Runway to Success: Shaping a Savannah River Mission Completion Intern’s Future
- Jul 13
- 2 min read
AIKEN, S.C. (July 13, 2026) — According to Blake Carter, the hardest part about flying a plane is the anxiety—when everything is rattling around you and the immense pressure that is experienced. Away from the tarmac, Carter is tackling a different high-stakes environment.
This summer, Carter is interning with Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), the liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS), in Design Services. He is a rising senior studying aerospace engineering and double minoring in physics and business management at Clemson University.
Carter hopes to one day work in the aerospace industry and sees his time at SRMC as a runway, giving him real-world engineering experience that will help his career take off.
Instrumentation and Controls Principal Engineer Jerry Traynham mentors Carter, involving him in projects and tasks throughout the summer to show what full-time work in Design Services with SRMC looks like.
“Blake has an excellent attitude toward any task he’s given,” said Traynham. “As his mentor this summer, my goal is to help him build key qualities we value at SRMC: Ethics, to be honest and never sacrifice quantity; quality, to work with the highest professionalism and stand behind the information used in any design or document; teamwork, to seek advice of others; and safety, to be aware of your surroundings, wear the proper protective equipment, and look out for others.”
Carter spends his day reading procedures, collaborating with his co-workers to design pieces to improve the liquid waste system, and gaining insight into what a career at SRMC looks like.
“This internship has taught me a lot about how to learn,” Carter said. “My manager is teaching me how to be a better engineer — to question how everything works, improve it, and better the lives of the workers here and the community.”
Carter’s dedication and will to learn also shows in his passion for flying. Encouraged by his grandfather, a former Marine pilot, Carter earned his recreational pilot’s license when he was 20 after two years of training. The practice, time, and commitment gained from flying is the same dedication he brings onsite.
“I get to be a part of the SRMC mission,” Carter said. “It is awesome that I am taking hypotheticals from the classroom and actually doing something with it to further the mission here.”
SRMC comprises parent company BWX Technologies, Inc. with partners Amentum and Fluor. Its team brings the capabilities necessary to accelerate cleanup at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site through safe nuclear operations, optimized and integrated mission execution, and strong corporate governance.
Media Contact
Colleen Hart
(803) 208-2428