AIKEN - If all goes as planned, Savannah River Site history buffs will one day have a museum similar to the one they gathered in Thursday.
Members of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, who have pushed for an SRS visitor center and museum since 2003, met at the Aiken County Historical Museum to announce the creation of SRS Heritage Foundation Inc.
The new group attained its nonprofit status in May and is preparing a fundraiser crucial to making the center a reality, board members said.
The foundation wants to tell the public about scientific and ecological advances made during the site's 55-year history, in addition to the social impact it's had on surrounding communities.
"We think these are the stories that need to be told to future generations," said Walt Joseph, a former SRS employee who was among early advocates of a visitor center and museum.
The foundation is negotiating with the U.S. Department of Energy to lease an administrative building at the site that would house artifacts that are still being collected, such as model reactors and actual control rooms.
The two sides haven't always worked from the same playbook. The campaign for a museum coincides with the DOE's demolition of Cold War buildings that are outdated and unused, some of which are believed to contain items of historical significance.
"We weren't really ready for what we needed to do to get ready for historic preservation," said Jeff Allison, DOE's SRS manager.
The two sides also are negotiating over what would be the foundation's crown jewel: access to the site's C reactor, which was SRS's last and largest reactor that operated from 1955 to 1985.
Foundation members want to provide tours of the reactor, which raises security concerns because of its location behind SRS security gates. DOE's Hanford site in Washington provides tours of a closed reactor, giving members hope that it can be done at SRS.
Seeing a reactor up close can be a "mind shattering" experience, said Winfred Ray, who worked at SRS for about 32 years.
"It's kind of like the Grand Canyon," he said.
"You can tell people about the Grand Canyon, but you've really got to see it."
Members of the foundation also want to recognize the six towns that were forced to relocate when the federal government gobbled up 300 square miles for the nuclear reservation.
There are still sidewalks, for example, that serviced the town of Ellenton, which was moved to South Carolina Highway 19 outside SRS gates and is now known as New Ellenton.
There are preliminary plans to set up an exhibit at the former location to tell about the town's population, which totaled 739 when they were relocated.
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
Nuclear history
Historians want to preserve Savannah Rive Site history, including its impact on towns that were forced to relocate after 1950 to make way for the original Savannah River Plant. It was commonly called the "bomb plant" at its beginning.
Bonner Smith, a one-time resident of the former town of Ellenton, was 20 years old when he posted a sign with this message on it about 1950:
"It is hard to understand why our town must be destroyed to make a bomb that will destroy someone else's town that they love as much as we love ours. But we feel that they picked not just the best spot in the U.S. but in the whole world."
Source: Aiken County Historical Museum
