SAVANNAH RIVER SITE
KEY FACILITIES
Tritium Facilities (232-H, 233-H, and 234-H)
The tritium facilities provide the United States with tritium processing capabilities necessary for nuclear weapons production and non-weapon uses. Three tritium facilities are used for tritium handling and storage. Building 232-H is 55,000 square feet and performs extraction and purification. Building 233-H is 35,000 square feet and is used for loading and unloading. Building 234-H is 46,000 square feet and provides shipping and receiving functions. As part of the non-nuclear reconfiguration program, the tritium mission from the Mound Plant is being moved to SRS, with mission startup planned for 1995 through 1998.
Tritium-Producing Accelerator
Tritium is an essential component of nuclear weapons. This man-made gas naturally decays to a form of helium and, therefore, must be replenished. Currently, this is accomplished with tritium recycled from dismantled weapons. However, fresh supplies will be needed by about the year 2007. To meet this need for tritium, the Department of Energy (DOE) is studying two separate technologies: the use of an existing commercial reactor and the construction and use of a new linear accelerator. The Secretary of Energy recently announced DOE's formal "Record of Decision" for the Tritium Supply and Recycling Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. In this announcement, SRS was named the preferred site if an accelerator technology is selected. The technology decision is to be made in 1998. DOE has selected a linear proton accelerator for the production of tritium. This type of accelerator is called a linac, short for linear accelerator. The tritium production linac would be about a mile long, mostly underground. Construction of the multi-billion dollar APT facility would create about 4200 construction jobs, on and off site. Operation of the facility would require about 650 jobs. In addition, if existing utilities could not provide the substantial electrical energy needed to operate the accelerator, a new power plant would be built.
M Area Fabrication Facilities
The current mission for M Area facilities is to shut down reactor materials production in a safe, environmentally sound manner; to treat previously-generated mixed low level waste; and to prepare for the transition of facilities to EM for decontamination and decommissioning. M Area facilities are currently in limited operation. The status of M Area facilities is:
- The Fuel Fabrication Facility (Building 321-M) is in operation, although new fuel assemblies are not being fabricated. Activity in this building consists of casting uranium aluminum alloy scrap and excess fuel tubes into ingots which are more suitable for transport and storage. Designation of 321-M to below hazard category 3 was completed at the end of fiscal year 1996.
- A vendor-operated vitrification facility has been installed to treat the mixed low level waste sludge previously generated by production activities.
- Buildings 330-M and 331-M are warehouses used to store depleted uranium cores and slugs. Deinventory options and costs are being evaluated currently for these buildings.
Naval Fuels
Naval Fuels is a 110,000 square foot enriched uranium fuel manufacturing facility that was constructed in 1987. This facility is in a surveillance and maintenance mode. The new mission of the facility has not been identified. Process facilities are inactive and contain residual nuclear material resulting from previous operations. Alternatives to facility shutdown are being evaluated. Future modifications have not been proposed.
PUFF
PUFF is a 55,000 square foot facility containing Pu-238 hot cells that are currently in cold standby. The current PUFF mission is to provide safe storage of nuclear material resulting from nuclear weapons production and other non-weapon uses. These facilities were originally designed and operated to manufacture plutonium fuel pellets for the space program and neptunium billets. These processes are currently deactivated. Future modifications have been proposed for the facility (e.g. addition of a californium shuffler and new vaults).
Building 235-F was constructed as part of the original Savannah River Plant project in the mid-1950s. Subsequent expansions and modifications included construction of PUFF. PUFF was used from the late 1970s to the early 1980s to manufacture encapsulated Pu-238 oxide fuel forms.
In December 1983, DOE completed Pu-238 fuel clad production for NASA's Galileo and Ulysses space missions at PUFF. PUFF was then placed in standby, and failed equipment was left in place awaiting resumption of production. The decision to place PUFF in standby was based on the belief that new fuel clad requirements would soon be forthcoming, and production would begin in fiscal year 1986. It was expected that once new fuel clad requirements were identified, fuel clad production could be restarted quickly and at minimal cost. For this reason, and because the hot cell design made cleanup difficult without dismantling the facility, only a limited effort was undertaken to decontaminate the process cells, and an indeterminate amount of highly corrosive Pu-238 oxide powder was left in the cells. Projected new fuel clad requirements did not materialize, and the facility was left in standby. As staffing and budgetary limitations became acute, cell equipment and the maintenance program deteriorated. After 1985, with facility conditions continuing to deteriorate, neither the program office, SR, nor the contractor revisited their original decision for limited cell decontamination.Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC)
SRTC is a complex of buildings primarily located in the 700 Area, with a smaller limnology lab located on Par Pond. It is an applied research and development organization that provides technical support for the mission of SRS, working in partnership with site operations, and interfacing with other government and private research organizations. The focus of SRTC is to develop, test, and demonstrate equipment and techniques for nuclear material processing, environmental remediation, environmental protection, was processing, decontamination and decommissioning, and industrial uses of SRS technologies.
Multipurpose Pilot Plant Campuses (MPPC)
For 45 years, the facility has been known as the TNX demonstration facility. The facility, located in D-Area, consists of a wide range of buildings and support structures totaling 135,000 square feet. No radiological operations are conducted in this facility. The name of the facility has been changed to MPPC, and efforts are under way to open the campus to formal partners of WSRC for applied research and development efforts. The MPPC was selected as a pilot project for the Necessary and Sufficient process, and WSRC and SR are currently finalizing the Work Smart standards for the facility.
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL)
SREL is a 50,000 square foot ecology laboratory constructed in 1977. Its mission is to perform ecological studies.
Analytical Laboratories
The analytical laboratories provide radiochemical analytical process control support for nuclear material stabilization (F and H Areas) and waste management. Analytical support is also provided to site waste characterization and environmental remediation programs. Radioactive materials analyzed include plutonium/uranium isotopes and fission products. Building 772-F is the main production support laboratory. Building 772-lF is a support building. Building 772-4F is fully operational and provides a high efficiency particle air filtered exhaust system for Building 772-F. Building 772-4F was constructed in the early 1990s when the 772-1F ventilation exhaust system became contaminated by a leak in the high level laboratory drains. 772-D is a 12,000 square foot analytical laboratory constructed in 1951. It is fully operational, providing radioanalytical process control support for D-Area moderator rework facilities. It houses the capability to analyze tritiated moderator for concentrations of heavy water, tritium, and impurities.
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