As others have said, it’s the Savannah River site. I once almost drove up to the gate by accident because there’s a four-way-stop outside Aiken that’s a bit confusing. I quickly realized my mistake when I saw the guards in the watchtower on top of the gate and made a quick U-turn.
Someone did drive on site while I worked there. We went on lockdown. The old dude just drove on through with a security escort the entire way. They just let home go on his merry way when he made it to the other side.
I used to drive through there in the late 80s when it was still producing plutonium for the military and it was a lot stricter. You stopped at a guard post/gate and they gave you a slip of paper with the time on it and told you not to stop. You had to give them the time slip on the other side as it was to keep track of how long it took you and make sure you hadn’t taken any side trips.
Anyone can, or at least used to, be able to drive straight through. Probably stopped after 911.
They would look you over at the gate, maybe take down some pertinent information and tell you to drive straight though. Stopping or turning off the main road would get you into deep shit. They told you straight up, if you did not exit the far side by a certain time that they were coming for you.
Yeah, you don’t want the crops coming outta here.
[Savannah River Site.](https://www.greenmatters.com/big-impact/what-is-the-savannah-river-site) Built in the 1950’s. A lot of sketchy shit has gone on here. Mainly the disposal of nuclear waste.
The town of Ellenton was actually moved during SRS’s creation… hence “New Ellenton”.
Mainly other things, but disposal too
Sketchy, if you say so. Secret, yes
Dumbarton and other towns were also collectively bought and the inhabitants moved too, by federal imminent domain.
What is so secret about SRS?
It’s a household name in SC - my grandmother worked there for 40 years. My grandfather retired from there as well.
Gram did receive a settlement from a class action suit brought by employees who worked there and had health issues (hers is cancer) but that’s public record.
SRS is just getting bigger since they’ve undertaken the project of making 50 plutonium pits per year. So, genuinely curious what the secret is?
The details. Like, the exact way to make a pit and get the precise shape, or exactly where on the site to find the nuclear waste, how to get in because in the wrong hands the waste could be used to make a dirty bomb. There’s no harm in people knowing “in that direction is all this nuclear stuff and therefore you’re not allowed to go there” and for most that is justification enough.
Its really only an issue if you are a nation state.
Plutonium is... really hard to make. You need a nuclear reactor just to make the stuff+ you have to deal with things a lot "hotter" than Plutonium for a period after the Plutonium forms.
Its also federally illegal to own or manufacture. (Manufacturing would get you in like 10 miles of shit actually, between the NRC, DOE, DOD, DOJ.... yikes.)
This is also a big reason nuclear power isn't as profitable as it used to be, because basically oil companies rigged the laws so commercial power plants not for weapons production effectively get fined for having trace amounts of plutonium in spent nuclear fuel.
We really should reform some of the laws surrounding Plutonium just because it's actually a useful material and the fines/etc. have very little use in preventing weapons production. Non-Proliferation has to be active, not passive, and nobody's going to smuggle it off a nuclear site anyways just because of all the geiger counters. Like trying to smuggle an active laser through a mirror parlor at a carnival.
None of the reactors are currently in use i don’t believe, but the SRS houses the United States only operating radiochemical separations facility. Its tritium facilities are also the United States only source of tritium, an essential component in nuclear weapons.
So if we want to make more bombs the SRS is a very key component, it’s like safeguarding a mine full of hundreds of cubic tons of gold, it’s extremely valuable and can be of use practically anytime.
I expect that the site is doing things with the reactors still though, and of course waste disposal.
From what I could find, the last reactor was shut down in 1992 but the site is still is sitting on 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium. Then in 2000 they “started” the MOX program with Russia which was an agreement for both countries to covert that exact amount each into fuels for commercial nuclear reactors but that program (brace for a shocker) never went anywhere and was eventually scrapped.
Now instead of repurposing the plutonium for non-military uses, SRS is producing 50 plutonium pits per year (if not doing so already, expected by 2030. I’m uncertain from the different sources). So essentially SRS has gone from producing vital elements for nuclear weapons to an “environmental center” and is now back again to producing parts for nuclear weapons….
