CRESP Update #9 November 9, 2012

DOE – EM

EM Update Newsletter October 2012  Link

·         Oak Ridge Enters Next K-25 Demolition Phase

·         Idaho Site Achieves Key Fuel Transfer Milestones

·         Dr. Proton and Adam the Atom Take to the Classroom with an Updated Look

·         Los Alamos Lab Shatters Records in First Year of Accelerated Shipping Effort

·         EM Site-Specific Advisory Board Chairs Gather for Biannual Meeting in D.C.

·         EM Celebrates Historic Sludge Removal

WSJ: Industry looks for change among Obama energy officials

11.08.2012  |  HP News Services By TENNILLE TRACY and RYAN TRACY The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Energy-industry officials and environmental groups are watching for change at the top in President Barack Obama's second term, with Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu seen as possible candidates to step down. Any new faces could have a big impact on some of the most important issues affecting the US economy, including the rapid growth of oil and gas production backed by new drilling technologies and the decline of coal. Mr. Salazar's spokesman said the secretary remains "focused on the job." The White House declined to comment on who might leave the Cabinet or when, and representatives of the EPA and the Energy Department didn't return messages seeking comment.

Washington lobbyists and Capitol Hill staff are already circulating lists of possible candidates for the posts. The EPA job is particularly critical, whether Ms. Jackson holds it, because the agency must make decisions about regulating greenhouse gases in the coming year that could effectively block new coal-fired power plants. Presidents typically shuffle their cabinets going into a second term. The grueling workload and relatively low government salaries often prompt some leaders to step aside. While there is no particular impetus for Ms. Jackson or Messrs. Salazar and Chu to leave right away, all three have shouldered considerable criticism from corporate executives, industry lobbyists and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Mr. Salazar, a former US senator from Colorado, was widely criticized for issuing a temporary drilling ban after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, absorbed flak for supporting loan guarantees for bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra. Perhaps the most popular target for Republicans is Ms. Jackson. A former New Jersey environmental official, Ms. Jackson has been accused by Republicans of expanding her agency's authority and tackling climate change despite disagreement on the issue on Capitol Hill. Link

Hanford

Energy secretary to move forward with Hanford vit plant

Tri-City HErald Published: November 9, 2012 By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

Energy Secretary Steven Chu plans to move the Hanford vitrification plant project forward with new teams to take focused looks at technical issues and a separate evaluation of opportunities for more efficient or faster operations at the plant. He made the announcement Thursday in a memo to employees of the Department of Energy's Hanford Office of River Protection. Chu has taken a personal interest in resolving issues at the plant, assembling a hand-picked group of experts that he spent several days with at Hanford in September. They helped develop the plan announced Thursday to get the project on track. DOE earlier said that it would not be able to build the plant for the $12.2 billion planned or have it operating as legally required by 2019 because of technical issues, some of them related to the safe and efficient operation of the plant. The plant is being built to treat for disposal up to 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Construction on parts of the plant that will handle high-level radioactive waste has been slowed or stopped while technical issues are addressed. "I am confident that with this increased focus on the resolution of technical challenges, the addition of expertise from academia, national laboratories and industry, and some additional analysis and testing, we will be able to resolve the remaining technical challenges and ensure the mission will be accomplished safely and efficiently," Chu said in the memo. Technical issues have been "wrestled" into five groups and five new teams will drill down into the issues, said David Huizenga, senior adviser for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, which oversees Hanford work. The teams will focus on finalizing the design of the vitrification plant, said Langdon Holton, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, one of Chu's experts. "The secretary wants a path forward in the next few months," Huizenga said. However, some of the work to resolve technical issues could take several years to close out, Holton said. Among the most time consuming will be a new plan to do full-scale mixing testing of some of the plant's tanks that will hold high-level radioactive waste rather than the large-scale testing DOE agreed to two years ago. A new high-bay laboratory -- which will be donated to Washington State University Tri-Cities -- was built for the large-scale testing and now tanks that later will be moved to the vitrification plant will be tested outside the building. Link

DOE takes a step back from changes to Hanford Advisory Board

Published: November 5, 2012   By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

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. Link

Hanford Advisory Board recommends DOE start building new waste tanks

Published: November 3, 2012  Tri City Herald

The Hanford Advisory Board is recommending the Department of Energy start work immediately to build new storage tanks for high-level radioactive waste. Click to Continue »

Umatillas to conduct Hanford research at new field station

Department of Energy | TriCityHerald.com Thursday, November 1 2012, 9:29 AM

MISSION, Ore. -- Some 580 species of native plants grow on the Hanford nuclear reservation. But as land is restored after portions of environmental cleanup are completed, just eight species are replanted. Increasing the diversity of species used to replant hundreds of acres of land is one of the goals of the new field research station of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation that was dedicated Monday. The station is on tribal land east of Pendleton. The ceremony opened with prayer, song, brief speeches and a tour for David Huizenga, the senior adviser for DOE's Office of Environmental Management in Washington, D.C. The field station will be used to protect, preserve and enhance treaty-protected rights, said Les Minthorn, chairman of the confederated tribes' board. "We are not going to own them if we do not preserve them," he said. The tribes have treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather on Hanford land and also are recognized as a trustee of Hanford natural resources. Not only will tribal research that helps improve survival rates for additional native species increase the availability of treaty resources, but it also will reduce wildfire risk, according to the confederated tribes. "We could have no better partner than you to set the stage for the future of Hanford and bring it back to its natural state," said Huizenga, who leads environmental cleanup work across the DOE complex, at the dedication. The field station, which was paid for in part with $730,000 from DOE, includes two geodesic dome greenhouses with a combined growing space of about 8,800 square feet. They will be used to grow tens of thousands of seedlings. Field testing of replanting methods for the greenhouse seedlings will be done on an acre of land east of the greenhouse. It can hold 30 raised-bed plots. The project also includes a biology laboratory and an analytical chemistry laboratory. In research already done, confederated tribes staff have collected seed for 83 of the native species at Hanford and continue to add to the seed collection. However, in attempts to grow 14 of the species, germination has ranged from none to 85 percent, with more research needed to determine why the rate varies. That the field center was built is a tribute to Stuart Harris, director of the confederated tribes' Department of Science and Engineering, Huizenga said. He had been looking for a way to get tribal youths interested in science and engineering, Harris said. When DOE decided to increase cleanup of land along the Columbia River to finish most of it by 2015, there was a reason for the tribes and DOE to interact, he said. The tribes looked past cleanup to restoration and reclamation of land that had been used for production of weapons plutonium from World War II through the Cold War, Harris said. It presented a chance for the tribes to decide the quality of restoration of land, he said. But even more important than the research and scientific analysis that will be done at the field research station will be its role in training tribal and other students during the summers, he said. They will get a taste of what it would be like to work at a university or federal research laboratory, he said. The project will help train a new generation of tribal members in scientific disciplines to help protect and preserve tribal resources and to evaluate the long-term effects of contaminants, according to the confederated tribes. Link

