SRSCRO February 2022 Update

SRSCRO Comments to Recent DOE HLW Federal Register Notices

As reported in last month’s newsletter, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the decision to accept the high-level waste (HLW) interpretation as policy. The two Federal Register Notices, the Draft SRS Contaminated Process Equipment Environmental Assessment and other information related to the high-level radioactive waste interpretation can be viewed at https://www.energy.gov/em/program-scope/high-level-radioactive-waste-hlw-interpretation.

We fully support both the Assessment-of-DOE-HLW-Interpretation-12-21-2021-86-FR-72220 and the NEPA-EA-SRS-12-21-2021-86-FR-72217. A synopsis of the SRSCRO comments to these notices can be found below:

In 2013, we believed such an interpretation would open new disposition paths for then classified HLW, with no near-term path for disposal, that has been stored for decades at DOE sites. We still believe that today!

We were also a big proponent of using an incremental process of pilot projects allowing DOE to both demonstrate the feasibility of the risk-based approach and engage the host communities, regulators, and other stakeholders to obtain public understanding and feedback prior to making longer term, farther reaching programmatic decisions.

So now almost 10 years later, we have been successful in using this policy for DWPF Recycle Wastewater from SRS (August 10, 2020, 85 FR 48236) and DOE shipped a small quantity of SRS DWPF recycle wastewater to commercial facility for stabilization and disposal (September 2020). Next, as covered in NEPA-EA-SRS-12-21-2021-86-FR-72217, is the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Commercial Disposal of Savannah River Site Contaminated Process Equipment (DOE/EA-2154).

Our original goal was to ultimately target vitrified glass canisters at SRS that may not be defense high-level waste (DHLW) by definition and could be disposed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This is still the ultimate goal! DOE needs to start to develop SRS/WIPP plans with this goal in mind.

It is very important for waste to be moved out of South Carolina. It is very important for the nation to demonstrate that such waste can be moved in a good technical manner while maintaining credibility, engineering safeguards, environmental compliance and done safely. DOE needs to start on this important action now!

It is a very positive sign that DOE has determined in the Assessment-of-DOE-HLW-Interpretation-12-21-2021-86-FR-72220 that the interpretation is consistent with the law, guided by the best available science and data, and considered the views of members of the public and the scientific community in its adoption.

The two Federal Register Notices, the Draft Savannah River Site Contaminated Process Equipment Environmental Assessment, and other information related to the high-level radioactive waste interpretation can be viewed here.

Gone Fission

Interested in the latest news about environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy's nuclear facilities? The GONE FISSION Nuclear Report is for you!"

The podcast, hosted by Michael Butler, was created to take advantage of one of the newest innovations in media to communicate the impressive accomplishments of the Department's Environmental Management (EM) program. Recent guests on the second season of the show include Seth Kirshenberg, Executive Director of the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA); Rick McLeod, President & CEO of the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization (SRSCRO); and Kristen Ellis, Acting Director of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement for EM.

Kirshenberg's interview highlights ECA's engagement with DOE and current priority issues.

Rick McLeod's episode featured discussion on the SRSCRO, where the Board of Directors and he advocate for new missions for DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS) and serve as a unified voice for a two-state, five-county region around SRS while supporting cleanup of the former plutonium production site. McLeod also discussed how SRSCRO's mission has evolved since its inception.

In her episode, Kristin Ellis discussed DOE's STEM programs and what her office is doing to help ensure an adequate environmental cleanup workforce for the future.

All episodes of 'Gone Fission Nuclear Report' may be found at gonefissionnuclear.com

Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) – Current Developments

With the assistance from the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), local school boards and governments hope for smoother process this year when it comes to Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT). ECA is a non-profit membership organization of local governments adjacent to or affected by U.S. Department of Energy activities and recently issued a press release concerning the PILT topic.

Last year, the Administration’s budget request did not include PILT funding for the communities hosting the Department of Energy - Environmental Management (DOE-EM) facilities at Savannah River Site and Hanford Site. These payments directly support local school, police, and emergency response funding for frontline communities adjacent to and directly impacted by DOE sites.

In the ECA press release, local school boards joined local governments in communities hosting DOE’s Savannah River Site and Hanford Site in highlighting the importance of PILT and asking that they again be included in the FY2023 DOE budget request for the Office of Environmental Management (EM). Excerpts from the press release are found below.

“The PILT is a critical funding source for both our local school districts and communities adjacent to the Savannah River Site,” Gary Bunker, Chairman of the Aiken County Council in SC said. “The PILT makes up for revenue lost due to ad valorem taxes. Our local communities strongly support the critical missions at the Savannah River Site and the continuation of the PILT supports this ongoing collaboration between the Site and the surrounding three county region.”

