BY ROB NOVIT
When Dwayne Wilson joined Savannah River Nuclear Solutions as the president/CEO in October 2011, he soon learned more and more about the company's scope of work and the skill sets of its employees.
"And every time I would say, 'Really? We do that? We bring that to our community and the nation?'" Wilson told an audience of nearly 200 at the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce's First Friday breakfast.
In February 2009, SRNS had its own major "really" moment after Congress approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Regardless of how people felt about the politics of the stimulus funds, Wilson said, ARRA did what it was supposed to do. SRS received $1.6 billion.
"We compressed six years of clean-up work into 30 months," he said. "For our company alone, we hired over 2,000 people - about 800 that were retrained and another 1,400 newly hired who were able to find employment. They acquired new skills and moved on or stayed on with us. For many of them, it was a real job they needed at that time."
The ARRA award was a boon for businesses throughout the CRSA, many of them hiring as a result of the stimulus package, said Wilson. Overall, the stimulus funds generated about $500 million to the economy regionally, he said.
SRNS was able to close two reactors - removing "some of the foulest waste" at the site," Wilson said. More facilities are being torn down, and he anticipates that the land utilized during the site's legacy era during the Cold War will be reduced by 85 percent.
"We are meeting our commitment to South Carolina for dealing with the legacy issues at the site," said Wilson. "It enables us to do more projects at SRS. We continue to close out the legacy of the Cold War, but we must set a vision for a sustainable future."
There are missions at the site that will continue long after he retires, Wilson said. Yet even those missions have an end point. SRNS has to have value propositions that tell its customers why the company matters, he said.
The company has the technical knowledge, the nuclear materials and the research component through the Savannah River National Laboratory and more to provide services for both public and private entities.
Five months ago, SRNS hosted a delegation from the Tokyo Electric Power Company. That firm faces unprecedented challenges following the tsunami and the damage to its reactors at the Fukushima plant.
"They learned from us the technology and skills we bring to the site," Wilson said. "We feel confident that we can have a contract in place and can provide support to help them clean up that region."
SRNS has already demonstrated its ability to the Department of Homeland Security to monitor containers for radioactive material, Wilson said, and is now looking at commercial applications in the nation's ports.
"For the past two years," he said, "we've been positioning ourselves for the next generation of small, modular nuclear reactors. These are viewed by the industry as a game-changer, and they are a fraction of the size of conventional reactors. Someday they can power a military base, a small city, a university and even a remote location around the world. We believe we are well-positioned for that platform."
SRNS has converted 300 tons of surplus uranium, which has gone to the Tennessee Valley Authority. That would be enough to power all the residential homes in South Carolina for a decade, said Wilson. The site has become a center of expertise for nuclear materials management, he said.
"We recognize we can't do what we do without the support of the community," said Wilson. "You do give us a social license to operate. We hope to continue to get support for things we need as a region."![]()
When Dwayne Wilson joined Savannah River Nuclear Solutions as the president/CEO in October 2011, he soon learned more and more about the company's scope of work and the skill sets of its employees.
"And every time I would say, 'Really? We do that? We bring that to our community and the nation?'" Wilson told an audience of nearly 200 at the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce's First Friday breakfast.
In February 2009, SRNS had its own major "really" moment after Congress approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Regardless of how people felt about the politics of the stimulus funds, Wilson said, ARRA did what it was supposed to do. SRS received $1.6 billion.
"We compressed six years of clean-up work into 30 months," he said. "For our company alone, we hired over 2,000 people - about 800 that were retrained and another 1,400 newly hired who were able to find employment. They acquired new skills and moved on or stayed on with us. For many of them, it was a real job they needed at that time."
The ARRA award was a boon for businesses throughout the CRSA, many of them hiring as a result of the stimulus package, said Wilson. Overall, the stimulus funds generated about $500 million to the economy regionally, he said.
SRNS was able to close two reactors - removing "some of the foulest waste" at the site," Wilson said. More facilities are being torn down, and he anticipates that the land utilized during the site's legacy era during the Cold War will be reduced by 85 percent.
"We are meeting our commitment to South Carolina for dealing with the legacy issues at the site," said Wilson. "It enables us to do more projects at SRS. We continue to close out the legacy of the Cold War, but we must set a vision for a sustainable future."
There are missions at the site that will continue long after he retires, Wilson said. Yet even those missions have an end point. SRNS has to have value propositions that tell its customers why the company matters, he said.
The company has the technical knowledge, the nuclear materials and the research component through the Savannah River National Laboratory and more to provide services for both public and private entities.
Five months ago, SRNS hosted a delegation from the Tokyo Electric Power Company. That firm faces unprecedented challenges following the tsunami and the damage to its reactors at the Fukushima plant.
"They learned from us the technology and skills we bring to the site," Wilson said. "We feel confident that we can have a contract in place and can provide support to help them clean up that region."
SRNS has already demonstrated its ability to the Department of Homeland Security to monitor containers for radioactive material, Wilson said, and is now looking at commercial applications in the nation's ports.
"For the past two years," he said, "we've been positioning ourselves for the next generation of small, modular nuclear reactors. These are viewed by the industry as a game-changer, and they are a fraction of the size of conventional reactors. Someday they can power a military base, a small city, a university and even a remote location around the world. We believe we are well-positioned for that platform."
SRNS has converted 300 tons of surplus uranium, which has gone to the Tennessee Valley Authority. That would be enough to power all the residential homes in South Carolina for a decade, said Wilson. The site has become a center of expertise for nuclear materials management, he said.
"We recognize we can't do what we do without the support of the community," said Wilson. "You do give us a social license to operate. We hope to continue to get support for things we need as a region."