$12.3M subcontract awarded for "deep dig" at Hanford

Published: November 6, 2012  By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Washington Closure Hanford has awarded a subcontract worth $12.3 million to clean up the remaining waste sites in the soil around Hanford's D, DR and H reactors. TerranearPMC, a small business based in Irving, Texas, that qualifies under Small Business Administration standards as a disadvantaged business, will do the work. It has an office in Kennewick. Terranear will be digging up chromium-contaminated soil, some of it down to groundwater about 85 feet deep. The work also includes digging up pipelines used for chemically contaminated waste and some miscellaneous waste sites.

"We're expecting to remove about 2.5 million tons of material during the course of this subcontract," said Scott Myers, Washington Closure project manager for field remediation at the three reactors.

Similar work to dig up chromium down to groundwater about 85 feet deep was done successfully near Hanford's C Reactor, with much of the work completed this spring. It was the first time Hanford workers have excavated that deep to remove chemical contamination. "We will take full advantage of lessons learned from work at C," Myers said.

Hexavalent chromium was added to cooling water at Hanford reactors used to produce plutonium for the nation's weapons program during World War II and the Cold War. Near the D and DR reactors, which were built near each other along the Columbia River, the chromium has contaminated the soil in three places down to groundwater. The chromium there was spilled or leaked in multiple places from the system that delivered sodium dichromate by railcar and distributed it through a series of pipelines and valve boxes. The three deep waste sites will be excavated in two digs, one for two of the sites that are near one and other. Digging so deep creates a wide excavation site. At C Reactor, two nearby sites covered the area of about 15 football fields. H Reactor, one of nine former Hanford production reactors along the Columbia River, is about two miles from the D and DR reactors downriver. Because the nature of the cleanup work for the sites is so similar, it made sense to combine the work under one subcontract and save taxpayers money, Myers said. The chrome pipelines, which were near the ground surface, already have been dug up near the reactors. But Terranear will remove deeper pipelines, ranging from 6 inches to 72 inches in diameter, used to carry waste.$12.3M subcontr1a1c/t9a/1w2arded f or "deep dig" at Hanford.  Link

SRS

Mystery growth on Savannah River Site nuclear waste not spreading

By Rob Pavey, Staff Writer Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 9:23 PM The August Chronicle

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.” Link

 

RELATED STORIES
SRS nuclear growth "biological," but what does it eat?

·         DNA labs to tackle mystery growth on SRS nuclear waste

 

Savannah River Site not concerned by leak at other site

By Rob Pavey Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 7:06 PM August Chronicle

A leaking double-shell radioactive waste tank at the government’s Hanford, Wash., nuclear complex spawned questions Tuesday about the integrity of similar tanks at Savannah River Site. Though both sites store large quantities of waste from Cold War nuclear weapons production, the leak at Hanford is not a predictor of new problems at SRS, said Ter­ry Spears, the South Caro­lina site’s assistant manager for waste disposition. “We do have double-shell tanks at SRS,” he told members of the SRS Citi­zens Advi­sory Board. “But because there were no design standards around Depart­ment of Ener­gy sites, they were built at different times and with different designs.” A 40-year-old tank at Hanford failed because of defective welds, he said, and the minor leakage involved material that seeped from the interior to the secondary wall.  “It was all contained inside,” he said. Hanford’s 177 waste tanks include 28 double-shell tanks that store waste moved from single-wall tanks found to be leaking, according to the Tri-City Herald in Washington. By comparison, SRS once had 51 underground tanks holding up to 1.3 million gallons apiece. Two were closed in the 1990s, and two more were closed this year.

Though some of the site’s single-wall tanks are leaking, no issues have surfaced with double-shell tanks at SRS, Spears said. The recent tank closures included final approval from the South Caro­lina De­part­ment of Health and En­vi­ron­mental Control to clean up and close the remaining tanks. The next group of four closures is set for 2014-15, with remaining single-wall tanks closed by 2022. All closures are to be done by 2028.
The high-level waste in the tanks includes thick liquids, sludge with a consistency similar to peanut butter and a caustic material that turns to salt. The salt waste accounts for much of the volume, but the sludge is the most radioactive and much more dangerous. That material is sent to the Defense Waste Pro­ces­sing Facility at SRS, where it is “vitrified” in glass and sealed in steel canisters. Link

 

Exam Said to Be Leaked to Guards at Nuclear SiteBy MATTHEW L. WALD New York Times Published: October 31, 2012

WASHINGTON — The security guards at a nuclear weapons plant who failed to stop an 82-year-old nun from reaching a bomb fuel storage building earlier this year were also cheating on a recertification exam, according to an internal investigation by the Department of Energy, which owns the weapons plant.

The exam, with answers, was circulated to guards at the Y-12 National Security Complex, near Oak Ridge, Tenn., before they sat down to take it, according to the report, by the department’s inspector general. The report, released on Wednesday, said that the cheating was enabled by the department itself. It was routine practice for the department to involve contractor personnel in preparation of such exams, because the federal government did not know enough about the security arrangements to write the exam without the help of the contractor.

A federal security official sent the exam by encrypted e-mail to “trusted agents” at the management contractor, B&W, but did not instruct those executives to keep it secret from the people who would have to take it, according to the report. The government found out about the cheating only because an inspector visiting the plant noticed a copy of an exam on the seat of a patrol vehicle the day before guards were to take it.

