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EM Reduces Nuclear Materials Risk at Savannah River Site

Building 235-F Risk Reduction Operator Sylvester Palmer practices using a tool for eventual use in the Building 235-F risk reduction mission.

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AIKEN, S.C. – EM made significant progress reducing risk to workers and the environment by removing residual nuclear materials in several facilities in the Savannah River Site (SRS) F Area.

   The program met an important milestone in the risk reduction mission in Building 235-F, which has been inactive for 25 years and contains residual plutonium-238 (Pu-238). 

   The Plutonium Fuel Form facility (PuFF), within Building 235-F, was used to make fuel spheres and pellets out of Pu-238 to electrically power deep space missions, such as the Galileo space probe to Jupiter, which launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in October 1989.

   “Inside the PuFF facility are nine cells of thick concrete walls with shielded windows,” SRS F Area Director Michael Gilles said. “Employees worked with hazardous materials using remote manipulators, while they remained outside the cell. Material entered the PuFF in Cell 1, then traveled through the other cells to be made into spheres and pellets.” 

   That work left behind about 1,500 grams of Pu-238 in the cells — a conservative estimate. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the SRS managing and operating contractor, is managing the multi-year risk reduction mission in PuFF.

   The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) worked with the Building 235-F risk reduction team to develop a better estimate of how much Pu-238 remains in the shielded cells.

   SRNL is using existing technology and developing new tools to locate and remove or affix the Pu-238 to ensure it will not become mobile during decontamination activities. Any Pu-238 and contaminated tools removed will be safely stored for eventual packaging and shipment for disposal. 

   “This material removal is a big step toward completion of the risk reduction mission,” Gilles said. “We are still on track for completion by 2021.”

   Workers recently reduced risk by decreasing the amount of nuclear material in inactive lab space in SRNL’s F/H Analytical Laboratories, an F Area facility.