Forum meets to discuss SRS' status, future

Department of Energy Savannah River Site Operations Office Manager Dave Moody, pointing, answers a question from a panel of local economic leaders at a forum Friday morning. Seated beside Moody is Dwayne Wilson, president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions; Kelly Trice, president and project manager of Shaw Areva MOX Services; and Savannah River National Laboratory Executive Vice President Dr. Terry Michalske. Staff photo by Anna Dolianitis.

Leaders from the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the heads of most contractors at the Savannah River Site participated in a forum Friday that was intended to give community leaders a better understanding of the activities going on at the site.

The forum, hosted by the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization and held at Aiken Technical College as part of a local observance of National Nuclear Science Week, addressed the current state of projects on-site, partnerships between contractors and plans and projections for the future of the site.

Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office Manager Dave Moody said that, compared to other sites around the country, the Savannah River Site is better positioned to impact the nuclear future of the United States.

"I do believe that the Savannah River Site is uniquely poised to resurrect the nuclear industry in this country," Moody said, emphasizing particularly SRS' plans to bring small modular reactors to the site. "Other sites have pieces of that, but nobody puts that together with the nuclear expertise that we have at the Savannah River Site."

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Dwayne Wilson highlighted the projects completed through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding and the new mission identified for the site's H-Canyon, the only hardened nuclear chemical separations facility still in operation in the United States.

In October, NNSA announced that H-Canyon, which had been ordered into minimum staffing and minimum activity status earlier in the year, would begin to provide feedstock for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility being constructed at SRS.

Wilson said SRNS continues to perform cold runs in H-Canyon to maintain the efficiency of employees and the reliability of the equipment. He added that the "engine for growth" of the site is the Savannah River National Laboratory, which has increased its workload by 50 percent over the past five years.

An important part of work at the lab is in partnerships, said Dr. Terry Michalske, executive vice president for SRNL, pointing to work done corroboratively in biomass with South Carolina State University and work in wind turbine facilities in the Charleston harbor done with Clemson University.

"I think energy is a very regional thing, and it's good to have national goals, but we have to let regions decide what to do and what serves them best," he said.

Savannah River Remediation President and Project Manager Dave Olson said that the liquid waste contractor anticipates closure of two waste tanks by October, a few months earlier than anticipated.

Shaw Areva MOX Services President and Project Manager Kelly Trice said that the MOX facility is expected to begin operating in October 2016.

The MOX substation is currently powered by wood chips from Ameresco's Biomass Cogeneration Facility. The biomass facility will provide 30 percent of SRS' power and 100 percent steam from renewable fuel, Amereso Manager Ken Chacey said.

The biomass facility, which will replace a 1950s era D-Area coal-burning plant, will celebrate its completion in the next several weeks.

The forum also included presentation by NNSA Manager Doug Dearolph and Parsons Director of Operations Roy Schepens.

SRSCRO Executive Director Rick McLeod said the intent of the forum was "to make the community leaders and the community aware of how diverse the site is compared to the way some folks might remember it," he said.

Anna Dolianitis is a reporter for the Aiken Standard. She covers the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, as well as court and legal matters affecting Aiken County. She has been with the Aiken Standard since August 2010.