DOE-EM

EM Boosts Efforts to Help Japan through Commission Work TOKYO EM News Flash | Aug. 2

– EM continues to assist Japan as it recovers from a 2011 nuclear accident through a newly formed bilateral commission established to build on the close, collaborative relationship between the U.S. and Japan. Senior Advisor for Environmental Management David Huizenga and EM Office of Tank Waste Management Director Steve Schneider were among the members of a U.S. delegation led by Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman at the recent inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Japan Bilateral Commission on Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation in Tokyo. The commission serves as a senior-level forum for the U.S. and Japan to consult and collaborate on issues affecting the global development of civil nuclear energy. The commission will discuss future nuclear energy cooperation and advance shared interests in areas such as nuclear safety and security and decontamination and decommissioning. Led by Poneman and Japan’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Koro Bessho, the commission established five high-level working groups, one of which will focus on decommissioning and environmental management. EM and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are leading that group and will work with Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). “EM looks forward to continued cooperation between the U.S. and Japan on the Fukushima site cleanup,” Huizenga said. “This working group led by EM and EPA provides a great opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to share knowledge and lessons learned from the accident and cleanup experience that may benefit both countries.” The other working groups are involved with civil nuclear energy research and development, emergency management, nuclear security and safety and regulatory issues. The groups are scheduled to convene to discuss priorities and activities and provide updates to the commission in three months. The next commission meeting will be held in the U.S. in 2013. EM’s involvement in the commission comes after two EM-led workshops in the past year to assist Japan's Fukushima cleanup efforts. The workshops, attended by several MOE and METI leaders, addressed technical issues involved in the Fukushima site cleanup.

Hanford

Energy Secretary Chu to assemble expert panel to examine Hanford vit plant Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/08/03/2046266/energy-secretary-chu-to-assemble.html#storylink=rss#storylink=cpy

Team helping assess Hanford black cells - NBC News Story Link

Energy Department Announces New Technical Review to Assess Black Cells at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant Link

Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has assembled a group of independent technical experts to assess the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), specifically as it relates to the facility’s “black cells.” The review involves the plant’s capability, as designed, to detect equipment failure and to repair failed equipment inside the WTP’s black cells. Black cells are enclosed concrete rooms within the WTP Pretreatment facility that contain tanks and piping. Due to high levels of radioactivity once the plant begins operations, the cells are designed to be sealed with no access by personnel over the anticipated 40-year operating life span of the plant. The review will include the individual input of technical experts in a variety of fields.

“I will be receiving input from each of these highly capable experts to help improve our ability to detect and address any potential issues in the black cells that could arise during the course of the Waste Treatment Plant’s operational life,” said Chu. “These experts have a reputation for developing creative solutions to highly technical issues and their independent advice will enable us to integrate worthwhile ideas into the design of the plant before construction is completed.”

The WTP is being designed and built to treat millions of gallons of tank waste from plutonium production at Hanford from the 1940s to the 1980s. The equipment in the facility’s 18 black cells is designed to operate without moving mechanical parts that would require maintenance. DOE is now reviewing that technical approach to determine whether or not those areas can or should be accessible for monitoring and repairing equipment once operations begin.

Secretary Chu and the independent experts will begin reviewing information about WTP this week and are expected to visit the Hanford Site in the coming months. The principal purposes of the review are to assess the plant’s capability to detect equipment vulnerabilities or failures in the black cells, assess plans to repair those systems, and recommend any design changes or operational enhancements that may be needed. The Department has named William Hamel, the Assistant Manager for Infrastructure at Idaho, as the lead federal employee to facilitate this review. Hamel, an employee of the Office of Nuclear Energy, has in-depth knowledge and experience with black cell designs and vitrification operations.

“We welcome this assessment and look forward to assisting with this review at the Waste Treatment Plant,” said Scott Samuelson, Manager, DOE’s Office of River Protection. “These individuals are known for both their expertise and capability to analyze complex problems and facilities and provide sound recommendations to the government.”

