Work continues on transfer of the Savannah River Site landlord authority to the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the top cleanup fed at the South Carolina complex told a DOE advisory panel this week.
A joint team of DOE Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives should issue a report this June on the handover, the Environmental Management boss for the site, Michael Budney, told the Savannah River Citizens Advisory Board during a meeting webcast from Augusta, Ga.
The turnover, sparked in part by the nuclear-weapons agency’s plans for plutonium pits production at Savannah River’s canceled mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility, should be complete in fiscal 2025, Budney said. “Some stuff might be done before that.”
NNSA already has more work being done at the site through the Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions operations contractor than does the DOE cleanup office, Budney said during the Monday meeting.
At the same time, Budney said Savannah River “would not see our taillights” anytime soon as Environmental Management has another 14 years left on liquid waste work alone, he added.
