savannah river site tours

My buddy and I drove 2 1/2 hours to visit the Savannah River Site, happy to have been able to book on one of the bi-monthly public tours. This site manufactured nuclear fuel for bombs made during the Cold War. In its prime, it had over 40,000 workers; now down to 12,000. We were told many times that no bombs were ever manufactured at this facility, only the material in the bombs.You begin the tour at the Center For Hydrogen Research to present ID and to receive a badge. Next follows a brief orientation, then onto the bus (having first returned to your car to deposit your cell phones). There is one bathroom stop during the 2 hour tour (includes an employee owned gift shop); food and beverages on the bus is encouraged. The remainder of the tour time is spent driving around the huge (200,000 acres) complex looking at grey, concrete buildings and smoke stacks, while the narrator explains what you are seeing from the outside of the building. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and did a fairly good job of explaining the functions performed within the various buildings. We really had no expectation of being allowed to enter any of the facilities; way too dangerous. The tour guide mentioned that one of the reactors has been leaking for over a year and she walked to work right by the site and receive no harmful effects. Nice!Once the tour of the nuclear portion of the facility is completed, you are delivered to an animal research center where you spend about 1 hour looking at reptiles. I don't know why?I got the distinct impression that most of the visitors were locals coming to see how much danger they are in. The facility is currently converting old bomb material into core rods for the production of electricity in other locations, as well as site remediation and clean-up of the various nuclear material holding tanks. There is contamination of the environment and of animal habitats, but that was downplayed.The public tour was free; and while the shear number of buildings and other structures was amazing, I don't feel as if I came away with a lot of new knowledge. Not all of the information presented was clear as to need, functionality or purpose. But then again, it was only a 2 hour tour and none of us were nuclear scientists.I would not do it again and was very happy I did the tour with a buddy, not my wife. I don't feel as if it was worth the 5 hours in a car and I live far enough away from the site so as not to be concerned for personal safety. The program starts with badging at 12:30 and ends about 4:30 with bus drop-off. Go at your own risk.