COLUMBIA — Republican senators from South Carolina and Georgia have called on the Obama administration to continue funding a program to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel, saying that slowing or ending the project would harm international and domestic relationships.
Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina and Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia wrote in a letter sent this week to President Barack Obama that efforts to slow funding for the mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel program could hurt both states’ relationships with the federal government.
“Your decision violates the commitments that were made to South Carolina and jeopardizes a 60-year partnership between the Savannah River Site and the state,” the senators wrote. “We will not allow this ill-conceived plan to proceed.”
The MOX plant is under construction at the Savannah River Site, a sprawling complex saddling the South Carolina-Georgia border where nuclear weapons components were once made. Work at the site, which has long employed thousands of workers from both states, now focuses on research and environmental MOX as part of a nonproliferation effort. The United States and Russia have committed to disposing of at least 34 metric tons each of weapons-grade plutonium – an amount equivalent to enough material for about 17,000 nuclear warheads.
The plant is about 60 percent complete, but the project has undergone years of cost overruns and delays. Last month, the Government Accountability Office said the plant is $3 billion over budget, now costing an estimated $7.7 billion.
Read more: Senators voice MOX support | Aiken Standard
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A bill that would increase the concentration of radioactive waste to be dumped in Texas is set to be heard on the House floor on Monday, May 20th. Waste Control Specialists (WCS) would benefit even more from having hotter radioactive materials going to their radioactive waste dump in West Texas, and would get to bring in the waste sooner, raising the annual cap on waste imported from other states from 120,000 to 275,000 curies. SEED Coalition, Public Citizen, and the Lone Star Sierra Club oppose the bill, which is set to be heard on Monday, May 20th on the House floor. SB 791 is authored by Senator Seliger and Representative Drew Darby.
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“The only person who benefits is billionaire Harold Simmons, WCS’ owner, whose private gain comes at the expense of public risk. Simmons is known for political attack ads. He’s Perry’s second largest donor and the second largest donor nationally to the “attack ads” plaguing our elections.”
When organizers put on their annual Cool Desert Nights car show and parade in Richland, they need a permit.
When the Department of Energy and its contractors want to truck radioactive waste short distances, they need the very same permit.
Transportation of various levels, including high level nuclear materials, requires no more that a Special Events Permit issued by the City of Richland.
The hazardous waste shippers are asked a series of questions: Will there be alcohol for sale? Will there be food? Vendors? Will it be merchandise or an inflatable play area?
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Sometimes the permits are issued for three-month periods and can be used any time after heavy traffic hours.
In one case, a contractor moved hazardous transuranic waste with a parade type permit because meeting federal transportation packaging standards would be “cost prohibitive for this one time movement of this material.”
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Handlers did, however, recently discover one shipment violated radioactive safety standards, leading to a temporary suspension of the shipments.
Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producer, fell the most in five months in Paris trading after Bank of America Corp. cut its rating on the stock on concern earnings from nuclear generation will fall short.
EDF (EDF) fell as much as 5.5 percent, the biggest intraday decline since Nov. 29, and was down 4.8 percent at 17.265 euros as of 4:39 p.m. local time. Trading volumes were more than 60 percent above the three-month daily average.
The French government, which controls Paris-based EDF, is due to set wholesale prices for the company’s atomic power by the end of the year as the utility pushes for higher rates to help finance investments and cover costs. The tariff “could disappoint investors,” Arnaud Joan, an analyst at Bank of America in London, wrote in a report published today.
EDF needs funds to improve safety at its 58 French reactors after the country’s atomic authority tightened rules following the 2011 Fukushima crisis in Japan. While the regulator has pushed for an increase of almost 30 percent in tariffs over five years, President Francois Hollande has pledged to contain household energy bills.
TORNESS Nuclear power station has opened to the public for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America.
The power station unveiled its new visitor centre yesterday before taking guests on a guided walk of the power station – the first since 2001.
EDF Energy, which runs the facility, said it hoped to attract thousands of visitors, from East Lothian and across Scotland, as part of its commitment to increasing openness at nuclear power stations.
Station director Paul Winkle said the “grey box with a barbed wire fence” was an imposing sight for anyone passing it.
He said: “There’s a suspicion of ‘is it safe’ and ‘is it being run safely?’ These visitors coming gives us a way of demystifying that.”
Schoolchildren from Dunbar Grammar and East Linton Primary were invited to test the new education facilities at the official opening by MSP Iain Gray.
The former physics teacher said it demonstrated a “remarkable science” that the tours would allow people to appreciate first hand.
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