2,500 jobs coming to SRS with plutonium plant’s construction

Crews will repurpose an unfinished National Nuclear Security Administration project into the new plant, which will produce plutonium pits – the cores of nuclear weapons.(SRS)

By Staff

Published: Oct. 4, 2022 at 3:20 PM MDT

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - About 2,500 skilled craft and trade union workers will be hired for all phases of a massive construction project at the Savannah River Site that will produce the cores of nuclear weapons.

Construction on the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility is expected to begin before the end of this year at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site.

Crews will repurpose an unfinished National Nuclear Security Administration project into the new plant, which will produce plutonium pits – the cores of nuclear weapons.

Although named for the hard seed core found in fruits like peaches and apricots, each spherical plutonium pit is about the size of a bowling ball.

This facility will eventually produce plutonium pits – the cores of nuclear weapons.(SRS)

For a variety of factors, these pits need to be replaced from time to time in the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

But for nearly three decades, the United States has not had the ability to produce as many as it needs, according to the federal government.

The new facility at SRS is expected to produce at least 50 plutonium pits a year to help alleviate this problem.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions – the operations and management contractor for SRS – along with the Augusta Building and Construction Trades Council and 19 other representatives from local trade unions will sign a project labor agreement Thursday for construction of the plant.

Employing about 11,000 people, the Savannah River Site covers 310 square mile in parts of Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties.

Holding the ribbon for the event, from left, are SRMC Chief Administrative Officer Mark Barth, SRMC President and Program Manager Dave Olson, Aiken Chamber of Commerce President and CEO David Jameson, U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, and Aiken County Council Chairman Gary Bunker.(Contributed)

Savannah River Mission Completion, the liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site, recently cut the ribbon on its new office facility at 1070 Silver Bluff Road in Aiken. The facility gives SRMC an Aiken presence, housing employees from the company’s operations, including finance, human resources, legal, training and engineering groups. The facility will also host training sessions.

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