The Bomb Plant

        Your average Joe or Joanne probably doesn't know much about the Savanah River Site (SRS), located on the outskirts of Aiken, South Carolina, yet, it is a very important component of the defense of the United States.  

     The bombs dropped on Japan that brought an end to the second World War, were the opening event of the Cold War - a period of political tension between the United States and Russia.  In 1949, spying verified that Russia was conducting underground nuclear explosions.  By 1950, the Savanah River Site was under construction.  We had the bomb.  Russia almost had the bomb.  Now we had to have lots of bigger, better bombs.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-announces-soviets-have-exploded-a-nuclear-device

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River_Site

     The U.S. government purchased 310 square miles of farmland which included the towns of Ellenton and Dunbarton.  About 6.000 people were relocated.  Though the locals referred to the new facility as "the bomb plant," the plant didn't manufacture bombs.  They produced the radioactive ingredients that fueled hydrogen bombs.  Over the years SRS has gone from making bomb components to making fuel for power plants.  They also properly dispose of spent nuclear material from power plants in the United States and abroad.  Our tour guide explained that this nation's nuclear stock piles, which were manufactured in the 1980s, have deteriorated and need to be replaced.  SRS will produce materials for this replacement operation.  

https://www.srs.gov/general/srs-home.html 

https://www.energy.gov/srs/savannah-river-site

     There are lots of jokes about glow-in-the-dark alligators that live on the site.  While this is not true, it is a fact that the site has suffered contamination over the years.  Before SRS was even built Eugene Odum, a professor from the University of Georgia who is known as the father of modern of ecology, studied the area.  His involvement lead to the founding of the Savanah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL).  The laboratory is located within the Savanah River Site, and it has operated for the past seventy years.  Tours include a visit to the lab where guests attend a lecture featuring live animals native to the site.  Our presentation included a bullfrog with a history of slipping out of the lecturer's grasp.  Froggie didn't escape during our lecture, but he did urinate on the speaker and the carpet.  There were two alligators - an adorable two-year-old and a much bigger three-year-old who was getting scary big.  We saw a few snakes.  The poisonous ones were locked in plastic boxes.  A non-poisonous snake was held by the lecturer.  During the talk, the snake bit her.    

https://news.uga.edu/the-father-of-modern-ecology/#:~:text=Eugene%20Odum%20is%20lionized%20throughout,its%2010th%20anniversary%20this%20year.  

https://research.uga.edu/news/seven-decades-of-environmental-research-at-savannah-river-ecology-lab/        

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/deadly-legacy-savannah-river-site-near-aiken-one-of-the-most-contaminated-places-on-earth/article_d325f494-12ff-11e7-9579-6b0721ccae53.html

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0403485

http://governor.sc.gov/news/2021-12/gov-henry-mcmaster-unveils-savannah-river-site-settlement-recommendations#:~:text=In%20August%20of%202020%2C%20South,allocated%20by%20the%20General%20Assembly.

     Savanah River Site Tours are free.  Guest must be over the age of 18 and be United States citizens.  You have to provide your Social Security Number when you sign up for a tour.  Security is very tight.  All bags are checked.  Guests tour by bus and are monitored at all times.  No photography is allowed.  Here's the information if you are interested in booking a tour:

https://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm