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time required to walk the Site,” said Troy Lorier,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operations Manager and
Aviation Safety Officer, SRNL. “Plus, issues such as damaged
fencing, erosion or where hogs have rooted up the soil, can “The SRNL UAS Program recently received
be quickly identified and the exact location passed on to DOE’s UAS Aircraft Unit Award for FY20,
maintenance crews.” an aviation safety award recognizing our program
Lorier explained that a height of 10 to 12 feet above the as the best in the DOE complex in 2020.”
ground was typically maintained during the aerial inspections
while occasionally soaring up to 150 feet for a broader Troy Lorier
perspective. Because each engineered cover varied in size,
time in the field lasted as little as 30 minutes and as much as
four to five hours.
“Our Environmental Compliance Department five-year review
was recently completed where every closure project needed to According to SRNS Manager of Area Completion Projects,
be closely examined,” said Maddox. “We greatly appreciated Steve Shirley, the five-year environmental inspection of the
SRNL’s drone team, who helped us with this challenge. The entire length of the Lower Three Runs watershed is about a
regulators were pleased with the presentation and stated that year or two from starting. “We may be able to work with SRNL
this method gave them a better view than what they would on how to use drones to cover that 25-mile stretch without
have seen at ground level.”
having to depend on a large number of Site employees
The drone program at SRS began in 2009 during the American working in a difficult environment all the way down to the
Recovery and Reinvestment Act when the SRNS Area Cleanup Savannah River.”
Projects group purchased the Site’s first drones. Since that Drones are being used at SRS for a variety of missions
time, the program has grown in size, scope of work and the including emergency response surveillance, radiation
number of highly experienced personnel.
detection, aerial photography and videography, as well as
“The SRNL UAS Program recently received DOE’s UAS Aircraft counter-UAS testing and training. The number and types of
Unit Award for FY20, an aviation safety award recognizing our drones are expected to grow over time. The sky and creativity
program as the best in the DOE complex in 2020,” said Lorier. are the limit.