The security contractor was Wackenhut, but its contract was terminated after a security breach on July 28, when the nun, Sister Megan Gillespie Rice, and two accomplices cut through three layers of fence, splashed blood on a building housing bomb-grade uranium, performed a Christian ritual and then waited to be apprehended. A subsequent investigation found that many security cameras had been disabled long before the break-in. Link

 

SRS reducing costs, workers amid funding shortfall

By Rob Pavey Staff Writer Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 8:47 PM The Augusta Chronicle

Savannah River Site’s management contractor briefed its 4,600 employees on Thurs­day about cost-cutting efforts spawned by a fiscal 2013 budget shortfall of $175 million. n a video shared with workers, Savannah River Nu­clear Solutions officials said the funding challenge is significant and has the greatest effect on environmental management projects, where the shortfall amounts to a 25 percent reduction that became apparent in Septemb­er, just weeks before the 2013 budget year began Oct. 1. Steps taken to reduce costs include eliminating 341 employees through voluntary separation and the release of about 440 staff augmentation and craft workers.
So far, the cost-cutting efforts have enabled the company to save about $70 million, said Jim Hanna, the senior vice president of corporate services. “We’re trying to do everything we can to be as efficient as we can,” he said. Link

Oak Ridge

Redoing UPF: it's a big deal

As noted in previous posts, the initial design work on the Uranium Processing Facility didn't work out, apparently not providing enough room for all of the needed equipment to do the duties on nuclear weapons. As a result, a redesign effort is under way in a bigtime way, and Federal Project Director John Eschenberg indicated a few weeks back that a more detailed understanding of the path forward would be available in late October after an engineering reevaluation had been completed. That work is reportedly done, but the National Nuclear Security Administration doesn't have much to say -- at least not yet. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the NNSA in Oak Ridge, confirmed -- as of Nov. 1 -- that the NNSA had received the "replanning information." That's basically all he said, noting, "We are in the process of reviewing it at this time." There is still no detailed information on the detailed cost of the multibillion-dollar production center at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant.

Posted by Frank Munger on November 2, 2012 at 10:17 PM  Link

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General Office of Audits and Inspections

Inspection Report: Allegations of Organizational Conflicts of Interest at Portsmouth and Oak Ridge INS-O-13-01 November 2012 Link

IG report cites conflict of interest issues at Oak Ridge, Portsmouth

Posted by Frank Munger on November 8, 2012 at 11:47 PM Knoxnews.comThe Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General today released a report saying that inspectors had substantiated allegations of "organizational conflicts of interest" at both Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge. Assistant IG Sandra Bruce said the office was responding to complaints of potential conflicts involving RSI (Restoration Services Inc.) and VETCO at Portsmouth, with similiar conflicts involving UCOR (URS-CH2M Oak Ridge), DOE's cleanup manager in Oak Ridge, and RSI, its lead subcontractor.

Misc

Energy winners and losers: A snapshot

By Ben Geman - 11/07/12 02:37 AM ET E2 The Wire

The energy policy fallout from Tuesday’s elections will take time to shake out. 
But here’s a quick snapshot of a few winners and losers now that President Obama has been reelected, Democrats retained the Senate and Republicans kept the House. Link

Reuters reports here and here on President Obama’s win means for energy and environmental regulation.

Building a Cadre of New Nuclear Professionals

http://www.iaea.org/  November 7, 2012
The 5th Nuclear Energy Management School (NEM) opened on Monday, 5 November 2012 in Trieste, Italy. In a video address played to participants, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said the Agency is keen to help Member States address the issue of manpower and training shortage in the nuclear industry and stressed that the NEM is one of the ways the IAEA is doing this, along with its partners at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Link

 

Stakeholder Involvement in Nuclear Power Programmes

http://www.iaea.org/  November 7, 2012A technical meeting on Stakeholder involvement in nuclear power – developing sustainable relationships, expanding resources, and creative value took place from 9-11 October, in Vienna Austria. Organized jointly by the IAEA and FORATOM, the meeting brought together over 50 participants from 29 countries and four international organizations, providing a multicultural forum for lively discussions on nuclear communications. It ended mid-Thursday, concluding a wide range of discussions and presentations on the ‘social’ side of nuclear power. Link

Energy and the Second TermPosted November 8, 2012  theenergycollective.com
What to expect on energy in a second Obama term? Reuters has a pair of analyses, here and here, predicting tougher federal regulation of oil and natural gas, new restrictions on natural gas production and use, continued tight access to reserves on federal lands and waters and a renewed push for higher taxes on energy companies. Let’s hope not. More regulation, unreasonable drilling restrictions and higher taxes probably would mean less energy produced, job losses and less revenue to governments, according to Wood Mackenzie’s 2011 study. Meanwhile, new, unnecessary federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing could limit the potential of oil and natural gas produced from shale – a key to American energy security and perhaps the president’s best chance to achieve his goals of reducing oil imports and emissions of carbon dioxide. The oil and natural gas industry is ready to continuing working with the administration to bring about increased domestic oil and gas production, more jobs and economic growth. With the election over, the president can:
·         Approve the full Keystone XL pipeline, immediately putting thousands of Americans to work while strengthening our energy partnership with Canada.
·         Signal he supports capitalizing on America’s shale energy resources by reining in more than 10 federal agencies that are reviewing or considering restrictions or new regulations on hydraulic fracturing. Specifically, the president could curb EPA plans to impose unnecessary and duplicative federal regulatory burdens that could cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars.
·         Underscore his support for reducing federal red tape by streamlining federal permitting processes for onshore and offshore energy development, which cause needless delay and chill energy investment.
·         Revisit his administration’s offshore drilling plan and include more areas off America’s coasts for development. Currently, more than 85 percent of our outer continental shelf remains closed to energy exploration.
No question, there are opponents to increasing domestic oil and natural gas production and the use of more Canadian oil sands crude. For example, some already are signaling they want the administration to reject the Keystone XL once and for all. Making America more energy secure will require bold, visionary leadership. It starts by recognizing that our economy and standard of living are largely supported by oil and natural gas – and will be for decades to come even with important contributions from wind, solar, biofuels and other energy sources. It means implementing policies that will develop America’s vast energy riches, create jobs and generate revenue for governments. API President and CEO Jack Gerard:“We look forward to continuing our work with the president and helping him fulfill his campaign promise to increase domestic oil and natural gas production that will create American jobs and strengthen our economy.  With both candidates supporting more development of America’s vast oil and natural gas resources, energy is a big winner in this election. The domestic energy from shale boom is just beginning.  We have an unprecedented opportunity to work together to create millions of new jobs, generate hundreds of billions of dollars for our government, and strengthen our energy and national security.” Link

