nuclear-news

US: poor management of radioactive wastes

Augusta Chronicle By Rob Pavey 3 Dec 09 Savannah River Site’s main contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, was admonished by the Energy Department on Wednesday for poor management and unacceptable delays in its mission to dispose of 4,200 cubic meters of transuranic nuclear waste by September 2012.

The transuranic waste program involves shipments of radioactive material from South Carolina to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Such wastes include clothing, debris, and other items contaminated with radioactive elements, primarily plutonium, during decades of nuclear materials production.

Since 2001, more than 28,200 drums have been transported. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions took over the site’s cleanup programs………….”Poor management of, and support to, the TRU Waste Disposition Project has resulted in delays of two or more months in the resumption of F-Canyon drum remediation and H-Canyon box repackaging,” Mr. Allison wrote…………….SRS received $1.6 billion in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funding, some of which was earmarked to accelerate the transuranic waste disposal project and complete all shipments seven years earlier than previously planned……http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/12/03/met_557986.shtml

December 4, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, wastes