Radioactive salt waste decontamination begins at site near Augusta

The Savannah River Site has begun decontaminating radioactive salt solution at its facilities.

Officials of the U.S. Department of Energy say it's a move toward closing the site's 49 high-level waste tanks, which contain 36 million gallons of waste. The radioactive salt makes up about 90 percent of the waste in the site's tank farms.

The interim process will eliminate nearly all of the radioactive isotopes from about two million gallons of salt solution until a new salt waste processing facility opens in 2013, according to officials.

The Savannah River Site is a federal facility near Augusta that processes nuclear materials.