Obama's Re-election: A Mandate for Clean Energy?

by ArnoHarris Posted November 7, 2012 theenergycollective.com

With President Obama’s victory tonight, the renewable energy industry keeps an important ally in the White House. The win comes at a time when energy is rising in national importance. Given the extent to which the opposition made renewable energy an issue, I think the President’s win gives him a mandate to make clean energy a key part of the agenda for his second term. Link

 

A New Approach to Military Nuclear Waste

By MATTHEW L. WALD New York Times  November 6, 2012The United States has many pressing nuclear waste problems, but the worst may be the leftovers from the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. Unlike the wastes from civilian reactors, the military wastes are liquids and sludges stored in underground tanks in environmentally sensitive areas. Scores of tanks have leaked some of the material into the dirt. And there is no debate about how the wastes might be repurposed; they have already been scavenged for useful materials like uranium and plutonium. So for decades, the goal has been to solidify them by mixing them with glass, a process called vitrification, so the material can eventually be buried in a repository. With great difficulty and delay, the Energy Department opened a factory to do just that in 1996 at its Savannah River nuclear reservation near Aiken, S.C.
In 1989, the Energy Department signed an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State to start work on solidification at the Hanford nuclear reservation on the Columbia River. The process was to begin by 1999, but the pact has repeatedly been rewritten as deadlines were missed. Savannah River had been built and operated by DuPont, a chemical company, and its wastes were simpler and easier to handle there. Hanford had been run by many different contractors, and its wastes had many components that had to be removed before the remainder could go to the glass factory. The federal government has drafted plans for a new glass plant at Hanford several times but dropped them because of technical problems. A plant under construction now, described as being more than 60 percent complete, was originally supposed to cost $5.6 billion but its price tag is now put at over $12 billion, not counting operating costs. It is supposed to run for decades, with the start date now estimated at 2019.

But given the extraordinary delays and cost increases, a start-up, Kurion of Irvine, Calif., sees an opening. Kurion has already done nuclear work at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, where it built a system to filter cesium out of contaminated water at the plant’s stricken reactors. So far it has not convinced the Energy Department to hire it at Hanford, however. In the vitrification process, the wastes and glass are typically heated to melting temperature by giant electrodes submerged in the mixture. But the electrodes will eventually wear out — a problem if the plant has to run for decades and is so radioactive that the maintenance work has to be done by remote control, noted Richard Keenan, Kurion’s vice president for engineering.
So Kurion uses inductive heating, in which an object that can conduct electricity is put in a chamber surrounded by coils. This create a fluctuating magnetic field that generates heat without physical contact. “If there is no contact with electrodes, there are no corrosivity concerns,’’ Mr. Keenan said. The technique could be used for tank wastes and for soil contaminated by tank leaks.
Another twist is meant to address the nature of the tanks at Hanford. They accepted waste that was strongly acidic, but the tanks are made of ordinary carbon steel, which could not tolerate the acidity. So workers added a neutralizing agent that led the wastes to divide: a heavy sludge falls out of the mixture and lines the bottom, and a liquid fills the top. Kurion is trying to convince the Energy Department that the liquid should be filtered with materials like the ones it used at Fukushima because when those have captured much of the radioactive materials, they are easy to melt into glass. The company is also suggesting glass mixtures that are tailored to the waste. The goal is to make glass that will not leach its radioactive contents in millenniums to come. With careful attention to glass chemistry, Mr. Keenan said, technicians can get more radioactive material into each batch without spoiling the glass. So far, the Energy Department seems resolved to complete the main vitrification plant. But a spokeswoman, Lori M. Gamache, said, “At the appropriate time we will evaluate whether their technologies represent cost-effective methods of vitrifying waste.’’ She said the department planned to submit a report on bulk vitrification, the technology for handling contaminated dirt, in two years. At the end of the vitrification process, the molten glass cools in stainless steel containers that are then welded shut. What happens to those is still an open question.
At one point they were supposed to go to Yucca Mountain, a proposed national waste repository in Nevada, but the Obama administration shelved that plan. The federal government has not proposed an alternative site and has no method in place to select one. Link

 

NRC

 

NRC chair brings seismic focus to jobBy Ray Henry on November 09, 2012  Bloomberg BusinessweekATLANTA (AP) — Recent earthquakes show the nation's nuclear industry needs to re-evaluate the geologic hazards facing power plants, a process that has already started, the new chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week. President Barack Obama appointed Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and expert on nuclear waste, to the post in May after former NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko announced his resignation. Jaczko pushed for safety reforms but was criticized for a style that his fellow commissioners and agency employees described as bullying. Macfarlane traveled to Atlanta this week to address top nuclear executives gathered for a conference of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. In March, the NRC instructed power companies to re-evaluate the seismic and flooding hazards that their power plants face. While such a re-evaluation had been discussed for years, the issue accelerated after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan, leading to multiple meltdowns and radioactive releases. Later that year, the North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia was struck by an earthquake that caused peak ground movement at twice the level at which the plant was designed. No major damage or complications were reported. Federal officials later cleared that plant to resume operations. "I think what this highlights to us — especially to me as a geologist — is the importance of paying close attention to earth processes and making sure we properly account for them in ensuring that the plants operate safely," Macfarlane said in an interview. Nuclear plants in the eastern and central United States will need until the end of 2013 to finish the re-evaluation, she said. New evaluations for nuclear plants on the West Coast will take until 2015 to complete since they face more varied geologic conditions. "If a plant is found to be deficient then, yes, it will have to get up to its new design basis," Macfarlane said. Her term runs through 2013. Macfarlane had said she planned to seek re-appointment if Obama won the presidential election. Link

 

 

CRESP Update # 8 October 26, 2012

DOE - EM

Updated Organizational Chart 10-16-12  Link

Updated Headquarters Mission & Functions Statement  Link

Hanford

Management Alert: The 2010 Vision One System Proposal for Commissioning and Startup of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant

The Department of Energy is considering a proposal known at 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). As part of the phased approach, the Low- Activity Waste (LAW) facility would be made 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 River Protection Project's (RPP) mission of retrieving and treating the Hanford Site's tank waste in the WTP and closing the tank farms to protect the Columbia River. See full report

Official says vit analysis not developed

Published: October 10, 2012 By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

The Department of Energy has failed to develop a detailed analysis of the costs and risks of a proposed plan to start operating part of the Hanford vitrification plant early, according to the DOE Office of Inspector General. It issued a management alert Tuesday. DOE has been considering starting operation of the Low Activity Waste Facility at the plant 15 months before the rest of the plant. However, it told the DOE Office of Inspector General that its phased operations startup proposal, called the "2020 Vision One System," is on hold while technical issues are addressed and a new cost and schedule for the vitrification plant is established. Link

Official says vit analysis not developed

By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

The Department of Energy has failed to develop a detailed analysis of the costs and risks of a proposed plan to start operating part of the Hanford vitrification plant early, according to the DOE Office of Inspector General. It issued a management alert Tuesday. DOE has been considering starting operation of the Low Activity Waste Facility at the plant 15 months before the rest of the plant. However, it told the DOE Office of Inspector General that its phased operations startup proposal, called the "2020 Vision One System," is on hold while technical issues are addressed and a new cost and schedule for the vitrification plant is established. Resolution of technical issues could change DOE's approach to waste pretreatment. But early startup of low activity waste treatment remains a prominent alternative and could move forward after the plant's technical issues are addressed, the report said.

The $12.2 billion vitrification plant is being built to turn up to 56 million gallons of radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal starting in 2019, if the current deadline is met. The waste is left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's weapons program. The plant will separate the waste into high level and low activity radioactive waste streams at its Pretreatment Facility and then send the waste to the Low Activity Waste Facility or the High Level Waste Facility for glassification. DOE has proposed in a plan called the "2020 Vision One System" that it start the Low Activity Waste Facility before the Pretreatment Facility is done. That would require a temporary pretreatment system to be set up in the Hanford tank farms and a temporary waste transport system built to deliver the waste from the tank farms directly to the Low Activity Waste Facility. The proposal does offer some benefits, according to the DOE Office of Inspector General. It would give Hanford workers early experience operating the plant and allow management to work out "the inevitable unforeseen challenges in a safer and more controlled manner," the management alert report said. Starting part of the plant early would demonstrate DOE's commitment to cleaning up Hanford waste, the report said. The project has been plagued with delays and schedule revisions. However, the proposal also carries significant risk that requires additional analysis, the report said. Despite recommendations by two independent review teams, DOE has not developed a detailed analysis of the 2020 Vision costs, benefits and risks, the report said. Recommendations were made by the Tank Waste Subcommittee of the Environmental Management Advisory Board in June 2011 and the DOE Office of Environmental Management's Construction Project Review team two months later. Without analyses of costs, benefits and risks, DOE might choose a course of action that would inadvertently delay completion of the vitrification plant project, the report said. Because costs associated with early operation of the Low Activity Waste Facility are likely to be significant, DOE needs the best possible estimate of the costs before deciding whether to proceed with an early startup, the report said. The technologies needed to pretreat waste before it leaves the tank farms have not been developed enough to realistically assess operational efficiencies and to show that they could be used safely. That leaves a significant risk that the technology may not perform as intended, the report said. "This could result in operational delays and the need to perform additional development work or the development of acceptable alternative technologies," the report said.

The Office of Inspector General also is concerned that the process would need to be accelerated to issue permits for early operation of the Low Activity Waste Facility. Neither Bechtel National, which is building and starting up the plant, nor the Washington State Department of Ecology, which would issue the permits, have enough staff to accelerate the process, the report said. DOE Hanford officials said they are not evaluating the 2020 Vision proposal now. However, they will complete a detailed business case analysis prior to a decision to feed waste directly to the Low Activity Waste Facility, they told the Office of Inspector General. Link

Material between Hanford tank walls apparently radioactive waste

Published: October 12, 2012  By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

A sample taken from between the inner and outer walls of a Hanford double-shell tank confirms the material is consistent with the radioactive waste held in the tank, according to preliminary test results. It's more evidence that at least one of Hanford's double-shell tanks, which are needed to hold waste for decades to come, may be deteriorating. Finding waste outside the inner shell of Tank AY-102 is a first for a Hanford double-shell tank. The Department of Energy expects to know enough by the end of next week to declare whether or not Tank AY-102 is leaking from its inner shell. Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste held in underground tanks until they can be treated for disposal. The waste is left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. The waste is being pumped from leak-prone single-shell tanks, some of them built as early as World War II, into 28 newer double-shell tanks. The double-shell tanks might have to hold waste for as long as another 40 years until all the waste can be treated. It is important to remember that the material within the walls of Tank AY-102 is stable, said Tom Fletcher, DOE assistant manager of the tank farms, in a message to DOE employees Thursday. No radioactive material has been found outside the outer wall of the tank, and there is no indication of radioactive contamination in the leak-detection pit outside the tank, he said. The issue was discovered in August during video monitoring of the area between the inner and outer walls that was designed as an overflow space if the inner steel liner were to leak. The outer shell is made of steel and covered with steel-reinforced concrete. A video camera, inserted down a tank riser that had not previously been used for visual examinations, Riser 90, showed two side-by-side areas of contamination. One was a dry mound about 24 by 36 by 8 inches. A small sample collected in connection with the video inspections showed the material was radioactive but provided little other information. Workers next sent video equipment down the remaining nine risers that provide access into the area between the tank's shells, finding nothing unusual near eight of the risers. But more unusual material was found near one riser, Riser 83, which was on the opposite side of the tank from where contamination had initially been spotted near Riser 90. It was particularly concerning because a a photo of the same area between the two shells of the tank near Riser 83 in 2006 showed it was clean then. The sample collected in that area after the video inspection "is largely consistent with the type of material found in that tank," according to Fletcher. But before reaching a conclusion on whether the inner shell of the tank has leaked, more samples will be collected from the material spotted in August near Riser 90. Results will be analyzed by a technical panel of Washington River Protection Solutions, the DOE contractor for the Hanford tank farms. Tank AY-102 is among the oldest of Hanford's double-shell tanks, going into service in 1971, and is just past its design life of 40 years. It has a capacity of about 1 million gallons and holds about 850,000 gallons of waste. Hanford workers have increased monitoring to make sure there is no change in conditions since finding the waste between the shells of Tank AY-102. Longer term, work will be done to determine if other double-shell tanks might have similar issues. -- Annette Cary Tri-City Herald   Link

