I. OAK RIDGE
I. OAK RIDGE The
Fate of K-25 and K-27?
In early June the
US Department of Energy (DOE) sent copies of a report on decontamination and
decommissioning options for the K-25 and K-27 process buildings to the
Information Resource Center and the Oak Ridger.
The engineering evaluation/cost analysis had been prepared for DOE by
Science Applications International Corp.
The Oak Ridger published an article, June 8, on the four
alternatives described in the report. They
were (1) “no action”; (2) leaving the facilities in place and continuing
surveillance and maintenance; (3) decontaminating the equipment, demolishing
the buildings, and disposing of the waste at the on-site Environmental
Management Waste Management Facility; or (4) removing equipment, demolishing
the facilities, and disposing of the waste at the on-site facility or at the
Nevada Test Site. On June 18,
however, the Oak Ridger published another article on the report,
saying that DOE had stopped release of the document.
DOE officials said that release was halted, because discussions had
not been concluded on schedule with regulators and that a new version of the
report will be released later this summer.
(Paul Parson, Oak Ridger, 6/8/01, 6/18/01) Criticality
safety
In June DOE’s
Office of Independent Environment, Safety and Health Oversight (EH-2) issued
a review of nuclear criticality self-assessments by the Oak Ridge Operations
Office and its contractors. The
report stems from the Nuclear Criticality Safety Improvement Initiative that
DOE established in November 1999. The
Initiative required each DOE site to assess its criticality safety program.
A field review by EH-2 in August of 2000 found that BNFL, Inc. had
performed an adequate assessment and was implementing an appropriate
corrective action plan. The
situation in regard to Bechtel Jacobs was less satisfactory. The criticality
accident risk was low, only because, at that time, few activities were being
conducted that involved “significant quantities of fissile materials.”
A follow-up site visit by EH-2 in April of 2001 found that Bechtel
Jacobs had by then completed various corrective actions in the K-25 vault,
commissioned two internal reviews, and was in the process of developing
corrective action plans. Criticism
of CROET
The Citizens’
Advisory Panel of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee has
expressed concern as to the lack of public involvement in the strategic plan
of the DOE-funded Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET).
The plan basically reorganizes the agency.
Because of the Advisory Panel’s position, some members of the Oak
Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee (LOC), of which the Advisory
Panel is a part, have expressed concern that the Panel is investigating
issues with which it should not be involved.
The expressions of concern by LOC members were a response to an
e-mail that DOE had sent to eighteen members in regard to “the value of
maintaining the oversight group.” (Paul Parson, Oak Ridger, 6/13/01) II. PADUCAH
Affidavit
on radioactive contamination
Michael Thorne, a
British radiation specialist, has stated in an affidavit that “if a PGDP
production worker subject to chronic exposure above the legal limit of 5 rem
per year dies of cancer, the probability that such cancer was caused by
excess radiation at PGDP is significant, and substantially exceeds 50%.” Thorne, a former scientific secretary on the International
Commission on Radiological Protection, is an expert witness being paid by
the plaintiffs in a $10 billion lawsuit against the Paducah plant’s former
operators. “On the basis of internationally accepted radiation biology
models and probabilistic risk assessment methodologies, the workers at PGDP
were exposed to illegally excessive levels of radiation at the plant, and,
if still living, have a significant and unacceptable probability of dying as
a result," Thorne concluded. He
found “the lack of historical records at PGDP to be appalling,” but from
the available data could calculate probable doses that were close to those
calculated by DOE’s Exposure Assessment Project, which released a report
in December 2000. (James R.
Carroll and James Malone, The Courier Journal, 6/26/01; Affidavit of Dr.
Miachel C. Thorne, 6/13/01). Community
development
A task force,
chaired by Ken Wheeler, traveled to Washington in June to lobby administration officials for development of the Paducah
area’s Information Age Park. The
community group wants the Park to become
a national laboratory for research and development on uranium
enrichment and cleanup technology. (Joe Walker, Paducah Sun, 6/08/01;
Paducah Sun, 7/01/01) Agreement
on security
Security Police
and Fire Professionals of America Local 111 has reached an agreement with
USEC Inc. that clarifies when security officers are allowed to be armed and
that provides for the security force to upgrade its firearms this summer.
Union President John Driskill expressed satisfaction with the
agreement. The union’s five
year contract is up for renewal March 1, 2002. (Joe Walker, Paducah Sun,
6/19/01) Cleanup
funding
Don Seaborg,
DOE’s site manager for the Paducah plant, has stated publicly that DOE
needs at least $158 million during the 2002 fiscal year if it is to cover
ordinary operating expenses and prepare to meet the 2010 deadline for
cleaning up the plant. The Bush
administration has recommended $75.4 million.
Estimated costs of cleanup are increasing, because of revised
estimates on certain projects and the cost of removing contaminated
materials from 150 storage areas, as required by the state Environmental
Protection Agency. Disputes
with state and federal regulators on whether contaminated soil in the
North-South Diversion Ditch can be deposited in an on-site landfill and
whether material in the classified materials landfill can be left in place
could lead to additional increases. Shipping the dirt off site would
increase cleanup costs by more than $30 million;
and removing the classified material would add $232 million. (Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun, 6/22/01) Extension
of time for a decision
The US Department
of Justice has filed in US District Court a request for an extension until
August 13 of the government’s time to decide whether to join a suit
charging that Lockheed Martin and its predecessors made false reports to the
government about the extent of contamination at the plant.
The suit was filed in June 1999 by former workers at the Paducah
plant and the Natural Resources Defense Council, under the federal False
Claims Act. In its filing, the
Justice Department said that the Departments of Energy and Justice are in
the process of considering recommendations from the Justice
Department’s staff as to whether to join the suit.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Lockheed Martin, the plaintiffs, and the
Department of Justice are discussing terms of a possible out-of-court
settlement. (Bill Bartleman,
Paducah Sun, 6/7/01; James R. Carroll, The Courier Journal, 6/12/01) III.
PORTSMOUTH Compensation
to dismissed workers
June 21 USEC and
DOE signed a plan setting compensation for the workers that USEC is laying
off as a result of the end to production at the Portsmouth plant.
The plan covers only salaried workers at this time, as the union and
USEC must reach an agreement on compensation for hourly workers.
Each salaried worker who has been at the plant since before July 1,
1993, the date when USEC took over, can choose to receive $17,500 in a
single payment. People who have
worked a shorter time can receive $12,500. They also have the option of
taking normal severance benefits based on the length of time that they have
worked. They will be eligible
for temporary health insurance coverage and for retraining and relocation
expenses. These benefits are in
addition to $8,400 that workers laid off between November 21, 2000 and
October 1, 2003 may receive as a result of an agreement that the company
entered into last summer--Rep. Ted Strickland dropped a suit to prevent USEC
from selling electricity, in return for USEC’s entering into a binding
agreement to fund the benefit. Ted Strickland
had written to Energy Secretary Abraham June 5 harshly criticizing DOE for
moving forward with an agreement with USEC that did not provide for public
input nor include a workforce restructuring plan and that required employees
accepting the $8,400 payment to waive their right to bring any claims
against USEC. Dan Minter,
president of the PACE union representing hourly workers, had written a
letter of criticism to Abraham June 4 that made much the same points.
Strickland characterized the final plan as better than what was first
proposed but as falling short of what the workers deserve. (Letters from
Strickland and Minter; Associated Press, 6/21/01) IV. US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) Review
of legal agreements
Rep. James
Greenwood (R-PA) has asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review
DOE’s cleanup program with a specific focus on the legal agreements that
govern the cleanup effort at the various sites. He wants the GAO to look
into the agreements and their history, to find out whether they are actually
addressing the risks to human health and the environment, and to learn what
has happened when DOE has not complied with them and whether any have been
renegotiated. (Les Blumenthal, Scripps-McClatchy western service, 6/13/01) Supplemental
budget request
President Bush
submitted to Congress June 1 a $6.5 billion supplemental budget request for
the current fiscal year. The
request included $180 million for DOE’s environmental cleanup program. Congress had not completed action on the request by the end
of June, and was also still working on the budget for the coming fiscal
year. Compensation
for sick workers Public
meetings on the Congressionally mandated compensation program for nuclear
weapons workers made ill by their work were held near the three gaseous
diffusion plants in June. Some
of the workers who attended sought changes in provisions of the program, in
particular the lack of an appeals process independent of the Department of
Labor (DOL) which will administer the program, rules about medical
disagreements that allow DOL to select and appoint a “referee,” and the
refusal to give compensation to sons and daughters of deceased workers who
were not under eighteen or in college when the parent died.
(Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun, 6/20/01; Vina Colley, Personal
Communication) V. UNITED STATES ENRICHMENT CORPORATION (USEC) Chief
operating officer
USEC Inc. has
announced that Dennis R. Spurgeon has joined the company as executive vice
president and chief operating officer.
He will be responsible for production activities, marketing, and
sales. His career includes
serving as chief operating officer at UNC Resources (formerly United Nuclear
Corporation) where he was responsible for operation of a uranium recovery
facility, the manufacturing of reactor cores for the Navy, and operation of
the “N” reactor. During the
Ford administration he was assistant director for fuel cycle in the US
Energy Research and Development Administration and a member of the White
House task force that developed President Ford’s nuclear policy.
He holds an MS in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and a BS from the US Naval Academy. (USEC Press Release, 6/5/01) Bid
to build power plant
Kentucky’s
Governor Paul Patton issued an executive order June 19 instructing state
agencies to suspend acceptance of power plant applications while the new
Kentucky State Energy Policy Advisory Board assesses environmental and
energy issues related to power plants.
