Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ (SRNS) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) capital projects have taken a big step forward with the delivery of the first long-lead materials for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition (SPD) Project.

Project personnel procured large high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter housings as part of the project to expand the Savannah River Site’s (SRS) capability to downblend surplus plutonium for removal from South Carolina. SRS is currently using facilities in the Site’s K Area Complex (KAC) to downblend these materials for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.

The SPD Project, one of SRS’ three NNSA capital projects currently underway, will add three additional gloveboxes in an existing KAC building and develop supporting facilities to expand the capacity for carrying out this mission. “To accelerate completion of the SPD Project, NNSA approved a Tailoring Strategy that authorizes us to move forward with low-risk activities, like the procurement of certain long-lead items,” said Gwenn Corriero, Project Manager (SPD Long Lead - Procurements). Long-lead items are materials that need to be purchased early in the project because they take a long time to obtain, or because they are needed before other construction activities, to reduce the risk of potential delays to the schedule. “Because of their size, these filter housing units need to be installed in the facility before we erect interior walls there,” Corriero said.

The SPD Project has completed Phase 1 site preparation activities and is scheduled to begin additional site preparation activities later this year, with field construction to begin in 2023. In addition to the HEPA filter housings, the other long-lead equipment being procured includes the gloveboxes and a diesel generator; project personnel have awarded contracts for fabrication of these items.

The HEPA filter housing units are a safety significant part of the Active Confinement Ventilation System for the new processing areas. The filter housings, which were manufactured in North Carolina, arrived April 1. Delivery of the units was the first major receipt of safety significant, procurement level 1 equipment for any of SRNS’ three NNSA capital projects. In addition to the SPD Project, SRNS is converting an unfinished NNSA facility into the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility to produce plutonium pits for the nation’s nuclear deterrent and building a new Tritium Finishing Facility to replace a Cold War-era facility used in the mission to supply the radioactive form of hydrogen used in the nation’s nuclear defense.