AIKEN, S.C. - An EM employee recently won DOE’s Facility Representative of the Year Award for 2017 for his superior service in safety oversight of the, a chemical separations facility at the Savannah River Site supporting uranium, plutonium, and spent reactor fuel missions.
Using his knowledge of H-Canyon and technical and criticality safety requirements, Tom Kohler safely resolved issues with degraded safety equipment and a potential criticality safety violation. He also provided leadership and support in the disposition of highly enriched material from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
Building on 25 years of experience in contractor training and qualification, Kohler has provided a variety of expertise, including coauthoring a major portion of a revision to a DOE order on personnel selection, training, qualification, and certification requirements for DOE nuclear facilities, and creating and implementing a continuing training plan for the Department’s facility representatives.
Kohler received the award during the 2018 Nuclear and Facility Safety Programs Workshop in Las Vegas. Fifteen facility representatives from across the DOE complex were nominated for the award, including several from EM.
DOE created the facility representative position in 1990. Facility representatives are highly trained professionals who provide day-to-day oversight of contractor operations at the Department’s most hazardous facilities. There are approximately 175 facility representatives across the complex providing safety oversight and serving as an on-scene federal presence, monitoring mission accomplishments and worker and public safety.
The Department has presented the Facility Representative of the Year Award annually since 1995 to recognize exceptional performance.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
