The Savannah River Site in South Carolina garnered a 99.9 percent compliance rate last year for the amount of pollutants it discharges into water on and off the site, according to the management and operations contractor for the Department of Energy facility. The compliance rate is based on the regularity with which SRS remained in line with state and federal rules when it was tested for pollutants.
The 2016 SRS Environmental Report issued by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) details the site’s releases into the environment, and its impact on the local community and ecosystem. SRNS concluded the Savannah River Site is safely monitoring its water, soil, and air emissions into the community and that releases pose minimal risk to the environment.
The DOE facility emits potentially harmful materials into the environment, such as tritium and uranium. These emissions are a result of the various SRS missions, including radioactive waste treatment, tritium production, and nuclear materials processing.
According to the report, water and air pathways in 2016 had a combined pollutant dosage of 0.19 millirem (mrem), the unit used to measure radiation. About 0.15 mrem was released into water, and 0.038 into the air. The total dosage fell far below the DOE public dose limit of 100 mrem per year.
Water samples are collecting on-site to ensure SRS is complying with permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). SRS has two of the permits, which allows the site to discharge into 28 industrial wastewater outfalls and 35 industrial stormwater outfalls. The site, located near Aiken, S.C., and Augusta, Ga., performed 3,275 wastewater sample analyses in 2016. Samplings are taken on and off site, up to a distance of 100 miles. Of those, only two exceeded permit limits.
