SRS gets $1.615 billion

The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that the Savannah River Site will recieve $1.615 billion in stimulus funds to accelerate decommissioning work.

The work will create or saving 3,000 jobs and open much of the site to future energy development.

The money for SRS is part of $6 billion in new funding for environmental cleanup work that will create thousands of jobs across 12 states, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

The accelerated cleanup means the site's industrial area will be reduced by 40 percent, or 79,000 acres, by 2011.

The plans include:

- Deactivation and decommission of the P and R reactors.

- Removal of more than 100 facilities and structures at the site.

- Acceleration of cleanup in the B, A, N and F areas.

- Transuranic waste will be shipped off-site to a waste isolation pilot plant or a Nevada test site.

- 90 percent of the plutonium-238 will be eliminated.

"These investments will put Americans to work while cleaning up contamination from the cold war era," said Secretary Chu. "It reflects our commitment to future generations as well as to help local economies get moving again."

The Aiken Standard, citing an internal Energy Department document distributed to economic development groups and an industry publication, first reported the proposed stimulus funding for SRS on Jan. 12.

Contact Mike Gellatly at mgellatly@aikenstandard.com.