Longtime nuclear industry manager Tom Foster on May 16 will become president and project manager of Savannah River Remediation, the prime liquid-waste cleanup contractor at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the company announced Wednesday.
In his new role, Foster will lead liquid waste remediation activities at the site, which involves operating several facilities and cleaning up after after a unique chemical separation facility. Foster was most recently chief decommissioning officer for Sellafield Ltd., the prime contractor for the Sellafield nuclear site in the United Kingdom. AECOM of Los Angeles, a partner in the Savannah River Remediation consortium, is also a partner in Nuclear Management Partners, which owns Sellafield Ltd. until April 1, at which time it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Foster last worked at the Savannah River Site in 2008, when he was area operations manager for the former SRS prime, Washington Savannah River Co. He managed four tritium nuclear facilities at the site, and led final testing, startup, turnover, and integration of the SRS Tritium Extraction Facility project. The facility supplies radioactive hydrogen for the Pentagon’s nuclear arsenal.
Foster will replace Mark Schmitz, who has led Savannah River Remediation on an interim basis since February. Schmitz, the company’s chief operating officer, took the reins after Stuart MacVean abruptly resigned as president on Feb. 11 after about a year in the top spot, and more than four years with the company.
An early challenge Foster will face as president is dealing with the leaky 3H Evaporator that helps boil down liquid waste from Savannah River’s H-Area Tank Farm into so-called salt cake waste that takes up less space in waste tanks. Savannah River Remediation confirmed the evaporator was leaking Feb. 17.
The 3H Evaporator, since turned off, is one of two evaporators at the site. With only one working evaporator, ongoing chemical separation operations at H-Canyon will fill the H-Area Tank Farm with waste in about three years, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Foster will also be at the helm of Savannah River Remediation’s effort to nab the site’s next big cleanup contract. The company’s $4.1 billion liquid waste cleanup contract expires on June 30, 2017; DOE’s Office of Environmental Management plans to release a draft solicitation for a follow-on contract on March 31.
