The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office is on track for substantial completion of its liquid waste mission at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina by 2037 if sufficient funding is authorized, the local field office boss said Tuesday.
On March 5, high-level radioactive tank 14 “achieved preliminary cease waste removal status” on March 5, Edwin Deshong, who heads DOE Office of Environmental Management operations locally, told the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board during its March 24 meeting.
Tank 14 is now ready to enter the “sampling and analysis phase,” a milestone that was not due until December 2027, and “that’s phenomenal,” Deshong said.
The Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) has already treated 2.5 million gallons of “high curie” salt waste this fiscal year and is on track to reach 6 million gallons for fiscal 2026, DeShong said. DOE-s oft-stated goal for the facility is reaching 9 million gallons annually.
While progress has been halting since SWPF came online in the fall of 2020, the six million gallons would be a record so far its operating life, according to DeShong.
The EM manager also noted the Defense Waste Processing Facility recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Meanwhile the state of South Carolina has received a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) application Jan. 30 for storage of mixed hazardous waste at the proposed Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility, said Susan Fulmer. Fulmer, who is reclamation section manager for the state Department of Environmental Services, said the waste would be stored near the plutonium plant.
A public notice on receipt of the RCRA application was issued Feb. 24 and no public comment period has been scheduled yet, Fulmer said. That could come following a draft state permit application is out, she added.