Robert Brown, SRR tank farm operator, performs daily inspections of a salt disposition process facility. The inspections and improvement upgrades have resulted in continued successful operations.
AIKEN, S.C. – The liquid waste cleanup contractor for the EM program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently surpassed a 2013 contract milestone by processing more than 600,000 gallons of salt waste.
Savannah River Remediation (SRR) salt disposition process facilities removed nearly all the radioactive isotopes from the salt waste from large underground storage tanks. The isotopes were moved to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), where they were transformed into a molten glass mixture for permanent storage.
Achieving this milestone continues to prove the effectiveness of salt waste processing at SRS, DOE-Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project Terrel Spears said.
“I congratulate SRR for reaching this initial milestone,” Spears said. “Processing salt waste is essential for us and our mission to close tanks. The salt processing technologies utilized have proven very effective in removing the radioactive constituents from salt waste.”
Dave Olson, SRR President and Project Manager, said salt waste constitutes 90 percent of the total waste inventory stored in SRR’s two tank farms.
“The milestone demonstrates the safe and continuous operations of a key component in the waste removal process at SRS,” Olson said.
Past achievements in SRS salt waste dispositioning include:
- Workers processed more than 704,000 gallons on salt waste in fiscal year 2012, surpassing a target of 700,000 gallons;
- SRR has processed more than 3.5 million gallons of salt waste since launching operations in April 2008;
- Saltstone Facilities marked a two-month production record in September and October 2012 by processing 1.1 million gallons of decontaminated salt solution; and,
- Melter 2, a 65-ton vessel that treats waste at DWPF, has been in operation for 10 years as of 2013, eight years past its design life expectancy.
SRR’s 2012 annual review is available here.
In other recent SRS news, DOE-SR announced Pamela A. Horning as the new Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Project Office Federal Project Director.
“We are pleased to have Pam join our DOE-SR family,” DOE-SR Manager David Moody said. “I am confident in her ability to successfully steer the completion of the construction and startup for SWPF with its interface to the DOE-SR Liquid Waste Disposition Project.”
Horning has more than 29 years of experience in the nuclear industry managing and operating large manufacturing and technical services operations for the commercial nuclear industry and the federal government. Most recently, she served as the Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group Vice President of Assurance and Operational Excellence.
