Nuclear cleanup managers at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina expect to complete liquid waste remediation sometime between 2037 and 2041, according to an updated federal plan.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management and contractor Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), a BWXT-led joint venture, issued the latest update of the site’s tank waste plan this week.
Savannah River Environmental Management officials have said in recent times they expected the liquid waste work to be largely done by 2037. The goal for emptying the last liquid waste tank at the site near Aiken, S.C. remains 2037, according to the report.
The 2037-to-2041 range is based on various scenarios, Environmental Management said in a Tuesday press release.
The latest revision of the system plan has the timeline to complete waste tank removal and close all tanks between 2037 and 2041, based on various scenarios. The goal is to have liquid waste facilities turned over to decommissioning by 2037, according dated in January. This is the 24th revised edition of the plan.
Best results for the high-level liquid waste management at the site will depend on key facilities at Savannah River averaging 65% availability, DOE said in the release. It depends on the operating time of the Salt Waste Processing Facility, the Defense Waste Processing Facility and the Saltstone Processing Facility, the department said.
“Due to the highly integrated nature of the liquid waste system, it is critical for the facilities to work together as designed,” Tony Robinson, DOE-Savannah River acting assistant manager for waste disposition, said in the release.
“Availability is the name of the game now, so we’re going to make sure we’re moving material through the liquid waste system,” SRMC President and Program Manager Thomas Burns Jr. said. “To do that, we’re going to prioritize maintenance at the Defense Waste Processing Facility — a 30-year-old plant that’s been a workhorse for us — and continue to collapse the backend of the mission by making operational tank closure faster and cheaper using drones and 3D-printed tools.”