A consortium that includes USEC has submitted a bid to the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA) for construction of a 600 MW plant near Paducah (See
UEN, 6/01), but did not file its permit application for the plant with the
Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet before Patton imposed the moratorium. TVA
is expected to announce finalists July 16 and the winning bidder October 15.
Neither TVA nor USEC has said whether the moratorium will have any
effect on the USEC bid. (Bill Bartleman, Paducah Sun, 6/22/01)
VI. RUSSIA Protection
from creditors
President Bush
has extended for a year President Clinton’s executive order of June 21,
2000, ensuring that money that Russia receives for down-blended uranium
cannot be seized by Russia’s creditors.
In his announcement of the extension, Bush said that ensuring that
“fissile material removed from Russian nuclear weapons pursuant to various
arms control and disarmament agreements is downblended” is “a major
national security goal of the United States.”
(White House Press Release, 6/13/01) US-Russian
HEU agreement
According to an
unnamed senior White House official, the Bush administration is looking into
possible new approaches to implementation of the US-Russian High-Enriched
Uranium (HEU) Agreement, which would provide Russia with more money and
would more completely meet US security objectives. In a report
accompanying the House Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 20002 energy
and water development appropriations bill, the Appropriations Committee
“strongly urged” DOE to work with USEC Inc. to find new ways to increase
Russian deliveries of down-blended weapons uranium.
The Committee urged the administration to “explore options such as
securing a second U.S. executive agent for the purchase; down-blending the
[additional] material but leaving it in Russia until it can be sold onto
international markets without adverse impacts; and working with the
international community to purchase” more down-blended weapons uranium.
(Nuclear News Flashes, 6/22/01 and 6/26/01 from www.platts.com) Russian
uranium supplies
The Interfax News
Agency, Mining & Metals Report, circulated May 17, a lengthy portion of
a speech by a Russian on the uranium market.
The speaker, who is not named but who appears to be knowledgeable
about the worldwide uranium industry, states that in the short term Russia
is likely to turn into an “importer instead of an exporter of natural
uranium.” Russia will drawn
down its present uranium inventory to supply “its internal fuel
deficit,” while it develops new capacities for production. VII.
PROLIFERATION Iraq
Dr. Khidir Hamza, former head of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, has told the American Enterprise Institute, that Iraq has “the full technology” to make nuclear bombs. The question is whether it has sufficient fissile material. Hamza said that according to German intelligence estimates Iraq has 1.3 tons of low-enriched uranium and 12 tons of natural uranium, which, if enriched, would provide material for about six bombs. He speculated that Iraq may be putting into place a uranium enrichment program based on “diffusion” technology. Hamza defected from Iraq in 1994. (Janine Zacharia, The Jerusalem Post, 6/21/01)
VIII.
ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY Silex Silex Systems
Ltd. announced June 20 that its laser-based Silex uranium enrichment
technology has been officially classified by the US and the Australian
governments. The decision
reflects the governments’ determination that the Silex technology
(Separation of Isotopes by Laser EXcitation) has the potential to separate
practical quantities of uranium isotopes.
The current phase of the Silex development program focuses on the
separation of uranium in sufficient quantities to allow the direct
measurement of enrichment performance.
Silex expects to have results by the end of the year. USEC will then
decide whether to proceed to the next phase of development, a plant-scale
test loop. (Silex Systems Ltd. Press Release 6/20/01) IX.
DEPLETED URANIUM Widespread
use of recycled uranium
Peter Eisler revealed in USA Today June 25 that a review of federal documents shows that government agencies produced 250,000 tons of contaminated uranium as the result of reprocessing irradiated fuel and that between 1952 and 1999 it shipped this uranium to more than one hundred federal plants, private companies, and universities. The level of impurities in the shipments varied, and DOE does not know which shipments were the most contaminated. At some facilities, processing of the contaminated uranium concentrated dangerous isotopes, thus increasing the risk to workers handling the material. Although the recycled uranium posed a risk of soil and groundwater contamination, there has been little attempt to check for environmental contamination from recycled uranium, except at the enrichment plants. Three examples of hot spots are the Mallinckrodt Chemical fuel production plant in Hematite, Missouri, the Harshaw Chemical plant in Cleveland, and the Sylvania-Corning plant in Hicksville on Long Island. State of Missouri investigators have wondered for years why wells near the Mallinckrodt plant were contaminated with technetium. Now they think they know. The Bush administration has no plans to assess health risks or to investigate possible environmental contamination at newly identified facilities where contaminants were concentrated. Ellen Livingston, senior environmental policy adviser at DOE, simply says that “We will make our records available, and we’ll provide people to help interpret them.” |
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