WC Monitor
10/23/2015
SRNS Receives Letter of Intent for M&O Contract Extension
The Energy Department last month sent SRS management and operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions a letter of intent to extend its current contract beyond the September 2016 expiration date, SRNS President and CEO Carol Johnson said at the ExchangeMonitor Decisionmakers’ Forum this week. SRNS has held the contract since 2008.
SRS Worker Injured by Slow-Moving Work Pickup Truck
A Savannah River Site subcontractor employee was injured on Wednesday morning when struck near B-Area by a slow-moving work vehicle, a pickup truck, operated by an employee from the same company, SRS stated in a press release yesterday. The injured Grade South employee was transported to a local hospital for evaluation and treatment. Work in the area where the worker was hit has been stopped per site safety protocols while incident fact-finding is under way, according to the release. The accident occurred as the work crew was mobilizing to perform construction services scheduled in another area of the site.
Reached for comment, Grade South declined to release the name of the injured employee and the employee’s health condition. Energy Department Savannah River Operations Office spokesman Jim Giusti said he did not have any information on the employee’s injuries, referring questions about the employee’s status to the Georgia Regents Medical Center.
Grade South is a subcontractor for SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation, and performs general contracting work for SRR under a fixed unit rate contract, according to SRR spokeswoman Amy Joslin. The incident happened in an area of the site not controlled or managed by SRR before the subcontractors were scheduled to report to work, Joslin said.
SWPF Hits Milestone
Savannah River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor Parsons Corp. completed the successful installation of 36 centrifugal contactors for the project during the week of Oct. 5, marking another major milestone in the Energy Department’s charge to finish construction by December 2016, a Savannah River Site press release stated yesterday. Parsons is “well ahead of schedule” for completing SWPF construction, according to the release. The contactors will play a key role in the facility’s operation by concentrating the radioactive cesium in SRS’ liquid waste streams, reducing the volume of waste sent to the Defense Waste Processing Facility for stabilization in the glass vitrification process, the release says.
The Salt Waste Processing Facility will transition to testing and commissioning after construction is completed. The facility will process approximately 90 percent of the 37 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste currently stored in 44 underground tanks at SRS.
The residual liquid waste output from the contactors, the decontaminated salt solution, will have almost 100% of its radioactive elements removed, according to the release. Workers will dispose of the solution within a concrete grout matrix at the SRS Saltstone Facility.
“We’ve successfully implemented strategies to safely accelerate the SWPF construction schedule,” Frank Sheppard, Parsons vice president and SWPF project manager, said in a statement. “Early completion will enable this critical component of the DOE’s cleanup plan for SRS to come on line sooner than planned.”
