The safety pause was initiated on Sept. 11. Since then, several nonessential operations and facilities have entered deliberate operations, in which workers pay extra attention to detail and planning. Those operations include work at the Savannah River National Laboratory; the L Area facility, which stores spent fuel; and the K Area facility that stores other nuclear materials. H Canyon, the nation’s only hardened chemical separations plant, has also entered deliberate operations. The only facility yet to enter deliberate operations is L Basin, the location of the plutonium storage incident. SRNS is pushing to get the facility, which assists H Canyon in nuclear materials processing, into the operations mode by the end of the month. "No facilities or organizations have completed actions required to exit deliberate operations and DOE-SR will review sustainability plans and assessment completed to supports the decision for exiting deliberate operations," Spears said.
The improper storage of plutonium by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) employees resulted from a willful procedure violation by the SRNS work team, according to the Department of Energy. SRNS discovered on Sept. 3 that a group of three operators and a first-line manager stored a sample size of plutonium in a container that was not suitable for transport. Proper disciplinary actions were taken as a result of the incident in the Savannah River Site’s L Basin, according to SRNS. The breakdown in procedures, along with several other safety incidents in preceding months , pushed SRNS to self-induce a safety pause for all nonessential nuclear and non-nuclear operations.
Savannah River Site Deputy Manager Terry Spears provided an update on the safety pause and a look into the root cause of the plutonium storage incident during an SRS Citizens Advisory Board earlier this week. Spears said several other deficiencies were found during a deeper look into the incident, which he said was a result of a significant departure from the conduct of operations. In addition, he called the first-line manager’s performance "less than adequate" and noted inadequate management engagement.