Group items tagged

Death threats, abuse and corporate retaliation seem to have taken the place of any sense of esprit de corps at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) since stimulus funds and related staff started pouring in, according to workers. Working conditions at the South Carolina DOE weapons complex facility have again been called into question as information obtained by the Aiken Standard paints a picture of unprofessional behavior and acrimony at the top levels of DOE management. Following a dispute between Site Manager Jeff Allison and individuals at DOE Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in September and early October, new information has come forth of seemingly widespread discord between DOE-EM executives and stimulus management and staff. An investigation began at SRS after Director of SRS American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Vincent Adams claimed his life was threatened by Elaine Nix, the contracting officer for SRS ARRA work.

Death threats, abuse and corporate retaliation seem to have taken the place of any sense of esprit de corps at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) since stimulus funds and related staff started pouring in, according to workers. Working conditions at the South Carolina DOE weapons complex facility have again been called into question as information obtained by the Aiken Standard paints a picture of unprofessional behavior and acrimony at the top levels of DOE management. Following a dispute between Site Manager Jeff Allison and individuals at DOE Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in September and early October, new information has come forth of seemingly widespread discord between DOE-EM executives and stimulus management and staff. An investigation began at SRS after Director of SRS American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Vincent Adams claimed his life was threatened by Elaine Nix, the contracting officer for SRS ARRA work.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) achieved a significant milestone Wednesday when the 1,000th shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste was made to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, N.M. The shipment marks the eighth year of SRS shipping radioactive waste from South Carolina to New Mexico without incident. SRS made its first shipment of TRU waste to WIPP on May 8, 2001. SRS has safely shipped more than 28,200 55-gallon drums of TRU waste for disposal at the WIPP geologic repository since that time. "This is a significant accomplishment for the Savannah River Site and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, demonstrating the Department of Energy's commitment to cleaning up legacy waste sites and safely disposing of the waste inventories," said Jeff Allison, manager of DOE's Savannah River Operations office. "Every shipment is inspected by the South Carolina Department of Transportation and the Department of Health and Environmental Control to assure it's safe to go on the road before it's released. Both agencies have played important roles in maintaining the safety of shipments and supporting the Department of Energy in this accomplishment." Since the beginning of SRS operations in the early 1950s, more than 30,000 drums and 3,000 non-drum containers of TRU waste have accumulated on concrete pads, where they were covered over with soil, awaiting final disposition.

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Friends of the Earth environmental organization, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) recently released color photos of 18-wheeler trucks used to transport weapons grade plutonium, uranium and other nuclear materials over local highways to the Savannah River Nuclear Site for disposal. Prior to the DOE release, the only public image of the trucks and their escort vehicles belonged to Tom Clements, the Southeastern Campaign Coordinator of Friends of the Earth, who snapped a photo of the vehicles leaving the Charleston Naval Weapons Station with plutonium shipments bound of SRS and Duke Energy's Catawba reactor in 2005. The trucks in the recently released DOE photos are likely the same type as those used in recent plutonium shipments from the Hanford site in Washington State to the Savannah River Site (SRS). The K-Area Material Storage facility at SRS is slated to house approximately 13 metric tons of "non-pit" (never weaponized) plutonium, Allen Gunter, an SRS-based DOE manager, told City Paper in a Jan., 2008 report.

An investigation into serious allegations of misconduct at the Savannah River Site found no specific wrongdoing, but did discover "unusual levels of distrust and acrimony" as well as failures by key officials. The investigative body that oversees the Department of Energy released its report, painting a picture of SRS with disorganized lines of leadership, discrimination, racism and many different stories about controversial incidents. Sparked by an anonymous complaint from an SRS employee, the Inspector General's office came to investigate five specific allegations "concerning improprieties by a senior official with the Office of Environmental Management." The 12-person investigative team interviewed 80 DOE and contractor employees and scoured through about 150,000 e-mails.

An investigation into serious allegations of misconduct at the Savannah River Site found no specific wrongdoing, but did discover "unusual levels of distrust and acrimony" as well as failures by key officials. The investigative body that oversees the Department of Energy released its report, painting a picture of SRS with disorganized lines of leadership, discrimination, racism and many different stories about controversial incidents. Sparked by an anonymous complaint from an SRS employee, the Inspector General's office came to investigate five specific allegations "concerning improprieties by a senior official with the Office of Environmental Management." The 12-person investigative team interviewed 80 DOE and contractor employees and scoured through about 150,000 e-mails.

