NUCLEAR WASTE; Tensions at nuclear site after increased stimulus oversight

267 words14 December 2009GreenwireGRWREnglish© 2009 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Pressure to see one of the country's largest single stimulus awards -- $1.6 billion given to the cleanup of the Savannah River nuclear site in South Carolina -- spent quickly and effectively have lead to a series of disputes between the project and its overseers at the Department of Energy.
During the cold war, Savannah River produced 40 percent of the plutonium in the nation's atomic stockpile. Today the site is part of DOE's long-term efforts to repair land damaged by the country's nuclear weapon complex, an effort that has lasted decades.
The lead contractor at Savannah has added more than 1,600 new jobs thanks to the stimulus award, but DOE officials warned that some of the site's stimulus proposals were vague, and instead redirected $200 million to a secondary contractor at Savannah that had an already active liquid-waste removal project. Local overseers at the site bristled against the interference.
The federal government took steps to make sure the program was on track to finish its work by the end of 2011, said Inés R. Triay, DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management.
"Every time that headquarters strengthens its oversight role, there's a tension that gets created between headquarters and the field site," Triay said. "That's a natural tension. It brings out the passion and commitment of all involved to get the job done."
DOE's inspector general is investigating what the stimulus funding has engendered at the site (Michael Cooper, New York Times, Dec. 13). -- PV