TRU drum storage in the Solid Waste Management Facility in 1998 before WIPP opened (left) and in 2024 (right). (Photo: DOE)
The Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site saw a large reduction of transuranic (TRU) waste in fiscal year 2024, achieving the highest volume of TRU waste shipped out of state by the facility in the past 10 years, according to the Department of Energy.
TRU waste typically consists of protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and miscellaneous items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other heavy elements.
The facility: The SWMF is responsible for the disposition of SRS’s solid wastes, which include sanitary, construction and demolition, hazardous, low-level radioactive, and TRU wastes. Hazardous waste—any toxic, corrosive, ignitable, or chemically reactive material that could affect human health or the environment—is routinely shipped off-site to commercial facilities for treatment and disposal. This includes TRU waste, which is shipped to the DOE's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for permanent disposition.
“WIPP opened in 1999, but SRS started managing radioactive waste when the site began operations in the '50s,” said Kerri Crawford, Solid Waste Programs manager for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site’s management and operations contractor. “When WIPP opened, we started shipping TRU waste as fast as the WIPP receipt schedule allowed. Meanwhile, we were also receiving new TRU waste from ongoing operations that had to wait for its scheduled shipment dates. When WIPP experienced an unplanned shutdown, we hadn’t finished shipments of our backlog of legacy TRU waste. Working closely with WIPP, we were able to make significant progress on that backlog over the past 10 years.”
Volume: During that time, the SWMF has reduced the total volume of TRU waste at the facility by 66 percent, from approximately 746 cubic meters down to 256 cubic meters. In FY 2024, the facility shipped 150 cubic meters of TRU waste to WIPP, its highest volume, compared to the previous 10 years. This is approximately 30 cubic meters more than 2022, the second highest year, the DOE noted.