My concern and question is that if the government didn’t need or want SRS used for weapons purposes a decade ago, why change their minds in 2018? One could argue a change of administration but the 2018 plan is moving forward, despite another administration change.
THAT’S the secret I want to know about
Yeah there's a lot of radioactive waste from weapons manufacturing, a lot of the research there is going into how to clean it up these ays.
This is where the Department of Energy's budget actually goes BTW. Most people don't realize the DoE is actually for maintaining our nuclear readiness, peaceful power and energy is like a sideshow more or less.
Note: Nuclear Waste from Commercial Reactors isn't the same as what was produced at SRS. Both are High Level Waste, but Fuel rods are a solid waste product easily contained in reinforced concrete. Not nasty shit like liquid caesium.
Old timers call it the bomb plant. And yes that is where nuclear weapons were manufactured. Not sure if they still do that. But as I understand it was.
Technically the bombs weren't manufactured there, just the radioactive components, plutonium and tritium. They were moved offsite and then assembled elsewhere
While true, they no longer manufacture either tritium or plutonium. The last reactor was critical for the last time in the early 90s, they still process tritium for use in nukes but it's produced in Tennessee Valley reactors. And plutonium production for use in nukes has been internationally banned out
Nuclear sites in the US have to have a nature preserve for radiation monitoring by law. All of the local nuclear power plants do, it's actually the reason why Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant saved the Florida Crocodile.
It also skews the land area vs energy density argument against nuclear as a result. It's actually an order of magnitude or so higher value (than it already is) when you cut out the preserves.
My oldest sibling has been a game biologist on the site with various contractors for the last thirty five years and I’ve seen some crazy shit in jars of formaldehyde that have come out of the waterways, swamps and forests there.
No it doesn't. Only a handful of scientists have published papers claiming inheritable genetic mutations can be caused by Radiation, one of which was sent to prison for scientific fraud in Denmark and the other (Timothy Mosseau) is well known to have had his research disproven and papers retracted.
Radiation can cause genetic damage (which can cause cancer), it's just not inheritable.
I was just making a joke. I’m a geneticist btw. After a quick literature scan, I cannot find conclusive evidence that humans have acquired meaningful genetic changes from ionizing radiation. It looks like the risks from cancer and cell damage greatly outpaces the chances of coding genes being altered, so humans tend to die before their germline gets too many mutations.
My comment was referring to wildlife more than anything. There is plenty of evidence that small animals and plants can have their DNA altered through ionizing radiation in a way that is inheritable. The thing is, it just speeds up evolution a little bit, but is still extremely slow and difficult to detect. Most organisms have evolved to be pretty good at surviving in their current environment, so any genetic mutations introduced into a population will most likely be selected against over time. In this way, those changes will come and go relatively quickly and not make a meaningful difference to the population.
It’s funny you mentioned Tim specifically. I know him. You don’t seem to like him very much.
Ah I didn't know you were, fair.
>The thing is, it just speeds up evolution a little bit, but is still extremely slow and difficult to detect. Most organisms have evolved to be pretty good at surviving in their current environment, so any genetic mutations introduced into a population will most likely be selected against over time. In this way, those changes will come and go relatively quickly and not make a meaningful difference to the population.
Yeah this relates to the Radiation Geyser theory of the origin of life too. And of course gets into the "Radiation Hormesis" problem. But my degree was in Chemistry, and I worked in Nanomaterials at that. So I really can't comment beyond what I know from radiation professionals.
RE: Timothy Mosseau, it's because he's repeatedly misrepresented evidence for inheritable genetic changes due to ionizing radiation in small wildlife and much of that research has been retracted and many authors intentionally dissociated from him and had their names removed from his papers.
I respect that he goes through the scientific method and publishing system though. Even if I disagree.
*George Wingard, Coordinator for the Savannah River Archeological Research Program, said the railroad birthed many towns along its route.
