AIKEN, S.C., –  The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) will hold a public information workshop to discuss P-Reactor End State on October 16, 2007 at Aiken Technical College Amphitheater.  This workshop will be the first in a series to provide public information and solicit stakeholder input on DOE-SR’s end state decision.

DOE is currently deactivating the P-Reactor at the Savannah River Site.  Upon completion of deactivation the reactor will undergo decommissioning.  This workshop will provide local residents with information about the Department’s reactor end-state options, reactor fundamentals, assessment modeling approach and a regulatory perspective.

When:       October 16, 2007, from noon to 4 p.m.

Where:     Aiken Technical College Amphitheater, Aiken, SC

P-Reactor is one of five production reactors at SRS and was the site of the cutting-edge neutrino research. In 1956, Dr. Clyde Cowan, Jr., and Dr. Frederick Reines used P Reactor to confirm for the first time the existence of the free neutrino, a sub-atomic particle of extremely small mass. As a result of this work, Dr. Reines won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics.  In addition to the awarding research, P Reactor produced plutonium and tritium for national defense. Built from 1951-54, it was the second of the five reactors at SRS to come on-line, running from initial start-up, Feb. 20, 1954, until final shut- down in 1991.

SR-07-09

DOE