News Archive

Two of Savannah River Site's oldest nuclear reactors were sealed Wednesday for the last time, marking the completion of two of the most significant projects financed with the site's $1.6 billion share of stimulus funds. Read More

AIKEN, S.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy has sealed off access to two reactors at a former nuclear weapons plant near the South Carolina-Georgia border. Read More

With investments from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Energy and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, (SRNS) today sealed the access to the historic P and R Reactors as part of footprint reduction and legacy cleanup at the Savannah River Site.

The Department of Energy is on track to reduce its overall cleanup footprint by approximately 90 percent by 2015, due in part to cleanup efforts at the Savannah River Site. Read More

The $1.6 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding awarded to contractors at the Savannah River Site was successful in retaining and creating 4,600 jobs in the local community, as well as creating 86 cents of regional economic impact for every dollar of regionally spent stimulus funds, according to an economic impact study unveiled at USC Aiken. Read More

In early spring each year, scores of Savannah River Site employees volunteer for the United Way of Aiken County's Project Vision - providing repair and renovation work at social service agencies. Read More

The Department of Energy and its contractors spent 2010 making progress on cleanup projects, racking up hours of safe work, and making plans to keep SRS viable in the future - all while dealing with the challenges of a troubled economy. Read More

The Beech Island small business Grade South has been awarded a $6.3 million contract by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions for closure of the P-Area's Ash Basin and a nearby outfall at the Savannah River Site. Read More

With about 48 percent of nuclear industry staffers nearing retirement, they must be replaced, and that will come from programs like those at Aiken Technical College, instructor David Deal told Aiken Rotary Club members Monday. Read More

AIKEN, S.C. – A $3.5-million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has placed an operational stormwater runoff cover over the 625,000-square-foot area comprising E-Area Low-Level Waste (LLW) Facility Slit Trench Disposal Units 1-4. The cover was installed as an interim remedial action and will enhance the protection of human health and the environment.

Federal stimulus dollars spent in the five-county region surrounding Savannah River Site created or saved 4,600 jobs and helped mitigate the impact of the worst recession in recent history, according to a new study unveiled Tuesday. Read More

In 22 short months, the Savannah River Site (SRS) has spent $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to accelerate environmental cleanup of the remaining Cold War legacy, while supporting jobs, training and small businesses in our region.

The landscape of the Savannah River Site (SRS) is a little flatter and a little less colorful with the removal today of the 75-foot-tall rusty-orange dome from the Cold War-era test reactor.

A self-leveling cement slurry invented by Savannah River National Laboratory using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars was used on Nov. 22 to completely fill the P Reactor vessel at the Savannah River Site, taking a step toward closure of the reactor. Read More

Job cuts are coming to the Savannah River Site. We learned of the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, when a letter was sent out to employees detailing the decision. Read More

1400 People to be laid off at S-R-N-S. Read More

An internal memo obtained by the Aiken Standard on Thursday highlights plans for a large-scale workforce reduction by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions at the Savannah River Site by 2012, associated with the completion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act work. Read More

AIKEN -- The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site removed two exhaust stacks Saturday from the Site’s P & R reactors, according to a news release. Read More

Two icons of the Savannah River Site are no more. Two 145 ft. smoke stacks used by reactors at the site in Barnwell County,were imploded at the site this morning. Read More

October 23, 2010, the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) removed two exhaust stacks from the Site's P & R reactors. With less than 40 pounds of dynamite and in a matter of seconds, the two 145-foot tall, 700-ton stacks that have towered over the P and R Reactors for more than 50 years came down. The demolition is part of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project that is decommissioning the two Cold War era reactors. Read More

Aiken, S.C. – Today, the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) removed two exhaust stacks from the Site’s P & R reactors. With less than 40 pounds of dynamite and in a matter of seconds, the two 145-foot tall, 700-ton stacks that have towered over the P and R Reactors for more than 50 years came down. The demolition is part of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project that is decommissioning the two Cold War era reactors.

