The Emergency Management Savannah River Site successfully transferred the initial discard of uranium solution as part of its new Accelerated Basin De-Inventory mission.
The discard was successfully transferred from the North Carolina site's H Canyon Chemical Separations Facility to the liquid waste program, according to a March 21 U.S. Department of Energy news release.
"Taken as a whole, the processing and discarding success of ABD material is highly sensitive to technology development timelines, regulatory requirement impacts and processing schedules throughout the material’s movement through SRS facilities," Savannah River Site Program Manager James Therrell said in the release. "Integration between SRNS and SRMC with support from the Department of Energy is paramount to ensure the processing systems and associated paperwork stay aligned and optimized in support of the mission."
The successful transfer "will result in significant savings and expedite the disposition of spent nuclear fuel at the site," the release reported. Savannah River Site's Liquid Waste Program is run by contractor Savannah River Mission Completion.
The initial discard came after years of planning, according to the news release.
The Accelerated Basin De-inventory mission replaced an earlier method use to purify and blend highly enriched uranium from spent nuclear fuel for commercial power reactors, the release reported.
Adding Accelerated Basin De-inventory material to the site's waste tank came after "many months of integration" between Savannah River Mission Completion and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the news release said. H Tank Farm and H Canyon must align because both have highly complex processing schedules.
"The ability to coordinate timing for ABD is essential to prevent extending the mission, avoiding downtime and adding operating expense," Savannah River Nuclear Solutions H Area Facility Manager Matt Arnold said in the news release.
Reaching to the point of transfer for the first uranium solution discard under the Accelerated Basin De-inventory mission required a team effort from members across different contractors, work groups and the Department of Energy, Arnold said in the release.
"All of the preparation for this first transfer will set us up for future success," Arnold added, according to the release. "These changes have not only made the ABD mission possible, but have also saved significant lifecycle costs, proving yet again that we are committed to making the world safer."
