The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects decommissioning for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to be finished in fiscal 2030, William (Ike) White, the office’s acting head, said.
Current remediation efforts focus on removing hazardous material from the facility, where deactivation started in July 2019, White said in a Sept. 8 letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) chair Joyce Connery.
Connery formally requested an update on the project in November 2021. The 1950s era concrete facility once manufactured plutonium-238 fuel for NASA spacecraft. The facility is about 222 feet long, 109 feet wide, and 28 feet high located within F-Area near the F Canyon, according to DOE. It is a blast resistant, windowless, two-story, reinforced concrete structure.
“The deactivation project involves the shutdown of all active structures, systems, and components,” and other work, White said in the letter. This process should curb the cost of surveillance and maintenance of the building during “safe storage,” he added.
The DOE nuclear cleanup office worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to determine what constitutes a completion “end state” for the building, White said. “The Decommissioning End State will consist of grouting of the 235-F process areas and placement of a durable engineered roof on Building 235-F,” White said.
During the budget year that starts Oct. 1, the DOE cleanup office plans development of a ventilation strategy, grouting strategy, and a hydrogen study for 235-F, White said in the letter.
Deactivation should be completed in fiscal 2023 and the decommissioning should be done by the end of fiscal 2030 in keeping with a DOE strategic plan, White said.
The DOE’s 2023 budget justification proposed $60 million, or $13 million more than the prior year, for soil and water remediation & facility deactivation and decommissioning, with much of the increase attributed to the initiation of the preliminary 235-F decommissioning scope of work.
