Mostly clear. Low 44F. Wind light and variable.

Mostly clear. Low 44F. Wind light and variable.

Savannah river — a 310-square-mile nuclear complex located South of Aiken and near new Ellenton.

Savannah river — a 310-square-mile nuclear complex located South of Aiken and near new Ellenton.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. – a salt waste processing Plant on a stretch of the Savannah river is nearing operational status, which once achieved will have a significant impact and likely accelerate the cleanup of nuclear waste at the facility.

The processing plant, currently undergoing testing and commissioning before radioactive use, could begin by the end of the year (before the 2021 deadline), according to a presentation slide showed Wednesday during a speech by Todd Schroeder, chief Deputy assistant Secretary Of the U.S. Department of energy’s office of environmental management. Schroeder, however, was less committed to this timeline in his actual remarks.

The office of the environment, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, is the Savannah river site landlord. Schroeder is currently the No. 2 officer in the recovery Department.

Earlier this year, Savannah river Site Manager Michael Budney said the processing facility is moving forward and toward full-scale operations. Department of energy budget documents for fiscal year 2020 confirmed this forecast.

SWPF is designed to handle liquid waste; the multibillion-dollar facility installed, once online, processes millions of gallons of radioactive waste each year, far more than what is currently being done. More than 30 million gallons of waste stored in aging, underground tanks at the site has previously been described as the single largest environmental concern in South Carolina.

Budney on Wednesday, attending the 2019 national cleanup workshop, said the recycling facility is “key” to the entire liquid waste mission that is currently being handled by Savannah river Recovery, AECOM-led team.

“In order to accelerate this mission and make it in time, we would like to … we have to have a SWPF, ” Badney said, speaking briefly to Aiken standard.

“EM’s mission is to clean up and basically work themselves out of a job, which is the right thing to do, and do as quickly and safely as possible using taxpayer dollars,” national nuclear safety administration chief Lisa Gordon-Hagerty told the Aiken Standard in mid-June.

Construction of the Behemoth salt waste processing plant was completed in 2016.

SWPF’s predecessor, the Actinide removal process (ARP) and modular caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU), was recently decommissioned after 11 years of operation. The ARP/MCU project allowed the environmental management to process 7.4 million gallons of radioactive waste at the facility and contributed to the closure of six high-level waste tanks.