cary;Herald staff writer /Cary Annette/719 words/28 May 2010/Tri-City Herald/TRIC/B1/English/(c) 2010 The Tri-City Herald. All Rights Reserved.
Not shipping certain Hanford radioactive waste to Idaho for processing as earlier planned is costing the nation $25 million in increased costs, according to an audit by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General.
The Department of Energy questions that, saying that the long-term costs of dealing with that waste at Hanford will be reduced by at least $135 million because the project has been accelerated with federal economic stimulus money.
Similar long-term savings could be achieved by sending the waste to Idaho for processing, the audit countered.
At issue is transuranic waste — typically debris contaminated with plutonium — that temporarily was buried at Hanford when Congress ordered a national repository for transuranic waste created in 1970. The waste was buried in drums and boxes until the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, in New Mexico opened as a repository.
In February 2008, the Department of Energy announced a plan to ship as much as 8,500 cubic yards of transuranic waste from Hanford to the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Not shipping certain Hanford radioactive waste to Idaho for processing as earlier planned is costing the nation $25 million in increased costs, according to an audit by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General.
The Department of Energy questions that, saying that the long-term costs of dealing with that waste at Hanford will be reduced by at least $135 million because the project has been accelerated with federal economic stimulus money.
Similar long-term savings could be achieved by sending the waste to Idaho for processing, the audit countered.
At issue is transuranic waste — typically debris contaminated with plutonium — that temporarily was buried at Hanford when Congress ordered a national repository for transuranic waste created in 1970. The waste was buried in drums and boxes until the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, in New Mexico opened as a repository.
In February 2008, the Department of Energy announced a plan to ship as much as 8,500 cubic yards of transuranic waste from Hanford to the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future
Events/Public Meetings
Updated 06/01/2010
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2010 Meeting Schedule
Full Commission Meetings
July 14th and 15th - Richland, Washington
September 21st and 22nd – TBD
November 15th and 16th – TBD
Public Teleconferences may be held as necessary on:
June 17th
August 17th
October 19th
December 14th
Previous Meeting Information, Documents & Presentations
May 25 and 26, 2010 - Washington, DC
March 25 and March 26, 2010 - First Commission Public Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Updated 06/01/2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010 Meeting Schedule
Full Commission Meetings
July 14th and 15th - Richland, Washington
September 21st and 22nd – TBD
November 15th and 16th – TBD
Public Teleconferences may be held as necessary on:
June 17th
August 17th
October 19th
December 14th
Previous Meeting Information, Documents & Presentations
May 25 and 26, 2010 - Washington, DC
March 25 and March 26, 2010 - First Commission Public Meeting, Washington, D.C.
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