Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
12/5/2014
The completion of a risk reduction plan for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site will be delayed 29 months due to budget setbacks, the Department of Energy told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week. The DNFSB formally urged action to reduce risk at the former plutonium processing facility in a 2012 recommendation, but completion of DOE’s implementation plan will now be delayed until May 2021.”The 29 month delay is the result of a combination of setbacks caused by the budget issues in 2013 and early 2014, combined with a slowdown in remaining activities resulting from projections of reduced out-year budgets compared to 2014,” DOE said in a Nov. 28 report to the DNFSB on the schedule changes.
The facility contains residual plutonium-238 contamination in a highly dispersible powder form, and the DNFSB has raised concern that fires or earthquakes could lead to radiation releases. However, DOE noted that since the Board’s recommendation a number of actions have already been taken or expected to be completed in the near-term that will significantly reduce the potential hazards at the facility. “Mitigating actions completed to date by the Department in Building 235-F include the removal of fixed combustible materials and the development and implementation of a rigorous transient combustible material management program, and electrical de-energization of non-essential equipment. Upgrading the Building 235-F fire detection system is in progress,” DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a Nov. 28 letter to the DNFSB. “Taken together, these actions improve the Building 235-F safety posture and reduce the likelihood of a full facility fire.
Budget Issues Led to Slim Funding For SRS Programs
Savannah River has experienced a number of budget issues since late 2013, including the government shutdown in October 2013 that resulted in furloughs for a significant number of site workers. In DOE’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request the site saw a $16 million cut in its risk management operations budget over FY’14 levels, down to about $416 million. “The budget projections caused the Department to redistribute funding among its many risk priorities at SRS and establish funding for 235-F risk reduction at a reduced but sustainable level,” the DOE report states.
Other competing risk management activities at the site have included a corrective maintenance backlog, used nuclear fuel processing, tank waste closure and Salt Waste Processing Facility construction and startup. “Work scope and risk management activities at SRS that must be balanced with the Building 235-F project for available resources were also evaluated. The resources necessary to safely operate site facilities were considered to be a high priority,” the report states. “Activities associated with maintaining compliance with applicable laws (e.g., Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) were considered to be a high priority. Other essential indirect costs were similarly given a high priority.”
At 235-F, a key factor for funding decisions was retention of trained and experienced staff for the implementation plan, according to DOE. “The Building 235-F management and work crews draw upon personnel experienced with transuranic waste cleanup activities at SRS and Rocky Flats, and individuals who were part of the Pu-238 production activities in Building 235-F when the facility was in operation,” the report states. “The unique combination of experience gives the Department a high degree of confidence that cell restoration and MAR removal activities will be conducted methodically, safely and efficiently.”
