National Academies: Disposing of surplus plutonium at WIPP viableRadwaste SolutionsWaste ManagementMay 4, 2020, 8:53AM|Radwaste Solutions StaffThe National Nuclear Security Administration’s early-stage plan to dilute and dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is technically viable, according to an April 30 release from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.Background: In 2014, the Department of Energy produced early-stage plans to disposition diluted surplus plutonium transuranic (DSP-TRU) waste by diluting it at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, then transporting it to WIPP in New Mexico for disposal. This “dilute-and-dispose” plan carries an estimated cost of $18.2 billion over more than 30 years.A National Academies report, "Review of the Department of Energy’s Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant" (review report), finds that nearly all of the plan’s individual processes and steps have been demonstrated successfully in the past by the DOE. The plan utilizes shared equipment and resources from other DOE efforts, employs well-established transportation programs, and references previous successful emplacements of similar waste in WIPP.Environmental impacts: According to the National Academies, disposing of DSP-TRU waste at WIPP would fundamentally change the nature of the geologic repository, which raises social, environmental, and technical questions. If unanswered, these questions translate to vulnerabilities that would need to be resolved for the plan to be viable. The review report recommends that the DOE implement a new programmatic environmental impact statement to consider the full environmental effect of National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan on WIPP. It also recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency, the DOE, and New Mexico develop a mutual strategy for vetting the effects of the plan, in addition to reinstating the Environmental Evaluation Group, an independent technical group overseeing the protection of public health and the environment on behalf of New Mexico and its citizens.Security plans: Still under development. The review report says that periodic reviews of the plan’s security arrangements by a team of independent technical experts should be required until its classified aspects are completed and implemented, adding that DSP-TRU waste is not like other transuranic nuclear waste streams at WIPP, and standard operating procedures may not be adequate for securing the waste. “With sufficient mining expertise (which is becoming more common) and resources, non-state or third-state actors could retrieve emplaced DSP-TRU waste during the post-closure period with its absence left undetected,” the review report states. The review report also recommends that the DOE periodically update its security assessments, given the long duration of the program.Program execution challenges: While none threaten the plan’s technical viability, execution challenges to the dilute-and-dispose approach could be addressed through improved project plans and consistent funding from Congress. Challenges include scaling up current operations to a system that can generate, transport, and dispose of DSP-TRU waste on schedule, or maintaining infrastructure and a workforce that can last the 30-year span of the project. These could lead to extended timelines and increased costs, the National Academies said. The review report notes that the NNSA’s plan also spans multiple DOE sites, offices, and functions without clear crosscutting leadership.International agreements: The review report recommends that the DOE clarify its intent for International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring and inspections prior to the placement of waste at WIPP. Under the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) between the United States and Russia, the surplus plutonium was to be converted to mixed oxide nuclear fuel. The DOE’s dilute-and-dispose approach, however, is not recognized by PMDA, which also requires international monitoring and verification. Yet the DOE’s plans allow for monitoring and verification to remain under development.WIPP capacity: Emplacing the full amount of DSP-TRU waste in WIPP will test its physical and statutory capacity, according to the National Academies. WIPP is the nation’s only operational deep geologic repository for nuclear waste, and the review report says that capacity at WIPP should be treated as a valuable and limited resource by the DOE. The National Academies recommends that the NNSA administrator, in consultation with the DOE assistant secretary for environmental management, reserve capacity in WIPP for the full amount of DSP-TRU waste.The full review report, released on April 30, can be found on the National Academies Press website.Tags:dilute and disposediluted surplus plutonium transuranic wastedoedsp-tru wastennsasecuritywaste managementwippShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
DOE looks to dispose of Savannah River process equipment as LLWThe Department of Energy is considering disposing of contaminated process equipment from its Savannah River Site (SRS) at a commercial low-level waste facility using its recent interpretation of the statutory term “high-level radioactive waste,” which classifies waste generated from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel based on its radiological content rather than its origin.Go to Article
NNSA to hold virtual public meetings regarding Surplus Plutonium Disposition ProgramThe Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration will hold two virtual public meetings on a new environmental impact statement for its Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program (SPDP). The meetings will be held on Monday, January 25, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (ET) and Tuesday, January 26, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. (ET). Participants can join by computer, telephone, or other device. A Notice of Intent contains a full description of the proposal and other options for providing public comment until February 1.The program: The SPDP EIS will analyze alternatives for the disposition of 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium using the capabilities at multiple sites across the United States. The NNSA’s preferred alternative, the dilute and dispose approach (also known as plutonium downblending), includes converting pit and non-pit plutonium to oxide, blending the oxidized plutonium with an adulterant, and emplacing the resulting transuranic waste underground in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), in New Mexico. The approach would require new, modified, or existing capabilities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Pantex Plant in Texas, and WIPP.Go to Article
