The Savannah River Site’s liquid waste cleanup program should be on an expedited path for completion, according to a recommendation to be considered later this month by the site’s Citizens Advisory Board (CAB). In August, the CAB’s waste management committee approved a recommendation to provide adequate funding to expedite liquid waste processing, sending the vote to the full CAB. If approved there, it will be forwarded to Department of Energy headquarters for consideration. The recommendation does not say how much the CAB thinks the liquid waste program needs each year. In fiscal 2015, the South Carolina site received $712 million for liquid waste work; that rose to $784 million for the current budget year, which ends on Sept. 30.
The recommendation is based on Revision 20 of the SRS Liquid Waste System Plan. Revisions to the plan are made periodically as SRS officials adjust the program based on funding and scheduling. Revision 20 was introduced in March by Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the SRS liquid waste contractor, and includes different cases for future liquid waste operations. The “cases” are outlined projections for completed missions at SRS that depend on several factors, such as funding and workflow.
The CAB committee’s recommendation favors “Case 3,” which offers the fastest processes to treat the SRS waste. Case 3 suggests that all SRS liquid waste facilities be placed into decommissioning by 2038, three years earlier than in Cases 1 and 2. Case 3 would also involve treating all of the sludge and salt waste in the storage tanks by 2030, two years earlier than the other plans. All told, more than 40 SRS storage tanks currently house about 36 million gallons of liquid waste that dates to the Cold War.
Site officials don’t exactly decide which case they want to pursue. Rather, the cases serve as projections of what workers will accomplish based on funding, scheduling, and other factors. For example, the Liquid Waste System Plan says the Case 3 goals were outlined “assuming funding restrictions are relaxed.”
The CAB will meet Sept. 26-27 in Augusta, Ga. – about 30 miles from the SRS facility near Aiken, S.C.
