On Oct. 1, 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration will become the landlord, rather than a tenant, at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina and shoulder responsibility for operation and security of the site, a federal advisory panel heard Tuesday.
When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) takes over from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, it will start overseeing the management contract of Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions as well as the security contract held by Centerra, said Edwin Deshong, deputy manager of site operations for the cleanup office. He gave a general overview of the transition to the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is the “hub” of everything happening at the 310-square-mile complex, akin to the kitchen in a five-star restaurant, Deshong said. Also, Centerra will still provide the guns, guards and gates around the federal complex, he added.
The K Area Complex, an interim storage site for excess plutonium and other special nuclear materials, will also be siloed under NNSA, Deshong said. It is currently a joint mission, sometimes called Surplus Plutonium Disposition between NNSA and the cleanup office. It is also where transuranic waste resulting from surplus plutonium downblending is prepared for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
Environmental Management will retain oversight of the Savannah River Mission Completion contract and the Battelle Savannah River Alliance contract to operate the Savannah River National Laboratory.
That is all according to a draft plan submitted last month to Environmental Management’s senior advisor William (Ike) White and Jill Hruby, DOE’s undersecretary for nuclear security and NNSA administrator.
The draft transition plan was developed by a joint working group headed by NNSA’s Savannah River deputy field manager Jeff Allison and Dae Chung, who heads corporate services for Environmental Management.
Continuity will govern everything, Deshong said. Both EM and NNSA have mission critical plans “nobody can stop what they are doing to implement transition.”
“Nobody is losing their job” and likewise, nobody “is moving to Albuquerque” against their will, Deshong said. Both the NNSA and Environmental Management shops at Savannah River are understaffed, so jobs are not at risk, he said.
Editor’s note: Article modified at 7:15 a.m. Eastern Time on July 31.
