DOE formalizes decision to move failed melters at Savannah River to above-ground storage

The Department of Energy last week said it would move a pair of failed melters from Savannah River Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility to above-ground storage.

The agency announced its decision in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) solidifies into glass-like cylinders the liquid radioactive waste created at the Savannah River Site during its Cold War days as a plutonium production complex. The site is located near Aiken, S.C., near the Georgia line.

DWPF melters one and two, now stored underground, are not as radioactive as previously though, DOE said in the Federal Register notice, and so do not need to be kept underground. Instead, the agency has decided to build an above ground storage facility and free up underground space for retired equipment that is more radioactive.

In DWPF’s melters, waste is combined with superheated glass. The mixture is then poured into molds where it solidifies, cools and is stored on site pending completion of a deep geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste.