SRS creates billions for ECA local communities, new report finds
SRSCRO | 12/16/2021
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A recent economic impact report finds the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) creates $2.2 billion in economic benefits and many high-wage jobs.
The SRS impact goes beyond the number of jobs and dollars spent in the local economy. SRS has a ripple effect in the local economy as each dollar spent circulates and each employee spends a portion of their earnings locally.
SRS has been a key economic driver in the surrounding region since its establishment in the early 1950s. Although employment has waned over time as its mission has evolved, SRS remains one of the largest employers in the five-county region, including Columbia and Richmond counties in Georgia, and Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties in South Carolina. As such, the influence of SRS extends across the entire region with dollars circulating back and forth across
Georgia and South Carolina.
SRS is an economic engine, creating a direct impact of more than $1.2 billion in economic output and over 8,600 full-time jobs over seven different organizations, according to a report released today by the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization (SRSCRO). The report examines the impact of SRS in fiscal year 2020 in the five-county region of the SRSCRO, and is the third such report sponsored by the SRSCRO.
“Savannah River Site has always been a very large economic engine for our area and our region," says President and CEO of SRSCRO, Rick McLeod. “We hope the most recent study reinforces and emphasizes how extremely important Savannah River Site is to the community.”
The report, prepared by the James M. Hull College of Business at Augusta University, details the scope and scale of SRS’s impact on the five-county region. The analysis estimates three types of impacts: direct, indirect, and induced. The total economic impact is the sum of these three effects of the SRS operations.
Key findings from the report include:
- OUTPUT – SRS organizations spent $1.2 billion in the regional economy in the form of wages, benefits, and other direct expenditures. This spending generated an additional $1 billion and resulted in a total of $2.2 billion in output. This is 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
- EMPLOYMENT – SRS contractors and federal agencies employed 8,639 residents of the five-county region in 2020. The SRS expenditures generated an additional 7,173 jobs in sectors such as restaurants, real estate, and retail. In all, SRS supports 15,813 jobs in the regional economy, which is 6.8 percent of the five-county region’s employment base. The resulting employment multiplier is 1.8.
- JOBS AND WAGES – Total employment at SRS has remained steady at approximately 11,000 over the past several years and, as in previous studies, approximately 1/3 live in Georgia. Nearly 8,700 of these employees reside in the five counties of focus for the study. The average wage for workers at SRS living in the five-county area was $97,918.
- SMALL BUSINESS - SRS organizations spent $177 million on small businesses, which is 30% of their total expenditures (excluding payroll and fringes).
- AGE PROFILE – The average age of the employees at SRS is 46.8 years old, slightly older than the USA average that is 42.5 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020), but significantly lower than in recent years.
- TAXES – SRS generated $289 million in federal, state, and local taxes (excluding approximately $6 million in Payment in Lieu of Taxes provided to Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties in South Carolina)
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT
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JANUARY 15, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Undersecretary for Science and Energy and Office of Policy (OP) request information on energy sector supply chains. This request for information (RFI) seeks input from all stakeholders involved directly and indirectly in the supply chains of energy, energy systems and technologies, and energy efficiency technologies from raw materials, processed materials, subcomponents, final products, to end-of-life material recovery and
recycling—including but not limited to U.S. industry, researchers, academia, local governments, and civil society. This stakeholder input will inform the Department's efforts in building an energy sector industrial base that is diverse, resilient, and competitive while meeting economic, national security, and climate objectives.
MARCH 4, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Request for Information (RFI) on how to site Federal facilities for the temporary, consolidated storage of spent nuclear fuel using a consent-based approach.
Responses to the RFI will inform development of a consent-based siting process, overall strategy for an integrated waste management system, and possibly a funding opportunity. DOE especially welcomes insight from people, communities, and groups that have historically not been well-represented in these discussions.
Responses must be received by March 4, 2022 by 5:00pm ET and may be submitted electronically to consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov, including “RFI: Consent-Based Siting and Federal Interim Storage” in the subject line of the email
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NCW 21 panel addresses challenges of hiring, retaining next generation workforce
EM Newsletter + ECA Staff | 12/16/2021
Focusing on the future workforce is vital to the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) mission, according to panelists at the 2021 National Cleanup Workshop, who discussed challenges and possible solutions in recruiting and retaining talent.
The future challenges are coming fast, speakers said, particularly at each DOE site. The Department will need more than just science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to remain competitive and fill critical positions, they said.
ECA Vice Chair Mayor Rebecca Casper of Idaho Falls, ID, gave insightful remarks on workforce development from the local government perspective.
"We are the places in which the amazing people that you hire end up working and playing," she said, speaking to contractors. "We are your partners. We need to work together if we're going to be good partners in helping you to retain the people that you bring."
As far as attracting new workforce to EM, Casper noted the increasing difficulty in hiring young people and attracting them to EM, citing the perception of a lack of career longevity in the program as a commonly given reason. However, she also noted that new generation tends to "jump around more from career to career," and offered a potential solution for attracting the younger workforce.
"The experience they can gain in an EM setting can benefit them in another setting, and we can sell that," she said. "We have an incredible array of experience to offer a new generation as they come."
The other panelists offered other solutions to help attract, hire and retain qualified staff needed for important projects and sites. These solutions included student loan forgiveness, increased money for incentives, and remote working.
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Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
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Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local governments.
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