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Updates from the SRSCRO
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September 2017
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Follow us on Twitter!
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Rick McLeod @atomicasset
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Mindy Mets @nuclearstem
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A New Approach to DOE's Waste Management
The House Armed Services Committees approved their version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2018 in late June. The House calls for the Secretary of Energy to conduct an evaluation of how DOE determines the classification of defense nuclear waste as to "identify any changes that the Secretary determines would provide significant cost avoidance or cost savings within the long-term defense environmental cleanup program." The report would be due to Congress by February 1, 2018. There is hope similar language survives the Senate version and makes it through conference.
As a precursor, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) prepared a
whitepaper to assist DOE as it makes its evaluation. This paper outlines alternative approaches to waste management, beginning with clarifying how nuclear waste types across the complex are defined. It was widely distributed at last week's DOE National Cleanup Workshop and well received.
ECA members support a two-pronged approach with two distinct but complementary strategies:
1. An administrative approach that will use existing DOE authorities provided under DOE Order 435.1 to provide the clarity in how waste is defined.
2. A legislative approach to codify the statutory change in the legal definition.
Some communities, such as those around the Savannah River Site, have already developed legislative language consistent with the existing definition of HLW for consideration. The Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization, for example, proposes that the text below could be placed in legislation (e.g., the NDAA or other appropriate legislation) to capture and clearly define radioactive wastes currently being incorrectly categorized:
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CR'ed Again
 The House of Representatives passed its complete Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) funding package with legislation that encompassed all 12 annual Appropriations bills in early September. The Senate continues to work at the Committee level on FY18, and has not yet released, nor voted on, many of its FY18 funding bills.
Also this month, the House (by a 316-90 vote) and Senate (by an 80-17 vote) voted on a continuing resolution (CR) that keeps the government funded through December 8 at the same levels as FY2017. In addition, it provides emergency funding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Furthermore, the bill suspends the debt limit temporarily through December 8, 2017, by which time the House and Senate will need to either negotiate a final FY18 package or pass another CR.
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Robots are Coming...
 AND there will be ATOMS in the ALLEY! These
new events are hosted by the SRS Museum as part of Nuclear Science Week 2017 celebrations set for October 16-20, 2017. For the fifth year in a row, local educators, employers and community organizations are joining to celebrate nuclear science contributions that advance technology in applications such as medicine, energy, security, space exploration, agriculture and more. Events include Ruth Patrick Science Center and Augusta University Education Days, SRS and Plant Vogtle Site Tours, CNTA Edward Teller Lecture and STEM Career Connections. This year brings new public celebrations like the CNTA Costume Ball, SRS Museum robot display and Atoms in the Alley - a family friendly event in Downtown Aiken that will wrap-up the week on Saturday, October 21.
Click
here to learn more about these Nuclear Science Week events.
Click
here to learn more about nuclear science applications that improve lives.
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Tailgating
Fun Facts
Caesar may have been history's first recorded tailgater. - The story goes that after a particularly crazy chariot race, the leader opened up the Coliseum, inviting people in to enjoy food, drink, and various types of entertainment.
People actually tailgated at Civil War battles. - At the Battle of Bull Run in 1861, Union Army supporters showed up with some food and drinks and loudly cheered on the soldiers while hanging out in their carriages.
Some of the first tailgate parties were held for Ivy League teams. Some believe that tailgating dates back to the very first football game ever played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, when fans traveled to the game by horse-drawn carriage, grilling sausages at the "tail-end" of the horse and spawning the term "tailgating."
Yale also claims to have started tailgating. - According to Yale, their alums were the first to start the practice of tailgating. Their theory goes that fans in private railcars heading to a Yale football game had to walk from the station to the field, and had little chance to get food along the way. It became common to bring food and drinks along with to the games.
U of Kentucky is yet another school that lays claim to creating tailgating. - Some believe that it was Southerners who created the tradition of tailgating at the University of Kentucky in 1881. Students and alumni at the school's football games were said to have dined on wild fish and other tasty treats before the game, and hung out eating leftovers and socializing after the game as well.
Green Bay Packer tailgaters hold the record for braving the coldest weather to support their team. - In 1967, fans braved a wind chill of 48 degrees below zero to see the Packers defeat the Cowboys in what would become known as the "Ice Bowl."
The average tailgater spends more than $500 per year on food for tailgating.
Each year, between 20 and 50 million Americans tailgate in a stadium parking lot.
30% of tailgaters don't even attend the game.
The majority of tailgaters are college educated. Fifty-nine percent of tailgaters have a college degree, with 14% having a graduate degree.
Americans spend over $35 billion on food, beverages, and supplies for tailgating each year.
Ninety-five percent of tailgaters prepare their food at the stadium.
The top five most-purchased items by tailgaters during the 2006 football season were (in order) cooler, grill, alcohol, furniture, and meat.
What it Was, Was Football is a monologue by comedian Andy Griffith - click here to view.
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Closing Thoughts
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"Well done is better than well said." -- Benjamin Franklin
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We all have ability. The difference is how we use it." -- Charlotte Whitton
"Patience is the companion of wisdom." -- Saint Augustine
"We have, I fear, confused power with greatness."
-- Stewart Udall
"You will never win if you never begin." -- Helen Rowland
"The greatest remedy for anger is delay." -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"The ability to speak several languages is an asset but the ability to keep your mouth shut in any language is priceless" -- Unknown
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Contact Information
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SRSCRO, PO Box 696, Aiken, SC 29802
Staff:
Rick McLeod - President/CEO - 803-508-7402
Mindy Mets - NWI® Program Manager - 803-508-7403
Amy Merry - Administrative & Business Manager - 803-508-7401
Kim Saxon - Assistant Coordinator - 803-508-7656
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