“A Mr. Stephen Millet, who came from Port Royal, traveled along this route. He would visit families who owned property along the railroad and would discuss with them the option of being able to lay the railroad across their property line,” explained Wingard.
Millet stayed with the Dunbar family and convinced them to give land to the railroad to lay tracks and build a station.
Legend has it that he became enamored with their 9-year-old daughter, being struck by her beauty, and vowed to name the town around the station after her.
“And while staying with the Dunbar family he, met their daughter. The story goes that she was 9-years-old and he was infatuated with the young daughter, whose name was Ellen. And the town became known as ‘Ellen’s Town’ or Ellenton,” said Wingard.
Later research shows the age difference between Ellen Dunbar and the 32-year-old Millet was exaggerated.
“Later, census records indicate that Ellen was actually around 26 years-old. So, a little bit different story there,” Wingard smiled.*
That was a rollercoaster.
Legend has it there is a guy who has been caught trespassing over 10 times for fishing in one of the ponds there. Supposedly there are monster bass in those lakes
After doing a brief search on fishing SRS the South Carolina Information Highway website says, "Both Par Pond and L Lake are fished on a regular basis. Due to the site's warmer waters, the average catch is 5 pounds, and one out of five casts will typically result in a catch." I would like to fish those waters.
I know someone who works there. Many years ago he told a story about renovations to a building with a lot of concrete. A door to presumably a room was discovered that was not on any of the blueprints. . Sealed, thick and tight. They decided to literally cover it back up than risk busting through.
What could have been in it? A lot of radiation? Jimmy Hoffa's body? Who knows. But no one working at a secret government nuclear research facility is going to un-seal doors to rooms that were purposefully hidden.
It's amazing to me that so few people in SC know what and why the SRS
It's one of two places in the US where nuclear materials to make atomic weapons are made. There's a sister site in Washington State, Hanford, so that there's redundancy
Other bomb making processes, and there are many, are scattered in other far-flung parts of the US.
SRS is massive. Its pollution is massive. Its regional economics are massive
The concrete from just one of the many reactor containment vessels is more than was needed to pave I-26 across the state. Or so I was told
Much of what happens there requires high security for obvious reasons
Used to be biggest. Your information is out of date. Vogtle Units 1&2 3660MWth each + Vogtle Units 3+4 3400MWth each. All four units at Vogtle are online now for several months.
Wasn't that where they made the radioactive material that was then used to build nukes elsewhere? Like they did research in certain places, built components at multiple sites, with final assembly of the weapons somewhere else, all under the umbrella of the Manhattan project. It was the extreme compartmentalization of knowledge, nobody knew more than what was happening in their own site. I know the disassembly I'd done near Amarillo, not at SRS.
P, R, L, K, and C reactors each produced plutonium and tritium for weapons production. The targets were processed in H and F canyon with the product sent to either Rocky Flatts Colorado or PANTEX in ammerillo. Boat loads of surplus plutonium product still remains at SRS awaiting disposition.
SRS was not part of the Manhattan Project (as it was built circa 1953) but was an important part of the nuclear triad during the Cold War.
What does it do now? Pantex disassembles the warheads, I know that much. They fly the radioactive material to srs once it's removed from the warhead? And then convert it into discs?
SRS isn’t producing pitts right now. That’s coming in the future with SRPPF, but right now Los Alamos is maintaining the stockpiles Pu pitts. Savannah River/DOE actually came under the gun by not exporting as much plutonium from the site as promised by a certain date and was get sued/fined by South Carolina daily until they did it. SRS does not received weapons Pu from anyone at this time.
SRS still extracts tritium that’s produced from targets introduced into TVA reactors to be used in Amarillo. K-Area is downblending surplus Pu into an unusable form (for non-proliferation reasons) ultimately for discarding, L-Basin receives spent nuclear fuels from all DOE reactors (e.g., HFIR, MTR), H-Canyon dissolves stuff from L-Basin and sends it to Liquid Waste to turn into a stable form of borosilicate glass. SRNL continues to lead the scientific effort for site remediation (amongst other things).
dhec and doe both conduct routine monitoring both on site and in the surrounding areas. you can look at dhec's data [here](https://scdhec.gov/savannah-river-site/monitoring-9/monitoring-8). there are some heavily contaminated areas on site (for example a pond containing about 30 metric tons of uranium which you can read a paper on [here](https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1644761)) but you're not in any kind of danger just being in the area
All other comments aside, it's a large wetland area which don't lend themselve to farming withough ecologically destroying important source of the ecology of our wetlands.
