The Savannah River Site in South Carolina is scheduled to begin double-stacking canisters of solidified radioactive waste before the end of the summer, according to a press release Monday.
The stacking is intended to save space at the Department of Energy site’s Glass Waste Storage Building 1, delaying the need to build another storage facility.
In June, SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation used a transport system in a test to both stack and retrieve two containers that did not hold radioactive material.
Workers are converting 21-foot-deep spaces in GWSB1 to fit two 10-foot-tall canisters rather than the current single container. This involves taking out the support crossbars used now and removal of a 4-foot-thick “shield plug” made of concrete and used to seal each canister at the top. “This shield plug will be replaced by a thinner, galvanized cast iron shield plug, which will provide equivalent radiation shielding and structural support,” the press release says. “In addition to the shield plugs, steel-support plates will be installed in place of the crossbar base support.”
Of the 2,254 crossbars to be removed, over 200 have already been extracted. Of that number, more than 100 storage slots are ready for double-stacking. It will take up to seven to eight more years to complete the preparations, ultimately creating 4,508 spaces. GWSB1 should now have viable storage space through fiscal 2026, pushing back construction of another facility that could cost up to $74 million, the release says. The project also allows for ongoing processing of SRS tank waste at the Defense Waste Processing Facility, which converts the material into a glass form. The processed waste would ultimately be transported to another site for permanent storage, but in the interim would be safe while double-stacked at SRS, DOE said.
