Liquid Waste Workforce Tops 20 Million Safe Hours at Savannah River Site

Savannah River Mission Completion workers are pictured at the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site. The company’s workforce recently surpassed 20 million safe work hours without an occupational-related injury or illness that results in an employee’s inability to return to work the next day.

AIKEN, S.C. — The workforce responsible for treating and safely disposing of millions of gallons of radioactive waste remaining in underground tanks at Savannah River Site (SRS) has achieved 20 million safe work hours — a significant accomplishment in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex.

Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) reached the new peak last month. Employees worked without an occupational-related injury or illness resulting in an employee's inability to return to work the next day. The total spans nearly 3 years. SRMC has been the SRS liquid waste contractor since February 2022.

SRMC President and Program Manager Dave Olson said keeping the company's workforce safe is the priority core value.

"For each function we perform in our mission, we lead with safety; it’s our strong foundation," Olson said. "We hold pre-job safety briefings, and we encourage our workers to call a timeout if they have a concern or see something that doesn't appear to be right to them. This record achievement proves our strong safety culture paves the way to worker safety and higher productivity."

Among the duties performed by SRMC's workforce is removing high-activity radioactive waste from underground tanks, then treating and disposing of it safely. In addition, workers perform the tasks required to clean underground waste tanks to move the tanks and ancillary structures toward final closure. Since taking the helm of the liquid waste program, SRMC achieved preliminary cease waste removal with three tanks in 2024, all ahead of schedule, with more scheduled in 2025. That status indicates that regulators concur that interim milestone objectives for eventual tank closure have been met.

Tony Robinson, the EM acting assistant manager for waste disposition at SRS, said he sees daily that SRMC performs well in keeping workers safe.

“Across the liquid waste facilities of SRS, there has always been a premium placed on the safety of workers,” Robinson said. “Maintaining good standards for safety means that injuries are less likely as we move toward closing the remaining waste tanks.”

-Contributor: Jim Beasley