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Savannah River Site workforce could grow by one-third over the next few years
Work is underway to build the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site. Provided/Savannah River Nuclear Solutions The Savannah River Site's workforce could increase by one-third in the next few years as work to complete the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility continues. "Right now, we're at about 12,000," Savannah River Nuclear Solutions CEO Dennis Carr said at an Aiken Chamber of Commerce First Friday event at Newberry Hall. As of Sept. 30, 2024, 13,387 people were employed at the Savannah River Site according to a Department of Energy report. Specifically, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the management and operations contractor, employs 6,996 people. Liquid-waste contractor Savannah River Mission Completion employs 3,579 people, the Savannah River National Lab employs 1,380 people, Centerra (security) and Ameresco (steam generation) employ 729 people and the government employs 611 people. "... we'll get up to 18,000 folks on site," Carr continued. Around 5,000 people will be temporary construction workers, he said. The temporary construction workers will be working to transform the MOX building into the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility and to build ancillary buildings that will support SRPFF. SRPPF is one prong of a two-part National Nuclear Security Administration effort to reestablish plutonium pit production in the United States. The NNSA wants to produce at least 80 pits per year by the mid-2030s, with 50 pits being built at SRPPF. Los Alamos National Lab is expected to begin producing 30 pits per year by 2030. "I anticipate that within two years you'll have 5,000 construction workers that are on this job in this area looking for temporary housing, food, everything that comes along with it," Carr said. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions will hiring permanent SRPPF workers during the same time frame, he continued. "In that same time period you'll have a staff up," he said. "By the time we get to [20]28, we're going to want almost almost 1,000 operations employees, ultimately getting to 2,100 short time after that." Training the permanent employees will take time, Carr said. "Those employees will be permanent forever," Carr said. "This project is a 50-year life cycle design and 50 pits for years based on the size of this facility is just the beginning. We've left a lot of white space in this building for additional capacity." Adding that many workers could be daunting for many communities, but not Aiken. Around 40,000 people were at the site when construction of the site peaked in the early 1950s. SRNS's goal is to complete SRPPF construction by 2032 and begin pit production shortly thereafter. |
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