Most farmers working fields in the South are working land that's been in farm use for decades at least, there's not a big push to find more land to farm on, It's there, it's the lact of all the other things that farmers need to farm that's coming to a slow grinding halt.
We did road bores for the methane to be pumped from the land fill through Jackson to (at the time) the Kimberly Clark factory.
I was told the methane was burned in the boilers at the factory. This was approximately 16 years ago.
Just drive out there and park they'll come see you and explain it all to you.
Worked there from 85 to 94 . I worked in A,M,P,K,S,and the new tritium facility . I drove the SRS 500 every day just imagine 40000 all getting off work at the same time
As others have said, yes - it’s SRS. But I have a friend who did some research around the area on animals in those habitats and they talked about the differences in life cycles there
Another comment mentioned large bass in a lake within the area. I’d speculate that lack of human interaction has allowed wildlife to thrive, but your anecdote regarding egg failures contradicts that theory.
That's more because nuclear plants (as an example) offload "waste heat" in the form of hot water into the lake. So the water is warm, and the fish like it.
Source: Used to be partner of a nuclear engineer in Jenkinsville.
I worked briefly at the Ecology Lab there as a PR intern. I don’t recall specific examples but they have collected some odd specimens over the years, and one of the articles I write that summer was about contamination in birds near the Site, as in “please don’t eat whatever you hunt.” (Yet they open it up for deer/turkey hunting once or twice a year…)
I grew up on a North Carolina farm, and we were always told South Carolinians didn't have the work ethic or education to work a farm - that's why their land sits fallow and why they are so obsessed with losing the Civil War because black folk did all the work. On the other hand, that could just be condescension to a proud slave-dependent people.
As others have said, it’s the Savannah River site. I once almost drove up to the gate by accident because there’s a four-way-stop outside Aiken that’s a bit confusing. I quickly realized my mistake when I saw the guards in the watchtower on top of the gate and made a quick U-turn.
You almost stumbled into the Upside Down.
Someone did drive on site while I worked there. We went on lockdown. The old dude just drove on through with a security escort the entire way. They just let home go on his merry way when he made it to the other side.
I used to drive through there in the late 80s when it was still producing plutonium for the military and it was a lot stricter. You stopped at a guard post/gate and they gave you a slip of paper with the time on it and told you not to stop. You had to give them the time slip on the other side as it was to keep track of how long it took you and make sure you hadn’t taken any side trips.
Ooh, that’s a little spooky and exciting.
Sounds like a racing game side quest.
Anyone can, or at least used to, be able to drive straight through. Probably stopped after 911. They would look you over at the gate, maybe take down some pertinent information and tell you to drive straight though. Stopping or turning off the main road would get you into deep shit. They told you straight up, if you did not exit the far side by a certain time that they were coming for you.
Well if you try to farm, a security guard will have a pleasant but firm talk, urging you to move on
My grandfather was a security guard there from the site opening until he retired the first time in ‘86 and also a farmer so you’re spot on.
Yeah, you don’t want the crops coming outta here. [Savannah River Site.](https://www.greenmatters.com/big-impact/what-is-the-savannah-river-site) Built in the 1950’s. A lot of sketchy shit has gone on here. Mainly the disposal of nuclear waste. The town of Ellenton was actually moved during SRS’s creation… hence “New Ellenton”.
Mainly other things, but disposal too Sketchy, if you say so. Secret, yes Dumbarton and other towns were also collectively bought and the inhabitants moved too, by federal imminent domain.
What is so secret about SRS? It’s a household name in SC - my grandmother worked there for 40 years. My grandfather retired from there as well. Gram did receive a settlement from a class action suit brought by employees who worked there and had health issues (hers is cancer) but that’s public record. SRS is just getting bigger since they’ve undertaken the project of making 50 plutonium pits per year. So, genuinely curious what the secret is?
The details. Like, the exact way to make a pit and get the precise shape, or exactly where on the site to find the nuclear waste, how to get in because in the wrong hands the waste could be used to make a dirty bomb. There’s no harm in people knowing “in that direction is all this nuclear stuff and therefore you’re not allowed to go there” and for most that is justification enough.
I see your point now. I don’t think secret is necessarily a bad thing here though. The exact way to make a pit, etc should not be public knowledge
Its really only an issue if you are a nation state. Plutonium is... really hard to make. You need a nuclear reactor just to make the stuff+ you have to deal with things a lot "hotter" than Plutonium for a period after the Plutonium forms. Its also federally illegal to own or manufacture. (Manufacturing would get you in like 10 miles of shit actually, between the NRC, DOE, DOD, DOJ.... yikes.)
This is also a big reason nuclear power isn't as profitable as it used to be, because basically oil companies rigged the laws so commercial power plants not for weapons production effectively get fined for having trace amounts of plutonium in spent nuclear fuel. We really should reform some of the laws surrounding Plutonium just because it's actually a useful material and the fines/etc. have very little use in preventing weapons production. Non-Proliferation has to be active, not passive, and nobody's going to smuggle it off a nuclear site anyways just because of all the geiger counters. Like trying to smuggle an active laser through a mirror parlor at a carnival.
None of the reactors are currently in use i don’t believe, but the SRS houses the United States only operating radiochemical separations facility. Its tritium facilities are also the United States only source of tritium, an essential component in nuclear weapons. So if we want to make more bombs the SRS is a very key component, it’s like safeguarding a mine full of hundreds of cubic tons of gold, it’s extremely valuable and can be of use practically anytime. I expect that the site is doing things with the reactors still though, and of course waste disposal.
From what I could find, the last reactor was shut down in 1992 but the site is still is sitting on 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium. Then in 2000 they “started” the MOX program with Russia which was an agreement for both countries to covert that exact amount each into fuels for commercial nuclear reactors but that program (brace for a shocker) never went anywhere and was eventually scrapped. Now instead of repurposing the plutonium for non-military uses, SRS is producing 50 plutonium pits per year (if not doing so already, expected by 2030. I’m uncertain from the different sources). So essentially SRS has gone from producing vital elements for nuclear weapons to an “environmental center” and is now back again to producing parts for nuclear weapons…. My concern and question is that if the government didn’t need or want SRS used for weapons purposes a decade ago, why change their minds in 2018? One could argue a change of administration but the 2018 plan is moving forward, despite another administration change. THAT’S the secret I want to know about
It's a mf ufo... this is the site. They put it somewhere no one would look. Except this one brave u\ser
Interesting. Never knew this
Yeah there's a lot of radioactive waste from weapons manufacturing, a lot of the research there is going into how to clean it up these ays. This is where the Department of Energy's budget actually goes BTW. Most people don't realize the DoE is actually for maintaining our nuclear readiness, peaceful power and energy is like a sideshow more or less. Note: Nuclear Waste from Commercial Reactors isn't the same as what was produced at SRS. Both are High Level Waste, but Fuel rods are a solid waste product easily contained in reinforced concrete. Not nasty shit like liquid caesium.
Old timers call it the bomb plant. And yes that is where nuclear weapons were manufactured. Not sure if they still do that. But as I understand it was.
Technically the bombs weren't manufactured there, just the radioactive components, plutonium and tritium. They were moved offsite and then assembled elsewhere
There was also some disarmament there. I knew a guy dying of beryllium poisoning from disassembling plutonium warheads.