Yesterday, Dr. Ines Triay had the privilege to celebrate history and embrace the future at the first Savannah River Site (SRS) Area Completion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Read More

One of Savannah River Site’s largest cleanup projects was completed two years ahead of schedule due in part to extra funding and workers provided under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Read More

Dr. Dave Moody was announced Tuesday as the incoming manager of the Savannah River Operations Office at the Savannah River Site, replacing acting site manager Jack Craig. Read More

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions just celebrated its second birthday at the Savannah River Site. President and CEO of SRNS Garry Flowers gave a brief rundown of the company's accomplishments and plans for the future at last week's A.M. Connection. Read More

Representatives from the Department of Energy and Savannah River Site, as well as community leaders and elected officials from Aiken and the surrounding counties, gathered on Wednesday morning at SRS' M Area - now an open area with concrete slabs where 23 buildings once stood - to celebrate the completion of the first industrial area closure at the site to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars. Read More

Savannah River Site’s stimulus-funded workforce has begun to shrink as the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act enters its final 11 months. Read More

AIKEN, S.C. -- A U.S. Department of Energy official is visiting South Carolina's former nuclear weapons complex to celebrate a milestone in stimulus-funded cleanup. Read More

One of the most visual milestones of cleanup projects underway was the demolition of the K-Reactor Cooling Tower. Read More

One of the most visual milestones of cleanup projects underway within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management was the demolition of the K-Reactor Cooling Tower at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

Aiken, S.C. – After a successful pilot project, DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) will expand the use of new decontamination technology funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The process will rid soil and concrete debris of tritium contamination, and help the site meet its Recovery Act cleanup goals years ahead of schedule.

Both the U.S. Senate and House are discussing the implementation of the energy parks initiative at Savannah River Site and similar federal property, according to the Department of Energy. Read More

While South Carolina's unemployment rate remains the seventh highest in the nation at 11 percent in May, Aiken County has the lowest rate in the state at 7.4 percent. Read More

http://www.aikenstandard.com/results/0610-flowers-column Read More

Aiken County residents should relish the latest numbers that show the county with the state's lowest unemployment rate at 7.4 percent, Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce President David Jameson told Aiken Rotary Club members Monday. Read More

In a matter of seconds, a $90 million structure that took three years to complete was reduced to millions of pounds of rubble as the cooling tower at Savannah River Site's K-Reactor was imploded Tuesday. Read More

There was a pop, a low rumble and -- in just a few seconds -- Savannah River Site's K-reactor cooling tower was reduced to 52 million pounds of concrete rubble. Read More

Stimulus funds at Savannah River Site are going to be used in spectacular fashion today, as a cooling tower is set to be demolished using 1,100 pounds of explosives. Read More

It took three years and $90 million to build, and this morning, the cooling tower for Savannah River Site's dormant K-Reactor will implode to rubble in just 10 seconds. Read More

South Carolina is home to one of the nation's largest stimulus projects: $1.6 billion used to hire more than 3,300 for cleanup at old bomb plant Read More

Sixteen graduates of Aiken Technical College's radiation protection program will enter the work force -- mostly at Savannah River Site -- six months ahead of schedule. Read More

Aiken Technical College's ATC Radiation Protection Technology Program will be able to catapult 16 graduates into the local work force nearly six months ahead of schedule, thanks to stimulus funds from the Savannah River Site. Read More

Stimulus funding has moved the Department of Energy one step closer to closing the book on the Cold War-era P-Reactor facility at the Savannah River Site. Read More

Funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has moved the Department of Energy one step closer to closing the book on the Cold War-era P-Reactor facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). With the installation, testing and startup of six evaporator units, SRS can begin removing about 4.6 million gallons of water from the 105-P Reactor Disassembly Basin – a phase of in situ decommissioning.

Using $200,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS), the Aiken Technical College’s (ATC) Radiation Protection Technology Program will be able to catapult 16 graduates into the local work force nearly six months ahead of schedule.

Most people in South Carolina didn't vote for Barack Obama and didn't want any part of his stimulus cash, and folks in a particularly poor, hard-hit swath near the Georgia line were no exception. Until the money showed up. Read More

COLUMBIA --- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has disputed claims by some South Carolina leaders that new federal climate rules will hamstring the state's small businesses, The State newspaper reported Monday. Read More

Speaking to a group of new SRS employees Monday, U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn urged them not to just work but to remember the importance of volunteering and improving one's community. Read More

A majority of people in South Carolina didn't vote for Barack Obama and many didn't want any part of his stimulus cash, and folks in a particularly poor, hard-hit swath near the Georgia line were no exception. Until the money showed up. Read More

After more than half a century since its construction and more than four decades since last operation, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) R Reactor has taken a leap forward into the 21st Century with the installation of a wireless Intranet service by a local small business.

