Groups ask Biden for wider environmental review of nuke work
The work will be split between Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. โ Watchdog groups want the Biden administration to reconsider a decision by a U.S. agency not to conduct a more extensive environmental review related to production of the plutonium cores used in the nationโs nuclear arsenal. She said the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration have a new opportunity to revisit their Trump-era refusal for a more thorough environmental review. The mission of producing the plutonium cores began at Rocky Flats in the 1950s and was eventually moved to Los Alamos in the late 1990s. Dogged by safety problems and concerns about a lack of accountability, production at Los Alamos has happened in fits and starts over the years.
Some radioactive Savannah River Site waste headed to Texas
AIKEN, S.C. The U.S. Department of Energy is planning to send a few gallons of radioactive wastewater from a South Carolina nuclear reservation to Texas, where it will be treated and disposed. The Aiken Standard reports the upcoming move will expedite the cleanup of nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site operated by the Department of Energy. The transfer follows an Energy Department decision to re-interpret the definition of high-level radioactive waste." The waste is currently stored in an underground tank at the Savannah River site. According to the Aiken Standard, government documents state the retrieval, movement, treatment and disposal of the waste poses minimal risks to human and environmental health.