Unprecedented shipments of liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina will begin this spring, now that the 60-day window has closed to appeal a judge’s decision allowing the Energy Department transports. Groups that had sued against the shipments decided against appealing the directive.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on Feb. 2 ruled against requiring the department to produce a new environmental impact statement (EIS) for the transports – a request made in an August 2016 lawsuit the charged DOE had not taken the necessary steps before authorizing up to 150 shipments that total 6,000 gallons of HEU.
The shipments to SRS are part of a 2010 agreement between then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for repatriation of the U.S.-origin HEU. Once at SRS, the material will be downblended and sent to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), where it will be used as nuclear reactor fuel. It will take about three years to receive and process the material.
The Savannah River Site was scheduled in September 2016 to begin receiving shipments of HEU from Chalk River Laboratories in Canada. But following the August lawsuit filed by several anti-nuclear and environmental organizations, both sides agreed the shipments would be postponed at least until Feb. 17 of this year so DOE could prove it was meeting its contractual and legal obligations. Chutkan’s decision opens the door open for SRS to receive the HEU.
SRS spokesman Monte Volk said he could not discuss specifics for the shipments, “but we can say the Target Residue Material (TRM) shipments to the Savannah River Site are expected to begin in the Spring of 2017.”
The plaintiffs ultimately decided against appealing the judge’s ruling ahead of the April 4 deadline. Kevin Kamps, with Beyond Nuclear, said it was a matter of “choosing our battles wisely.”