The largest American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project in the region is at its peak. Savannah River Site leaders who have dealt with the yearlong ramp-up of employees to do the waste removal and reactor decommissioning work are now shifting their focus to handle the ramp-down. Read More

Buying a new mixer is a simple shopping task for most, unless you’re the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). A new mixer at SRS isn’t for the kitchen. Its job is on a grander scale -- to mix highly-radioactive salt waste stored in underground tanks here for disposal.

Local and small businesses in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) have benefited from more than $11 million worth of business since last October from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( ARRA) project at the Savannah River Site.

Savannah River Site's primary contractor has scheduled two additional "Lunch and Learn" seminars to offer local business owners more guidance on how to compete for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act contracts. Read More

With American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, the remediation of 800 to 1,000 drums of transuranic (TRU) waste restarted at the Department of Energy's F Canyon, a deactivated chemical separations facilities at the Savannah River Site.

Federal stimulus dollars will be used to resurrect a program to hand-sort drums of radioactive wastes to make them acceptable for shipment to a disposal site in New Mexico. Read More

With the beginning of a new decade, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) is moving forward with its decommissioning activities for the SRS Cold War Production Reactors.

"The Big Top" at Savannah River Site's Solid Waste Management facility has nothing to do with clowns, lions and tightrope-walkers, but rather is in place to keep Mother Nature from interfering with waste shipments. Read More

In recent weeks, several contracts, totaling several hundred million dollars, have been awarded to companies working at the Savannah River Site. These funds are part of the $1.6 billion awarded last year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds. Read More

"I'm working on the DUO project [depleted uranium oxide], I was in D&D [deactivation and decommissioning] and I moved over here in October. They needed someone to run the night shift so I came over. It's still stimulus funded and it's keeping me employed." Read More

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has awarded a contract for the production of concrete to decommission two nuclear reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy facility in Aiken. This award means that up to 116 new jobs will be coming to the CSRA through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at the Savannah River Site. Read More

A series of luncheons for small businesses interested in securing contracts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at Savannah River Site are set to begin this week. The series is organized by the management and operations contractor at the Site, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Read More

A series of luncheons for small businesses interested in securing contracts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) has been scheduled. The series is organized by the management and operations contractor at the Site, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC (SRNS).

Important projects for the Recovery Act – and not a circus act – are being performed under the Big Top at Solid Waste Management facility at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). The jumbo-size vinyl tent with a metal frame measuring 160 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 20 feet high is used in the Site’s E Area to shelter trucks awaiting inspection before they carry transuranic (TRU) waste offsite to a geologic repository for final disposition.

A $33.3 million contract to provide 252,000 cubic yards of concrete for the closure of two defunct nuclear reactors at Savannah River Site was awarded this week to a Michigan company. Read More

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) has awarded a contract for the production of concrete to decommission two nuclear reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility in Aiken, SC. This award means that up to 116 new jobs will be coming to the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

Contracts totaling $3.1 million were announced Tuesday by Savannah River Site's primary contractor as part of a broad program to decommission two obsolete nuclear weapons material reactors using funds from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Read More

Transuranic (TRU) waste leaving the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) by truck in November for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, N.M., marked the 100th shipment for the Recovery Act Project and the 128th shipment for the 2009 calendar year. The milestone brings the Site one shipment closer to final disposition of its inventory of legacy TRU waste.

Placed in service in 1956, Tank 13 is an underground waste storage tank with a capacity of over a million gallons. It has been out of active service for more than twenty-five (25) years and during that time has safely stored nearly 800,000 gallons of highly radioactive waste. Tank 13, like many of the older tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS), must be emptied and closed by the year 2022.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is helping accelerate tank closures at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site’s F Tank Farm. The project is receiving $1.4 million in Recovery Act funding, which will allow for important steps that are necessary to moving the tank to closure.

A contract to dismantle gantry cranes atop two old plutonium reactors at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) has been awarded by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the Site's management and operations contractor. The work will remove significant parts of the external super structures of the government facility’s P- and R-Reactors. Combined with other decontamination and decommissioning activities, the two reactors will be eliminated as environmental concern through the Recovery Act.

A $1.1 million dollar contract for up to 460,800 gallons of low sulfur diesel fuel has been awarded by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the SRS management and operations contractor, to a Leesville, S.C. firm. The fuel will be used in support of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility.

By the very nature of its size and importance to the local economy, Savannah River Site could probably be one of the leading stories of any year. This year, however, a number of events out of the ordinary made SRS rise to the top of Aiken County's top stories. Read More

During these tough economic times, earning a paycheck has become increasingly challenging for many South Carolinians. For one North Augusta sheet-metal worker, a job and a return to economic stability is one result of the Department of Energy's Recovery Act funding at the Savannah River Site. Read More

The year for Savannah River Site started very brightly with the announcement of a massive investment of stimulus funds. $1.6 billion came to the site, initially for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions to use on decontamination and demolition of legacy buildings and waste. Read More

After an eventful year at the Savannah River Site, all of the major concerns are focused on 2010 and looking to the future of projects and the Site. Read More

AIKEN, S.C. — There is a phenomenon known as the lottery winner’s curse, where those who suddenly strike it rich do not live happily ever after. If the experience at the Savannah River Site here is any guide, something like it may threaten the winners of stimulus bonanzas. Read More

Team was promoting openings at SRS, now it teaches how to hunt jobs. Jeffrey Baumgartner got a disturbing glimpse of the challenges facing some of South Carolina's unemployed population when he tried to help an Allendale County man write a resume. The man sat down at the computer terminal, picked the mouse off the pad and held it against the computer screen, trying to move the cursor around. Baumgartner, 28, a Washington native whose home state boasts cutting-edge companies like Microsoft Corp. and Boeing, began to laugh, thinking it was a joke. But it wasn't. And the situation was no longer funny. Read More

Savannah River Site has completed the shipment of 205,000 pounds of contaminated lead to a recycling center in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Just as doctors use lead to shield patients from x-rays, Savannah River Site uses utilizes lead to protect workers from radiation. The most recent shipment of lead came from activities in High Level Waste Tank Farm where it was molded around process piping and used to shield other equipment to protect workers from radioactivity. Read More

The Savannah River Site is shedding pounds rapidly, thanks to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, according to the Department of Energy. Recently, site management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), shipped the equivalent weight of a space shuttle - 205,000 pounds - of contaminated lead to an off-site processing facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for recycling. Read More

What started as a side business in the early 1990s to help a sodding company through the cold months of winter is, almost 20 years later, helping it weather the lean months of the recession. The 3,000-acre Carolina Fresh Farms is headquartered in Neeses, S.C., and was awarded a Recovery Act Project contract by Savannah River Site (SRS) to supply 20 8 ½- by 24-foot long enclosed cargo trailers. Carolina Fresh Farms is also providing sprayable erosion control materials at the P-Area Reactor Seepage Basins.

Recently, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions shipped the equivalent weight of a space shuttle, or 205,000 pounds, of contaminated lead to an off-site processing facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. for recycling. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the management and operating contractor, and Savannah River Remediation, the liquid waste contractor, joined forces to ensure that this cost effective and environmentally friendly approach to material reuse is a success.

The U.S. Department of Energy's "Road to Recovery" tour is coming to a stop in Barnwell Nov. 12. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. at the Barnwell One-Stop Career Center on 248 Wall St., and ends at 3:30 p.m. Read More

About 600 small business owners and representatives gathered at the Augusta Marriott in downtown Augusta on Nov. 2, enthusiastic and hopeful to get pointers on how to qualify for a contract with the Recovery Act Project at the Savannah River Site.

Bringing new opportunities for local small businesses at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) will be the focus of a Small Business Forum on November 2nd to be held in Augusta, Ga. The event is a proactive effort to assure small businesses have the opportunity to secure contracts related to supporting Recovery Act projects at the DOE facility. The event will be held from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Augusta Marriott.

Earlier this month, a shipment offsite of seven barrels of tritium- and mercury-contaminated oil put the Savannah River Site (SRS) on a fast track to remove legacy mixed waste originally scheduled for disposition in 2053.

More than 120 people in search of a job stopped by yesterday’s Road To Recovery Tour stop in the small town of Sylvania, Ga. The initiative by the Savannah River Site to offer assistance to those seeking work was especially important in an area where a local yarn plant is now faced with closure.

