SAVANNAH RIVER IMPROVEMENTS UNDERWAY AFTER JANUARY FREEZE ISSUES

Savannah River Site contractors are implementing corrective actions after an assessment of a biomass plant and steam line outage in January caused by an unusual freeze. The outage impacted facilities across the site that were shut down as a result of a loss of steam heat, and the site will release a report this week detailing weaknesses uncovered. Procedures and responses at site facilities did not account from the potential loss of steam from the biomass plant, which began operations in 2012, assuming that it would be as reliable as the previous coal-powered plant, WC Monitor has learned. Issues at the plant itself included freezing of instrumentation, and upgrades to the plant are underway. The site hopes to develop and implement all corrective actions by November before the start of the coming winter.