Two reports from investigative teams have made significant recommendations to the Savannah River Site and its contractors after accidents and the verification of employees' citizenship seemed to be lacking. The Department of Energy and its Office of the Inspector General have released the reports after investigations into activities at SRS. One report was that of a "Type B" investigation into a serious hand and arm injury suffered by a worker in a powerhouse, the other regarding employment verification at SRS. The investigation into the injury came about after a worker suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns on his arms and hands while working in a D-area powerhouse. The electrical burns were determined to have been caused when a metal level the worker was using came into contact with a live breaker.

Two reports from investigative teams have made significant recommendations to the Savannah River Site and its contractors after accidents and the verification of employees' citizenship seemed to be lacking. The Department of Energy and its Office of the Inspector General have released the reports after investigations into activities at SRS. One report was that of a "Type B" investigation into a serious hand and arm injury suffered by a worker in a powerhouse, the other regarding employment verification at SRS. The investigation into the injury came about after a worker suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns on his arms and hands while working in a D-area powerhouse. The electrical burns were determined to have been caused when a metal level the worker was using came into contact with a live breaker.

Federal officials are pursuing the Savannah River Site as the location for two controversial projects that would bring the pits, or cores, of U.S. nuclear warheads -- and several tons of plutonium -- to the Augusta area. The decision means the federal government is moving closer to transporting the plutonium from Texas to SRS -- possibly through Georgia -- and then storing it there until it can be converted into nuclear fuel for commercial power plants. The U.S. Department of Energy has for years been considering SRS, a massive federal entity near Augusta that processes nuclear materials, as the location for the projects.

Federal officials are pursuing the Savannah River Site as the location for two controversial projects that would bring the pits, or cores, of U.S. nuclear warheads -- and several tons of plutonium -- to the Augusta area. The decision means the federal government is moving closer to transporting the plutonium from Texas to SRS -- possibly through Georgia -- and then storing it there until it can be converted into nuclear fuel for commercial power plants. The U.S. Department of Energy has for years been considering SRS, a massive federal entity near Augusta that processes nuclear materials, as the location for the projects.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

"The amount of plutonium in high-level waste converted to glass at Savannah River Site will nearly triple this year as a consequence of the U.S. Energy Department's decision to abandon its Yucca Mountain waste repository. The SRS-based Defense Waste Processing Facility uses a process called vitrification to convert liquid radioactive wastes into a solid glass form suitable for long-term storage and permanent disposal. Plutonium is among many dangerous materials in the 36 million gallons of waste left behind at SRS by decades of nuclear weapons production. In 2008, as the department prepared its application to license the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada -- where vitrified waste was to be buried -- SRS lowered plutonium levels in vitrified waste from 2,500 grams per cubic meter to 897 grams per cubic meter."

"The U.S. Energy Department has rescinded an order that would have nearly tripled the amount of plutonium in high-level waste converted to glass at Savannah River Site. * Comment (1) * E-mail * Bookmark and Share Advertisement "The Office of Environmental Management has decided not to move forward at this time with its February decision to direct contractors to start planning for higher concentrations of plutonium in waste canisters at the Savannah River Site," said Jen Stutsman, a spokeswoman at the department's Washington headquarters. The SRS-based Defense Waste Processing Facility uses a process called vitrification to convert liquid radioactive waste into a solid glass form suitable for long-term storage and permanent disposal. Plutonium is among many materials in the 36 million gallons of waste left behind at SRS by decades of nuclear weapons production."

Those who worked at the Savannah River Site and other parts of the nation's weapons complex are at an elevated risk for developing cancer, according to a new study. This finding came from a study of older construction workers at four U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex sites. It found an increased risk of developing cancer for Site workers, especially for construction workers who worked prior to the 1980s. Conducted at institutions including Duke University and the University of Cincinnati, the study found that trade workers at SRS, Hanford in Washington, Oak Ridge in Tennessee and the Amchitka site in Alaska had significantly elevated asbestos-related cancers. The study was funded by DOE and was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, a medical publication. DOE established medical screening programs at the four sites starting in 1996. Workers participating in these programs have been followed to determine their vital status and mortality experience through Dec. 31, 2004. According to the study, 8,976 former construction workers from Hanford, SRS, Oak Ridge and Amchitka were followed using the National Death Index to ascertain vital status and causes of death.