Trump leaves space nuclear policy executive order for Biden teamA hot fire test of the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was not completed as planned. The SLS is the vehicle meant to propel a crewed mission to the moon in 2024. Source: NASA TelevisionAmong the executive orders President Trump issued during his last weeks in office was “Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration,” which builds on the Space Policy Directives published during his term. The order, issued on January 12, calls for actions within the next six months by NASA and the Department of Defense (DOD), together with the Department of Energy and other federal entities. Whether the Biden administration will retain some, all, or none of the specific goals of the Trump administration’s space nuclear policy remains to be seen, but one thing is very clear: If deep space exploration remains a priority, nuclear-powered and -propelled spacecraft will be needed.The prospects for near-term deployment of nuclear propulsion and power systems in space improved during Trump’s presidency. However, Trump left office days after a hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket did not go as planned. The SLS rocket is meant to propel crewed missions to the moon in 2024 and to enable a series of long-duration lunar missions that could be powered by small lunar reactor installations. The test on January 16 of four engines that were supposed to fire for over eight minutes was automatically aborted after one minute, casting some doubt that a planned November 2021 Artemis I mission can go ahead on schedule.Go to Article
Slaybaugh named to lead Berkeley Lab’s Cyclotron RoadSlaybaughThe Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently named Rachel Slaybaugh, ANS member since 2003 and associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California–Berkeley, to lead the lab’s Cyclotron Road Division.Get to know her: Prior to coming to Berkeley, Slaybaugh served as a program director for the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), whose mission is to advance high-potential and high-impact energy technologies. From 2017 through 2020 at ARPA-E, Slaybaugh led programs supporting research in advanced nuclear fission reactors, agriculture technologies, and sensing and data analytics for four years.Go to Article
NNSA releases contractor performance evaluationsThe National Nuclear Security Administration last week released performance evaluation summaries on the effectiveness of its management and operating (M&O) contractors in meeting the agency’s expectations during fiscal year 2020.The summaries feature assessment “scorecards,” as well as links to M&O contractor performance evaluation and measurement plans. Also included are specific contractor accomplishments, plus issues requiring attention.Go to Article
The year in review 2020: Waste ManagementHere is a look back at the top stories of 2020 from our Waste Management section in Newswire and Nuclear News magazine. Remember to check back to Newswire soon for more top stories from 2020.Waste Management sectionFirst-ever cleanup of uranium enrichment plant celebrated at Oak Ridge: The completion of the decades-long effort to clean up the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant was celebrated on October 13, with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette joining U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, and other state and community leaders at the East Tennessee Technology Park, where the uranium enrichment complex once stood. Read more.Go to Article
Acting NNSA administrator to step down on Inauguration DayBooklessThe acting head of the National Nuclear Security Administration will resign January 20, Inauguration Day, according to a report in the Aiken (S.C.) Standard. William Bookless, who has more than four decades of experience in the nuclear security field, will also retire from federal service that day, the agency confirmed to the Standard.The NNSA has made no official announcement or named a replacement for Bookless as of Thursday morning.Go to Article
INL’s MARVEL could demonstrate remote operation on a micro scaleThe Department of Energy launched a 14-day public review and comment period on January 11 on a draft environmental assessment for a proposal to construct the Microreactor Applications Research Validation & EvaLuation (MARVEL) project microreactor inside Idaho National Laboratory’s Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility.The basics: The MARVEL design is a sodium-potassium–cooled thermal microreactor fueled by uranium zirconium hydride fuel pins using high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). It would be a 100-kWt reactor capable of generating about 20 kWe using Stirling engines over a core life of about two years.The DOE proposes to install the MARVEL microreactor in a concrete storage pit in the north high bay of the TREAT reactor building. Modifications to the building to accommodate MARVEL are anticipated to take five to seven months. Constructing, assembling, and performing preoperational testing are expected to take another two to three months prior to fuel loading.Go to Article
U.S., Canada complete nuclear material shipping effortA four-year campaign to repatriate 161 kilograms of highly enriched uranium liquid target residue material (TRM) from Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., has been completed, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) announced on January 12.The campaign was conducted under the U.S.-Origin Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance Program, established in 1996 to return U.S.-origin spent nuclear fuel and other weapons-grade nuclear material from civilian sites worldwide. Other partners involved in the effort included the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), and Savannah River National Laboratory as well as state and tribal governments.The TRM is the by-product of the production of medical isotopes from AECL’s now-shuttered National Research Universal reactor. The repatriation of the material, begun in 2017 and completed in 2020, involved 115 separate truck shipments, covering some 150,000 miles, according to the announcements.Go to Article
EPRI names Rita Baranwal as new VP of nuclear, CNOBaranwalThe Electric Power Research Institute today announced Rita Baranwal as its new vice president of nuclear energy and chief nuclear officer. Baranwal succeeds Neil Wilmshurst, who was promoted to senior vice president of energy system resources in November.Baranwal most recently served as the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for its Office of Nuclear Energy, where she managed the DOE's portfolio of nuclear research for existing and advanced reactors and new designs. Baranwal unexpectedly resigned from that position late last week.Go to Article