The Department of Energy Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, left, talks with U.S. Representative Gresham Barrett's field representative Ginny Allen after giving a presentation to members of the Savannah River Site Retiree Association at their Annual Meeting at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Aiken, SC. Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff

SRS's employment outlook proves to be all but positive

AIKEN - Top Savannah River Site officials offered a sobering look Tuesday at the federal nuclear reservation's future, which could include a work force as small as 5,000 people under the worst case scenario, and about 9,000 employees under the best of circumstances.

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Westinghouse Savannah River Site Company President Bob Pedde talks to members of the Savannah River Site Retiree Association at their Annual Meeting at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Aiken, SC. Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff

Either route would mean thousands of lost jobs at the site, which currently employs about 13,000 people.

Officials are torn between the Department of Energy's challenge to clean up the site's radioactive past as fast as possible and landing new missions that would create new jobs.

Later this month, 300 SRS employees will be laid off, with future cuts looming beyond this year.

"We're going through, really, an evolution," Bob Pedde, the president of Westinghouse Savannah River Co., which runs the site, told members of the SRS Retiree Association Inc. at their annual meeting.

"We've got to set us up for the longer term," he added.

The site's work force will slide to 5,000 by 2030 if new missions aren't brought to the site. Mr. Pedde underscored this steady decline with a Power Point graphic.

And even if it were to land all of the new missions on its wish list, that figure will still drop to about 9,000 people, Mr. Pedde said in an interview after his presentation.

"What those numbers show is that new missions are mandatory," said Dave Cowfer, the chairman of the retiree association's board of directors.

"Those projections are very real."

A $1.6 billion nuclear fuel conversion facility that would create about 500 jobs has already been approved for the site. Geared to convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors, construction on the MOX plant has been delayed until next year because of legal wrangling between America and Russia.

Meanwhile, the site is competing for a multi-billion dollar bomb trigger factory that could create up to 1,500 jobs; a hydrogen research facility; an educational reactor that would attract students from more than 20 colleges; and the possibility of leasing space for the construction of a commercial nuclear reactor.

There has been news to be optimistic about, Mr. Pedde pointed out, including an inquiry from Dominion Energy Inc. to lease space at SRS for a commercial nuclear power plant and plans to build a forensic lab with the Federal Bureau of Investigations that would investigate nuclear materials such as potential "dirty bombs."

DOE's manager over SRS, Jeff Allison said even tearing down old buildings at the site could be viewed with optimism.

Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 279-6895.

--From the Wednesday, March 10, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle