Morning Briefing - January 04, 2017
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January 04, 2017

Savannah River Saltstone Disposal Unit Passes Leak Test

By ExchangeMonitor

A waste disposal project at the Savannah River Site took another step forward recently when the facility’s liquid waste contractor conducted a successful leak tightness test for Saltstone Disposal Unit 6 (SDU 6). SDU 6 is the first 30-million gallon, megavolume salt waste disposal unit constructed at the Department of Energy site in South Carolina. Once complete, it will be a permanent disposal unit for saltstone, a low radioactive salt waste found in the SRS storage tanks.

Site officials reported in May that the initial leak test had failed. The unit’s concrete cell had been constructed, but the water tightness test did not meet requirements. Is SDU6 essentially just a big concrete cell? If not, might add a bit more detail on the unit. To pass the test, contractor Savannah River Remediation spent the past three months installing an interior liner to protect the concrete shell from chemical degradation and achieve leak tightness. The new test began on Dec. 15 and ended Dec. 29.

The test required filling the SDU 6 with 32 million gallons of water. A safe lime-green dye was mixed into the water to reveal any leaks. None were found.

The next step is to release the dyed water from the unit. That process began Dec. 29 and is expected to take 12 days. Once the unit is drained, final construction must be conducted, including welding, vent installation and piping. The work should be completed by the end of January – roughly two months sooner than the March 2017 projection. DOE also expects that SDU 6 will be ready to use ahead of the project need date of February 2018, and that the unit will cost about $122 million – significantly less than the $143 million baseline budget.

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.



by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.

Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮

We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.

Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp

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