Addressing an aging facility: improving reliability of the defense waste processing facility at the Savannah River Site - 15539
- Savannah River Remediation (United States)
- AREVA Federal Services Aiken, South Carolina, 29808 (United States)
The High Level Waste program at the Savannah River Site significantly reduces environmental risks associated with the storage of radioactive waste from legacy efforts to separate fissionable nuclear material from irradiated targets and fuels. The Defense Waste Processing Facility treats and immobilizes High Level Waste into a durable borosilicate glass for safe, permanent storage. Construction of the facility began in 1983 and radioactive operations commenced in 1996. In an effort to support the disposition of radioactive waste and accelerate tank closure for the balance of the Savannah River Site mission, the Defense Waste Processing Facility recently underwent an extensive reliability review in 2013 to understand future needs as well as to address aging infrastructure. As a product of this review, a Performance Improvement Plan was developed to systematically address three major focus areas including, a) asset preservation, b) facility housekeeping, and 3) process improvements. Since issuance of the plan, significant progress has been made in each of these areas to improve the reliability and predictability of the Defense Waste Processing Facility. Providing consistent, constructive, and concise communications is vital in the face of a changing budgetary environment. The Savannah River Site case study provides an example of the U.S. Department of Energy - Savannah River (DOE-SR) and SRR partnering to inform stakeholders about cleanup progress at the site. DOE-SR and SRR periodically and consistently provide both annual written progress reports under the Federal Facility Agreement and quarterly written progress reports under the landfill permit to the government regulators. Through the Liquid Waste System Plans, DOE-SR and SRR constructively and concisely summarize both the significant progress made and explain how a changed budget can impact the goals moving forward. Furthermore, DOE-SR and SRR informs the community and general public about the Site's progress and future during Citizens Advisory Board meetings. In addition, through the new proposed model for complex-wide communications, stakeholders can better understand how budget constraints will affect them. The set-aside program would also encourage stakeholder participation and involvement in helping each state and site obtain extra funding through performance evaluations. Waste management organizations can benefit in a number of ways from an effective partnership approach to communicate with stakeholders about available funding. Keeping an open and honest dialogue with regulatory agencies can help preserve confidence, thus mitigating or completely avoiding costly and distracting fines and penalties. Informing the public not only promotes trust, but also spurs the public to exercise its right to demand more information and voice any concerns to elected or DOE officials. With this approach, DOE can receive better understanding and cooperation from stakeholders in a changing budgetary landscape. Furthermore, a set-aside competitive program would encourage efficiency and innovation that could lead to further cost savings for the government while providing extra funding for cleanup efforts. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22824417
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-19-WM-15539; TRN: US19V0990069463
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2015: Annual Waste Management Symposium, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 15-19 Mar 2015; Other Information: Country of input: France; available online at: http://archive.wmsym.org/2015/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AGING
BOROSILICATE GLASS
BUDGETS
COMMUNITIES
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS
HAZARDS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LIQUID WASTES
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RELIABILITY
REVIEWS
SAVANNAH RIVER
SPENT FUELS
WASTE PROCESSING PLANTS
WASTE STORAGE