Plutonium disposal efforts at Savannah River Site could get a boost in 2026
Oct. 20—The National Nuclear Security Administration is now targeting fiscal year 2026 for the start-up of capabilities that will speed the removal of metric tons of plutonium, a nuclear weapons ingredient, from South Carolina.
The new, hopeful date for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Project, about two years sooner than previously advertised, was included in a presentation made Monday to S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster's nuclear advisers.
"There's a large sense of urgency to get this done, and to get it done right, and to fulfill our commitments," said Jason Armstrong, the National Nuclear Security Administration's manager at the Savannah River Site.
The disposal project requires installing at the site three additional glove boxes — sealed vessels in which dangerous material, like plutonium, can be worked with — as well as security, safety and ventilation networks. The National Nuclear Security Administration has described the project as the "centerpiece" of its dilute-and-dispose strategy, the alternative to the foundered Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility.
"NNSA is accelerating efforts to remove plutonium from South Carolina in keeping with our commitment to the state," Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, then the leader of the NNSA, said in early 2020. At the time, there were 11 1/2 metric tons of surplus plutonium at the site south of Aiken. "This vital mission will ensure the material can never again be used for nuclear weapons."
Dilute-and-dispose, specifically, involves mixing plutonium with an adulterant or inhibitor, packing the mixture into secure containers and trucking them to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico for entombment. Shipments could happen next summer.
"It's an extensive effort to get our material over there and get it underground," Armstrong said Monday. One glove box is already in use around the clock; more glove boxes and more worker shifts would mean more throughput.
A preliminary cost estimate for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Project came in at $448 million to $620 million. Preparations at the Savannah River Site's K-Area, a retrofitted reactor complex where plutonium is stockpiled, included demolition and security modifications, according to the NNSA.
"As you can see, there's a lot of things happening, and there's a strong commitment to get things done, and that's being tracked very carefully," Armstrong told the Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council.
McMaster and others have been vocal in their opposition to the long-term storage of plutonium in South Carolina.