The following individuals will be participating in the review:

Langdon Holton has over 35 years experience in radiochemical process engineering and operations, nuclear fuel reprocessing, waste separations and treatment and development of waste treatment technologies supporting programs within the United States, Germany and France. Langdon Holton is employed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and has been supporting DOE in its oversight of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. He has academic degrees in chemical engineering from the University of California, and graduate degrees in chemical engineering and business from the University of Washington.

· Dr. Thomas O. Hunter retired in July 2010 as President and Laboratories Director of Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Hunter joined Sandia in 1967 and became president in April 2005. In May, DOE Secretary Steven Chu appointed Dr. Hunter as lead of the federal government’s scientific team that worked with BP officials to develop and analyze solutions to the BP oil spill. That work is continuing. Dr. Hunter is a member of the Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Florida, Council on Foreign Relations, American Nuclear Society, New Mexico Technology Commercialization Council, the MIND Research Network, and the U.S. Strategic Command’s Strategic Advisory Group. He is the author of numerous technical papers and presentations. Dr. Hunter earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico, an M.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

· Dr. David Kosson is a Professor of Engineering, Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He also is co-principal investigator (with Charles Powers) of the multi-university Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP). Kosson’s research focuses on management of nuclear and chemical wastes, including process development and contaminant mass transfer applied to groundwater, soil, sediment, and waste systems. Kosson has undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemical and biochemical engineering from Rutgers University.

· Dr. Milton Levenson has more than 60 years experience in nuclear energy, much of it relating to nuclear safety. His technical experience includes work related to nuclear safety, fuel cycle, water reactors, advanced reactors, and remote operations. Levenson was at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in the early 1940s. He had first-hand knowledge of the first fatal nuclear accident in the United States (known as the SL-1 accident in Idaho). He led the technical team that responded to the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, and he was appointed to a special Soviet commission that investigated the Chernobyl accident. His professional experience includes research and operations positions at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, Electric Power Research Institute, and Bechtel, where he retired as vice president in 1989. Levenson is a fellow and past president of the American Nuclear Society, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and a recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Robert E. Wilson Award in Nuclear Chemical Engineering. He is the author of more than 150 publications and presentations and holds three U.S patents. He is also a member of the National Academies' Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and has served on several National Research Council committees.

· Dr. Arun Majumdar became the first Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), the country's only agency devoted to transformational energy research and development, in October 2009. Prior to joining ARPA-E, Majumdar was the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His highly distinguished research career includes the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems. In 2005, Majumdar was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for this pioneering work. He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

· Dr. Richard A. Meserve is President of the Carnegie Institution for Science and Senior of Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP. He is a former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is a member of the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. With his Harvard law degree, received in 1975, and his Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford, awarded in 1976, Meserve devoted his legal practice to technical issues arising at the intersection of science, law, and public policy. Early in his career, Meserve served as legal counsel to the President’s science advisor and was a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court and to Judge Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Meserve received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1966.

· Dr. Per Peterson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). He is a member of the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. After joining UCB in 1990 as an Assistant Professor he received a NSF Presidential Young Investigator award, and most recently received the Fusion Power Associates Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award and the American Nuclear Society Thermal Hydraulics Division Technical Achievement Award. Peterson’s research interests focus on topics in heat and mass transfer, fluid dynamics, and phase change.

Dr. Monica Regalbuto works in the Process Chemistry and Engineering Department at Argonne National Laboratory. She previously served as a Senior Program Manager with the Office of Waste Processing with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, supporting technical risk reduction and uncertainty in the Department’s clean-up programs. From 2003 to 2008, Regalbuto served as the head of the Process Chemistry and Engineering Department in Argonne’s Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division and managed a group of 30 researchers. Regalbuto has academic degrees in chemical engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and graduate degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

State urges DOE to choose vitrification for all Hanford waste

By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

State urges DOE to choose vitrification for all Hanford waste: Cleanup proposed for central Hanford ground water pollution

Published: July 31, 2012 By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are proposing a plan to clean up much of the radioactive and hazardous chemical ground water contamination over 35 years in a portion of central Hanford. However, a lack of viable technology for certain contaminants will keep the ground water from being

cleaned to drinking water standards for much longer than that. DOE and EPA picked the 35-year plan as their preferred alternative after also considering 25- and 45-year plans. The differences would include how aggressively contaminated water is pumped out of the ground and treated to remove carbon tetrachloride, uranium, nitrate, chromium and technetium 99. Cleaned water is then reinjected into the ground. Hanford produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program during World War II and the Cold War, and liquid wastes were disposed to the ground in ditches, ponds, trenches and other in-ground structures. The goal of DOE, EPA and the Washington State Department of Ecology is to clean ground water to potentially be used as a source of drinking water. STORY

Cleanup proposed for central Hanford ground water pollution

However, a lack of viable technology for certain contaminants will keep the ground water from being cleaned to drinking water standards for much longer than that.

