Right now SRS is operating under what’s called a continuing resolution. That means funding for the site has been temporarily reduced until a formal budget is approved by congress.

Officials say that means shipments of spent nuclear fuel to a storage facility at the site might have to stop.

Jim Giusti is a spokesman for the Department of Energy which owns SRS:

"If we don’t get funding by a certain point in the fiscal year we might have to curtail some activities. We’re not at that point yet."

The facility receives spent fuel from research reactors around the world through the Atoms For Peace Program, which is aimed at peaceful use of nuclear technology.

A program that would prepare the fuel to be processed for use in commercial nuclear reactors has been put on hold until the budget comes through.

Meanwhile SRS officials are bracing to have their budget cut 5 percent by 2012.

Plans to lay off 1400 workers by next year are not related to the cuts.

Tags: Augusta, South Carolina, U.S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Site, SRS, spent nuclear fuel, nuclear fuel storage, Jim Giusti