To ensure transfer of landlord responsibility for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina goes smoothly, the Department of Energy is already planning to request a funding deviation from a continuing budget resolution — a year from now.
That is one of the nuggets included in a transition plan, cleared for public release Sept. 13, on DOE’s blueprint to move primary authority for the 310-square mile Savannah River Site to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) from the Office of Environmental Management on Oct. 1, 2024. A memorandum of understanding is also being drawn up.
Congress is currently trying to figure out how to keep the federal government open when fiscal year 2024 begins on Oct. 1. A stopgap budget, or continuing resolution, that temporarily extends 2023 budgets is a normal course of action in such situations.
So, if current events and recent history are a guide, lawmakers might well enact a stopgap funding bill next year if they are unable to pass a fiscal 2025 budget by the Sept. 30, 2024 deadline. In that case, according to DOE’s transition plan, the agency would request an anomaly to help NNSA absorb some of the expenses associated with the handoff.
Planning by Savannah River’s Environmental Management field office indicates its funding for the site could be trimmed by $180 million in fiscal 2025, more than 10% of 2023 levels, as many staffers and resources move to NNSA. The document also notes NNSA will need more office space than what is currently available in H Area.
In switching to landlord from tenant, NNSA will oversee the existing operations and security contracts, handled respectively by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and Centerra. Both providers are already contracted well beyond 2025. NNSA will become responsible for doing the performance review and fee determination for the two contractors, with input from the Environmental Management office.
NNSA will take charge of the K-Area Complex, where plutonium and spent nuclear fuel are stored, as well as environmental permits. For areas relating solely to nuclear cleanup, Environmental Management is still the sole permittee, according to the plan.
Environmental Management and NNSA “will retain responsibility for management and disposition of their respective current inventory of special nuclear materials stored in K-Area Complex,” the plan indicates. By March 2024, a report should be final on the exact amount of plutonium Environmental Management will keep.