HANFORD DETERMINES DOUBLE-SHELL TANK LEAKED WASTE FROM INNER TANK: Testing found no indication of leaks outside the outer tank

DOE Release October 22, 2012

RICHLAND -- The Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP), working with its Hanford tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, has determined that there is a slow leak of chemical and radioactive waste into the annulus space in Tank AY-102, the approximately 30-inch area between the inner primary tank and the outer tank that serves as the secondary containment for these types of tanks. This is the first time a double-shell tank (DST) leak from the primary tank into the annulus has been identified. There is no indication of waste in the leak detection pit outside the DST, which means that no waste has leaked out of the annulus and into the environment. Link

DOE officials confirm tank leaking radioactive waste

Published: October 23, 2012  By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

The Department of Energy has confirmed that its oldest double-shell tank is actively leaking radioactive and hazardous chemical waste from its inner shell. DOE made the announcement Monday after a video inspection of the area between the shells Sunday showed more waste in one place than a video taken Thursday showed. "It's a very, very small volume," said Tom Fletcher, DOE assistant manager for the tank farms. Although there's no good way to measure the amount, it could be a couple of tablespoons of additional waste between the video inspections. Tank AY-102 is the first of Hanford's double-shell tanks known to have leaked waste from its inner shell. The Hanford nuclear reservation has 28 double-shell tanks that are being used to hold waste from older single-shell tanks, many of which have leaked in the past. Together, the two types of underground tanks hold 56 million gallons of radioactive waste left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Read more here:

One of the Largest Pieces of Processing Equipment removed from Plutonium Finishing Plant

The successful removal of one of the largest, most complex pieces of equipment from the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) Hanford Press Release October 25, 2012 Link

Huge glovebox pulled from Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant

By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald  By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald Link Read more here:

SRS

Innovative Mercury Treatment Benefits Stream, Fish
October 1, 2012, AIKEN, S.C. – A team of scientists is working at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to evaluate the impact of an innovative, inexpensive treatment system that removes mercury from water.  In this treatment, the mercury is pulled from the water through a reaction with stannous chloride, a form of tin, and air stripping, a technology in which volatile contaminants are removed from water and partitioned into air.  This system has been in full-scale operation in M Area at SRS since November 2007. Dennis Jackson, a Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) engineer who supported the laboratory research, noted that “the M Area treatment system has operated continuously, successfully and safely since startup, meeting our regulatory commitments.” Link

Report: SRS Paid Out $7.7 Million It Didn't Need To

11:12 AM, Oct 26, 2012

Aiken County, SC (WLTX) - The Savannah River site gave out millions of dollars to workers that the federal department of energy says wasn't supposed to be paid out. The Energy Department says the Savannah River site paid out $7.7 million in severance packages to contract workers.

Our partners with the Washington Guardian say this is what happened. They report 526 contract workers at SRS who were hired to temporary jobs under the stimulus package were not given the 60 day layoff notice required under federal law. When those contracts ended - the workers were given about $14,600 each in severance moneythat the energy department did not plan to spend. From what the Washington Guardian has uncovered, the Energy Department knew for months that these stimulus jobs were coming to an end, and they had plenty of time to send the legally required layoff warnings. But because the Savannah River Site leadership did not provide that notice to these workers, they had to pay the nearly $8 million. We're told the projects at SRS included clean up of nuclear material and infrastructure improvements. Watchdog groups worry the same mistake could be made at other government agencies that had this kind of temporary work under the stimulus program.

Oak Ridge

NNSA delivered the news to B&W Y-12, says corrective actions at Y-12 not enough

The National Nuclear Security Administration's decision to terminate the contract of WSI-Oak Ridge was delivered in letter to B&W Y-12, the managing contractor at Y-12, and the letter made it clear that the federal agency wasn't too happy with B&W either. While we recognize that both B&W Y-12 and WSI-OR have undertaken corrective actions, neither these actions nor the response to the Show Cause Notice are enough, at this point, to fully resolve the issues presented in the Show Cause Notice," Jill Albaugh, the contracting officer in NNSA Production Office, said in a letter to Chuck Spencer, the president and general manager of B&W Y-12. Link Posted by Frank Munger on September 28, 2012 at 6:13 PM

The U-233 concerns

One of the biggest issues raised this week by Bob Alvarez's report on the Dept. of Energy's management of the U-233 stockpile was the intent to directly dispose of a bunch of the fissionable and high-rad materials in landfills at the Nevada National Security Site. Another concern raised was the inventory differences that suggested as much as 100 kilograms or more could be missing or otherwise unaccounted for.

