CRESP Newstories and Links related to risk-based cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and cost-effective, risk-based management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. CRESP seeks to improve the scientific and technical basis for environmental management decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) and by fostering public participation in that search.
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Thursday, June 28, 2012
EM Publishes Federal Register Notice of Intent to Prepare Supplement to Long-Term Mercury Storage EIS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM on Tuesday published a notice of intent in the Federal Register to prepare a supplement to its January 2011 Environmental Impact Statement for the Long-Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury to analyze additional alternatives, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. For more information, click here.
Wasteland: the 50-year battle to entomb our toxic nuclear remains In the desert and in Washington DC, a war still rages to find the one place in America that no one cares about
By Matt Stroud on June 14, 2012 11:41 am
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/14/3038814/yucca-mountain-wipp-wasteland-battle-entomb-nuclear-waste
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/14/3038814/yucca-mountain-wipp-wasteland-battle-entomb-nuclear-waste
Idaho Waste Treatment Facility Startup Testing Suspended To Evaluate System
IDAHO FALLS, ID- On Saturday, June 16, startup testing was
suspended at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) located at the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Idaho Site. Testing and plant heat-up was suspended to
allow detailed evaluation of a system pressure event observed during testing on
Saturday.
Facility startup testing has been ongoing for the past month, evaluating system and component operation and response during operating conditions. No radioactive or hazardous waste has been introduced into the facility, pending successful completion of startup testing. Safety systems functioned as designed, and the facility is currently in safe standby mode. The facility is expected to remain in safe standby condition for the next several weeks as the facts surrounding Saturday’s system pressure event are gathered and evaluated.
The IWTU was designed and constructed to treat 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste located at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center’s (INTEC) tank farm. The waste was generated during spent nuclear fuel reprocessing activities performed at INTEC from the 1950s until 1992. Treatment was expected to begin this month, but will be delayed for several weeks pending a thorough evaluation of system performance.
The State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, who has regulatory authority for oversight of the IWTU, has been notified.
Editorial Date June 21, 2012
By Brad Bugger
=============================================================================
IWTU testing suspended
Facility startup testing has been ongoing for the past month, evaluating system and component operation and response during operating conditions. No radioactive or hazardous waste has been introduced into the facility, pending successful completion of startup testing. Safety systems functioned as designed, and the facility is currently in safe standby mode. The facility is expected to remain in safe standby condition for the next several weeks as the facts surrounding Saturday’s system pressure event are gathered and evaluated.
The IWTU was designed and constructed to treat 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste located at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center’s (INTEC) tank farm. The waste was generated during spent nuclear fuel reprocessing activities performed at INTEC from the 1950s until 1992. Treatment was expected to begin this month, but will be delayed for several weeks pending a thorough evaluation of system performance.
The State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, who has regulatory authority for oversight of the IWTU, has been notified.
Editorial Date June 21, 2012
By Brad Bugger
=============================================================================
IWTU testing suspended
POSTED: 05:24 PM MDT Jun 20, 2012 UPDATED: 05:31 PM MDT Jun 20, 2012
The U.S. Department of Energy has suspended
testing at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit on the Idaho National Laboratory
reservation. A startup test was suspended Saturday after a "system
pressure event," according to a news release. In a news release, DOE
officials said facility startup testing has been under way for the past month,
evaluating system and component operation and response during operating
conditions. IWTU was designed and constructed to treat 900,000 gallons of
liquid sodium-bearing waste located on the Idaho Nuclear and Technology and
Engineering Center's tank farm. Although treatment was originally scheduled to
begin this month, no radioactive or hazardous waste has been introduced into
the facility, pending successful completion of startup testing. Treatment will
be delayed for several weeks pending a thorough evaluation of system
performance.
The waste was generated during spent nuclear fuel
reprocessing activities performed at INTEC from the 1950's until 1992.
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Twenty-Fourth Annual Weapons Complex Monitor Waste Management & Cleanup Decisionmakers’ Forum
October 15 - 18, 2012, Omni Amelia Island Plantation, Jacksonville, Florida
Keynote Speakers…
Thomas P. D'Agostino, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, National Nuclear Security Administration
David G. Huizenga, Senior Advisor for Environmental Management, Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Mark Lesinski, Chief Operating Officer, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, United Kingdom
Matt Moury, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety, Security and Quality, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Ken Picha, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tank Waste and Nuclear Material, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Jack Surash, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Terry Tyborowski, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning Budget, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Alice Williams, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Mark Lesinski, Chief Operating Officer, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, United Kingdom
Matt Moury, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety, Security and Quality, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Ken Picha, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tank Waste and Nuclear Material, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Jack Surash, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Terry Tyborowski, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Planning Budget, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Alice Williams, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environmental Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Friday, June 1, 2012
DOE dismissed from Hanford whistleblower lawsuit
By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Posted: 12:00am on Jun 1, 2012; Modified: 7:34am on Jun 1, 2012
A federal judge has dismissed the Department of Energy from a federal lawsuit brought by Hanford whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis. Judge Lonny Suko in Eastern Washington U.S. District Court ruled that Tamosaitis could not make his case against DOE on any of three grounds. The ruling does not affect Tamosaitis' case against his employer, URS, which is part of the same lawsuit and will move forward.
Posted: 12:00am on Jun 1, 2012; Modified: 7:34am on Jun 1, 2012
A federal judge has dismissed the Department of Energy from a federal lawsuit brought by Hanford whistleblower Walter Tamosaitis. Judge Lonny Suko in Eastern Washington U.S. District Court ruled that Tamosaitis could not make his case against DOE on any of three grounds. The ruling does not affect Tamosaitis' case against his employer, URS, which is part of the same lawsuit and will move forward.
U.S. Given Six Months To Justify Nuclear-Waste Fees
The U.S. Energy Department must justify the $750 million it collects annually from the atomic power industry for waste disposal given that it no longer plans to develop a depository at Yucca Mountain. A three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today said the department’s 2010 fee determination was “legally defective” and ruled it has six months to evaluate whether collection of the fee will provide enough or too little revenue to offset costs of the nuclear-waste disposal program. “Long before the Yucca Mountain program was chosen, the secretary, as we have noted, ran rather sophisticated evaluations of the potential costs of a hypothetical repository as part of his policy of conducting a ‘thorough analysis,”’ the court said in its ruling. “His 2010 determination falls far below the department’s own previous standard.” Nuclear power plant owners sued the department seeking to have the fees be suspended until a new disposal program is begins. The case is National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners v. U.S. Department of Energy, 11-1066, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington). To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Schoenberg in Washington attschoenberg@bloomberg.net.
New Nuclear Chief Can Act Fast on Yucca, Fukushima Fixes
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-30/new-nuclear-chief-can-act-fast-on-yucca-fukushima-fixes.html
Gregory Jaczko’s resignation as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives the agency a fresh chance to tackle two crucial issues: nuclear- plant safety and waste disposal. The U.S. nuclear-power industry is in turmoil, competing as it does with rock-bottom natural-gas prices. Even as most power companies wait to make new investments in nuclear, 104 existing reactors need close attention right away. Arguably the biggest item on the NRC’s to-do list is to carry out the recommendations of a task force that looked at how to avoid Fukushima-like problems in the U.S. It took until March, a year after the Japanese disaster, for the NRC to finally issue the first three orders to improve safety and preparedness. Plant owners must now have backup equipment to keep reactors and spent-fuel pools cool if the power goes out, improved venting systems to limit damage to the core, and better tools for monitoring the amount of water used to cool spent fuel.
Gregory Jaczko’s resignation as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives the agency a fresh chance to tackle two crucial issues: nuclear- plant safety and waste disposal. The U.S. nuclear-power industry is in turmoil, competing as it does with rock-bottom natural-gas prices. Even as most power companies wait to make new investments in nuclear, 104 existing reactors need close attention right away. Arguably the biggest item on the NRC’s to-do list is to carry out the recommendations of a task force that looked at how to avoid Fukushima-like problems in the U.S. It took until March, a year after the Japanese disaster, for the NRC to finally issue the first three orders to improve safety and preparedness. Plant owners must now have backup equipment to keep reactors and spent-fuel pools cool if the power goes out, improved venting systems to limit damage to the core, and better tools for monitoring the amount of water used to cool spent fuel.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Obama Moves Quickly To Heal NRC
The Obama Administration moved quickly today to replace the controversial head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Chairman Jaczko, by nominating Dr. Allison Macfarlane to lead that agency. Macfarlane, who received her PhD in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyin 1992, is currently a professor of Environmental Science and Policy atGeorge Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She has long been affiliated with programs such as the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. The immediate uproar in the nuclear community to her not being a nuclear engineer or physicist was expected. Instead, her specialties include nuclear nonproliferation and other policy issues, but in this new position it will be her experience with nuclear waste and the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle involving deep geologic disposal of high level waste and interim storage of spent fuel, that will be her biggest contribution to the group, and is particularly timely with the focus on spent fuel in the wake of Fukushima. As a geologist myself working in the nuclear field, I know how geology provides a uniquely global and multidisciplinary view to the field and to science in general, and Dr. Macfarlane will bring this valuable addition to the NRC’s toolbox. More
Workers Pour 1 Million Gallons of Grout into Massive Tanks
DOE-EM AIKEN, S.C. – Workers have poured more than 1 million gallons of a cement-like grout into two underground radioactive waste tanks, moving the Savannah River Site (SRS) nearer to closing the massive structures. SRS and liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation are working to fill the 1.3-million-gallon Tanks 18 and 19 with grout, a project that began April 2. Grouting of the tanks, ancillary piping and equipment is scheduled for completion in late summer. As many as six cement trucks operate every hour during weekday business hours to deliver the mixture to the site to pump into the tanks. Closing the two tanks is a significant step in the completion of cleanup of the site’s legacy nuclear waste, according to Terrel Spears, DOE-Savannah River Operations Office Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project Terrel Spears. “Eliminating the risk of radioactive legacy nuclear waste is a priority, and operational closure of these tanks is significant to meeting our critical mission,” Spears said. SRR President and Project Manager Dave Olson said grouting the tanks will reduce risk for workers, the public and the environment. “SRR is committed to safely dispositioning waste and closing waste tanks to reduce risk in a cost-effective manner and in compliance with regulatory commitments,” Olson said. “The lessons learned in closing the tanks provide us useful information that we will use to close additional tanks.” Tanks 18 and 19 will be the first tank closures at SRS since 1997, when two were closed.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Obama taps George Mason professor to head nuclear agency - The Hill's E2-Wire
Obama taps George Mason professor to head nuclear agency - The Hill's E2-Wire
She has been critical of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, a long-delayed project that the Obama administration abandoned in 2009. Macfarlane wrote a 2006 book titled, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High-Level Nuclear Waste. The book, according to the GMU website, "explores the unresolved technical issues" with Yucca Mountain.
