Saltstone Processes 10 Million Gallons of Waste
October 26, 2011
AIKEN, S.C. - Savannah River Remediation (SRR) has reached a new milestone: 10 million gallons of low-level radioactive salt waste has now been processed through the Saltstone facilities.
The landmark processing total was reached October 14, 2011, encompassing processing operations for over 21 years.
Since beginning operations on June 12, 1990, the Saltstone facilities have safely received, treated and disposed of low-level radioactive liquid salt wastes produced and stored at SRS and are vital in Savannah River Remediation's (SRR) mission to operationally close hazardous waste tanks, according to Dave Olson, SRR President and Project Manager.
"Our employees are safely moving salt waste from storage to treatment and disposal, reducing risk," Olson said. "Sending this material through Saltstone is instrumental in performing our mission to close the waste tanks."
SRS is the only site within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex to process and permanently disposition salt waste from waste tanks.
"Saltstone facility operations are a critical component of DOE closing the circle on treatment of tank waste," said Terrel Spears, Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project, DOE-Savannah River Operations Office. "The liquid waste program employees are demonstrating real progress in the safe removal and permanent disposition of this low-activity salt waste, which supports DOE's ultimate priority to operationally close our tank farm system and reduce risk."
SRS is owned by DOE. The SRS Liquid Waste contract is managed by SRR, a team of companies led by URS Corp. with partners Bechtel National, CH2M Hill and Babcock & Wilcox. Critical subcontractors for the contract are AREVA, Energy Solutions and URS Safety Management Solutions.
Point of Contact: Dean Campbell, Manager, Public Affairs dean.campbell@srs.gov