SRS targets August ribbon-cutting for Advanced Manufacturing center

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina hopes to officially open its $66 million, offsite research center next month, following a greenlight this week from the Department of Energy to begin operations.

During a bimonthly meeting of the Savannah River Site (SRS) Citizens Advisory Board, Edwin DeShong, field boss for the Office of Environmental Management said SRS received on Monday a Critical Decision 4 (CD-4) from DOE for the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC). This milestone gives approval to transition from project completion to operations.

“This is the final step in the DOE process,” DeShong said. “We are currently installing lab equipment and ancillary furniture, and we’re targeting August for a ribbon-cutting event.”

North Wind Group broke ground in April 2022 and wrapped up construction on the project at the University of South Carolina-Aike earlier this year. 

The Savannah River National Laboratory will operate the 60,000-square-foot facility, which was made possible via a public-private partnership between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and the university. The college will host  the advanced manufacturing building on its campus, about 20 miles from the 310-square-mile SRS complex.

The building will include bench labs, high bay Labs, computational labs, and industrial engineering labs. About 100 national lab scientists and engineers will work in the facility, focusing on program areas such as additive manufacturing, biomanufacturing, materials design and processing, automation, fusion fuel cycle, artificial intelligence, and operational technology cybersecurity.