Navy, National Guard brief South Carolina officials on Savannah River’s national security role

June 9, 2023
By Exchange Monitor

Rep. Joe Wilson, the Republican from South Carolina whose district surrounds the Savannah River National Laboratory, recently received briefings from Navy, National Guard, and Department of Energy officials on how the state is promoting national security. 

Leaders from Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Site, and the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) briefed Wilson and other stakeholders on May 30 regarding their ongoing “efforts to collaborate in science and technology fields that may significantly enhance national security,” was quoted in a Defense Department Story by Steve Ghiringhelli on June 8.

Savannah River National Laboratory is the applied research and development laboratory at Savannah River Site, which is one of two NNSA sites tasked with producing at least 80 plutonium pits per year “as close to 2030 as possible” to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Savannah River will produce at least 50 pits per year at a new plutonium production facility. The other 30 will be made at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which is trying to find some way of beginning production by 2026. 

Wilson (R-S.C.) represents South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes both Savannah River campuses. He was joined by staff from most of South Carolina’s six other congressional districts and a representative for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is also seeking the Republican nomination for president. 

Maj. Gen. Van McCarty, the adjutant general and head of the South Carolina National Guard, attended the briefing as well. 

It was the first official meeting between NIWC Atlantic and DOE since both signed a memorandum of agreement in March.

The agreement aims to develop cooperative training, testing, and experimentation to enhance research and development efforts in fields like electromagnetic warfare, cybersecurity, spectrum operations, and autonomous systems, according to the DOD.

“As new partners, DOE [Savannah River and Savannah River National Lab] are opening up many channels of collaboration and brainstorming opportunities that can help support our mission to deliver the best and most relevant capabilities to our warfighters,” Nicole Nigro, NIWC Atlantic commanding officer, was quoted as saying. 

Erik Gardner, director of the Palmetto Tech Bridge at NIWC Atlantic, called it a “whole of nation” approach that should support both naval information warfare as well as the country’s overall and concerted efforts to achieve a competitive advantage over its pacing threats.