The Savannah River Site’s two largest contractors reported recently that they are focusing on hiring more personnel as a significant number of their workforces near retirement eligibility. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, and Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor, both gave presentations in April to the Strategic & Legacy Management Committee of the Citizens Advisory Board (CAB).
SRNS reported that, as of April 30, it employed 4,894 employees and that about 30 percent of its workforce is eligible to retire this year. By 2022, 59 percent of the workforce will be eligible for retirement. The contractor is looking to hire scientists, engineers, radiological control inspectors, maintenance mechanics, and production operators. Overall, SRNS anticipates hiring 2,000 employees over the next five years, but expects level staffing, which means the number of workers hired will be the same as the numbers of those leaving.
SRNS first reported in January its intent to hire 2,000 workers, including 80 general production workers, or operators, in 2016. The job calls for assisting in the operation of a process or equipment within a nuclear facility at SRS, including opening or closing valves, taking process samples, operating a hoist to lift and lower items such as spent fuel casks, and taking readings within a control room. Hiring will largely take place through partnerships with colleges close to SRS, which is located near Aiken, S.C.
“At the Savannah River Site and across the DOE complex, there are a large number of long-term employees who are becoming eligible for retirement, making the hiring and retention of quality employees a priority,” SRNS spokeswoman Barbara Smoak said by email. “SRNS continues to address the retention of current employees and the hiring of new employees needed to sustain the workforce necessary to accomplish the important missions of SRS.”
Savannah River Remediation is also looking to recruit employees to offset an aging workforce. The contractor reported in April that nearly 1,100 of its workers are above age 50 and that the average age of SRR employees is 52. The contractor employs 2,163 workers, including 669 who are eligible for retirement with full or reduced benefits and another 1,007 who will become eligible over the next five years.
Similar to SRNS, the liquid waste contractor is looking to hire production operators and radiological control inspectors. In addition, SRR reported that it needs shift operation managers and engineers. To meet those needs, SRR said it will look into hiring waves to offset attrition and may also conduct retirement feathering – the implementation of reduced schedules and assignment changes to keep skilled workers on longer than they would have stayed. The contractor supplied its employment numbers but declined to comment on the topic this week.