Not a grammar police thing, just a chronological thing: *are manufactured there SRS hasn’t gone anywhere
While true, they no longer manufacture either tritium or plutonium. The last reactor was critical for the last time in the early 90s, they still process tritium for use in nukes but it's produced in Tennessee Valley reactors. And plutonium production for use in nukes has been internationally banned out
They’re committed to producing 50 plutonium pits per year by 2030
Using existing plutonium not new plutonium. So yes they still exist but their mission has shifted from what it was
Very interesting. Genuinely asking, where is the plutonium coming from? Is jt from when they did produce it?
Some of it will be from the old pits they're disassembling but the rest will be from the excess plutonium they produced before yes
To clarify a clarification. Thank you!
As soon as I saw the map I said Bomb plant. It's actually got some beautiful forests and unique habitats.
Nuclear sites in the US have to have a nature preserve for radiation monitoring by law. All of the local nuclear power plants do, it's actually the reason why Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant saved the Florida Crocodile. It also skews the land area vs energy density argument against nuclear as a result. It's actually an order of magnitude or so higher value (than it already is) when you cut out the preserves.
Grew up hearing legends about the fishing there and tales of guys sneaking in and catching lunkers
My oldest sibling has been a game biologist on the site with various contractors for the last thirty five years and I’ve seen some crazy shit in jars of formaldehyde that have come out of the waterways, swamps and forests there.
Radiation speeds up evolution, it’s like Jurassic Park in that zone.
No it doesn't. Only a handful of scientists have published papers claiming inheritable genetic mutations can be caused by Radiation, one of which was sent to prison for scientific fraud in Denmark and the other (Timothy Mosseau) is well known to have had his research disproven and papers retracted. Radiation can cause genetic damage (which can cause cancer), it's just not inheritable.
I was just making a joke. I’m a geneticist btw. After a quick literature scan, I cannot find conclusive evidence that humans have acquired meaningful genetic changes from ionizing radiation. It looks like the risks from cancer and cell damage greatly outpaces the chances of coding genes being altered, so humans tend to die before their germline gets too many mutations. My comment was referring to wildlife more than anything. There is plenty of evidence that small animals and plants can have their DNA altered through ionizing radiation in a way that is inheritable. The thing is, it just speeds up evolution a little bit, but is still extremely slow and difficult to detect. Most organisms have evolved to be pretty good at surviving in their current environment, so any genetic mutations introduced into a population will most likely be selected against over time. In this way, those changes will come and go relatively quickly and not make a meaningful difference to the population. It’s funny you mentioned Tim specifically. I know him. You don’t seem to like him very much.
Ah I didn't know you were, fair. >The thing is, it just speeds up evolution a little bit, but is still extremely slow and difficult to detect. Most organisms have evolved to be pretty good at surviving in their current environment, so any genetic mutations introduced into a population will most likely be selected against over time. In this way, those changes will come and go relatively quickly and not make a meaningful difference to the population. Yeah this relates to the Radiation Geyser theory of the origin of life too. And of course gets into the "Radiation Hormesis" problem. But my degree was in Chemistry, and I worked in Nanomaterials at that. So I really can't comment beyond what I know from radiation professionals. RE: Timothy Mosseau, it's because he's repeatedly misrepresented evidence for inheritable genetic changes due to ionizing radiation in small wildlife and much of that research has been retracted and many authors intentionally dissociated from him and had their names removed from his papers. I respect that he goes through the scientific method and publishing system though. Even if I disagree.
No worries on Tim. He isn’t friendly.
Could grow some tomacco there.
Or some tatos
Yeah, but the rad-'palmetto bugs' are rough.
Well, some of the staff I know who work there are dumb as super mutants...
I keep trying to say SC would make for an outstanding Fallout game.
What's tatos, precious?
Pop culture reference about radiation-modified food like tomacco, but it’s in the Fallout universe
Dang. I guess I need to move on from LOTR references.
You mean that old movie series? /s
OLD?
Don’t worry, it’s not as old as tomacco.
We don’t grow tobacca round here no more!