Earlier this month, a shipment off-site of seven barrels of tritium- and mercury-contaminated oil put the Savannah River Site on a fast track to remove legacy mixed waste originally scheduled for disposition in 2053. "Not only is it radioactive for its tritium content, it is hazardous for mercury, which can make treatment of this waste challenging," said Jacob Nims, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) project engineer. "We had plans to let all of it decay to be able to ship it off-site in the future." Read More

“It was a leap of faith but it worked for me” said new SRS Recovery Act employee Heather Still in describing her role as an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA0 project employee at SRS.

SRS Recovery Act Project pumps $142 million in contracts to small businesses thus far – more to come

After nearly a quarter century, over five billion gallons of groundwater – enough to fill 7,575 Olympic sized swimming pools – has been successfully extracted and remediated from Savannah River Site’s (SRS) A and M Areas utilizing the M-1 Air Stripper, an environmental remediation technology which is still going strong.

Tour visiting communities across South Carolina and Northeast Georgia

An innovative effort to share information on the Recovery Act at Savannah River Site is under way. Read More

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the start of $200 million in projects to accelerate Liquid Waste remediation work at the Savannah River Site (SRS) by replacing aging and unreliable infrastructure while preparing for future waste processing under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

After more than 15 years of preparation, SRS employees celebrated yet another milestone along the road to final cleanup when the last shipments of legacy PUREX waste left the Site on September 10.

Last year was a bad year for Larry and Kevin Peters of Peters Machine and Welding in Beech Island, S.C. They had to borrow money to stay afloat, and were hoping that someone or some company would need their particular machining abilities soon. Towards the end of the year, business was picking up, and then a tornado hit the shop and removed 90 percent of the shingles and ripped the façade from the building, tossing bricks deep into the shop itself.

The Savannah River Site remains on the cutting edge of scientific research and new technology in the areas of environmental cleanup and remediation. Recently, these efforts have been put to use at the M-Area Chemical Oxidation Project, where chemical oxidants will be injected into the subsurface to demonstrate the potential for groundwater remediation in M-Area.

About 60 small business owners gathered on August 20 in Allendale, eager to learn more on how they can access contract opportunities tied to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding at Savannah River Site (SRS).

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program is being implemented for the first time in the U.S. Department of Energy Complex at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The program builds a foundation for hope and a brighter future for the program’s men and women who will begin their careers as Recovery Act workers.

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) announced today it has hired 1000 new employees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

AIKEN --- If you applied but haven't heard back on one of the many open stimulus jobs at Savannah River Site, officials say you shouldn't give up hope yet. "They're still in the game," said Paivi Nettamo, a spokeswoman for the Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Recovery Act project. "... If you're in the database ... you will be considered." Read More

With more than $787 billion in total job-producing firepower, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is already having a positive impact at Department of Energy facilities around the country, including our own Savannah River Site. SRS officials report that Recovery Act funds are directly responsible for creating or retaining 1,672 jobs as of July 31. The site is processing 75 to 100 new hires each week, a significant boost for a regional economy that has experienced hundreds of layoffs, dozens of business closings and a host of bankruptcy filings, home foreclosures and other unprecedented negative impacts over the past 12 months. Read More

One of the many relics that marked the birth of the nuclear age in America has stood as an aging icon at the Savannah River Site for nearly a half-century. Read More

Thousands of drums of uranium are headed out of the Savannah River Site to long-term storage in Utah. Read More

Federal funds put thousands into SRS jobs. Cleaning up the legacy of the Cold War put Daniel Mikell back to work at SRS through the Recovery Act. Read More

More than 1,600 people are working at Savannah River Site in jobs funded by the federal government’s economic Recovery Act. We share a few of their stories Read More

Recovery Act Responsible for Bringing Back Former SRS Worker

Retained Position Allows Hampton County Man to Continue Mission at SRS

The most recent job fair, held on July 7th in Aiken, drew an estimated 4,300 people.

The Recovery Act is at work at the R-Reactor Project within SRS. The R-Reactor is one of five production reactors at SRS. In 1953, it was the first reactor at the site to begin operations, producing plutonium and tritium for the national defense. Today, the reactor is one of two currently being permanently closed and made environmentally safe through the Recovery Act. Here are some snapshots of Recovery Act SRS employees at work.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions officials recently awarded a contract worth nearly $300,000 to a local road construction company to improve traffic flow through the two primary security check points, know as barricades, leading into the 310-square-mile nuclear reservation

The Recovery Act is in Action at Savannah River Site (SRS). By creating 3,000 jobs, SRS in putting Americans to work.