DOE and EPA picked the 35-year plan as their preferred alternative after also considering 25- and 45-year plans.

The differences would include how aggressively contaminated water is pumped out of the ground and treated to remove carbon tetrachloride, uranium, nitrate, chromium and technetium 99. Cleaned water is then reinjected into the ground.

Hanford produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program during World War II and the Cold War, and liquid wastes were disposed to the ground in ditches, ponds, trenches and other in-ground structures.

State urges DOE to choose vitrification for all Hanford waste

Published: July 31, 2012 Tri City Herald

The Department of Energy needs to pick a preferred way to treat all Hanford tank waste before a massive study is released in the next few months, the state Department of Ecology has told DOE headquarters. DOE has invested eight years and $85 million on the environmental study, but without a conclusion on how all the waste should be treated, the study will be incomplete, the state said in a recent letter. It was sent by Jane Hedges, manager of the Department of Ecology's Nuclear Waste Program, to Tracy Mustin, principal deputy assistant secretary of DOE's Office of Environmental Management. The Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be released by the end of the year, a delay from earlier DOE statements that it might be available this summer. The comprehensive document will cover topics such as disposal at Hanford of radioactive waste, the end for the Fast Flux Test Facility, retrieval of waste from Hanford's underground tanks and treatment of the tank waste. But DOE has said it is not ready to pick a method for treating all 56 million gallons of radioactive waste now held in underground tanks. The waste is left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's weapons program.

Oak Ridge

State supports DOE's 2014 environmental budget proposal; pushes for more Oak Ridge funding; cleanup could go until 2043 at current spending

Posted by Frank Munger on August 2, 2012 at 11:31 PM |

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge cleanup funding request for Fiscal Year 2014, although neither the state nor DOE will reveal the exact amount of the funding request. Based on available information, it apparently is in the range of the Oak Ridge request for FY 2013 ($421.2 million) and signficantly below the average amount that the state has sought over the past decade or so of about $550 million per year. At the current spending rate, according documents released by TDEC, the Oak Ridge cleanup projects won't be completed until 2043. That's a further extension beyond the previous completion date of 2037. "If we were to receive additional funding, we would be able to pull that 2043 back in," John Owsley, who heads the TDEC Oak Ridge oversight office, said recently. Upon request, the state released a May 9 letter to DOE that spells out support for the budget proposal for FY 14 -- details the milestones -- and expressed the state's and EPA's other priorities if the federal agency is able to acquire additional funding. Based on the submitted fundiing request, DOE would be able to meet the milestones for FY 2014. But the letter also indicates the importance of getting additional funds, if possible. "The parties to the FFA (Federal Facilities Agreement) also agreed on April 12, 2012,Ito a set of high priority projects. In general rank order, that should be implemented earlier than the enclosed schedules and DOE ORR (Oak Ridge Reservation) should seek funding levels similar to those prior to the Recovery Act," the letter, signed by Andy Binford, director of TDEC's Division of Remediation, and Franklin Hill, director of EPA's Region 4 Superfund Division, said. The letter was addressed to Sue Cange, the acting Environmental Manager in DOE's Oak Ridge office. "We are concerned that much of this work cannot be started until approximately FY 2022 or beyond under the funding levels DOE ORR anticipates," the letter states. "The high priority work includes further mercury source reduction and release controls at Y-12 and uncontrolled releases in the Bear Creek Valley watershed to address these ongoing releases."

The letter includes tables for enforceable milestones for the near-term, but it also includes a set of projects that demand attention if more money is available.

