One of the region’s largest employers is setting out the welcome mat for anyone interested in peeking behind the curtain.
The Savannah River Site (SRS) Tours and Protocol Office released the dates for its public tours for 2027. There are 21 driving tours to explore facilities and operations.
We want to give the public an opportunity to come out and get better acquainted with us,” Bob Bonnett, Tour Program Coordinator, told ABD. “There seems to be a stigma behind the barricades, what goes on out here, and there are so many rumors, so much speculation. We give people an opportunity to see the areas that we work in and talk about what we do here, and that’s our main objective.”
As of 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reported that more than 13,500 people worked on the site, including government operations and private contractors.
SRS currently has a number of missions, including repurposing the failed Mixed Oxide (MOX) facility to become the Savannah River Pit Production Facility (SRPPF).
Bonnett likened it to the beginning of the site when thousands were attracted to this area to build the facility.
“Especially with this Pit program, we need to get it up and going as quickly as we can,” he said. “I liken it to the fact that when the Savannah River site, Savannah River plant was being built, it needed to be built very quickly. We built this very first plant out here in less than five years, and we liken that new mission now pretty much to how we began back in the 1950s.”
He added that, in addition to learning about the site, individuals have taken the tour to see the employment opportunities firsthand.
“There are a lot of folks that come on a tour to see what it’s all about, and I talk about availability of jobs and the websites where you can go to look at careers, etc. So, I try to bring it all full circle and be a recruiter as well,” he explained.
Bonnett’s office also offered three historic tours, separate from the site-wide tours. Those show how two small towns, Dunbarton and Ellenton, were absorbed by the plant’s construction. He said those focus on the Cold War era, prior to the plant’s construction.
“In the spring we visit the former town site of Dunbarton, we have a historic billboard there, and we talk about the layout of the town and what was there, and tell neat little stories,” he said. “Then go around one of our old reactors and talk about what the reactors used to do out here, then we go to our curation facility, which is where we have all of our items that we’ve curated through the Cold War era here at SRS.”
There are two tours of Ellenton, near the Savannah River, off Highway 125. One is in the spring. The second is a walking tour. Residents of Ellenton packed their belongings, moved, and created a new community called New Ellenton.
“It is about an hour-long trip where we literally walk the old streets of Ellenton and talk about some of the former residents that lived there, some of the bigger homes that were there, we talk about the churches, and you can see the steps of the old school that’s still there. It really is a step back in time over 70 years ago,” he said.
Each tour can accommodate 32 people. Tours are free and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Bonnett recommends signing up as soon as possible, as the tours fill up quickly. This year, just over 700 people participated in the tours.
More information, including registration, can be found at https://public.srs.gov/visitors-and-tours-2/