President Obama nominated George Mason University Professor Allison Macfarlane Thursday to serve as chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Macfarlane has been a professor of environmental science at the university since 2006 and served on a federal panel tasked with determining a long-term solution for the country’s nuclear waste.
Current NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who has come under fire from his colleagues and Republicans for his leadership style, announced earlier this week that he intends to step down once the Senate confirms his replacement.
Obama nominated Macfarlane as one of five NRC commissioners and said he intended to appoint her as chairwoman of the panel once she is confirmed by the Senate.
Friday, May 11, 2012
DOE finds performance issues at Hanford vit plant, raising concerns about Bechtel management
By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
Posted: 9:20am on May 5, 2012; Modified: 7:04pm on May 7, 2012
Significant performance issues at the Hanford vitrification plant have raised serious concerns about Bechtel National's management system, according to a newly released Department of Energy report. The concern came to light in the most recently released weekly staff report of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which said that DOE had identified a Priority Level 1 finding "associated with the potential breakdown in contractor management and their less than adequate performance." "This finding was identified as a result of several recent DOE oversight activities in which inadequate performance was an issue," the defense board staff report said. "The report concludes that these performance issues 'could have significant impacts on the successful completion of the (vitrification plant) project.' " DOE project director Dale Knutson sent Bechtel a letter March 20 saying that based on the cumulative impact of issues identified, "It is important for BNI (Bechtel) to step back, identify the underlying organizational processes and values driving these findings, and address them effectively." The Herald obtained the letter and attached reports this week.
Last shield door delivered to Hanford Waste Treatment Plant
Originally printed at http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/Last-shield-door-delivered-to-Hanford-Waste-Treatment-Plant-150998885.html
By Tyler Slauson May 10, 2012
By Tyler Slauson May 10, 2012
U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY NEWS RELEASE -- The last massive shield door has been delivered to the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the “Vit Plant.” It weighs 102 tons and will be installed in the High-Level Waste Facility. “Receipt of the last of the shield doors represents a significant milestone in progress on the project, and they are an integral part of the plant’s safety infrastructure,” said Joe St. Julian, area project manager for the facility for Bechtel National Inc., which is designing and building the Vit Plant. The Vit Plant has more than 100 nuclear-quality shield doors, ranging from 3 to 119 tons. They will provide radiation protection and maintain contamination boundaries during plant operations. The doors will be installed throughout the Pretreatment, High- Level Waste and Low-Activity Waste facilities. “The delivery of this shield door represents an extensive degree of teamwork between the vendor and within the Vit Plant Project team. They have done an excellent job,” said Gary Olsen, the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Projection, High- Level Waste Facility federal project manager. “The door is an instrumental component in our safety protection measures for operations, and the team has worked closely to ensure it meets all necessary requirements to support its function,” he said.
Is Yucca Mountain Still Dead?
By MATTHEW L. WALD New York Times
As I reported in this article, two states with big volumes of military and civilian nuclear wastes are suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to try to force it to adhere to the terms of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which called for the development of a waste repository at Yucca Mountain, near Las Vegas. Yucca Mountain was chosen by Congress as the repository site in 1987. Its chief backers were senators from other states that were also under consideration as waste sites, including Texas and Washington. Nevada, lacking allies, could not stop it.The commission has discontinued work on evaluating the Energy Department’s onetime plan for a repository there since President Obama decided to kill the project. (The Energy Department has sought to withdraw its application for a license.)
The initial choice had a thin veneer of science to it – Yucca was one of several sites under consideration mostly because it was remote and the government already owned it. Further scientific and engineering work, though, exposed substantial problems with the site.
Still, the circumstances under which the project died were deemed political ones, even by the Government Accountability Office.
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