All Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) operations resumed at the end of June, following a two-month pause on all missions considered not essential to maintaining safety. Lab management initiated the pause due to growing concerns over the facility’s safety culture.
The Department of Energy lab in South Carolina has been in management-controlled operations since June 29, according to a DOE spokesperson. The phase is nearly a return to normal operations, but has an extra emphasis on proper safety protocols, including increased oversight on employees as they conduct work throughout the day.
The spokesperson said the phase will continue “until the effectiveness and sustainability of (SRNL) safety improvements have been verified by its senior leadership team.” There is no estimated time frame for when the phase will end.
The national lab is an applied research facility with 980 employees. It is operated by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), management and operations contractor for the full Savannah River Site. Its missions include cleanup of contaminated groundwater and soil at the facility, along with finding advanced solutions for waste remediation at Savannah River and other DOE facilities. The facility also supports the site’s mission of production of tritium, the gas that triggers the chain reaction in nuclear weapons.
The lab entered the safety pause on April 26. During the pause, all work ceased on missions not related to basic safe operations. It was implemented following a series of minor safety incidents over the preceding six months. These included: workers failing to properly bring an air system back to service in April following maintenance work; and a scientist accidentally spiking radiation levels far past the allowed amount while mixing a solution in the lab. Neither incident resulted in injury to workers.
During the pause, all SRNL staffers attended reviews in late April and during the month of May to reaffirm safety procedures and the importance of following them while working. In addition, the lab conducted a common-cause analysis to determine why each incident happened, and then created a corrective action plan to prevent recurrence.
Mission-critical activities that were on pause were brought back online after the reviews. These include analyzing liquid waste and helping other DOE sites characterize their waste stockpiles as transuranic (TRU) waste.
