Anti-MOX Activists Needed!

A hearing on DOE's plutonium disposition program will be held in Columbia, SC on Thursday, June 24 at the request of SC State Senator Phil Leventis. There will be a strong showing of MOX supporters at this hearing, as it is located not far from the Savannah River Site where much of the MOX program would be carried out.

For more information on the hearing, contact Ethan Brown at the Carolina Peace Resource Center at 843-853-2414, or ethanbrown@earthlink.net

Comments on the Supplemental EIS will be accepted until MONDAY, JUNE 28. A final EIS is due out in August or September, with a Record of Decision to follow shortly thereafter.

Don't Know What to Say?

Comments from the following groups are available for review:

1. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research:

Comments on Supplemental EIS are found at:
www.ieer.org/ieer/comments/pu-disp/suppeis.html.

2. Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League:

For a copy of most recent comments contact Lou Zeller at bredl@skybest.com

3. Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping:

Numerous comments submitted.
For a list and to receive files, write to port@bigsky.net.

4. Nuclear Control Institute

Numerous comments submitted.
See their website, www.nci.org/home, or contact nci@mailback.com

HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS:

1. By regular mail to:

DOE, Office of Fissile Materials Disposition
c/o Supplement to the SPD EIS
P.O. Box 23786
Washington, DC 20026-3786

2. By email: On the web, go to: www.doe-md.com. Select "Public Involvement" then select "Comment Table," then select "Send Us Email."

3. By phone or fax: The DOE comment line is: 1-800-820-5156 (this line works for both voice messages and faxes).

DOE's one and only day of hearings on the Supplemental EIS on plutonium disposition took place Tuesday, June 15 in Washington DC. Numerous national and local groups had argued for hearings in reactor communities, who would be most affected by the MOX program, but DOE denied these requests.

Peace and environmental groups made a strong showing at the DC hearing, which was covered by some trade press and generated an article in Dow Jones News (for an email copy, write to port@bigsky.net.

According to Brad Morse of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, comments were overwhelmingly in opposition to MOX, except for words for support from: 1) a "private citizen" (former director of the Office of Fissile Materials, Howard Cantor); 2) a Savannah River Site economic development committee staff person; and 3) a private citizen touting the magic of nuclear power.

At the hearing, the Statement of Non-Governmental Organizations on Plutonium Disposition was released. It is signed by a total of 114 organizations and individuals from 14 countries worldwide. For a copy of the statement and list of signatories, see www.ieer.org/comments/pu-disp/ngostmt.html.

MOX Resources available online:

1. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Technical Issues Paper #40:
"Mixed Oxide Fuel (Plutonium Disposition)"

www.nrc.gov/OPA/gmo/tip/tip40.htm

2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory:

"Technical report for the generic site add-on
facility for plutonium polishing"
lib-www.lanl.gov/infores/reports/062099.htm

(NOTE: "plutonium polishing" refers to a process to remove so-called impurities from plutonium so that it is better suited for use as fuel in a nuclear reactor. Though the DOE preferred another processing option that would create far less liquid nuclear waste, the nuclear industry involved in the MOX program insisted on plutonium polishing, a process indistinguishable from reprocessing, for all practical purposes.)

3. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS):

Letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission
"Use of Mixed Oxide Fuel in Commercial Nuclear Power Plants"
www.nrc.gov/ACRS/rrs1/Trans_Let/index_top/ACRS_letters/4621825

Excerpt:
"...dynamic characteristics of MOX pose both safety and control issues that will require the staff to conduct careful review of the neutronics analysis of reactor cores with MOX."

4. Los Alamos National Laboratory:

"Nuclear fuels technologies status report on feed materials baseline development and test fuel fabrication progress."

Discusses problems with successful fabrication of MOX test fuel.

http://lib-www.lanl.gov/lww/welcome.html
From this page, select "Research Library Online Catalog," then in the "Select Index" drop-down menu choose "Technical Report No." and enter: "LA-UR-99- 1533." You can download a PDF file of this report which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

5. Other MOX Resources on the web

(Thanks to Don Moniack of Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping (STAND) for passing these addresses along to us.)

a) DOE Information Bridge:

www.doe.gov/bridge/home.html
Access to full-text DOE research and development reports.

b) Los Alamos National Laboratory Electronic Databases:

lib-www.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/edbsrch.cgi
Over 70 searchable databases - many documents related to MOX and plutonium research.

c) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Technical Information Department Library Services:

www.llnl.gov/tid/opac.html
Online database search. Information on immobilization research in particular.

* Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL)

Check out BREDL's Southern Anti-Plutonium Campaign and anti-MOX efforts in the south - See their website: www.bredl.org.

BREDL also has available bright orange stickers for Duke Energy customers to attach to their power bills saying "No Plutonium Fuel in Duke Reactors!" Contact Lou Zeller at bredl@skybest.com to order some.

* Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping (STAND)

STAND has the following resources available:

-"The Nuclear Examiner" newsletter

Lots of information on MOX. Back issues available. For a list of issues covered and to request copies contact Don Moniak, dm4stand@arn.net

- Analysis of plutonium disposition program and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) violations.

Write to port@bigsky.net for a copy.

* Nix MOX Coalition: Washington DC Group

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 7th, 2:00 p.m. EST, office of Nuclear Information Resource Service, 1424 16th St. NW, Suite # 404. For more information contact Brad Morse at: bamorse@earthlink.net