Liquid waste treatment, plutonium down-blending, and other work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina have not yet been affected yet by the federal shutdown, according to a DOE spokesperson.
Questions about potential impacts at the 310-square-mile site were initially sent to SRS offices near Aiken, S.C. before being directed to the main DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C. The headquarters spokesperson responded to the Exchange Monitor inquiry on Friday Oct. 24.
“DOE’s Savannah River Site is not currently experiencing a lapse in funding and continues to operate in a normal capacity, with staff reporting to work and carrying out the Savannah River mission safely,” the spokesperson said via email.
Like other DOE sites, SRS is first using up carryover money left over from fiscal 2025, which ended Sept. 30. The current shutdown commenced Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats and Republicans could not agree on the terms of a stopgap continuing budget resolution.
In October 2024, DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) took over the role of landlord at the federal complex from the DOE Office of Environmental Management going from landlord to tenant.
Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions remains the management contractor at SRS while BWXT-led Savannah River Mission Completion is the environmental contractor. Savannah River National Laboratory is managed by Battelle Savannah River Alliance.