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"Radioactive waste was being readied for isolation plant A Savannah River Site worker is being evaluated for internal radioactive contamination after an accident in which his finger was punctured by waste materials. The incident occurred Monday in the site's F-Area, where employees hired by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions were conducting transuranic waste remediation work, said Jim Giusti, a U.S. Energy Department spokesman at the site. "His finger was punctured by something in the waste, and the waste is contaminated with radionuclides," he said. "It got into his skin and potentially into his blood. So we have a series of protocols we have to go through.""

"The Department of Energy officially announced Monday that it is looking for a way to dispose of 13 tons of surplus plutonium, enough for more than 1,600 nuclear weapons, that was not part of that destined to be turned into mixed oxide fuel at the MOX project being constructed at the Savannah River Site. DOE posted its intent in the federal register Monday, stating it planned to modify the scope of a previous Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and to conduct additional public scoping meetings in stakeholder communities - including the Central Savannah River Area. Locally, a scoping meeting will be held Aug. 17 at the North Augusta Municipal Center from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The notice proposes to analyze new alternatives including sealing processed plutonium in cans then placing them in canisters that would in turn be surrounded with vitrified high-level liquid waste (meaning turned into glass), as well as simply increasing the amount of plutonium headed to MOX. "

Savannah River Site has been cleared to accept an additional 1.1 metric tons of spent nuclear reactor fuel from foreign research reactors under a program designed to prevent such material from falling into the hands of terrorists. The material -- containing enriched uranium -- would come from reactors in more than a dozen nations and could be shipped to SRS by rail or truck after being offloaded from ships at the Charleston, S.C., Naval Weapons Station, according to a notice published Friday in the Federal Register.

The contractor who ran the Savannah River Site for almost two decades and is a big part of the company which was just awarded a new $3.3 billion deal to run the liquid waste operation is under federal investigation for irregular accounting practices. Washington Savannah River Company altered findings in a 2007 financial audit to justify expenses to the government, federal investigators said in a report made public Wednesday. The Energy Department's Inspector General said, as a result, it cannot verify more than $1 billion in expenses submitted by WSRC that year.

Construction work at a $4.8 billion plant that will convert plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads into fuel safe enough for commercial reactors was given a passing grade Monday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Work began in 2007 on the 600,000-square-foot Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River Site, where 34 metric tons of plutonium will be converted to commercial nuclear reactor fuel over a 20-year period.

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced this week that they have approved the start of construction of a Waste Solidification Building at the Savannah River Site, as part of the MOX project. The WSB is one of three critical facilities that will allow for the disposal of surplus weapons-usable plutonium. "Beginning construction of the Waste Solidification Building is another clear indication that we are moving forward with our plans to dispose of at least 34 metric tons of surplus U.S. weapons plutonium," said William Tobey, NNSA deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. The Waste Solidification Building will process liquid waste from the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility, currently under construction, and the planned Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility (PDCF), scheduled to be completed in 2016.

Savannah River Remediation LLC, a business partnership that features French utility Areva has won a U.S. waste management contract worth $3.3 billion over a period of six years.

The U.S. Department of Energy gave a final go-ahead Tuesday to initiate the long-delayed full construction phase of Savannah River Site's $1.34 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility. The 146,000-square-foot facility should go into operation in three to four years, according to department officials. The project was originally scheduled to be completed this year, but it was delayed and reworked over concerns about its design and vulnerability to seismic activity.

The second construction in the plutonium disposition complex at SRS broke ground Friday and was proclaimed "the cornerstone ... of a new nuclear age." Project workers and dignitaries spoke before the first shovels of dirt were turned over on the $345 million facility. Ken Chacey, director of site engineering and construction management for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the event was "a huge event for America" as a move toward energy independence. The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) will turn weapons-grade plutonium into fuel assemblies in use in commercial nuclear reactors. The new facility is the Waste Solidification Building (WSB), which will process low-level and transuranic liquid waste streams from MOX and pit disassembly operations.

An additional investment of $6 billion over the next four years at SRS and other DOE cleanup sites could mean 10,000 new jobs. As part of President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan, billions of dollars could be funneled into the Department of Energy's cleanup program with a view to significantly accelerate the remaining work, according to an internal DOE document. "These footprint reduction efforts will lower monitoring and maintenance costs enabling (the office of Environmental Management) to focus on critical long-term activities like managing highly radioactive liquid tank waste," documents state. "They will also enable the leveraging of DOE/EM site assets to address national energy and environmental goals through the Energy Parks Initiatives."

At a public hearing Thursday, the Department of Energy heard various opinions regarding how its proposed expansion of nuclear energy would benefit or harm the Southeast United States. However, they heard more just making a sales pitch for the CSRA as a site for new reprocessing reactors. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and its Programatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) were debated and examined by the more than 30 invested individuals who spoke out on the pros and cons of increasing the country's nuclear energy infrastructure. The PEIS specifically does not name a list of potential sites.

DOE announced today that Savannah River Remediation, a limited-liability group headed by URS, won a liquid-waste contract valued at about $3.3 billion. The contract takes effect April 1, 2009 and has a base of six years, with a potential for two more years. The team consists of URS Washington Division; Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services; Bechtel National; CH2M Hill; and AREVA Federal Services. Designated subcontractors include EnergySolutions Federal EPC and Washington Safety Management Solutions.

The Parsons Corporation filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office on Monday demanding that the office re-examine awarding Savannah River Remediation the liquid waste contract over their own bid. A URS Corp.-led group, Savannah River Remediation (SRR) was awarded the $3.3 billion Department of Energy contract to manage the liquid waste at the Savannah River Site on Dec. 7. According to the Department of Energy, Parsons filed a protest with the immediate impact of putting on hold the transition from one URS group - Washington Savannah River Company - to another - SRR.

The push for new nuclear reactors became a top-tier issue in the presidential race. Yet one aspect of the debate has received little attention, though it provides an interesting insight into competing visions for America's energy future: reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. As Dennis Spurgeon pointed out in his Nov. 20 column here in the Chronicle ("Give input now on energy future"), this issue is especially relevant to northeast Georgia and southwest South Carolina, where the U.S. Department of Energy has considered locating a reprocessing facility as part of the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

SC-- Half a century ago, the Savannah River Site was a top spot for our government to meet nuclear needs during the Cold War. There were secret projects…and buzz words that surrounded the site: 'hydrogen bomb' and 'nuclear reactor.' But half a century later, SRS's mission has shifted. They now clean up harmful materials. And SRS researchers are looking to make this a sound of the past. Dr. Theodore Motyka, Hydrogen Program Manager: "Eventually we'll all run on hydrogen in my opinion. It's a matter of when."

A U.S. Department of Energy decision on the Savannah River Site's liquid waste operations could come as early as the end of the month, new Washington Savannah River Co. President Steve Piccolo said Monday. WSRC and its parent company, URS Washington Division, transitioned the site's management operations to Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in early August. However, WSRC still has a 2,200-person workforce at SRS for the liquid waste operation.

With the last shipment leaving the Savannah River Site (SRS), all legacy solvents from canyon operations have left South Carolina for necessary treatment before final disposition, according to an announcement Friday. When F-Canyon shut down for the last time in 2003, clearing out its systems of all legacy chemicals was a major task. This included uranium-bearing materials, plutonium-bearing materials and 50,000 gallons of PUREX solvents. PUREX (Plutonium and Uranium Extraction) was the chemical process used.

A partnership that includes Fluor Corp. and Honeywell International officially becomes manager and operator of the Savannah River Site. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC says it takes over the Cold War-era nuclear weapons complex from Washington Savannah River Co. on Friday.

Savannah River Site's new contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, has recruited six new senior managers who are coming from positions within Fluor Daniel, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell and the U.S. Department of Energy. Rich Slocum, the new vice president of site infrastructure and project support services, previously served as vice president of closure services and infrastructure for Fluor Hanford in Richland, Wash.

Over the past three days, teacher LaLisa Folk learned about the Savannah River Site, the Environmental Protection Agency, nuclear energy and the nuclear industry, reactor design and the basics of radiation. For the past decade, the U.S. Department of Energy has hosted the TREAT workshop for teachers - Teaching Radiation, Energy and Technology. The program is funded through an environmental grant with Savannah State University.