The Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site will be online by the end of the year, said SRS manager Michael Budney. The facility, which will process millions of gallons of liquid nuclear waste, was completed in 2016 but required the replacement of hundreds of valve controllers before it could enter service.

An oversight report found that nuclear material wasn't at risk when a used fuel complex at the Savannah River Site lost power. The approximately hour-long outage didn't occur during the handling of nuclear fuel or casks.

The buildup in plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site has led to 221 job offers for former Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility employees. SRS intends to make 50 plutonium pits by 2030, said Nicole Nelson-Jean, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration's Savannah River Field Office.

The Energy Department has yet to name a Savannah River Site liquid waste contractor, adding "to be determined" to the contracting timeline chart. The current contract for Savannah River Remediation is set to expire next month.

The Defense and Energy departments' nuclear budget for the next 10 years would have $9 billion for plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site and Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The total nuclear-related budget would be $494 billion -- 23% higher than the previous estimate made in 2017.