DOE issues RFI for reuse of SRS heavy water

The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management has issued a request for information for industry input about the best ways to reuse and repurpose as much as 530,000 gallons of heavy water that is currently being stored at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The deadline to submit responses to the RFI is September 21.

Detailed information about the RFI, including contact information and instructions for submissions, was published in the Federal Register. Responses can be emailed to [email protected] with the subject line "EM Heavy Water RFI Collaboration Response."

Background: SRS's inventory of heavy water-that is, water in which the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by deuterium, a heavier isotope of hydrogen-is left over from operations at the site's 400/D area. The 400/D area produced heavy water for moderating the five tritium- and plutonium-production reactors that were constructed at SRS in the 1950s. Heavy water production operations ceased in the early 1980s, and the reactors were shut down in the late 1980s.

SRS's massive stockpile of heavy water, much of it containing tritium and other contaminants, has been stored on site since the 1980s.

According to the DOE, heavy water "has unique properties making it indispensable for advanced nuclear applications, cutting-edge research, and the production of life-saving medical isotopes." There are currently no operating heavy water-cooled reactors in the United States.

Surplus nuclear materials: The RFI was issued to seek input "from a broad range of stakeholders, including industry with demonstrated needs and expertise in heavy water processing and entities interested in exploring the development of new facilities or leasing land directly at the SRS."

Potential partners may include but are not limited to:

• Organizations with a demonstrated need for deuterium or other isotopes with limited supplies and no substitutes, or for other industrial applications.
• Entities with expertise in heavy water processing, purification, or detritiation technologies.
• Research institutions or companies interested in developing new uses for heavy water or its constituents.
• Potential partners interested in collaborating on the development of a project plan for heavy water reuse, including cost estimation and independent review support.
• Parties interested in the possibility of leasing land or developing facilities on the SRS site for heavy water repurposing or processing activities.

The DOE has previously made other surplus nuclear material stored at its sites available for private industry use. The agency announced in 2025 that about 19.7 metric tons of plutonium would be made available for advanced nuclear technologies, and it has also made high-assay low-enriched uranium available to a number of reactor- and fuel-developing companies since a HALEU Availability Program was established in 2020.