Archive

Savannah River Site

A DOE site in South Carolina supporting nuclear materials management, tritium production, high-level waste treatment, and planned plutonium pit production.

  • SRS Processes 2 KG of Plutonium in Planned 6-Metric-Ton Project

    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, […]

  • Judge Partially Dismisses SRNS Overcharging Lawsuit

    A federal judge has partially dismissed claims that the Savannah River Site’s primary contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), and one of its parent companies, Fluor Federal Services (FFS), unjustly benefited from their contract with the Department of Energy. On March 18, the U.S. Department of Justice sued SRNS, the management and operations contractor for […]

  • SRNS Receives $39M of Possible $44.9M Award Fee

    Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) received $39.2 million, or 87 percent, of its annual award fee for fiscal 2016 from the Department of Energy – a total amount earned for both its Environmental Management (EM) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) missions. The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor could have earned up to […]

  • Perry to Manage Vast U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex

    Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, announced this week as the nominee to become energy secretary in the Donald Trump administration, would be responsible for a massive program to ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, sparking debate about whether he is qualified for the role – and whether management skill and bureaucratic experience matter […]

  • SRNS Receives $39M of Possible $44.9M Award Fee

    Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) received $39.2 million, or 87 percent, of its annual award fee for fiscal 2016 from the Department of Energy – a total amount earned for both its Environmental Management (EM) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) missions. The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor could have earned up to […]

  • Judge Partially Dismisses SRNS Overcharging Lawsuit

    A federal judge has dismissed part of a Justice Department claim that the Savannah River Site’s primary contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), and one of its parent companies, Fluor Federal Services (FFS), unjustly benefited from their contract with the Department of Energy. On March 18, the Justice Department sued SRNS, the management and operations contractor […]

  • SRS Processes 2 KG of Plutonium in Planned 6-Metric-Ton Project

    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, […]

  • SRS Salt Waste Plant Remains Set for 2018 Start-Up

      Testing and commissioning of the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is 36 percent complete, and the plant remains on pace to start-up by December 2018, an Energy Department official said this week. Following more than a year of high-stakes negotiations starting in September 2015, the Energy Department and the South Carolina […]

  • Savannah River Site Operator Fined $17K for Waste Transport Violations

    The Savannah River Site’s management and operations contractor has been fined $17,650 for violations related to hazardous waste transport. According to an Energy Department occurrence report, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation, noted violations committed by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) on in a report dated Nov. […]

  • S.C. Would Take $100M Plutonium Suit to Federal Claims Court as Last Resort

    South Carolina on Monday again urged a federal judge to reconsider her finding that the U.S. District Court has no jurisdiction over monetary claims levied against the Energy Department for failing to remove plutonium from the state earlier this year, according to court papers. South Carolina sued DOE in February after the agency failed to […]

  • Energy Department Scraps Step in SRS Spent Fuel Work

    The Energy Department is scrapping a never-used step in the Savannah River Site’s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) processing campaign following a potential inadequacy at the site’s L Area, where the fuel is stored. Maxine Maxted, the site’s program manager for SNF, addressed the issue Tuesday during a meeting of the Nuclear Materials Committee of the […]

  • State Dept. Official: No Discussions with Russia on PMDA Resumption

    The United States and Russia have not held any discussions about resuming full implementation of the bilateral plutonium elimination agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended in early October, a top U.S. State Department official said Wednesday. Thomas Countryman, acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said in an interview with NS&D […]

  • S.C. Would Take $100M Plutonium Suit to Federal Claims Court as Last Resort

    South Carolina on Monday again urged a federal judge to reconsider her finding that the U.S. District Court has no jurisdiction over monetary claims levied against the Energy Department for failing to remove plutonium from the state earlier this year, according to court papers. South Carolina sued DOE in February after the agency failed to […]

  • Moniz: IAEA to Monitor D&D of 6 MT of Excess SRS Plutonium

    VIENNA – U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will monitor the dilution and disposal of 6 metric tons of excess plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. Moniz announced during the opening ministerial segment of the IAEA’s International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions […]

  • SRS Advisory Board Wants DOE to Expedite Aluminum-Clad Spent Fuel Processing 

    A local advisory board wants the Department of Energy to expedite processing of aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stocks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. During its bimonthly meeting on Nov. 15, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) approved a recommendation asking DOE to “accelerate plans and decisions to process its entire inventory of aluminum-clad SNF […]

