An environmentalist lawsuit seeking to delay construction of the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility could stretch out until at least May, according to a scheduling order filed this week in the federal district court for South Carolina in Aiken.
In the two year-old lawsuit, four environmental groups sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), arguing that the agency needed to complete more environmental reviews of the proposed plutonium pit factory. In October, the groups told the court that the NNSA ignored crucial data when the agency formalized its decision to limit environmental reviews of the planned plant to the effects it would have on the Savannah River Site itself.
Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., and Ukraine’s national nuclear power company, Energoatom, announced this week that they signed an agreement in principle to build a factory in Ukraine that will make parts for the company’s SMR-300 small modular reactors.
The parties will create a “[j]oint Venture between Energoatom and Holtec for a Ukrainian manufacturing facility and technology center that will serve as the vehicle to infuse the latest manufacturing technology in Ukraine,” Holtec wrote in a Dec. 19 in a press release. Energoatom posted the news to its Telegram channel on Dec. 20.
As part of the effort to detect nuclear explosive tests around the world, government officials this month met in Santiago, Chile, to discuss radioactive emissions from peaceful sources, such as during the production of medical isotopes.
The experts met to discuss how to differentiate the production and use of medical isotopes and those used in nuclear weapons, which can look similar on some detection systems, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a Dec. 13 statement.
