AIKEN, S.C. – Savannah River Site (SRS) moved past the halfway mark recently on the path to closure of another high-level waste tank. 

   Filling Tank 12 with a cement-like grout began in January. Once complete, it will be the eighth high-level waste tank closed at SRS. 

   It takes about three months to fill the nearly 1 million-gallon tank with the specially formulated grout. To date, about 490,000 gallons of grout have been placed in Tank 12, bringing it to 54 percent complete.

   DOE-Savannah River Manager Jack Craig said DOE continues to work to remediate waste tanks at SRS to protect the workers, the public, and the environment.

   “Closing these waste tanks reduces the risk they once posed,” Craig said. “We couldn’t achieve these goals without the positive partnership with our regulators, stakeholders, and dedicated employees key to performing this work.”

   Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the SRS liquid waste contractor, performs the work on Tank 12. SRR operates the site’s liquid waste facilities for SRS.

   Acting SRR President and Project Manager Mark Schmitz said the contractor is mindful of the work that needs to be accomplished, adding that employees are focused on safely executing the mission.

   “Our workers understand the significance of their work and the impact it has on their friends and families,” Schmitz said. “They live here, too.”

   Constructed in the early 1950s, Tank 12 has a storage capacity of approximately 750,000 gallons and is 75 feet in diameter. It was placed into service in 1956 and provided critical containment for waste prior to processing and permanent disposal. 

   Over the past several years, workers have pumped waste material from Tank 12, cleaned it with specialized mechanical and chemical processes, and isolated the tank from all systems, such as electrical and waste lines.

   Those activities were prerequisites leading to regulatory confirmation that the tank was cleaned to the maximum extent practical and ready for closure. Waste tank closure is accomplished through the placement of grout to fill the entire tank and all tank component voids.

   Tank 12 is the second tank in the site’s H Area to be filled with grout. Tank 16, located near Tank 12, was closed in September 2015.

   The Federal Facility Agreement between DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control requires that Tank 12 be operationally closed by May 31, 2016.