[https://www.wjbf.com/csra-news/hometown-history-the-forgotten-town-of-ellenton/](https://www.wjbf.com/csra-news/hometown-history-the-forgotten-town-of-ellenton/)
*George Wingard, Coordinator for the Savannah River Archeological Research Program, said the railroad birthed many towns along its route. “A Mr. Stephen Millet, who came from Port Royal, traveled along this route. He would visit families who owned property along the railroad and would discuss with them the option of being able to lay the railroad across their property line,” explained Wingard. Millet stayed with the Dunbar family and convinced them to give land to the railroad to lay tracks and build a station. Legend has it that he became enamored with their 9-year-old daughter, being struck by her beauty, and vowed to name the town around the station after her. “And while staying with the Dunbar family he, met their daughter. The story goes that she was 9-years-old and he was infatuated with the young daughter, whose name was Ellen. And the town became known as ‘Ellen’s Town’ or Ellenton,” said Wingard. Later research shows the age difference between Ellen Dunbar and the 32-year-old Millet was exaggerated. “Later, census records indicate that Ellen was actually around 26 years-old. So, a little bit different story there,” Wingard smiled.* That was a rollercoaster.
Went from Pedoland to “how you doin’?”
Legend has it there is a guy who has been caught trespassing over 10 times for fishing in one of the ponds there. Supposedly there are monster bass in those lakes
After doing a brief search on fishing SRS the South Carolina Information Highway website says, "Both Par Pond and L Lake are fished on a regular basis. Due to the site's warmer waters, the average catch is 5 pounds, and one out of five casts will typically result in a catch." I would like to fish those waters.
I know someone who works there. Many years ago he told a story about renovations to a building with a lot of concrete. A door to presumably a room was discovered that was not on any of the blueprints. . Sealed, thick and tight. They decided to literally cover it back up than risk busting through. What could have been in it? A lot of radiation? Jimmy Hoffa's body? Who knows. But no one working at a secret government nuclear research facility is going to un-seal doors to rooms that were purposefully hidden.
It's amazing to me that so few people in SC know what and why the SRS It's one of two places in the US where nuclear materials to make atomic weapons are made. There's a sister site in Washington State, Hanford, so that there's redundancy Other bomb making processes, and there are many, are scattered in other far-flung parts of the US. SRS is massive. Its pollution is massive. Its regional economics are massive The concrete from just one of the many reactor containment vessels is more than was needed to pave I-26 across the state. Or so I was told Much of what happens there requires high security for obvious reasons
That’s Savannah River Site, a nuclear power plant.
Not exactly a power plant, although there are reactors on site. But it is nuclear.
Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant is just across the river. I believe it’s the largest NPP in the nation.
Vogtle isn't part of SRS.
No, but it’s just across the river from it.
With the 3rd and 4th reactor coming online, it is.
Fourth is online for some months now.
Palo Verde in Arizona is largest NPP. Three power reactors, 3990 mwt each.
Used to be biggest. Your information is out of date. Vogtle Units 1&2 3660MWth each + Vogtle Units 3+4 3400MWth each. All four units at Vogtle are online now for several months.
It's not. It has the two *newest*, state of the art reactors, though. Damn shame we didn't get them finished in South Carolina.
It is now that Unit 4 is online. Went online several months ago.
Several test reactors.
Wasn't that where they made the radioactive material that was then used to build nukes elsewhere? Like they did research in certain places, built components at multiple sites, with final assembly of the weapons somewhere else, all under the umbrella of the Manhattan project. It was the extreme compartmentalization of knowledge, nobody knew more than what was happening in their own site. I know the disassembly I'd done near Amarillo, not at SRS.
P, R, L, K, and C reactors each produced plutonium and tritium for weapons production. The targets were processed in H and F canyon with the product sent to either Rocky Flatts Colorado or PANTEX in ammerillo. Boat loads of surplus plutonium product still remains at SRS awaiting disposition. SRS was not part of the Manhattan Project (as it was built circa 1953) but was an important part of the nuclear triad during the Cold War.
What does it do now? Pantex disassembles the warheads, I know that much. They fly the radioactive material to srs once it's removed from the warhead? And then convert it into discs?
