The Chatham County Environmental Forum is a panel made up of Chatham County, Georgia, area industries, businesses, environmental organizations, and government. The forum's purpose is to interact and discuss important issues that affect environmental conditions in Chatham County.

The Savannah River Site, which housed the K Reactor and others, was established in South Carolina on the Savannah River in 1950. The K Reactor went "critical" in 1954 and the first irradiated fuel was discharged. In 1971, this reactor became the first production reactor automatically controlled by computer and was shut down in 1988. One year later, the site was officially included on the National Priority List and became regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. At that time, the Westinghouse Savannah River Company assumed management and operation of the site and its facilities. In 1990, construction of a cooling tower for the K Reactor began. The Cold War ended in 1991 and production of nuclear materials for weapons use at the Savannah River Site ended. The K Reactor operated briefly for the last time in 1992 and was connected to a cooling tower. That same year, the Secretary of Energy announced a phase out of all uranium processing in the nation. During 1993, the K Reactor was placed in cold-standby condition as the Nation's (non-radioactive) tritium source and by 1996 it was placed in shutdown condition. By 2000, the K Reactor building was converted to the "K Area Materials Storage Facility."