Millions of dollars in fines are still possible over missed milestones at the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), though South Carolina regulators will not confirm or deny if they’ll impose the penalties after nearly a year of meetings with the federal government on the issue. The Savannah River Site celebrated the facility’s completion in June, but an agreement between the Department of Energy and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) states the facility was supposed to be operating by Oct. 31, 2015. “The milestones weren’t met and the stipulated penalties exist. We have that ability to impose them,” SCDHEC Director Catherine Heigel said in an interview. Heigel did not say whether SCDHEC would impose the fines.
The SWPF will process millions of gallons of salt waste sitting in more than 40 SRS storage tanks, the byproduct of nuclear material processing during the Cold War. Because the Energy Department failed to meet the October 2015 deadline set by the 2006 Saltstone Disposal Facility permit, SCHDEC could have fined the federal government $105,000 a day starting at the earlier date of Sept. 30, 2011, according to the agreement. The permit states that several tasks were to be completed before the 2011 date, including operation of the waste transfer lines for the SWPF. To date, SCDHEC could attempt to levy $185,430,000 from the Energy Department.
Days before the October deadline, SCDHEC reported that it was beginning conversations with the Energy Department to renegotiate deadlines, schedules, and funding commitments for the facility. Those discussions have continued since then.
The most recent meeting took place on July 15 between Heigel and Monica Regalbuto, assistant energy secretary for environmental management. Neither party would reveal the details of the discussions. Heigel said she could not disclose the information, and DOE submitted the following statement: “The Department values its relationship with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. DOE takes seriously compliance with regulatory milestones and we continue to work with SCDHEC to develop a long-term path forward for ensuring that Savannah River Site cleanup work is completed safely and expeditiously.”
Once operable, SWPF will separate the highly radioactive cesium and actinides from the salt solution held in the waste storage tanks. About 90 percent of the Cold War-era waste in the tanks is salt waste. After completing the separation process, the cesium and actinide waste will be sent to the nearby Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) for final treatment. The remaining decontaminated salt solution will be mixed with grout at the SRS Saltstone Disposal Facility for disposal on-site.
SWPF is expected to begin operating by late 2018 following more than two years of additional work, such as training workers to operate the facility. Once it is up and running, liquid waste processing at the Savannah River Site is expected to jump from 1.5 million gallons a year to about 6 million gallons, according to site officials. The facility will accompany DWPF, which converts the liquid waste into a glass form that allows for safe storage on-site until a federal repository is made available.
Heigel said the most important issue is not whether her agency should impose the fines. Rather, it is making sure the millions of gallons of waste stored at SRS are safely treated as quickly as possible.
“The most important objective we have to have in this state is the cleanup of that site,” she said. “We cannot be distracted what might be expedient legal options at the expense of the long-term goal. That’s what makes it complicated.”
