Safe, Cost Effective Management of Inactive Facilities at the Savannah River Site

Conference · Mon Feb 25 04:00:00 EST 2002

OSTI ID:832992

Austin, W E; Yannitell, D M; Freeman, D W

The Savannah River Site is part of the U.S. Department of Energy complex. It was constructed during the early 1950s to produce basic materials (such as plutonium-239 and tritium) used in the production of nuclear weapons. The 310-square-mile site is located in South Carolina, about 12 miles south of Aiken, South Carolina, and about 15 miles southeast of Augusta, Georgia. Savannah River Site (SRS) has approximately 200 facilities identified as inactive. These facilities range in size and complexity from large nuclear reactors to small storage buildings. These facilities are located throughout the site including three reactor areas, the heavy water plant area, the manufacturing area, and other research and support areas. Unlike DOE Closure Sites such as Hanford and Rocky Flats, SRS is a Project Completion Site with continuing missions. As facilities complete their defined mission, they are shutdown and transferred from operations to the facility disposition program. At the SRS, Facilities Decontamination and Decommissioning (FDD) personnel manage the disposition phase of a inactive facility's life cycle in a manner that minimizes life cycle cost without compromising (1) the health or safety of workers and the public or (2) the quality of the environment. The disposition phase begins upon completion of operations shutdown and extends through establishing the final end-state. FDD has developed innovative programs to manage their responsibilities within a constrained budget.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Savannah River Company Aiken, SC (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• OSTI ID: 832992
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
CLOSURES
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
HEAVY WATER PLANTS
LIFE CYCLE
LIFE-CYCLE COST
MANUFACTURING
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PERSONNEL
PLUTONIUM 239
PRODUCTION
REACTORS
SAFETY
SHUTDOWN
STORAGE
TRITIUM
WASTE MANAGEMENT