U.S. DOE Savannah River Site Management & Operations
Client: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Location: Aiken, SC, U.S.
Executive Summary
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC (SRNS), a Fluor-led partnership comprising Fluor, Newport News Nuclear and Honeywell, is responsible for the management and operations of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS), located near Aiken, South Carolina.
Dedicated to maintaining the highest safety and security standards, the Savannah River Site is key to the DOE's industrial complex and is the benchmark federal facility for environmental management, national security, and secure, clean energy. The Savannah River Site has world-class research and development capabilities and serves a diverse mix of federal missions.
Client's Challenge
The mission of the SRS is the safe, secure, cost-effective management of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile, nuclear materials and the environment. The site is tasked with processing and storing nuclear materials, as well as developing and deploying technologies to treat nuclear and hazardous wastes, and environmental management.
The DOE required a team to provide environmental management services, clean up nuclear legacy materials and facilities, and manage the Savannah River Nuclear Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center.
Fluor's Solution
SRS is a highly regulated, high-hazard nuclear operations work environment with a long-term national security mission and a near-term environmental management and cleanup mission. SRNS has been the management and operations (M&O) contractor at SRS since August 2008.
SRNS provides site management and operations, environmental management and nuclear operations management services at the SRS. Charged with the most diverse mission in the DOE complex, SRNS employs 6,000 nuclear-trained personnel and ensures the safe, secure and cost-effective management of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and nuclear materials.
SRNS responsibilities include transition, surveillance, maintenance and stabilization, facility decontamination and decommissioning (D&D), environmental remediation, waste management, nuclear material storage disposition and accountability, and project support to manage the site's large-scale, multi-task, multi-disciplinary projects. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) expanded the SRNS scope to include the closure of more than 100 structures and cleanup of contaminated areas.
SRNS resumed a key step in the environmental management mission of the SRS in February 2016. H-Canyon, a major facility at the South Carolina site, restarted the third and finishing step in its spent fuel processing campaign, which had not been run in three years. H-Canyon is the only operating production-scale nuclear chemical separation facility in the U.S. It was originally constructed to produce nuclear materials in support of the nation's defense weapons systems. Today, it continues to play an important role in the efforts to safely eliminate or minimize nuclear materials through stabilization and out-of-state disposition of DOE's nuclear materials.
In 2021, the DOE honored SRNS for innovation in developing a large underground, water-permeable wall, made of recycled iron filings from the automotive industry mixed with a food-grade, starch-like material, to neutralize Cold War-era chemical solvents found in the aquifer beneath the site. The wall is expected to function for more than 30 years with little or no carbon footprint. Energy and project cost savings are approximately $1.2 million per year, with anticipated project savings of more than $35 million over the previous remediation plan.
SRNS has consistently met or exceeded the mandated Small Business (SB) subcontracting requirement of 50% of yearly committed funding on the contract.
Fluor responsibilities include nuclear operations (tritium) and community development. Fluor also managed the Savannah River Nuclear Laboratory (SRNL) until June 2021.
Conclusion
SRNS manages and operates the SRS site with an emphasis on excellent project performance, safety, community relations, and cost savings. SRNS continues to meet or exceed SB contracting requirements.
SRNS has been proactive from day one, soliciting employees' cost-saving / performance-enhancement ideas, reinvigorating the SRS safety culture, and playing a pivotal role in creating and promulgating a future mission for the site vision.
SRNS has received more than 45 awards from the National Safety Council in acknowledgment of their outstanding safety practices and has been the recipient of over 135 safety awards and recognitions from other nationally recognized organizations, including the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and the South Carolina Manufacturer’s Alliance.
Originally awarded the Savannah River management and operating contract in 2008, the contract has been extended through September 2027.
In October 2021, Fluor announced that the DOE had selected Savannah River Mission Completion, LLC (SRMC), a joint venture led by a subsidiary of BWX Technologies, Inc., with Fluor and Amentum, to execute the SRS Integrated Mission Completion Contract. The single indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is valued at up to $21 billion over a 10-year ordering period of performance.
The scope of work for this new award includes liquid waste stabilization and disposition, and potentially nuclear materials management and stabilization, as well as other requirements.
