The Savannah River Site’s H Canyon is expected to enter deliberate operations next week, and HB Line should start deliberate ops by the end of November, SRS announced yesterday. Site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions entered a company-wide operational pause of all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations on Sept. 11, after 400 grams of plutonium was placed in a container not marked for transport.The two facilities will be the last of SRS’ paused activities to enter deliberate operations. According to Tom Clements, director of advocacy group Savannah River Site Watch, who attended the Sept. 22 SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) meeting, where DOE and SRNS officials addressed the issue, DOE determined the mishandling was a violation of procedure, but not a nuclear criticality concern because the plutonium was sealed in 3013 packaging, which isolates stored materials from the outside environment.
The event was immediately self-reported and resulted in no injuries or damage to any equipment. SRNS has already moved select units into deliberate operations and will order an end to such operations when “all actions of the deliberate operations plan have been completed,” a company press release states. “Actions to maintain sustainability of work practices have been developed and will be reviewed with DOE-SR senior management.”
Release from deliberate operations requires approval of SRNS’ president or executive vice president and the review of DOE-SR senior management.
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