SRNS Launches Coal Ash Cleanup Effort
WC Monitor
10/3/2014
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, has launched a project to clean up 1.3 million cubic yards of coal ash by June 2019 to remediate a 90-acre spot in the site’s D Area. The ash landfill and three adjacent basins filled with water and ash are a byproduct of a shuttered Savannah River coal fired power plant. Workers will remove water contained in the basins, consolidate the ash and cover it with two layers of clay to form a water barrier. “Coal ash represents a potential risk to human health and the environment,” Chris Bergren, Director of Environmental Compliance and Area Completion Projects, said in a statement. “Cleaning up this particular site is in the best interest of the environment, SRS and the State of South Carolina. This is particularly true given the age of the earthen berms created to make the pond-like basins historically used to store the ash.”
