EM
Program Updates: Two Peer Review Processes Help EM Achieve Cost, Schedule
Targets in Environmental Cleanup Mission
WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM revamped
and expanded peer reviews for its contracts and projects in the past year with
a goal of improving performance and delivering results in the world’s largest
nuclear cleanup on time and within cost...Link
Hanford
After 70
years, Hanford site continues to help economy
Posted: Aug 13, 2012 11:27 PM EDTUpdated: Aug 13, 2012 11:27
PM EDT Breanna
Gilroy, News Anchor RICHLAND,
Wash
While Monday marks the 70th anniversary of the
Manhattan Project, some are looking back at how the secret project has changed
not only the nation, but the Tri-Cities. The Hanford site draws thousands of
tourists to our region each year. Those visitors spend money at our local
businesses, generate state taxes, and boost our economy. Along with being a
tourism area, the Tri-Cities is known for its strong ties to the science and
engineering fields. But without the Hanford site, the region would probably be
known more for agriculture. Even more, some of our local schools -- may have
never been established here. "WSU Tri-Cities, Columbia Basin College,
right across the road from us is Delta High School. All those things came from
an educated, scientific community," said TRIDEC Vice President Gary
Petersen. Today, the Tri-Cities is home to third generation scientists,
engineers and technicians working on the Hanford site, all of whom may never
have established roots in our area without the Manhattan Project. Link
Oak
Ridge
The question remains: Is ORNL's radioactive waste crossing the Clinch
River? Posted by Frank Munger on
August 10, 2012
For
the past few years, there have been ongoing studies to determine whether radioactive
wastes historically buried in trenches near the Clinch River may be somehow
migrating under the river to groundwater on the other side. The U.S. Department
of Energy paid to have monitoring wells installed on property across the river
and also paid to bring water lines to riverside residents who used to get their
drinking water from private wells. Link
Another stunner: B&W Y-12 slapped with 'show cause notice' that could
bring down Oak Ridge contractor Posted by Frank Munger on August 13, 2012
In the wake of last month's stunning security breach at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, the federal government issued a "show cause notice" to managing contractor B&W Y-12. The stern order, which was issued Aug. 10, requires the plant's contractor to explain why its contract should not be terminated. It underscores why drastic personnel changes -- including the removal of three top executives at B&W -- have taken place in recent days to address the security concerns. The notice is one of multiple, aggressive actions that have been taken by the U.S. Department of Energy and its semi-independent unit, the National Nuclear Security Administration, since the July 28 break-in by an 82-year-old nun and two other anti-war protesters. The trio managed to penetrate the plant's vaunted security system and reach the plant's storage complex for bomb-grade uranium, defacing it with spray-painted protest slogans and pouring human blood at the site. The intrusion at one of the nation's highest-security nuclear installations -- often called the Fort Knox of Uranium -- shocked the system and evoked an unusually swift response. Link
Government says Y-12's security cameras fixed Posted by Frank Munger on August 15, 2012
In its "show cause" letter to B&W Y-12, the National Nuclear Security Administration said a "high number" of cameras associated with the plant's intrusion and detection system were inoperable at the time of the predawn intrusion July 28 by Plowshares protesters. In the nearly three weeks since the break-in, those cameras have been adjusted and/or repaired, according to NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt. "All of these cameras have been fixed and checked and are 100% operable," Wyatt said today. Meanwhile, security experts from around the country have reportedly been brought to Y-12 to help with the situation. Wyatt confirmed that additional security personnel have arrived from other sites in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, as well as from NNSA headquarters in Washington, D.C. He declined to be specific in identifying the individuals or their home sites. Link
UCOR touts first-year accomplishments Posted by Frank Munger on August 13, 2012CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) recently celebrated its first anniversary as manager of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge cleanup campaign, citing a long list of accomplishments. Link
Y-12 authorized to resume
nuclear operations following stand down August 15, 2012
Nuclear
operations at the Y-12 Security Complex are in motion once again after an
unprecedented break-in by three protestors. The National Nuclear Security
Administration said in a release that the re-start, which was announced late
Wednesday afternoon, takes place that day. The contractor, B&W, temporarily shut down the facility on August 1,
2012, a few days after the security breach happened on July 28. The protestors, who The trio supports the
"Transform Now Plowshares" peace movement that opposes nuclear
weapons. Link
NRC
Nuclear Waste Confidence -- NRC
Ruling No Big Deal
by ENERGY 8/11/2012 @
There has been some fist-bumping this week in
the anti-nuclear sector over the recent vacating of two NRC rules by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June; the
waste-confidence decision and the storage rule. The judges felt that the agency
had failed to conduct an environmental impact statement, or a finding of no
significant environmental impact, before ruling that it is safe to
store nuclear waste in wet pools and dry casks without a permanent solution in
sight. But it was just that the initial NRC rule was too vague, not that this
type of storage is unsafe (platts NRC Ruling). Link
For New Nuclear Chief, Concerns Over Plant Safety
By
MATTHEW L. WALD NYTIMES August 13, 2012
ROCKVILLE,
Md. — The new chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has good news and
bad news for the nuclear power industry.
The good news is that although an impasse over the storage of nuclear
waste now threatens some of the industry’s routine activities, the chairwoman
says she believes that a permanent repository can be set up eventually. The bad
news is that she considers the industry’s evaluation of earthquake
vulnerability — an issue that was once believed to be settled when a nuclear
power plant was licensed — to be inadequate. Allison M. Macfarlane, the first
geologist to serve on the commission, which regulates power plants and the
civilian use of radioactive materials, arrives at a time when geology has moved
to the center of the industry’s concerns. Since the triple meltdown at Japan’s
Fukushima Daiichi plant last year, which was caused by an earthquake that the
Japanese industry had not believed was possible, a question has reverberated:
Are the 104 reactors in the United States prepared for the worst challenge they
could face? Nuclear waste is also a crucial issue for the commission these
days. In June, a federal appeals court ruled that the agency has acted too
hastily in issuing licenses to power plants on the theory that waste could be
safely stored at the plants until a final resting place is established. Link
William Ostendorff, GOP-Appointed Regulator, Under
Investigation For Thwarting Nuclear Safety Probe
The inspector general at the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched an investigation into a GOP
political appointee for attempting to thwart an agency probe into safety
concerns at a Michigan plant, NRC insiders tell The Huffington Post.
In late May, Gregory Jaczko, then the chairman of
the NRC, paid a rare visit to the controversial Palisades Power Plant on Lake
Michigan. Activists are agitating for the plant's closure due to safety issues.
The plant is represented in Congress by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred
Upton, a Michigan Republican who has long been close to the nuclear industry. While Jaczko was touring the plant on May 31st,
according to the sources, a significant leak of potentially radioactive water
was pouring into the control room. Less than two weeks later, the plant was
shut down to repair the leak. Yet Jaczko was never made aware of the issue
while inspecting the plant. He asked the NRC's Office of Investigations to look
into why the leak was kept from him. Commissioner William Ostendorff, however, wanted no such
investigation to take place. Shortly after Jaczko ordered it, Ostendorff
shouted at the top agency investigator, Cheryl McCrary, in front of several NRC
employees. He told her that the inquiry should be halted and that it was a
"waste of agency resources," according to the sources, who were
briefed on the exchange by witnesses. Link
IAEA
Management of Spent
Fuel and Radioactive Waste - August 17,
2012
IAEA Promotes Sharing of
Experience and Good Practices Amongst Member States Link
Technological Challenges To Safe Disposal of
Radioactive Waste Link
Understanding
Safety Challenges: IAEA Standards and Legal Instruments Help Harmonize Safety
Approaches in Managing Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Link
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