The $470 million Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is on track to begin operations this month, following completion in February of a readiness assessment, according to builder Parsons.
Both the Energy Department and Parsons said via email this week that the agency’s readiness assessment wrapped up on Feb. 13. The resulting document included an evaluation of equipment performance, personnel knowledge and their proficiency at running the facility, and ensuring outlined operational procedures provide enough direction for completing the mission. The Energy Department also issued a final report detailing the methodology, findings, and conclusions from the assessment.
Parsons spokesman Bryce McDevitt said neither document is being made public. Generally, the documents address assessments of radiation and fire protection, as well as detailed work plans for the facility.
“We are extremely pleased with the findings and look forward to delivering an operational facility to the Department of Energy,” McDevitt said by email. “This program is a success story for the safe remediation of nuclear waste and the partnership between the DOE and industry.”
Startup in March would meet Parsons’ latest projections for operations to begin in the first quarter of 2020. The Energy Department offered a more conservative estimate last week, stating operations will begin in spring 2020.
A DOE spokesperson said the SWPF must first be transferred to Critical Decision 4, the stage indicating completion of readiness activities and the start of operations. It is unclear what more needs to be done for that to occur.
In 2002, Parsons inked a $2.3 billion contract to design and build the 140,000-square-foot Salt Waste Processing Facility at the DOE complex near the city of Aiken. Construction was completed in June 2016, at which time DOE and Parsons were shooting for a December 2018 startup. That projection was pushed back more than a year due to valve replacements and other technical issues, but operations will still begin ahead of the January 2021 deadline Parsons agreed to in the contract.
Over the past two years, the parties have disputed alleged mismanagement of the project. In March 2018, the Energy Department accused Parsons of a “deteriorating” work performance, including workers failing to adequately follow safety protocols. Parsons, in response, said DOE had mischaracterized the company’s performance. The sides eventually agreed Parsons would submit an updated baseline that includes costs and schedules for SWPF startup. That schedule was approved, but details of the baseline were not made public.
Then, in March of this year, DOE told Parsons it would have to pay $33 million in disincentive fees due to missed deadlines and overspending at SWPF. The contractor fought back, saying it had to postpone various milestones due to unforeseen equipment issues that DOE was not considering.
The Salt Waste Processing Facility will treat millions of gallons of radioactive salt waste currently stored in underground tanks dating to the Cold War. Savannah River stores 35 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste. About 90 percent of that volume, or 31.5 million gallons, is salt waste, and the rest is sludge.
The SWPF is intended to process at least 7.3 million gallons of liquid salt waste per year, extracting and then transferring cesium the nearby Defense Waste Processing Facility for further processing with the sludge. The remaining salt waste will be stored permanently disposed on-site.
