An updated plan for the Savannah River Site liquid waste mission pushes completion out to 2041 although 2037 is still possible, but would require increases in federal funding, according to environmental contractor Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC).
Steve Howell, a senior vice president for the contractor, said Tuesday during an SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) meeting, the updated Liquid Waste System Plan, reflects different cost and timeline projections than the previous version, based on different scenarios, such as funding and workflow.
BWX Technologies-led SRMC has shown its ability to process liquid waste at an increased rate, Howell said. He pointed to the use of drones to inspect and sample liquid waste tanks, which is saving about a month’s worth of time and about $700,000 per tank. SRMC in May reached Preliminary Cease Waste Removal (PCWR) status for its eighth tank in two years, with a cost of about $23 million per tank.
Various factors have increased SRMC’s ability to process salt waste, Howell said. The contractor no longer has to use the next generation solvent to remove more cesium from the waste product at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). Procedures have improved at SWPF, which treats 90 percent of the waste in the tanks, he said.
“Now that we have SWPF online and we’ve learned how to concentrate the batches better…all the technological advances we have, the really dominant thing is funding,” Howell told the advisory board. “If we get steady funding, kind of minimal flat funding, the end date looks somewhere around 2041. If we get more optimistic funding, the end date’s around 2037.”
The liquid waste mission at the 310-square mile Savannah River Site in South Carolina includes the removal of about 35 million gallons of radioactive waste from 43 tanks, not including the 8 that have already been operationally closed.