The Savannah River Site calculated more than $10 million in savings as a result of a new method for measuring the radioactivity of transuranic, or TRU, waste.
The feat won the Site the Department of Energy Sustainability Award in the category of Exemplary Practice.
Savings were created through the use of nondestructive technology - one that uses highly sensitive instruments to provide accurate data for each waste container placed into the highly shielded unit.
The new technique significantly improves existing methods to determine the strength or level of radiation emitted from each transuranic waste container being tested.
The process took two years of analysis and documentation before receiving full approval from the Savannah River Nuclear Solutions TRU Waste Team, DOE and Environmental Protection Agency.
Bert Crapse, from SRS waste disposition programs, said every team member contributed to the use of this technology and achievement.
"What they accomplished will have a significant impact on many organizations throughout the DOE complex," Crapse said.
The new variation of nondestructive measuring also eliminated the need to repackage containers filled with highly contaminated TRU waste and the hazards associated with this type of hands-on work.
Repackaging would have resulted in the generation of over 600 55-gallon drums of unexpected contaminated waste, creating a need for 28 additional waste shipments from SRS to the federal repository
Engineers from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions worked closely with DOE's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - a plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where SRS shipments of transuranic waste have been going until an exposure incident shut the plant down in February 2014. The remaining waste is being safely stored at the site until SRS receives further direction.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.