“Blackville-Hilda Public Schools is the smallest and one of the poorest school districts in South Carolina,” David Corder, Superintendent of Blackville-Hilda Public Schools in SC said. “Each year we strive to continue to offer the best educational opportunities to our children while struggling to maintain financial stability. The loss of PILT funds will further exacerbate our budget shortfalls in a district that has a narrow tax base and only one industry.”

Dr. Marcella Shaw, Superintendent of Williston School District 29 in South Carolina, similarly noted the essential functions of PILT payments in her school district.

“The PILT funds are critical to the overall operations of [the school district],” she said. “The funds are utilized to support our general fund budget. A balanced general fund budget affords us the opportunity to equip our schools with the necessary materials, supplies, and tools needed to assure that we meet the overall vision and mission of our district, ensuring that all of our scholars are college and/or career ready.”

The superintendents’ letter goes on to state, “PILT payments support our schools. Without PILT payments, our communities lack the ability to educate children – including the children of the people that undertake the critical environmental cleanup at DOE sites.”

Similar letters sent from the local governments at each site reaffirms the strong support for PILT payments, reading, “As the host communities of one of our most important national security and defense missions, we ask for your assistance and support in ensuring that future DOE budget requests, including for FY2023, include sufficient funding for PILT payments to our communities.”

In This Issue

SRSCRO Comments to Recent DOE HLW Federal Register Notices

Gone Fission

Payments in Lieu of Taxes - Current Developments

Spotlight

Columbia County

Career & College Expo

Look for the SRSCRO table at the Columbia County Exhibition Center on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, for the 3rd Annual Career & College Expo. This event, hosted by the Columbia County Chamber Foundation in partnership with the Columbia County School District, aligns educational, technical, and trade sectors with businesses showing parents and students the pathways to obtain a future quality career. Each participating company will list careers and the education, skills, or certificates needed for future employment. Attendees will learn about expected benefits and salary ranges for each type of position. The Expo goal is to show a true path from high school to a future career, whether that includes a four-year university, a technical college or trade school, or directly going into the workforce, it’s a road to a future career.

Learn more information here.

Presidents' Day

Fun Facts

George Washington was the only president unanimously elected, meaning all of the state representatives voted for him.

John Adams died on the same day as Thomas Jefferson, July 4th, 1826. This day was also the 50th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence!

James Madison and George Washington are the only presidents who signed the Constitution.

James Madison was the shortest president at 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 100 pounds.

Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president at 6 feet 4 inches tall (Lyndon B. Johnson was also 6' 4").

James Monroe was the 5th president, but the 3rd to die on the 4th of July.

Abraham Lincoln often stored things like letters and documents in his tall stove-piped hat.

Franklin D. Roosevelt met President Grover Cleveland when he was five years old. Cleveland said "I am making a wish for you. It is that you may never become president of the United States".

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to appear on television during a 1939 broadcast from the World's Fair.

John F. Kennedy was the youngest to be elected president. Joe Biden was the oldest at 78 years, 61 days.

Teddy Roosevelt was blind in his left eye due to an injury in a boxing match.

When Ronald Reagan was shot by an assassin in 1981, he joked "I forgot to duck".

The "S" in Harry S. Truman does not stand for anything.

John F. Kennedy was the first president who was a Boy Scout.

Woodrow Wilson was buried at the Washington National Cathedral. He is the only president buried in Washington D.C.

Andrew Jackson was shot in the chest during a gun duel, but managed to stay standing and shoot and kill his opponent. The bullet could not be safely removed and remained in his chest for the next 40 years.

George W. Bush is the only president to have earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

Barack Obama won a Grammy Award in 2006 for his voice on the audio book Dreams From My Father.

After working at a Baskin-Robbins as a teen, President Obama no longer likes ice cream. Bummer!

Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born as a citizen of the United States. The presidents before him were born as British subjects.

Martin Van Buren was the only president to speak English as a second language. His first language was Dutch.

James K. Polk was the first president to have his photograph taken while in office.

William Henry Harrison was the 9th president. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was the 23rd president.

William Henry Harrison died just 32 days after becoming president. He died from a cold he got while standing in the rain giving his inauguration speech.

John Tyler had 15 children. The White House must have been hopping!

The 2022 SRSCRO meeting schedule is available here.

Closing Thoughts

The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.

-- Nicholas Butler

A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. -- John le Carre

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. -- Carl Reiner

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

-- George Eliot

To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

History is the short trudge from Adam to atom. -- Leonard Louis Levinson

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.

-- Horace Walpole

Contact Information

SRSCRO, PO Box 696, Aiken, SC 29802

Staff:

Rick McLeod | President/CEO | 803.508.7402

Mindy Mets | Director of Regional Workforce Programs |803.508.7403

Amy Merry | Administrative & Business Manger | 803.508.7401

Kim Saxon | Assistant Coordinator | 803.508.7656

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