DOE EM Update:

Sept. 26, 2023

EM and liquid waste contractor Savannah River Mission Completion have made significant progress in construction of Saltstone Disposal Units at the Savannah River Site.

Liquid Waste Mission Marks Safety, Operational Success at Savannah River Site

AIKEN, S.C. – EM and its liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently marked many safety and operational milestones.

Progress includes removing more than 10 million curies from tank waste, pouring more than 80 vitrified high-level canisters at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), processing 4 million gallons of waste through the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), processing more than 5.5 million gallons of waste treated through the Saltstone Production Facility and processing waste from 25 tanks.

Jim Folk, DOE-Savannah River’s assistant manager for waste disposition, said EM is making great strides in advancing the tank waste cleanup mission at SRS.

“EM had a successful fiscal year at Savannah River,” Folk said. “We achieved monthly and weekly salt waste processing and saltstone production records, as well as exceeded the goal for the number of curies removed from the tank waste. Each curie removed and each gallon of waste processed indicate progress toward reducing risk to the environment and the public.”

In the last 15 months, EM and Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) have:

• Permanently entombed in concrete two previously radioactive structures knows as diversion boxes;
• Improved safety and performance at DWPF by converting to the use of glycolic acid;
• Began acceptance of highly enriched uranium-235 from L Basin via H Canyon into the site’s tank farms as part of the Accelerated Basin De-Inventory campaign;
• Improved salt processing efficiency at SWPF;
• Reached a milestone of more than 2,000 canisters double-stacked at Glass Waste Storage Building 1; and,
• Made significant progress on construction and readiness of the remaining Saltstone Disposal Units.

The SRMC workforce reached those achievements while marking 10 million safe hours without a work-related injury that required an employee to miss a day on the job. The construction team has reached more than 37 million safe hours, spanning 25 years of work.

In parallel to meeting safety and operational milestones, SRMC has focused on new training programs to develop both employees and managers, such as intensive leadership development workshops.

Underscoring all these achievements is the people behind the success, according to SRMC President and Program Manager Dave Olson.

“The success and achievements wouldn’t exist without the people putting in the work behind them,” Olson said. “Many of our team members have put in years of dedication into this mission, and I thank them for their courage and perseverance. We have also hired hundreds of employees over the past 15 months and will continue to do so in the coming months and years, and I thank our veteran employees for being the example for our new teammates by demonstrating our culture and core values.”

-Contributor: Colleen Hart