Wedoany.com Report on Feb 6th, The Savannah River Site, located in Aiken, South Carolina, spans 310 square miles and was historically used for nuclear weapons material production. Among its facilities, the H-Canyon facility began operations in 1955 and is the only operational production-scale radiologically shielded chemical separations facility in the United States, long used for recovering materials like uranium from spent nuclear fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management announced that uranium recovery operations at this facility are being restarted.
Restarting uranium recovery will produce high-assay low-enriched uranium for advanced reactor fuel, while also recovering isotopes with limited domestic supply to support research, medical, and commercial needs. The existing spent nuclear fuel inventory at the Savannah River Site can produce approximately 19 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium, sufficient for multiple proposed small modular reactors. Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Tim Walsh stated, "We are maximizing the value of existing assets to support national security objectives, advance the cleanup mission, and simultaneously provide fuel for the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors." The facility will continue to safely process spent nuclear fuel as part of the site's cleanup efforts.
Concurrently, the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management has signed a lease with General Atomics to activate the potential of the Fuel and Materials Examination Facility at the Hanford Site for advanced nuclear fuel cycle technologies and materials. The Hanford Site was formerly a U.S. military plutonium production location, housing nine nuclear reactors and related facilities. The Fuel and Materials Examination Facility, built during the Cold War, covers 190,000 square feet but has never been used for nuclear energy purposes and has been idle for thirty years.
General Atomics will collaborate with the Department of Energy to assess the prospects for returning the facility to service, including site characterization, facility upgrades, and community engagement. Ray Gamache, Manager of the Hanford Site Office, noted, "Activating this facility for modern missions demonstrates responsible stewardship of the site and the momentum to move forward." Scott Nolan, CEO of General Atomics, added, "Rebuilding America's nuclear fuel capabilities is critical to strengthening the nuclear industrial base, reducing foreign dependency, and lowering energy costs." The company previously developed new enrichment facilities at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky and was selected in October 2024 as one of the companies to provide enrichment services to establish a U.S. supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium.
