The U.K. Defense Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) has notified the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) of a “failure of safety culture,” “inadequate resourcing” and “continued non-compliance.” The DNSR issued two safety improvement notices to the MoD in 2010, two more in 2016 and one in 2017. These notices claim that there were a series of safety errors at the U.K. facilities for the construction and maintenance of the U.K. fleet of nuclear submarines. These safety notices were revealed last year after the MoD released them in response to a freedom of information request.
       In April of 2010, the DNSR accused the naval base at Devonport in Plymouth of a “failure to reinstate primary systems” following routine submarine maintenance. In May of 2010, the DNSR said that the Nuclear Propulsion Project Team was guilty of “failure to meet good safety management practice.” This failure took place in the construction of new Astute-class reactor-driven submarines. The DNSR notice said, “Inadequate resourcing forms the root cause of failing to address regulatory concerns. DNSR’s concern is that future nuclear reactor program safety may compromised.”
        In September of 2016, the DNSR criticized the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire for “continued non-compliance” because they did not provide safety documents that were required. In October of 2016, the DNSR told the Naval Reactor Plant Authorisee that it did not have “an adequate, extant nuclear baseline.” The DNSR notice said, “DNSR considers that the lack of a nuclear baseline and therefore the lack of control of organizational change demonstrates a non-compliance.” 
        In September of 2017, the DNSR sent a safety notice to the Strategic Weapons Project Team at Abbey Wood near Bristol. The DNSR said that the SWPT had failed to meet safety requirements “on organizational capability.” The MoD was instructed to make “adequate arrangements to control any change to its organization structure or resources which may affect safety.”
         Stuart McDonald is a member of the Scottish parliament. He is the defense spokesperson for the Scottish National Party. He said, “The number of safety improvement notices served on the MoD for nuclear safety failures is alarming, and shows a lack of regard for public safety and transparency. It’s appalling that it takes a freedom of information request to uncover this information, which speaks to a wider concern over transparency at the MoD.”
       Mark Ruskell is a member of the Scottish Parliament representing the Green party. He expressed a fear that a “corner cutting culture” was compromising nuclear safety. He said, “Despite the vast sums spent on maintaining these weapons of mass destruction there is clearly a corner cutting culture that has seriously compromised safety standards.”
        The MoD defended its record of compliance with tight safety requirements for dealing with nuclear materials. A spokesperson for the MoD said, “We continue to deliver on our commitment to strengthen the management of all our nuclear programs, ensuring they are managed, advanced and delivered as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.”
       Over and over again, defense departments of nuclear armed nations fail to rigorously follow regulations for nuclear safety. It appears that they often feel that in the pursuit of nation security, adhering to regulations is optional.

Ambient office  = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Yellow bell pepper from Central Market = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 116 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Organic avocado from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 59 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 46 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 154 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 155 nanosieverts per hour

Pineapple from Central Market = 117 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Dover sole – Caught in USA = 85 nanosieverts per hour

        The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the third deep geological repository for nuclear waste in the world. The first two were located in Germany and are closed. The WIPP is licensed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste left over from the development and manufacture of nuclear weapons. It is supposed to safely isolate nuclear waste for ten thousand years. It is located twenty-six miles from Carlsbad, New Mexico.
        I have blogged about the WIPP before when barrels of radioactive waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory exploded in the repository and radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere. It turned out that the barrels were improperly prepared and improperly stored in the repository. The repository had to be shut down for three years while it was repaired at a cost of millions of dollars.
        Now the U.S. Department of Energy has put fourth a proposal for the reclassification of some high-level radioactive wastes that would expand the types of waste that can be stored at the WIPP. Waste resulting from the processing of nuclear fuel could be classified as transuranic and sent to WIPP. There is currently no geological repository for such nuclear waste in the U.S. and the volume of such waste is steadily increasing.
      Currently, whether or not drums of radioactive waste can be stored at WIPP depends more on the origin of the drums than on their contents. There are one hundred and seventy-seven tanks holding fifty-six million gallons of liquid nuclear waste being stored at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation left over from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The cost of storing this waste at Hanford is billions of dollars a year. The way that it is currently classified prevents it from being eligible for storage at WIPP.
       John Heaton, chair of the Carlsbad Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, says that, “A lot of (the waste at Hanford) would pass the waste acceptance criteria at WIPP. It would extend the life of WIPP for sure. They’re spending billions of dollars on this stuff a year. The only risk reduction that’s happening is in what’s coming to WIPP.” However, if the waste at Hanford is reclassified, it could also be stored at ground-level repositories. Heaton admits that, “If more of it could be disposed of near the surface, it could negatively impact WIPP. It is whatever method is cheapest. A lot of it will be low-level, but there will definitely be some TRU waste that’s destined for WIPP.”
      The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) is a nonprofit organization of communities and local governments impacted by the activities of the DoE. A 2017 report from the ECA said, “For too long, costly treatment and disposal decisions have been made base on artificial standards, ones that base waste classification on the origin rather than the actual characteristics and risk to human health arising from the waste. The change could result in about $40 billion in savings to tax payers. We also understand that some have an interest in not evolving and leaving the waste in place. The local communities find this unacceptable.”
      Don Hancock is the director of the Nuclear Waste Program at the Southwest Research and Information Center. He says that the DoE proposal is not only illegal but also hypocritical. He points out that high level waste is defined repeatedly in different laws passed by Congress and that the DoE proposal would seek to circumvent congressional powers. He also said that if the waste in question is really less dangerous that was previously thought, then there is no reason that it cannot be safely kept where it is. Hancock says, “What it seems like they’re proposing is illegal. They say they get to rewrite the law, not Congress. They’re a lot of opposition to this nationally.”
       Hancock explains that the DoE proposal was also intended to circumvent the federal law that requires high-level nuclear waste to be stored underground by changing the classification. He says, “There was a consensus that there should be multiple geologic repositories. There should be multiple places in the U.S. where you can have safe repositories. That didn’t happen.”

Ambient office  = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 71 nanosieverts per hour