CD-2 for Savannah River pits expected in fiscal 2025; demo contract inked

November 4, 2022

By Wayne Barber

Critical-decision 2 for a new plutonium pit production plant at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina is now expected in fiscal 2025, a state panel heard last week from the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Also, site prime Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has contracted a local affiliate of Toronto-based Aecon to handle $100-million worth of decommissioning to help pave the way for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.

Jason Armstrong, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) field office at Savannah River, told the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Committee that critical-decision 2 on the Savannah River Site Plutonium Processing Facility should come in the middle of fiscal 2025.

That translates to around April 2025 or six months later than previously forecast. DOE and NNSA officials also told the governor’s panel that the public won’t notice much difference when NNSA takes over responsibility for Savannah River in 2025. 

The NNSA plans to repurpose the canceled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Building 226-F for pit production. The NNSA plans to start making 80 pits annually with 30 coming from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the other 50 coming from Savannah River starting in the 2030s.

Critical-decision 1 was made in June 2021, and estimated the pits plant at Savannah River would run between $6.9 billion to- $11.1 billion, and be completed by 2035, according to NNSA. At that time, critical-decision 2, which requires a 90% design completion, was expected during fiscal 2024.

Staff members from the South Carolina congressional delegation have visited Savannah River to check on the pits project “and we are overwhelmingly getting a lot of great support for that,” Armstrong said. Savannah River managers are looking at housing for construction workers expected to be needed in the coming years, Armstrong said. 

Pipes and other components not needed for pits are being removed and remediated at the mixed-oxide facility, Armstrong said. The NNSA and site prime Savannah River Nuclear Solutions are managing the project. A team of Fluor, Merrick and Sandia National Laboratories are designing various aspects of the Savannah River pit plant, according to the NNSA.

In an Oct. 26 press release, South Carolina-based Aecon-Wachs said it has landed two contracts with Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), valued at $100 million, for decommissioning-related work.

This will be done through the demolition and removal of all components, including equipment and bulk commodities “while protecting the existing structure,” Aecon-Wachs said in its press release. Aecon-Wachs will design, install and maintain temporary heating, ventilation and air conditioning to provide proper climate controls in the facility during construction.

The demolition work started in October and will run through October 2024 with a multi-year optional maintenance program to follow, according to the release. Aecon-Wachs and its preferred subcontractors and small business partners will provide more than 175 workers over time.

“Since the 2018 acquisition of Wachs Services by Aecon Group, we set a strategic mission to grow our nuclear portfolio in next-generation nuclear technologies, existing plant maintenance and life extensions, decommissioning and government services,” said Aecon-Wachs vice president and general manager Keith Willingham. Willingham started his career at Savannah River 35 years ago, according to the press release.

Aecon-Wachs already has current reactor segmentation and large component removal projects underway at DOE’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and several commercial nuclear sites

During the Oct. 24 meeting, Armstrong also said “nobody is losing their job” when NNSA takes over the Savannah River Site from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in 2025. “We have plenty of work.”

Most of the tasks the nuclear cleanup office is transferring is work such as information technology, now done for the site by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, said Michael Budney, who heads the Environmental Management field office. “Jason becomes responsible” for these issues, “not me,” Budney said.