Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
2/5/2016
No timetable has been set for the Department of Energy to decide if 1 million graphite spheres – each containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Germany – will be transported to the Savannah River Site for processing and disposal. The department must first go through several courses of action, including Thursday night’s information session and public comment meeting at the North Augusta Community Center located about 20 miles from the South Carolina facility.
Before members of the public took to the podium, Maxcine Maxted, the SRS spent nuclear fuel program manager, re-emphasized that the HEU was first produced in the U.S. The United States sent nuclear material to several other countries for research purposes through the Atoms for Peace program launched by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. Under the program, the U.S. is obligated to take it back, and the Savannah River Site is currently the only site being considered for accepting the material, Maxted said.
Germany has already committed $10 million so the Savannah River National Laboratory can research the best way to handle the material. The potential transfer of the material dates back to 2012 when Germany contacted the Energy Department for help in disposing of the HEU. "At the time, we didn’t take it because we don’t know how to get rid of graphite-padded fuel," Maxted said Thursday. "That’s when SRNL came up with an idea to try to remove the graphite to get to the fuel kernels inside each of the balls." Maxted said the technology being developed at SRNL looks "promising" but that researchers have more work to do before the department will approve the project.
Following her explanation of the process, more than 30 members of the public were each given a three-minute window to comment on the potential transfer. Former SRS employee Chuck Goergen voiced his support for the mission, saying it is an international security issue and that the U.S. has a policy objective to accept the material. "SRS has the ability to protect the material until it is processed into a waste form. SRS has the capability and experience to design the equipment and I am in favor of the site taking the material," Goergen said. Several other individuals and stakeholders echoed Goergen’s stance, including former SRS employees, the Aiken-based group Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, and the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce.
Opponents of transferring the HEU to SRS include Rose Hayes, a former member of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). Maxted explained that once the site’s H Canyon facility breaks down the uranium, one of the suggested disposition pathways is to put the material into the SRS storage tanks that already hold millions of gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste. The uranium would then be treated as waste and converted into a glassy form at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Hayes said pouring more material into aging Cold War-era tanks is ill-advised. "Tank closures are behind schedule, some are leaking, and they’re actually under threat of a lawsuit. To say that we’re going to put more stuff in the tanks is highly inadvisable." Several other shared Hayes’ views, including SRS Watch Director Tom Clements and Suzanne Rhodes, a member of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. Many opponents are in favor of a "no action" alternative, which would leave the HEU in Germany.
A 45-day comment period will last through March 11, allowing more time for citizens to comment on the issue. Comments can be submitted via mail to: Tracy Williams, NEPA compliance officer, U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box B, Aiken, SC 29802. Comments also may be submitted by email to GermanSpentNuclearFuelEA@leidos.com. Once all of the comments are taken, they will be considered in the department’s decision. A final assessment will be submitted to upper management for approval and issued in the Federal Register. Maxted said there is no timetable for a DOE decision on the matter.
