Dangerous High-Level Nuclear Waste with Nowhere to Go

January 11th, 2011 | National Security News Service | | Leave a comment
Alvin Ward Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: NRC
Alvin Ward Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant. Photo: NRC

Many nuclear power advocates appeared in front of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday in support of a permanent repository for nuclear waste and supported the concept of reprocessing nuclear waste.

Environmentalists opposed reprocessing because there is no permanent waste repository and reprocessing creates more waste. They believe reprocessing wastes taxpayer dollars on special interests.

BRAC went to Augusta because the Department of Energy’s massive nuclear facility, the Savannah River Site, and the Southern Company’s two huge new nuclear power plants under construction are nearby.
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DOE Contractor At Savannah River Fires Workers for Leaking To Press

December 15th, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions fired an undisclosed number of employees fo leaking an emailed memo that discussed how more than 1,400 employee reductions at SRS would be implemented.

According to the Aiken Standard, the paper rece3ived a copy of the email and its contents were considered classified by the Department of Energy. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has a history of accidents and mishaps at the site and routinely relies on confidentiality and national security in order to avoid releasing details of incidents. Ironically the company hopes to take part in the economic bonanza that Senate ratification of the New Start Treaty will bring with the modernization of SRS. This is the most radioactive site in the United States in terms of curies. There is an estimated 400 million curies of radiation in liquid waste storage tanks at the site. Despite billions spent in clean-up there has been no reduction in radiation caused by remediation.

http://www.aikenstandard.com/results/1211-SRS-disciplinary-action

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[VIDEO] DOE Keeps Name of Employee Who Ran Security Barrier Secret

December 15th, 2010 | National Security | | Leave a comment

The Aiken Standard reports that the Department of Energy refuse to release the name of an employee who ran a security barrier at the nuclear weapons facility last month. The employee hit another car stopping at the barrier and then flipped over.

Continue on to see a larger version of the video.
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South Carolina: It’s Own Yucca Mountain?

November 23rd, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment

While the chair of the S.C. Sierra Club, Susan Corbett, testified to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future on November 16 against reprocessing and against the creation of more waste, a proposal to ship spent nuclear fuel from out-of-state reactors to South Carolina for recycling has been emerging.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the private company that operates the Savannah River Site under contract with the Department of Energy, has proposed to create four experimental nuclear power plants capable of burning radioactive waste for fuel. The company estimates that it could be potential alternatives to the Yucca Mountain repository which has been closed this year by President Barack Obama because it had reached its legal capacity. The supporters of the project also insist on the fact that it would generate 25, 000 high-paying jobs and electricity without contributing to global-warming.

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