SRS is top story of 2009 12/28/2009 12:32 AM By the very nature of its size and importance to the local economy, Savannah River Site could probably be one of the leading stories of any year.
This year, however, a number of events out of the ordinary made SRS rise to the top of Aiken County's top stories.
The biggest positive was a $1.6 billion allocation from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which will be used to reduce the footprint of the complex. The money will be spent over a 2¬½-year period and has already been used to hire more than 2,500 workers.
On a negative note, a sequence of unrelated accidents worried observers who are well aware of the Site's history of excellent safety.
Garry Flowers was brought in to take the lead at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions following the retirement of Chuck Munns.
The two major contractors for the Site, SRNS and Savannah River Remediation, stood on the sidelines as sniping among Department of Energy officials led to internal strife.
While SRS was well known for its removal of nuclear waste, another facility will turn plutonium into fuel for nuclear power reactors. The Mixed Oxide Facility is well on the way to completion and will turn tons of weapons grade plutonium into pellets that will be used as part of the mixed fuel.
A new facility is under construction at SRS that replaces a coal-fired electrical generating building with one that will use biomass for fuel. Carbon emissions will be greatly reduced when the unit comes on line and produces electricity and steam for SRS use.
Although there have been some distractions at SRS this year, it is obvious that a lot of important work is being accomplished. There are thousands of dedicated women and men who do important work for our country in relative anonymity.
While distracting headlines are the talk of the town for a brief time, the strong efforts of the SRS employees who do their jobs on a daily basis cannot be dismissed.
Theirs is a story often untold but vitally important to our community.
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