The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board heard Monday the proposed fiscal 2022 budget proposal for the Department of Energy site in South Carolina includes $9 million toward development of a new emergency operations center.
The minibus appropriations package scheduled for debate Tuesday afternoon on the House floor also includes the $9 million for the new center. The Senate has yet to start work on appropriations bills this year.
The current emergency operations hub at the Savannah River Site is located in a 1950s vintage building and “that facility is in much need of replacement,” said John Lopez, director of integration and planning at Savannah River, told the advisory board during the virtual meeting.
Today’s centers “are located in the basement of an abandoned, 70-year-old, 150,000 square-foot administrative building” already on the site’s decommissioning and demolition list, according to the Joe Biden administration’s budget justification language released in May.
The current facility is not prime real estate and will be shuttered “once the emergency operations functions are relocated,” according to the request. “The facility has a history of mold and mildew issues, water intrusion, sewer, and asbestos hazards. These hazards have already caused 90% of the facility to be condemned and continue to affect the health and wellbeing of the current occupants.”
The budget enacted by Congress for fiscal 2020 and 2021 provided the project with between $6 million and $7 million each year and more funding is expected in coming years, Lopez said. The budget request document placed the current estimated cost of the project at somewhere between $83 million and $93 million. Design work is expected to be completed in fiscal 2022 .
The DOE has said, in documents released in connection with solicitation of a new management and operations contract at Savannah River, it currently anticipates a construction contract being issued in the summer of 2023 with completion envisioned in fall of 2028.
The DOE has requested $1.58 billion in Office of Environmental Management spending at Savannah River during the fiscal year that will start Oct. 1. On Monday, the House Rules Committee approved for floor debate a bill that would increase that figure by more than 3% to almost $1.59 billion. The bill also restores about $5.7 million in payments in lieu of taxes funds omitted in the request, Lopez said.