Top local Department of Energy managers will discuss the funding outlook and plans for future work at the Savannah River Site at an upcoming public forum.
The forum will be held by the SRS Community Reuse Organization, according to a press release. The forum will be 2 to 4 p.m. Monday at the Aiken Technical College Amphitheater, 2276 Jefferson Davis Highway.
At SRS, the largest portion of the fiscal year 2016 budget request supports the liquid tank waste-management program. The request is for $547 million, a $139 million drop in funding from what it received last fiscal year.
Funding will be less from the previous year's budget for H Canyon but it will still operate in a safe and secure manner.
Requested funding levels have also increased for the Salt Waste Processing Facility, leading up to its anticipated startup in 2018. Under the National Nuclear Security Administration, the budget request will continue to fund tritium mission under the defense programs and the highly-debated MOX program is slated to receive $345 million for construction purposes.
Presenters for the forum include: David Moody, DOE manager of SRS; John Lopez, director, office of integration and planning; Doug Dearolph, manager of the NNSA office at SRS; and Timothy Fischer, NNSA business manager.
Rick McLeod, executive director of the SRS Community Reuse Organization, mentioned how significant the DOE representatives are for the forum.
"The sizable impact of SRS on our economy makes this a very important topic for our community," he added.
The organization is a nonprofit regional group focused on supporting job creation in a five-county region of Georgia and South Carolina, including Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties in South Carolina and Richmond and Columbia counties in Georgia.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard.