The Department of Energy said it is committed to meeting its new schedule for building and starting work at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). “The Department recognizes the past challenges with the construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility and have worked with Parsons, the contractor on the project, to address the issues,” James Giusti, Savannah River Site spokesman, said in a written statement last week. “Under the new revised schedule, construction is expected to be completed by the December 2016 with startup of the facility targeted for December 2018. We continue to diligently oversee the construction activities to ensure that it meets the new schedule.” The statement followed the release of a DOE Inspector General’s Office report that found the facility has exceeded its original $900 million budget by $1.4 billion and should begin operations about 10 years later than initially planned. Roughly 37 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste produced during former nuclear-weapon manufacturing operations are stored at the Savannah River Site. The SWPF would be used to process crystallized salts that are created through conversion of the waste, which is a current means of providing a sufficient, safe amount of space in the underground storage tanks.
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