RICHLAND, Wash. - EM has named Nolan Jensen the EM Federal Project Director of the Year for demonstrating exceptional leadership in an Idaho Site construction project that saved taxpayers $6.4 million.
The cleanup program also honored a Savannah River Site team for EM Project of the Year after completing construction of the at a cost of about $118 million, more than $25 million under budget and 18 months ahead of schedule.
“I am very proud of our EM acquisition and project management team members at the Idaho and Savannah River sites," said Ralph Holland, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Project Management. “They’ve worked effectively and diligently to successfully deliver these projects below cost and ahead of schedule. Congratulations to Nolan Jensen as the Federal Project Director of the Year and the Savannah River Site team for being recognized for Project of the Year, and all others who contributed to these projects’ successes."
EM officials announced the awards at its recent 2017 Contract, Project and Program Management Workshop, where federal and contractor employees across the complex advanced cleanup initiatives, conducted panel discussions, and listened to officials from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Supply Chain Management Center address how they support the cleanup.
Recognized for his project management acumen, Jensen, a DOE Idaho Operations Office supervisor for soil and groundwater remediation, oversaw the $27 million Accelerated Retrieval Project (ARP) IX project at the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) in fiscal year 2017.
Workers built this ninth and final ARP retrieval enclosure within a 97-acre landfill of radioactive buried waste and other facilities. Completion of the enclosure was critical to the ICP’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) buried waste retrieval, which is projected to be completed ahead of schedule. Jensen is responsible for all CERCLA cleanup efforts, including interactions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state of ldaho.
"Nolan's professionalism and tireless involvement in facilitating the construction of the ARP IX facility to a successful completion is an outstanding achievement. Not only was the project completed on time, but it was completed under a direct-to-DOE small business contract at a cost savings of $6.4 million, a 24-percent cost savings," said Jack Zimmerman, the Idaho Operations Office deputy manager.
EM noted Jensen’s professionalism and tireless involvement in coordinating with two contractors - Fluor Idaho and North Wind Services - to successfully complete the project, describing it as an outstanding achievement.
The SDU6 project team successfully designed and constructed the SDU 6 to support the SRS liquid waste program. Completed earlier this year, SDU 6 is the site’s first mega-volume saltstone disposal unit for grouted low-level radioactive waste.
"The SDUs are an important part of our cleanup mission," DOE-Savannah River Manager Jack Craig said. "As the first of the mega-volume design, the success of SDU 6 has set the stage for construction of the remaining SDUs. The team did a remarkable job of managing the project, completing it under budget and months ahead of schedule. Congratulations to the team for a job well done."
With an estimated 32.8-million-gallon capacity, SDU 6 is more than 10 times the size of the previous saltstone disposal units built at SRS. Workers used more than 13,000 cubic yards of concrete to build SDU 6, which is 375 feet in diameter and 43 feet tall.
The SDUs can accommodate the Salt Waste Processing Facility’s (SWPF) large stream of decontaminated salt solution. SWPF is scheduled to begin operating in December 2018.
The site projects SDU 6 will generate a lifecycle savings of over $500 million.
EM commended the team for its outstanding performance helping EM work toward its goal of processing about 35 million gallons of waste from the site's remaining 43 waste tanks.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
