New DOE Budget Reflects Little Change at Savannah River Site

The Department of Energy budget released yesterday calls for little significant change at the Savannah River Site near Augusta.

SRS is the leading manufacturer of the radio active material tritium, used in nuclear weapons. Under the 2010 budget they will maintain that position.

Damien LaVera, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration, says that the approach to defense related programs will remain in line with the 2009 budget until a series of national reviews reevaluate the country’s nuclear position. However, he expects to see significant changes in the 2011 budget once those reviews are complete.

With the Obama administration’s pledge to reduce the nuclear stockpile, SRS faces the possibility of a significant reduction in the manufacturing of tritium, which could lead to the loss of jobs. But for now they will stay the course.

The new budget maintains the allocation of over $1 billion for environmental cleanup operations and close to $500 million for the mixed oxide fuel reprocessing plant (MOX). The MOX facility recently received criticism from the DOE inspector general for failing to meet quality control standards.

For the full budget click here.

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.

CDC says Savannah River Site not contaminating water

The Centers for Disease Control says water near the Savannah River Site, a nuclear materials processing facility near Augusta along the Georgia-South Carolina border, is safe.

A study spanning about 12 years found no contaminants in the groundwater near the site, and levels of radioactive materials in surface water were too low to cause health concerns.

The CDC started its study in 1993, monitoring water for radioactive materials such as tritium and cesium.

Contaminants were found in the water on the site itself, and there are concerns that a toxic plume could potentially migrate out of the site, although that hasn't happened. SRS has been containing the plume.

The study did find levels of radium and lead in a city well in Jackson, South Carolina, but officials say it occurred naturally and was unrelated to the Savannah River Site.

The well has been taken offline.

For more information, or to read the report, go to www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/index.asp.

Savannah River Site to get more tritium research

A proposal to streamline the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure will be a boost to a federal site near Augusta.

The Savannah River Site processes nuclear materials.

The federal government's consolidation proposal means all activities and research involving tritium will likely happen there.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

The Savannah River Site refills nuclear weapons with it and also recycles it.

The site already conducts about 90 percent of the federal government's activities and research involving tritium and nuclear weapons.

It will take on research currently conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Federal officials say the nation's total nuclear weapons complex is too big and too expensive.

They want to reduce square footage of its infrastructure by 30 percent.

They also want to reduce its workforce nationally by a third, mostly through attrition.

The Savannah River Site expects to lose only about five percent, or 20, of its jobs at its tritium facilities in that cut.