A new era has begun at the Savannah River Site, as we face the challenge of safely and aggressively dispositioning radioactive liquid waste. Years from now, we'll remember this as the time SRS aggressively began using state-of-the-art technology to rid the site of its legacy high-level liquid radioactive waste at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago. Time will show how accelerating tank closure produced real progress, to the safety and benefit of local citizens and taxpayers. My company, Savannah River Remediation, officially took over the liquid waste contract at SRS on July 1. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the contract late last year, replacing Washington Savannah River Company. We know the challenge. Our employees have safely and efficiently dispositioned radioactive waste, setting industry standards. Now, we're going to step that performance up a notch. Here's just a sampling of what we'll be doing:

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) began a new phase of waste disposition Thursday, initiating the first shipment of Remote Handled (RH) Transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M. These shipments complement the contact handled TRU waste shipments that have been occurring at SRS for almost a decade. TRU waste, a result of decades of defense-related research and development activities, is a special class of radioactive material consisting of clothing, tools, rags, debris and other such items contaminated with radioactive elements, with an atomic number greater than uranium. TRU waste is primarily contaminated with plutonium, and may also be mixed with hazardous chemicals.

"Savannah River Site officials emphasized their efforts to improve safety during a meeting Thursday of the Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council. "The federal staff as well as the contractors are all working hard to reverse what we were seeing as a negative trend in those agency statistics, given the number of incidents in late 2009," said Karen Guevara, assistant manager for closure at SRS. "Together we believe we are restoring the credibility in the site's safety posture, and most importantly, are better able today to ensure all our Savannah River Site employees return home healthy and free of injury at the end of every work day.""

"A protest from Utah Governor Gary Herbert caused the Department of Energy to suspend shipments in January of depleted uranium from SRS to a disposal facility near Salt Lake City. Now regulators have determined that more than 3,000 tons of the waste meet Utah's health and safety standards. That could mean shipments will start up again soon."

One of two accidents at the Savannah River Site made public last week "had potential criticality safety implications" when a 200-pound bundle of highly enriched uranium fell 15 feet from a crane into a pit of acid. Fuel bundles loaded with highly enriched uranium metal being transported by crane are lowered into a "dissolver" containing acid. The process converts the uranium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Twice in August there were problems with the process, problems that caused two SRS employees to lose their jobs. "Two recent events illustrate the challenges management faces in changing the behavior of some workers," a report on the incidents read. The incidents were described in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report that was made public last week. Having potential criticality safety implications mean that a nuclear chain reaction could have occurred.

One of two accidents at the Savannah River Site made public last week "had potential criticality safety implications" when a 200-pound bundle of highly enriched uranium fell 15 feet from a crane into a pit of acid. Fuel bundles loaded with highly enriched uranium metal being transported by crane are lowered into a "dissolver" containing acid. The process converts the uranium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Twice in August there were problems with the process, problems that caused two SRS employees to lose their jobs. "Two recent events illustrate the challenges management faces in changing the behavior of some workers," a report on the incidents read. The incidents were described in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report that was made public last week. Having potential criticality safety implications mean that a nuclear chain reaction could have occurred.

A former Aiken resident who worked at the Savannah River Site as a subcontractor on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility has been indicted for fraud. Joseph Ralph Lohre Jr., 46, was charged in a three-count indictment with theft of government funds and two counts of making false statements. The indictment alleges that between March 2006 and May 2008, Lohre falsely claimed eligibility for housing benefits through a program administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency overseeing the MOX project, and that as part of his fraud, he submitted falsified documentation to support a claim that he owned a permanent residence in Fort Mitchell, Ky. At the time, Lohre was working as an engineer contractor at SRS.

A former Aiken resident who worked at the Savannah River Site as a subcontractor on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility has been indicted for fraud. Joseph Ralph Lohre Jr., 46, was charged in a three-count indictment with theft of government funds and two counts of making false statements. The indictment alleges that between March 2006 and May 2008, Lohre falsely claimed eligibility for housing benefits through a program administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency overseeing the MOX project, and that as part of his fraud, he submitted falsified documentation to support a claim that he owned a permanent residence in Fort Mitchell, Ky. At the time, Lohre was working as an engineer contractor at SRS.

SC-- Half a century ago, the Savannah River Site was a top spot for our government to meet nuclear needs during the Cold War. There were secret projects…and buzz words that surrounded the site: 'hydrogen bomb' and 'nuclear reactor.' But half a century later, SRS's mission has shifted. They now clean up harmful materials. And SRS researchers are looking to make this a sound of the past. Dr. Theodore Motyka, Hydrogen Program Manager: "Eventually we'll all run on hydrogen in my opinion. It's a matter of when."

A U.S. Department of Energy decision on the Savannah River Site's liquid waste operations could come as early as the end of the month, new Washington Savannah River Co. President Steve Piccolo said Monday. WSRC and its parent company, URS Washington Division, transitioned the site's management operations to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in early August. However, WSRC still has a 2,200-person workforce at SRS for the liquid waste operation.