  • South Carolina Asks Judge to Reconsider Order in MOX Case

    South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

  • New BWXT Chief Wants More DOE Legacy Cleanup Biz

    With the impending ascension of former NASA hand Rex Geveden to the top spot at BWX Technologies, the Lynchburg, Va.-company has set an an outsider from the aerospace business in charge of an effort to grow the company’s legacy nuclear cleanup business with the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management. “We remain strongly committed to […]

  • South Carolina Asks Judge to Reconsider Order in MOX Case

    South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary Ernest […]

  • Defense Authorization Splits the Difference on NNSA Funding

    The conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017, released Wednesday, would allow $13.1 billion in funding for the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. That amount is roughly the midpoint of the $13.3 billion authorized under the House version of the bill and the $12.9 billion included in the Senate’s original […]

  • South Carolina Asks Judge to Reconsider Order in MOX Case

    South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

  • BWXT Announces New CEO

    BWX Technologies, a top contractor in the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup and security operations, said Tuesday it is promoting its chief operating officer to the position of president and CEO. Rex Geveden will take the job, along with a position on the BWXT Board of Directors, on Jan. 1 of next year. He will take […]

  • SRS Advisory Board Wants DOE to Expedite Aluminum-Clad Spent Fuel Processing

    A local advisory board wants the Department of Energy to expedite processing of aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stocks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. During its bimonthly meeting on Nov. 15, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) approved a recommendation asking DOE to “accelerate plans and decisions to process its entire inventory of […]

  • DOE, S.C. Get More Time to Argue Change in Venue in Pu Lawsuit

    A federal judge is giving the Energy Department and South Carolina about another week to explain why a lawsuit over DOE’s failure to move plutonium out of the state should — or shouldn’t — be transferred to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, according to court papers filed Monday. The parties, in court since February […]

  • Gears Turning for Spent Fuel Shipment to Savannah River Site

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is going through the process of review for the transport of spent nuclear reactor fuel from Canada to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. In a Nov. 9 letter to a spent fuel transport company, NRC Fuel Cycle and Transportation Security Branch chief William Gott said the […]

  • MOX Advocates Hope Trump Presidency Will Advance Project

    Advocates for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hope President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term will put to rest attempts to shut down the troubled project. The MFFF would be used to honor a 2000 bilateral agreement that requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 […]

  • No NDAA Deal; Congressional Republicans Pursue CR

    Pat Host Defense Daily House and Senate conferees working on the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill have not reached a deal to move forward while Republican lawmakers decided to pursue a continuing resolution (CR) instead of passing a spending bill during the lame duck session. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Ranking Member Adam Smith […]

  • Congressional Republicans Punt on Final 2017 Spending Bill After Trump Victory

    Federal agencies including the Energy Department will remain funded at fiscal 2016 levels through at least the first two months of President-elect Donald Trump’s term, Republican congressional leaders decided this week. “To this end, my Committee will begin working immediately on a Continuing Resolution (CR) at the current rate of funding to extend the operations […]

  • Parsons Workers Shifted to Keep SRS Salt Waste Facility Schedule Intact

    Twenty workers at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site will swap badges to Savannah River Remediation from Parsons to ensure liquid waste treatment at the Salt Waste Processing Facility begins around 2019, as scheduled. The AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation (SRR) “recently chose to hire 20 Radiological Protection Inspectors through Parsons, the SWPF [Salt Waste Processing […]

  • MOX Advocates Hope Trump Presidency Will Advance Project

    Advocates for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina hope President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term will put to rest attempts to shut down the troubled project. The MFFF would be used to honor a 2000 bilateral agreement that requires the U.S. and Russia to each dispose of 34 […]

  • Parsons Workers Shifted to Keep SRS Salt Waste Facility Schedule Intact

    Twenty workers at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site will swap badges to Savannah River Remediation from Parsons to ensure liquid waste treatment at the Salt Waste Processing Facility begins around 2019, as scheduled. The AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation (SRR) “recently chose to hire 20 Radiological Protection Inspectors through Parsons, the SWPF [Salt Waste Processing […]