BREAKING NEWS
NNSA pays Another MOX Settlement - $600 Million for Breaking Plutonium Removal Pact with State (After Last year’s MOX contractor $186 million Settlement).
ECA Staff | 8/31/2020
Announced earlier this morning, NNSA has agreed to pay $600 million to the state of South Carolina "for a 15-year grace period on payments to remove weapons-grade plutonium that has been at the center of a long-running dispute between the state and
Department of Energy."
NNSA is now paying over three quarters of a billion dollars ($786 million to the state and the contractor) plus the actual cost of terminating the project.
GAO will be able to tell us whether the cost of cancelling the project is over $1 billion. There is no word yet on whether the funds are coming out of the NNSA weapons budget or another budget line item.
"Today's announcement is a guarantee to the people of South Carolina that plutonium will be removed safely from the state," Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said during a press conference.
We would not be surprised to see every state attorney general to be prepared for additional suits against DOE/NNSA based on the size of the settlement (including for breaking cleanup agreements). This comes on the heels of last week’s announcement on the plan
to utilize the dilute and dispose method for disposition of surplus plutonium as transuranic (TRU) waste.
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SMALL MODULAR REACTOR
NuScale Power Makes History as the First Ever Small Modular Reactor to Receive U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Design Approval
Business Wire | 8/28/2020
NuScale Power announced today that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed Phase 6 review—the last and final phase—of the Design Certification Application (DCA) for the company’s groundbreaking small modular reactor (SMR) with the issuance of the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER). The FSER represents completion of the technical review and approval of the NuScale SMR design. With this
final phase of NuScale’s DCA now complete, customers can proceed with plans to develop NuScale power plants with the understanding that the NRC has approved the safety aspects of the NuScale design.
Don't forget to register for the 2020 National Cleanup Workshop!
The 2020 National Cleanup Workshop will be held virtually on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, from 12:00 - 5:00 PM ET.
Hear exclusive insights from our list of speakers, headlined by:
Paul Dabbar, DOE Under Secretary for Science
William "Ike" White, Senior Advisor for Environmental Management to the Under Secretary for Science
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)
Registration for this event is $75.
There are currently over 750 paid registrations - reserve your spot today! The virtual workshop will bring together senior DOE officials, state and local government officials, and industry leaders to discuss key issues facing the DOE complex in the year ahead.
Please contact Autumn Bogus at [email protected] or (865) 294-5129 with any questions about registration. For more information, please visit cleanupworkshop.com.
Thank you to our sponsors:
2020 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Important dates to keep in mind for the end of the year
2020 Congressional Calendar found here
Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email [email protected].
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
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