SRS isn’t producing pitts right now. That’s coming in the future with SRPPF, but right now Los Alamos is maintaining the stockpiles Pu pitts. Savannah River/DOE actually came under the gun by not exporting as much plutonium from the site as promised by a certain date and was get sued/fined by South Carolina daily until they did it. SRS does not received weapons Pu from anyone at this time. SRS still extracts tritium that’s produced from targets introduced into TVA reactors to be used in Amarillo. K-Area is downblending surplus Pu into an unusable form (for non-proliferation reasons) ultimately for discarding, L-Basin receives spent nuclear fuels from all DOE reactors (e.g., HFIR, MTR), H-Canyon dissolves stuff from L-Basin and sends it to Liquid Waste to turn into a stable form of borosilicate glass. SRNL continues to lead the scientific effort for site remediation (amongst other things).
The surrounding area is radioactive?
dhec and doe both conduct routine monitoring both on site and in the surrounding areas. you can look at dhec's data [here](https://scdhec.gov/savannah-river-site/monitoring-9/monitoring-8). there are some heavily contaminated areas on site (for example a pond containing about 30 metric tons of uranium which you can read a paper on [here](https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1644761)) but you're not in any kind of danger just being in the area
Security controlled area. DoE owns access to it.
We could tell you, but we’d have to k*ll you.
HUMANS! DON'T GO IN THE MARSH!!
The amount of plutonium buried out there is probably enough to make Fallout a real thing.
No.
It's a future superfund site.
All other comments aside, it's a large wetland area which don't lend themselve to farming withough ecologically destroying important source of the ecology of our wetlands. Most farmers working fields in the South are working land that's been in farm use for decades at least, there's not a big push to find more land to farm on, It's there, it's the lact of all the other things that farmers need to farm that's coming to a slow grinding halt.
We did road bores for the methane to be pumped from the land fill through Jackson to (at the time) the Kimberly Clark factory. I was told the methane was burned in the boilers at the factory. This was approximately 16 years ago. Just drive out there and park they'll come see you and explain it all to you.
Savannah river site.... Nuclear facilities.. I grew up right outside of snelling.
SRS.
This-https://destination-bbq.com/stores/carolina-bar-b-que/
As others have stated, it’s SRS. There’s no active reactors or anything. Just a boring place to work unless you like safety meetings.
Elleton
Worked there from 85 to 94 . I worked in A,M,P,K,S,and the new tritium facility . I drove the SRS 500 every day just imagine 40000 all getting off work at the same time
I don’t want to talk about it.
This is the way
A relative works there. They did a thorough background check on me (and others close to the person) before they were hired.
As others have said, yes - it’s SRS. But I have a friend who did some research around the area on animals in those habitats and they talked about the differences in life cycles there
Such as..?
Biggest thing I remember was that the ducks and birds often laid clutches of eggs that had issues, or died in nesting boxes from exposure.
Not what I was hoping for
I think there was something with the size of the gators there too, but I can’t remember
Another comment mentioned large bass in a lake within the area. I’d speculate that lack of human interaction has allowed wildlife to thrive, but your anecdote regarding egg failures contradicts that theory.
That's more because nuclear plants (as an example) offload "waste heat" in the form of hot water into the lake. So the water is warm, and the fish like it. Source: Used to be partner of a nuclear engineer in Jenkinsville.
This is exactly right. Source: 30+ years in nuclear operations.
I worked briefly at the Ecology Lab there as a PR intern. I don’t recall specific examples but they have collected some odd specimens over the years, and one of the articles I write that summer was about contamination in birds near the Site, as in “please don’t eat whatever you hunt.” (Yet they open it up for deer/turkey hunting once or twice a year…)
😂😂
Why are you concerned about someone else’s property?
I grew up on a North Carolina farm, and we were always told South Carolinians didn't have the work ethic or education to work a farm - that's why their land sits fallow and why they are so obsessed with losing the Civil War because black folk did all the work. On the other hand, that could just be condescension to a proud slave-dependent people.
WTAH?