Local and state leaders in South Carolina told the new head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) that the Savannah River Site would be the best place for plutonium pit production just before her visit to the last week.
NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, who has been on the job since Feb. 22, on Friday toured SRS, the 310-square-mile facility near Aiken, S.C. Prior to the site visit, Gordon-Hagerty met with Aiken County Councilman Gary Bunker, Aiken City Mayor Rick Osbon, and state Sen. Tom Young, who represents Aiken.
During the nearly hourlong meeting, the Republican officials insisted the Savannah River Site is the best place for NNSA manufacturing of pits, the plutonium cores of nuclear warheads.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is the present home for the nation’s pit operations. The NNSA is evaluating its options for meeting the Pentagon’s need for 80 pits per year by 2030, and has acknowledged it is studying locating some production capacity at Savannah River.
Osbon said SRS has a dedicated and knowledgeable workforce that can handle the new mission.
“We certainly, as a community, would love to see this and other new missions come to the site,” he said in a telephone interview. “She’s aware that this is a community that is not afraid to step up and be a part of the nation’s security.”
The three municipalities within 20 miles of the facility – the city of North Augusta, the City of Aiken, and Aiken County – have all recently inked resolutions in support of the project.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s Nuclear Advisory Council has also advocated for the site to house the project. However, the council has one problem with the potential plan. If the project were to come to SRS, the NNSA would consider repurposing the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) to carry out the pit work.
