Savannah River Site Joins Forces With Forest Service to Protect Legacy Waste Sites

U.S. Forest Service firefighters conduct prescribed burns across the Savannah River Site.

AIKEN, S.C. — A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractor has teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service to conduct prescribed burns across 33 legacy waste locations at the Savannah River Site (SRS).

The collaboration marks a return to meticulously planned controlled burns by the Forest Service to maintain the integrity of the legacy waste sites. Workers built protective structures within the ground containing waste that accumulated since the construction of SRS in the 1950s. They capped these structures with barrier material and soil, preventing rainwater infiltration from moving contaminants to the groundwater.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) conducts routine monitoring and inspection of these sites to protect employees and the environment, and to ensure regulatory compliance.

“We are responsible for ensuring the integrity of Savannah River Site’s waste units by conducting routine inspections to verify that weather, invasive plants, and human and animal activity have not compromised the protective caps, and that vegetation remains healthy,” said SRNS Area Completion Projects Manager Kelsey Holcomb. “Working with the Forest Service to apply prescribed fire to these caps is critical to removing invasive plants and maintaining the caps’ vegetation structure.”

As of earlier this year, the Forest Service completed prescribed burns at 11 of the 33 legacy waste sites, covering 216 of 351 acres. The firefighters will treat the remaining acres as part of a prescribed fire season for 20,000 acres in the area that began this month.

“Leveraging the expertise of the Forest Service for prescribed burns has allowed Area Completion Projects to redirect resources to other critical objectives,” Holcomb added.

-Contributor: Fallan Flatow