WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, June 19, 2008, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management James A. Rispoli will deliver remarks at a ceremony to mark the start of normal operations of the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) interim salt waste processing facilities and the final closure of the General Separations Area Consolidated Unit at DOE’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC.  Assistant Secretary Rispoli is expected to highlight the key role these facilities will play in safely closing SRS’s 49 high-level waste tanks and bringing the Department closer to the goal of responsibly cleaning up the nation’s Cold War era nuclear waste.

The interim salt waste processing facilities - the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) - represent an innovative approach to treat, decontaminate, and disposition the radioactive salt waste that currently represents approximately 90 percent of the tank space in the SRS tank farm.  The startup of normal operations follows the completion of a shake-down run as the ARP and MCU were brought online in a deliberate, sequenced process to ensure safe operations. 

NOTE: Media who wish to attend must contact Jim Giusti at (803) 952-7684, Fran Poda at (803) 952-8671, or Dean Campbell at (803) 208-8270 no later than 10 a.m. EDT on June 18, 2008 for badging purposes.

For more information on DOE’s efforts to reduce risk and cleanup the environmental legacy of the Nation’s nuclear weapons program, visit the Office of Enviromental Management.  

Media contact(s):
Joann Wardrip, (202) 586-4940