Federal Audit Questions Safety of Projects at Savannah River Site Near Augusta

The U.S. Department of Energy’s inspector general is sharply criticizing the DOE for safety and quality assurance controls in multiple projects at the Savannah River Site near Augusta.

An audit report by the inspector general focuses on the procurement of materials used in the construction of a mixed oxide fuel plant (MOX) that would convert weapons-grade plutonium to fuel for commercial reactors, as well as a tritium extraction facility and a salt waste processing plant to treat radioactive waste.

“In a worst case scenario, undetected, nonconforming components could fail and injure workers or the public,” the inspector general’s report says.

The inspector general noted problems with $11 million in weakened rebar procured for the $4.8 billion MOX facility, one of the Department of Energy’s most expensive projects. The company building the MOX plant said earlier this year that the problems had been corrected.

But the correction of such errors is costly, the inspector general says, adding that quality assurance and communication between contractors involved in the three projects should be improved.

“Although these are positive steps, weaknesses in oversight and communication remain; therefore, additional action is necessary.”

The audit also noted that none of the six safety issues reviewed by the inspector general at the tritium extraction facility adequately met quality assurance standards. The facility would replenish the nation’s tritium supply. The Savannah River Site conducts nearly all of the Department of Energy’s tritium activities.

In addition, any potential failure of a component procured for the salt waste project could have caused a radioactive spill of up to 15,000 gallons of high-level radioactive waste.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, meanwhile, disagrees with the inspector general’s safety concerns and related cost impacts, noting instead that the problems were of low significance, the report says.

The inspector general’s investigation spans from September 2008 until April 2009.

To see the report, click here.

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.