Those projects, 14 in all, include:

1. Y-12 Comprehensive Storm Water (Outfall) Water Treatment
2. Additional West Bethel Valley Ground Water Characterization
3. 8110 Area Soil Hot Spot Excavation
4. Y-12 Beta 4 Building D&D
5. Y-12 Beta 4 Soils remediation
6. Upper East Fork Poplar Creek Sediment Excavation
7. Additional Bear Creek Valley Groundwater Characterization
8. NT-8 Flux Reduction
9. East Bethel Valley VOC Plume Groundwater Remediation
10. S-3 Ponds Remediation
11. Additional Melton Valley Groundwater Characterization
12. Bear Creek Valley Burial Ground Remediation
13. ETTP Balance of Facilities
14. ETTP Groundwater

TDEC's John Owsley said the current long-term schedule for doing cleanup is based on level funding at existing levels, with a 2.4 percent escalation from 2019 and beyond. The state would prefer, of course, that the Department of Energy elevate the spending in order to get the work accomplished more quickly, he said. Currently, the agreement between the environmental regulators and the DOE is based on a series of short-term enforceable milestones (over three years), and longer term milestones that are not legally bound. Owsley said the state would like to see revisions to make enforceable milestones until the end of cleanup, although those discussions and negotiations are still ongoing without agreement yet. If the $550 million annual budget for Oak Ridge cleanup, which was the earlier basis for cleanup schedules, is not achieved, then there's no alternative but to extend the schedule for finishing the work, the state official said. Mike Koentop, a spokesman in the DOE Oak Ridge office, said he could not release the FY 2014 funding request.

Y-12 protesters allegedly enter high-security area, spray paint, splash blood

Posted at 5:35 pm July 28, 2012 by John Huotari Oak Ridge Today

Three activists opposed to nuclear weapons pose with banners before their reported arrests on Saturday. Three Plowshares protesters who oppose nuclear weapons allegedly sneaked through four fences at the Y-12 National Security Complex before dawn Saturday and spray-painted messages and splashed human blood on the walls of a uranium storage building before they were detained by security guards, an activist said. The three were identified by supporters as Micheal R. Walli, 63, of Washington, D.C.; Megan Rice, 82, of New York; and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, of Duluth, Minn. Story

DOE releases plutonium disposition study draft

Updated: 7/27/2012 11:36 PM aikenstandard.com

BY ANNA DOLIANITIS adolianitis@aikenstandard.com

A draft environmental study report released Friday by the Department of Energy considers the potential environmental impacts of various alternatives for plutonium disposition, citing the MOX fuel avenue as the department's preferred option.

The draft, which will be open to public comment through the end of September, analyzes the possible environmental impacts of alternatives for the disposition of 7.1 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium from pits, as well as 6 metric tons of surplus weapons-usable non-pit plutonium.

"The MOX fuel alternative is DOE's preferred alternative for surplus plutonium disposition," said Courtney Greenwald, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesperson. "The MOX approach was selected from other alternatives to dispose of 34 metric tons of U.S. surplus plutonium through as series of decisions starting in the late 1990s, including the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences which identified MOX fuel as an option for eliminating the 'clear and present danger' posed by surplus weapons grade plutonium."

DOE's preferred alternative for the disposition of surplus plutonium that cannot be turned to MOX fuel is disposal at the Waste Isolation Plot Plant in New Mexico, Greenwald added.

The four alternative disposition paths analyzed in the supplemental environmental study are: disposition using the can-in-canister vitrification approach, which would involve small cans of materials placed in a rack inside a Defense Waste Processing Facility canister at the Savannah River Site; disposition of non-pit plutonium through SRS' H-Canyon and DWPF at SRS; disposal of non-pit plutonium at WIPP and fabrication of pit and some non-pit plutonium into MOX fuel for use in commercial power reactors.

Under all the alternatives, the impact study states, DOE would also dispose 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium into MOX fuel, in line with previous decisions. DOE will host public input meetings in various areas of the country, including a meeting in North Augusta on Sept. 4. The Sept. 4 public input meeting will be held at the North Augusta Municipal Center at 100 Georgia Ave. from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The process for the final report and decision is expected to take eight to 10 months, Greenwald said. For a full draft report, visit www.nnsa.energy.gov/nepa.