"It only takes between 20 and 35 pounds to make a multi-kiloton explosion that could destroy all of downtown Washinton, D.C., or another city," the Alvarez paper said. Link

Posted by Frank Munger on September 28, 2012 at 10:48 PM

UPF to be redesigned because equipment won't fit; $500M already spent on Y-12 project

KNS photos/Michael Patrick

John Eschenberg, federal project director for the Uranium Processing Facility, answers questions at today's hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. That's Dr. Don Cook, deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration, in the foreground, and Teresa Robbins, deputy federal project director, to Eschenberg's right. In photograph below, DNFSB Board Member John Mansfield asks a question while Peter Winokur, the board chairman, left, listens. The Uranium Processing Facility, already tabbed as the biggest construction project in Tennessee history, is apparently going to get even bigger. At a federal safety board hearing today in Knoxville, officials at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant acknowledged that the UPF will have to be redesigned because all the equipment needed to process bomb-grade uranium and conduct other related activities won't fit into the 340,000-square-foot building as previously envisioned. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board convened today's field hearing at the Knoxville Convention Center to hear testimony from project officials about the board's ongoing safety concerns and to gather public comment. Board members grilled the project team about delays in incorporating safety into the UPF's design and lingering issues about the government's strategy for building and operating the new uranium facility in Oak Ridge. The biggest news, however, was that UPF planners hadn't figured out a way to fit all of the project's nuclear operations into the design package, despite years of work and about half a billion dollars already spent.

Steven Stokes, a staff member of the safety board, said the issue further complicates the safety picture for the Uranium Processing Facility, which is supposed to replace a series of old and outmoded nuclear facilities -- some of which date back to World War II. "This redesign of UPF as it neared final design is a serious undertaking with the potential for significant impacts on public and worker safety," Stokes said at today's hearing.

Among other things, the new plans will remove a glovebox that was originally included as a way to help workers involved in the uranium processing activities, Stokes said. Because the space issue was discovered so late in the design process it will have a greater impact on the project, and that could affect cost, schedule and safety, he said. Dr. Peter Winokur, chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, said the board is concerned UPF will continue to experience problems because safety got short shrift early on. The cost range for the Uranium Processing Facility had been officially estimated at $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion, and it was not immediately clear how the redesign will change the project's cost. John Eschenberg, the federal project director for UPF, told the board that in order to create more space for the facility's production activities that the roof of the building will have to be raised about 13 feet. After the meeting, he acknowledged that would add to the cost of the project. In addition, the concrete foundation slab will have to be about a foot thicker, and the walls will have to be thickened from 18 inches to 30 inches, he said.

Those are the major structural impacts of the space/fit problem, Eschenberg said. The federal project director said the Department of Energy had not yet determine the root causes for why the building design didn't meet the UPF needs. "The project prematurely established a hard footprint," he said, perhaps an outgrowth of having the early design team doing work at three different locations .

The scope of the Uranium Processing Facility had not changed since its inception, Eschenberg said, so that's not to blame for the space shortage. Eschenberg said more information about the impacts of the redesign and other details would be available in about three weeks, after an engineering evaluation is completed. In response to questions during an interview a few months ago, the federal project director acknowledged that designers were dealing with space issues but he suggested it wasn't that unusual and would be resolved during the final design stages.

Posted by Frank Munger on October 2, 2012 at 8:47 PM 

Eschenberg: Confidence in UPF schedule 'degraded'Posted by Frank Munger on October 6, 2012 at 11:19 PM

John Eschenberg, federal project director for the Uranium Processing Facility, one of the biggest government projects on the board, had the unenviable task this week of facing questions from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and others on the fact that years of work on the UPF design -- and half a billion dollars spent -- had not yet delivered a design accommodating all the processes as envisioned. Indeed, the UPF is going to have to be redesigned with the roof raised about 13 feet and other associated changes. In an interview following the board hearing, Eschenberg said the UPF team is still hopeful of achieving Critical Decision 2 by September 2013, at which time there would be a definitive price tag and schedule for the project. But he added, "Now, I will tell you that my confidence in our ability to meet that date has been degraded, it's been eroded." Safety concerns about UPF were supposed to the focal point at the DNFSB hearing, but the revelation that hundreds of people hadn't come up with a workable design for UPF after years of effort took over the news of the day. This was a particularly stunning event because, as Eschenberg acknowledged, there had been no major change in scope or add-ons to make the space/fit issue more forgivable or understandable. While the National Nuclear Security Administration had not yet established the "root causes" for why the building design didn't meet the space needs, Eschenberg said, "The project prematurely established a hard footprint." That could be result of the early design team working out of three different geographic locations, he said. He repeatedly emphasized that more information should be available in about three weeks, after an engineering evaluation is completed. The cost range for the Uranium Processing Facility has been officially estimated at $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion, and officials weren't able to say how the redesign would change that. A major topic at the hearing was UPF team's decision several years ago to cancel development of the Preliminary Safety Design Report for the project, a prerequisite for establishing Critical Decision 2 and -- according to the safety board -- a must for demonstrating that safety is integrated into the preliminary design. The report was later picked up again and the UPF completed a PSDR in 2011 and submitted for NNSA review, which identified many issues. Eschenberg admitted that temporarily abandoning the work on the PSDR was a mistake. "We should not have deviated from our practice," he told the board. Despite the design changes and uncertainties, Eschenberg said that some plans for the UPF are likely to proceed later this year, including some work on site readiness. Asked if everything was getting pushed back, he said, "Today, our plans as we've talked before, remain constant. That is we want to start the site prep work, which is simply to relocate the main thoroughfare through the valley -- Bear Creek Road -- and extend the haul road. There are some minor other work scopes that we can do. For example, there are some underground infrastructures that we need to move. So all of those thigns we can begin executing through the Army Corps of Engineers soonest. These things are not directly coupled (to the redesign effort)." The planned demolition of Building 9107, a task that was to be done by B&W Y-12, has apparently been put on the back burner. "That is not something we needed right away," Eschenberg said. "Because there are some other things we're going to buy. We're going to buy the concrete batch plant. That sets us up very nice so that as we proceed we've got all the infrastructure we need as we set about digging the large excavation, beginning the backfill and then ultimately getting into the nuclear part of the building." | Link

Eschenberg: Redesigning UPF now is a whole lot better -- and cheaper -- than tearing it apart after construction begins

