Savannah River Site restarts public tours

Matthew Christian, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

May 18—Tours of the Savannah River Site will begin again Thursday.

The Department of Energy and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions announced last week that registration for 16 public tours to be held from Thursday through early September has opened.

"We are very happy to be able to offer our SRS Public and Historic Tours again," said Bob Bonnett, tour program coordinator for SRNS, said in a news release. "Our employees safely and efficiently operate SRS while supporting the nation's nuclear deterrent, and we want people, particularly our residents from neighboring communities, to experience first-hand all these special tours have to offer."

Four of the tours will be historic tours that feature the former town of Dunbarton, C Reactor and the curation facility.

Dunbarton and Ellenton were acquired by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission when they decided to build the Savannah River Site in Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties.

C Reactor was shutdown in 1985.

The curation facility holds the historic artifacts from the site and the places that were there before site was located there.

The historic tours are hosted in partnership with the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program and the SRS Cold War Historic Preservation Program.

All tours begin at 1 p.m. at the SRS badge office located along SRS Road 1. The standard tours end at 4:30 p.m. at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory where participants learn about the lab and see some of the animals indigenous to the site. The historic tours conclude at 4:30 p.m. at the SRS Curation Facility.

Tour dates are Thursday, May 26, June 9, June 9, June 23, July 14, July 28, Aug. 11, Aug. 25 and Sept. 8.

Both the historic and public tours are free to members of the public.

To register and obtain directions, visit https://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm. If a person experiences difficulty registering online, they are asked to call 803-952-8994. Large groups can also be accommodated by calling the same number.

There will be 30 seats available on the public tours and 50 seats available on the history tours. Both types of tours are filled on a first come, first served basis. Participants must be 18 years of age or older and U.S. citizens.