Savannah River Site

SRS Cab Meeting July 23-24, 2012

Officials want to turn World War II nuclear-weapon development sites into national parks

By Darryl Fears, Published: July 28 The Washington Post

Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory was such a well-kept secret during World War II that most Americans still don’t know that it sits off one of busiest highways in the South. Every year, streams of vacationers whiz by the complex that enriched uranium for America’s first atomic bomb project. It’s on the way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited U.S. national park. And every year, right about this time, the city of Oak Ridge, just west of Knoxville on Interstate 40, holds a Secret City Festival, crying out to potential tourists. “They don’t even know we’re here,” said Katy Brown, president of the city’s convention and visitors bureau. But a spotlight might shine soon on the Oak Ridge lab and two other largely forgotten Manhattan Project sites as the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the general order that established the world-shaking atomic research and development program. The Obama administration is supporting bipartisan legislation in Congress that would designate sites in Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M., as national parks. Story

NRC

Bill Magwood, NRC Democrat, Is 'Treacherous, Miserable Liar' And 'First-Class Rat,' Says Harry Reid

Posted: 07/30/2012 12:16 am Updated: 07/30/2012 2:13 am Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Harry Reid isn't known for hyperbole. The soft-spoken Senate majority leader tends to wield his power behind the scenes, and when he does speak at his weekly press briefing, reporters lean in and bend their ears to make out the words. But if Reid is lied to, all that changes. It may sound dissonant to the public to say that honesty is the mostly highly valued quality in Washington. But while members of Congress may lie to their constituents with regularity, lying to one another is considered an unforgiveable sin. In an interview with The Huffington Post, the Nevada Democrat savaged Bill Magwood, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, when asked if he thought the Democrat had a chance to become NRC chairman. "You know, when you're in this government, this business of politics, the only thing that you have is your word," said Reid, seated in his Capitol office. "I can be as partisan as I have to be, but I always try to be nice. I try never to say bad things about people. Bill Magwood is one of the" -- Reid paused, deciding which adjective to reach for, before picking them all -- "most unethical, prevaricating" -- he paused again, this time for 10 full seconds -- "incompetent people I've ever dealt with. The man sat in that chair -- right there -- and lied to me. I've never, ever in my life had anyone do that. Never." Story

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING AUG. 7 AT 9 AM TO DISCUSS ONGOING LESSONS LEARNED FROM FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be briefed by its staff and other stakeholders on the NRC’s efforts to implement lessons learned from the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in a public meeting Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. at NRC Headquarters, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. The commission meeting will be open to public observation and will be webcast.

National Research Council

The National Research Council-National Academy of Sciences will conduct a study and prepare a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Congress on lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear accident for improving safety and security of U.S. nuclear plants.

Meeting 1: Date: July 18-19, 2012 Agenda // Webcast

Nuclear Energy Institute

· For Release:August 1, 2012

NEI Commends Sen. Bingaman for Leadership in Tackling Used Fuel Policy

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) today introduced legislation (S. 3469) in support of key recommendations made by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, presented to President Obama in January. The Nuclear Energy Institute’s Alex Flint, senior vice president for governmental affairs, made the following remarks in reaction to the legislation. “Senator Bingaman is to be commended for giving serious consideration to the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission and the nation’s need to seriously address the issue of safely managing used nuclear fuel. We look forward to reviewing his proposal and to testifying in that regard at the appropriate time.”

Sen. Bingaman proposes nuclear waste management bill

By Zack Colman - 08/01/12 03:05 PM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/241633-sen-bingaman-proposes-nuclear-waste-management-bill

Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) introduced a bill Thursday to revamp federal oversight of nuclear waste, although he acknowledged partisan disagreements would prevent it from passing Congress this session.

Bingaman's bill would implement recommendations from a January report by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. President Obama created the commission in 2009 to evaluate the nation’s handling of nuclear waste.

S. 3469: Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2012

A bill to establish a new organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consensual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing nuclear waste, and for other purposes. Link

Friday, August 3, 2012

Update #2 August 3, 2012