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United States II: Savannah River MOX Plant Design Has Unresolved Issues, NRC Says The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said an Energy Department contractor hired to build a plutonium processing facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has not addressed several safety issues in its construction application, Energy Daily reported Tuesday (see GSN, May 3). An NRC draft safety evaluation report last week said Energy recently changed its plans for the mixed-oxide fuel (MOX) facility and that the commission is awaiting further information on those changes. Energy has said it plans to increase the amount of plutonium being shipped to Savannah River because of cancellation of a program that would have converted some of the plutonium to solidified waste, according to Energy Daily. In addition to the department’s changes, there are several unresolved issues in the design plans created by Duke Cogema Stone & Webster for the MOX facility, according to the report. The NRC also has said it will delay an environmental review — which is separate from the safety evaluation — of the facility until Duke Cogema Stone & Webster gives the commission more information on changes to the MOX plan (George Lobsenz, Energy Daily, May 7). Energy Might Ship Untested Containers Meanwhile, to ship plutonium out of the Rocky Flats former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, Energy allowed itself a national security exemption in 2000 to use containers that had not passed a “crush test,” the Denver Post reported Monday (see GSN, April 25). Department engineers had argued against the exemption, saying that it was not for national security reasons, but to reduce costs and to allow the department to meet a 2006 deadline for closing Rocky Flats, according to the Post. Most Rocky Flats plutonium will be shipped in what are known as 3013 containers, but the exemption allows the department to ship some of the waste in DT-22 containers, which are weaker and have not undergone testing involving a 1,100-pound weight dropped from 30 feet, the Post reported. DT-22 cask designers have said the casks would not be able to withstand such an impact, according to Energy documents. The department has made no decision on whether to use the weaker containers to ship plutonium from Rocky Flats to Savannah River, Energy spokesman Joe Davis said last week. Information distributed at a Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board meeting, however, said the department is planning to use 400 of the containers for shipments, the Post reported (Mike Soraghan, Denver Post, May 6).
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