DOE: Savannah River Tank Cleanup Funded ?As Much As Possible?

Responding to calls from South Carolina for the Department of Energy to invest $150 million into increasing Savannah River waste processing, DOE officials yesterday said tank waste cleanup will be funded as much as possible given budget constraints. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton this week said DOE must fully fund processing technologies to avoid $150 million in penalties from the state. The tank waste at Savannah River is “one of the highest priorities for Environmental Management,” DOE Savannah River Manager Dave Moody said yesterday at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. “I can’t speak specifically to the $150 million but I can tell you that the Department is committed to funding under sequestration as much as possible to operate our facilities at the maximum extent possible in this current budget environment that we find ourselves.”

 

The site is also improving efficiencies in the current liquid waste system that could also help the waste processing effort. “Along with additional funding, there’s also being more efficient and getting better at operating your system. I have to say that with the additional work under H-Canyon, our contractors have done a very good job in trying to look at minimizing the waste that would be coming over from H Canyon to the liquid waste system,” DOE EM Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tank Waste and Nuclear Material Jay Rhoderick said yesterday. “So I think that money of course is an important issue, but there are other things that we need to implement, such as trying to operate the system in the most efficient manner possible.”