EM workers at the Savannah River Site recently restored six portable tanks, helping preserve an essential site capability of transporting large quantities of radioactively contaminated or hazardous liquid solutions while creating cost savings.
Office of Environmental Management
February 3, 2025
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AIKEN, S.C. — U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) workers at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently restored six portable tanks, helping preserve an essential site capability of transporting large quantities of radioactively contaminated or hazardous liquid solutions while creating a significant cost savings over acquiring new ones.
SRS obtained the tanks over two decades ago to support the disposal of plutonium-uranium extraction solvent used at the site’s two chemical separations facilities — F and H canyons, according to Cody Fee with the Environmental Management Operations Programs for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site’s managing and operating contractor. Each tank has a more than 4,600-gallon capacity, and stands 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and 20 feet long.
“Deactivating F Canyon resulted in the creation of excess, radioactively contaminated solutions that needed to be dispositioned,” Fee said. “The tanks were used to transport these solutions offsite for disposal.”
The last of six portable tanks is delivered to a holding area at H Canyon for recertification. Restoring these tanks for use at the chemical separations facility is a significant cost savings over procuring new ones.
EM finished deactivating F Canyon in 2010, and the facility is awaiting decommissioning. H Canyon continues to operate.
Following the F Canyon deactivation, SRS used the tanks in other areas of the site. They were later drained and left in the SRS Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF). SRS planned to dispose of the tanks at that facility before employees came up with potential uses for them at H Canyon.
Because the tanks had been sitting empty for a number of years, employees performed inspections and examinations to ensure their structural integrity. The tanks passed these examinations, and they’re expected to be recertified this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
“When we began investigating the cost of procuring new tanks to perform needed activities in H Canyon, we discovered that the reuse of these tanks was a significant cost and time savings,” Fee said. “Rather than waiting for new tanks to be custom built and delivered, we had tanks on hand that just needed to be transferred a few miles from SWMF to H Canyon and undergo recertification testing, which is required periodically regardless of the age of the tanks.”
Fee added that the tanks will be essential to carrying out future missions at SRS.
-Contributor: Lindsey MonBarren