The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has processed 2 kilograms of plutonium since beginning its program in September to permanently dispose of 6 metric tons of excess non-pit material, according to DOE.
The site said Sept. 30 its personnel had begun downblending the material at the site’s K Area Complex. After dilution, the material will be stored at the SRS Solid Waste Management facility, ultimately to be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal. DOE plans this month to reopen WIPP, which has been closed to transuranic waste shipments following an underground fire and separate radiation release in February 2014.
The dilute and dispose process involves blending plutonium oxide with an inert material, packaging the diluted material in secure canisters, and preparing those canisters for permanent disposal in a geologic repository. The downblending of the 6 metric tons of plutonium at SRS is expected to take several years to complete.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced last week that the International Atomic Energy Agency would monitor the dilution and disposal of the SRS material. The U.S. is “beginning consultations with the IAEA for the monitoring and verification of this process . . . to ensure this material will not be used again in nuclear weapons,” he said.
Moniz made clear that this amount is separate from the 34 metric tons of excess plutonium at the site that DOE has committed to eliminating under a bilateral nonproliferation agreement with Russia. Even so, officials say the IAEA will monitor the elimination of this cache as well. The DOE said in a statement released at the time of Moniz’s announcement that the U.S. would “verifiably eliminate” 40 metric tons in total.
