Analysis of concrete degradation at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon should be completed by the end of 2017, allowing the facility to resume receiving nuclear material for processing, a Department of Energy spokesman said last week.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, DOE’s management and operations contractor for the South Carolina site, on June 28 stopped sending materials to H Canyon, a nuclear materials separation operation, and HB Line, which sits on top of the canyon and helps feed material through the complex. The decision was made after the contractor noted concrete degradation within the canyon.
During the receipt suspension, H Canyon is processing its existing inventory of material, “so there is not expected to be any overall impact on H Canyon missions,” said SRS spokesman Monte Volk.
There is no projected expense for the suspension, Volk added.
Volk said calculations involving concrete degradation identified before this year determined that H Canyon’s exhaust duct could tolerate even the most powerful earthquake likely to occur in the area around the Savannah River Site – which happen roughly once in 2,500 years. “The initial analysis of the new potential degradation is that the exhaust duct would remain operable in all cases except the maximum earthquake,” he stated. “A new structural analysis technique is expected to conclude that the duct would continue to be operable following a maximum earthquake, even with the potential degradation identified in the 2017 inspection.”
H Canyon’s operations include conversion of domestic and foreign materials, such as highly enriched uranium (HEU), into less harmful forms. The site’s inability to accept materials at H Canyon could slow progress with DOE’s foreign and domestic missions at Savannah River Site.
