With the increase in nuclear weapons materials and parts production work, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) short-term office space needs are unlikely to be satisfied by the City of Aiken’s proposed, $20 million, downtown, rooftop-terraced, “Mixed-Use” office building being constructed on behalf of the private, nonprofit Aiken Corporation and its new, yet-to-be-named for-profit property management company.

The target date for the completion of the facility is February 2026. Even if SRNL’s operating contactor moves at that time, this new facility that is being squeezed onto a one-acre space will also not accommodate any future office space needs.

by Don Moniak
February 17, 2024

According to workforce statistics, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) labor force increased from 11,420 to 12,818 employees between September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2023 (Table 1).

DOE’s three major site contractors now have larger workforces. These are:

• Primary management and operating contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). 
• Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which is charged solely with stabilization of the site’s high-level “liquid” radioactive waste. 
• Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL).

The site’s paramilitary physical security contractor, Centerra, maintained a steady employee base; as did the Savannah River Ecology Lab, the U.S. Forest Service, power generator Ameresco, and the DOE federal employee labor force.

During the same time period, the Lab’s workforce increased from 1,052 to 1,310 employees; the largest percent increase of any of the four contractors.

Table 1: Recent SRS and SRNL Workforce Changes

Employer	9/30/21	12/31/23	Percent Change
SRS Total	11,420	12,818	+12.2
SRNL Total	1,052	1,310	+24.5
SRNL —NNSA	578	772	+33.6
SRNL — Environmental Mgmt	271	256	-5.6
SRNL- Other	203	282	+38.9

Most of the employee growth across the site is due to the increased number working on DOE National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) tasks. The NNSA is the DOE’s “semi-autonomous” weapons agency, tasked with the department’s nuclear weapons maintenance, production, and security missions.

The two primary nuclear weapons programs at SRS are:

• Ongoing production of tritium gas, which is  used to boost the explosive power of nuclear weaponry. The purified gas is loaded into stainless steel “reservoirs” which contain an average of about four grams of tritium gas.
• Planned production of nuclear weapon primary explosive components commonly referred to as “plutonium pits.”  Design work for a new pit fabrication plant is currently ongoing. 
  
  The employee increases are largely due to this new plutonium pit production mission (Table 2). This was to be expected, as Savannah River Nuclear Solutions CEO Stuart MacVean wrote in the Aiken Standard in December 2022 that, “We’ll hire over 4,000 more to aid in bringing the facility on-line as close to 2030 as possible.”
  
  More and more of the site workforce is categorized as carrying out NNSA missions. The increase for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is entirely attributable to NNSA missions: 75% of the SRNL employee increase are from assignments to NNSA work.
  
  Only Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), which is charged with stabilizing the most dangerous, Cold War legacy radioactive wastes known as “tank waste,” added more Environmental Management (EM) workers.
  
  Table 2: Workforce trends: weapons programs (NNSA) vs. environmental remediation and radioactive waste stabilization programs programs (EM).

Employer	9/30/21	12/31/23	Percent Change.
SRS Total	11,420	12,818	+12.2
SRS — NNSA Missions	4,014	5,110	+27.3
SRS – EM Missions	6,902	6,720	-2.6
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions: Total	5,795	6,733	+16.2
SRNS – NNSA Missions	3,209	4,311	+34.4
SRNS – EM Missions	2,309	2,265	-1.9
SRMC (formerly SRR/Parsons)	3,174	3,417	+7.7
SRS Physical Security—Centerra	671	678	+1.0

Finding Off-Site Space

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is mostly confined to “A-Area” at SRS, which is dominated by aging buildings. Space is so limited that at least seven modular office buildings (see cover photo) are used to house the overflow. (1) There is a strong desire for off-site office space to alleviate overcrowding, reduce security requirements, and ease congestion at the guarded entrance gates. (2)

One touted solution, first announced in January 2023, was a “Workforce Development Center” in downtown Aiken, in close proximity to the downtown satellite offices of several other DOE/SRS contractors and subcontractors. The facility is funded with a $20 million allocation from the State of South Carolina’s SRS/plutonium settlement fund for the purpose of “SRS/National Laboratory Off-Site Infrastructure.”

The project has devolved from an “SRNL Workforce Development Center,” to a “Mixed-Use” office building to be constructed by the City and owned by Aiken Corporation—the private, nonprofit “partner” of the City since the late 1990s. The two parties hope that BSRA, and any future lab operating contractor will be a long-term tenant, but DOE/SRNL remains noncommittal beyond a one-year, renewable lease.

As described in City of Aiken Takes Control of Downtown Mixed-Use/SRNL Building Project, since March 2023, DOE/SRNL and BSRA have been negotiating with both the Aiken Corporation and the City of Aiken to lease space in a the downtown office building. The facility would house only up to 100 employees—less than 8% of the current lab workforce.

However, according to the City of Aiken’s contract with the architectural firm of Cheatham, Fletcher, and Scott, the downtown office building is not expected to be completed until February 2026. (Table 3)

Table 3: Timeline and Costs for the Downtown Aiken “Mixed-Use” Office Building Project

Final Design Due Date	May 20, 2024
Construction Start Date	December 16, 2024
Construction Completion Date	~February 2026
Design Contract Award	Not provided
Construction Budget	$14.4 million
Furniture, Furnishings, and Equipment Budget	$1.3 million
Land Acquisition Cost	$0.72 million

During recent negotiations, SRNL Assistant Director Dr. Sharon Marra twice related to the City/ACorp partnership that “we need the space,” implying a shorter term need. Ms. Marra also made reference to a “free building”—apparently in the context of the Mixed-Use Building lease. A rent-free alternative that avoids the need for federal funds to pay for the lease is a possibility that has remain unexplored during public debate.

In another city official’s email, Lab Director Dr. Vahid Majidi was asked about his inquiries into office space availability on Centennial Drive in South Aiken. That office complex consists of four 54,000-square-foot office buildings. (3)

Various DOE contractors have occupied portions of this office complex off and on for decade. One building entrance still houses a “URS” sign. There is currently a sign advertising 39,450 square feet of office space—ten percent more than what is being planned for downtown.

The lab appears to need some additional space now, preferably closer to its fellow contractors in downtown Aiken. No matter what happens with the downtown Aiken “Mixed-Use” building, SRNL is likely going to need more than 36,000 square feet of space to accommodate recent and future growth; and sooner rather than later. However, the City of Aiken has declined to pursue any location, such as the County-owned Old Hospital property or its Jackson Petroleum site at Williamsburg Street, that would allow for such growth.

Footnote

(1) As reported in A Shrub Grows in Aiken, which in part addressed DOE’s new “Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative” on the campus of USC-Aiken:

“According to its physical property inventory, SRNL has seven modular office buildings to supplement what City Councilman Ed Woltz described during the latest State of the City address as “remote, aged facilities.” Close to 1,000 SRNL workers and researchers will continue to work in the aged facilities behind the SRS gates and fences, not within ‘walking distance proximity to cultural amenities, dining, and retail stores’ that was one criteria for the downtown SRNL office building.”

That figure of more 1,000 must now be updated to more than 1,200 and growing.

(2) Another motivating factor could be safety. The lab works with significant quantities of radioactive and other toxic materials. The ventilation system is old—more than a hundred million dollars of maintenance and improvements were identified in the early 2000s. The extent of upgrades is unknown, but the recommendation at the time was to only address major needs. needs and has been in need of repairs since the early 2000s.

As reported in How Safe Were Millions of Safe Hours, in July 2022 Building 772-A was evacuated due to the failure of portable air compressors for radiological exhaust systems. Employees who do are not assigned to actual laboratory tasks would be out of harms way in the event of any similar future incidents.

However, the talking point of “access to dining and cultural amenities” for the 5-8 percent of the lab workforce that would occupy a downtown building is dubious at best. These criteria for an office space location are clearly intended more for visiting dignitaries, Executives from technology transfer partner companies, and other National Lab scientists and researchers. This is evidenced by the desire for a “rooftop gathering place,” labeled as a covered terrace on the first conceptual design.

(3) An email to Dr. Majidi asking about the search for additional space was not answered.