John Eschenberg, federal project director for the Uranium Processing Facility, said it's possible the project team could have squeezed all of the necessary equipment into existing designs for the new 350,000-square-foot production center at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. However, urgent efforts in recent months were unable to resolve the space/fit problems as the UPF design approached 90 percent completion, and Eschenberg said it was far better to bite the bullet now -- and face an anticipated barrage of criticism -- than to try and make major changes after concrete was poured and construction of the building had started. That's why Eschenberg and the National Nuclear Security Administration, already with a reputation for less-than-laudable project management, acknowledged last week that the UPF would have to be redesigned to make sure the multibillion-dollar facility is able to function as it should. Link

Y-12's West End Mercury Project: the good, the bad and the remaining uncertainties

The West End Mercury Project was one of the higher profile Recovery Act projects in Oak Ridge, with high hopes and a compelling need. The idea was to clean and repair the aged storm sewer system at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, remove as much mercury as possible and try to prevent continuing in-leakage as a nasty freeway to East Fork Poplar Creek. The project is either at an end or near it's end, and Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, noted there had been some accomplishments associated with WEMA, although the mercury project -- unlike many of the other Recovery Act projects in Oak Ridge -- did not finish within its original schedule or budget. According to Wyatt, the West End Mercury Area project cleaned 7,773 linear feet of storm sewer, lined 1,239 linear feet, processed 600,000 gallons of contaminated water, disposed of 1,320 cubic feet of processed low-level waste filter cake and recovered 50 pounds of elemental mercury through the treatment process. Did the project result in any mercury reductions in East Fork, which is posted as a hazard because of Y-12's Cold War-and-ever-since discharges? That's not clear. "Sampling results of the creek have been inconclusive regarding reduction of mercury flux," Wyatt said in response to questions. The final cost of WEMA, he said, is $17.3 million. That's a few million dollars above the original cost estimate. More on the Y-12 mercury situation later. There're a lot of issues on the table. Link

Posted by Frank Munger on October 21, 2012 at 9:24 PM |

Misc

DOE and the states: National Governors Association takes a 20-year look back on nuclear cleanup

Posted by Frank Munger on September 27, 2012 at 5:43 PM | 

The National Governors Association today released a 13-page paper, titled, "Twenty Years of the Federal Facility Compliance Act: Lessons Learned about the Cleanup of Nuclear Weapons Waste." Excerpt: "The cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex, which began in 1989, is considered the largest environmental management program in the world, with a total price tag that could surpass $300 billion. The effort is managed by DOE, but states play an important role in the oversight of cleanup."

 

Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance envisions Southeastern New Mexico home for spent nuclear fuelBy Taryn Walker  Posted:   10/04/2012 10:09:23 AM MDT
The Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance has selected French firm AREVA to help create an above-ground interim storage facility to store nuclear fuel on 1,000 acres between Carlsbad and Hobbs. The facility is being billed as a safe way to temporarily house used fuel from nuclear power plants.  The facility would provide more than 150 job opportunities, including positions for armed guards, nuclear scientists, engineers and managerial and administrative staff, according a news release. The Alliance chose AREVA from a pool of 10 potential partners because the firm already has experience operating an above-ground interim storage facility in France. If plans proceed, the operation would be the first in the United States.  "The Department of Energy wants this to happen," said Alliance board member Jack Volpato. "There are nuclear rods around the country just sitting on a pad, costing $5 to 10 million a year to keep an eye on." The DOE hasn't yet decided whether to dispose or recycle spent nuclear fuel, but the agency eventually wants two or three storage facilities around the nation, Volpato said, adding that it makes sense to expand upon the work that started here with the Waste Isolation Treatment Plant. The news release noted that Southeastern New Mexico is ideal for nuclear fuel storage, particularly because of the community's warm reception of WIPP. "We are going to start running out of nuclear waste for WIPP, all of the jobs will go away and we've got to really find a way to preserve the infrastructure of WIPP. It's important for the people, Volpato said. link

 

NRC

 

NRC chief says agency prioritized lessons from Japan disaster

·         By Charles S. Clark October 25, 2012 Government Executive

In one of her first wide-ranging interviews since assuming office in July, the chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday outlined priority lessons from the March 2011 nuclear meltdown in Japan and provided an overview of work-life at an agency known both for leadership tensions and high employee satisfaction. Link

Regulatory chief: Edge on nuclear power shifting to US

By Zack Colman - 10/25/12 03:05 PM ET E2 Wire The HILL’s Energy & Environment Blog

U.S. nuclear innovation is on the rise as nuclear heavyweights Germany and Japan head toward a possible decline in technical expertise, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane said Thursday. After the March 2011 nuclear reactor meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Japan’s government also said it plans to eliminate nuclear power, though it is unclear whether that will materialize. Curtailing nuclear power in those two leading nuclear nations will “probably” result in a shortage in technical proficiency there, Macfarlane said at a discussion hosted by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. “You’re probably not going to see a lot of young people becoming nuclear engineers. And so this is a concern not only to the nuclear industry, but to the regulators because you want to make sure that you have adequate staff to ensure that these facilities operate safely,” she said. Macfarlane emphasized the U.S. “is not in that situation.” She likened Germany’s position to that of the United States in the 1990s. “There was definitely a concern that we didn’t have adequate folks being trained, especially in nuclear engineering departments,” Macfarlane said. She added, “That changed a lot in the 2000s with the sort of nuclear renaissance.” Macfarlane said that resurgence has helped the U.S. forge ahead with new types of reactors. She said those reactors are smaller, and therefore could cost less than the “extra large” legacy models. The first design certification applications for those reactors could come next year, Macfarlane said. She said the NRC has been in contact with several companies working on the reactors, some of which have had discussions with electric utilities. Macfarlane said an Energy Department (DOE) program that splits a $452-million grant — with an industry match — with up to two firms developing such reactors would help “push them forward.” That grant is dispersed over five years, DOE said, adding it is still reviewing applications for the program.

The reactors range between 100 megawatts and 300 megawatts of electric generating capacity. Macfarlane noted that most of those reactors would operate underground, potentially minimizing damage from a spill. “This is certainly a very interesting area of potential growth — and we’ll see,” Macfarlane said. Link

 

YUCCA MOUNTAIN

 

Yucca nuclear waste site proponents push for final court decision STEVE TETREAULT/ STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU / Posted: Oct. 1, 2012 | 3:57 p.m. Las Vegas review

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. Link