AIKEN, S.C. — Highly radioactive liquid waste has been safely removed from another underground legacy waste tank at the Savannah River Site (SRS).
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) received concurrence from regulators that Tank 14 has reached preliminary cease waste removal (PCWR), making it the eighth old-style tank to reach PCWR in under two years.
Assistant Secretary of EM Tim Walsh marked the milestone with the ceremonial placement of a commemorative medallion during his recent visit to SRS.
Walsh said the SRS liquid waste program is a testament to the integrated approach to the cleanup mission.
“It’s really a model for what is the art of the possible and what is being accomplished to speed up our mission here,” said Walsh.
PCWR is a regulatory agreement between EM and federal and state environmental regulators that, based on preliminary information, there is reasonable assurance performance objectives for tank closure will be met. All PCWR milestones have been achieved by EM’s liquid waste contractor, Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), years ahead of the SRS Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) schedule.
DOE-Savannah River Manager Edwin Deshong said achieving PCWR for these eight tanks are key deliverables to our state and federal regulators that reflect the accelerated risk reduction approach to waste removal at SRS.
“Removing the waste from eight old-style tanks ahead of schedule reduces the risk of the remaining waste and delivers on the Department’s commitment to accelerate cleanup,” said Deshong.
Achieving PCWR means that work can begin on the sampling and analysis phase in the tank closure process.
Tank 14 was inspected and mapped using drones, and will be one of the first tanks to use drones exclusively for final characterization sampling. Using drones instead of tethered robotic crawlers for tank inspections and sampling saves four weeks and $700,000 per tank.
Thomas Burns, Jr., SRMC president and program manager, said another PCWR accomplished at a record-setting pace is evidence of the ownership that the SRMC has in the mission.
“We’re in the business of reducing real risk, and we’re doing that safely while delivering results,” Burns said. “Achieving eight PCWR milestones in under two years, all ahead of schedule, truly shows Savannah River Mission Completion is committed to excellence. We are advancing the mission of safe and efficient liquid waste cleanup at SRS, which is protecting our environment and community for generations to come.”