FAS | Intelligence | IMINT Gallery | DOE |||| Index | Search | Join FAS


FAS Intelligence Resource Program

Savannah River Plant
200-H Chemical Separation Area

Photo Date: ???
Photo Number: 376 047 001

H Canyon is the predominant facility in one of two chemical separations areas at the Savannah River Site (SRS). H Canyon was constructed in the early 1950s and began operations in 1955. The building is called a canyon because of its long narrow shape. It is 835 feet long, 122 feet wide and 66 feet long. The canyon is comprised of 18 sections, most of which are approximately 43 feet long.

Canyon operations historically recovered uranium-235 (U-235), the fuel source for nuclear reactors, by a chemical separation process of reprocessing aluminum-based enriched-uranium fuel rods from site reactors and other test and research reactors to recover usable U-235 for recycle into new fuel elements. The recovered uranium was shipped as a liquid to the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge (Tennessee) site for reuse. In addition, the canyon was equipped with special capabilities to recover neptunium-237 (Np-237) and plutonium-238 (Pu-238) from the reactor fuel and special irradiated targets. Pu-238 is used in power systems for deep space exploration. Np-237 is used to produce Pu-238 by nuclear irradiation. Processing of spent fuels from SRS reactors was interrupted in 1988 due to a decision to halt liquid uranium shipments. In July 1996 DOE determined that H Canyon should be used to convert a large quantity of weapons-usable HEU to low-enriched material, no longer weapons-usable, but suitable as fuel in commercial power reactors.

The 200-H area also includes the Tritium Processing Buildings, Receiving Basins for Offsite Fuels {RBOF], and the Resin Regeneration Facility [RRF].


FAS | Intelligence | IMINT Gallery | DOE |||| Index | Search | Join FAS


http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/doe_srp_200h_01.htm
Created by John Pike
Maintained by Webmaster

Updated Tuesday, December 30, 1997 10:19:25 AM