 A Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) employee collects a soil sample for analysis of potential contaminants associated with historical operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). N3B recently awarded $120 million in subcontracts for its work investigating and, as necessary, remediating potentially contaminated sites in canyon watersheds around LANL.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – As part of its goal to increase small business involvement in the legacy cleanup mission, EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) recently awarded subcontracts to three small environmental firms.
The businesses will help investigate and, if necessary, remediate potentially contaminated sites from historical Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) operations in several canyons around Los Alamos.
In addition to being well-seasoned in environmental remediation, the companies align with the federal government’s goal to encourage greater economic opportunity for socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs.
North Wind Services, headquartered in Idaho Falls, Idaho and purchased in 2010 by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), is part of a corporation that benefits Alaska Native people with ties to the Cook Inlet region and beyond. CIRI formed as a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. North Wind will assist N3B in its work in Twomile and North Ancho canyons, investigating 67 sites associated with historical operations.
Stampede Ventures, headquartered in the historically underutilized business zone of Nome, Alaska, is part of the federal HUBZone program that supports small business growth in rural areas. Stampede Ventures will focus on Starmer/Upper Pajarito Canyon, investigating 67 sites associated with historical operations.
Banda Group International (BGI), headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, is a service-disabled and veteran-owned small business that has worked with N3B since May 2020. BGI crews will work primarily in Threemile Canyon, investigating six sites associated with historical operations.
“The three companies selected for these subcontracts are extremely well-suited based on their expertise, as well as the federal government’s small business-related criteria,” said Leslie Martinez, N3B’s director of acquisitions. “They’ll be working side by side with other small, local contractors who have been supporting remediation activity at the LANL site for many years.”
Martinez added that N3B is continually enhancing its subcontractor base so qualified small businesses can participate in meaningful contract opportunities with the environmental cleanup mission at LANL.
“N3B’s unique contracting process created a cooperative environment and a level of comfort that was conducive to open-ended, honest conversation that drove us toward a common goal,” said Jacob Gum, general manager of Stampede Ventures.
BGI President and CEO Zef Banda added that BGI is “thrilled to receive this master services agreement to support N3B’s critical cleanup initiatives at Los Alamos.”
“We are well-positioned to deliver high-quality services to this mission-critical effort,” Banda said.
A total of $120 million was awarded to the subcontractors to assist N3B and EM-LA in their cleanup work.
N3B investigates legacy sites from LANL’s Manhattan Project and Cold War operations and addresses environmental impacts resulting from these operations.
-Contributors: Kate Keenan, Brian Leugs
 Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) recently won its sixth Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Innovation Award. Pictured during the August awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. from left are Rich Stone, WRPS parent company Amentum’s environment and energy vice president for safety, health and environment; Theresa Poston, WRPS Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) safety representative; Steve Killoy, WRPS environmental, safety, health and quality manager; Jason Green, WRPS HAMTC safety representative; Matthew Huntington, WRPS Tank Farm Projects engineer; Dan Lazorcak, Voluntary Protection Program Participants’ Association Board of Directors vice chair; Dustin May, WRPS Tank Farm Projects project manager; Lyndsey Stankovich, WRPS health physics technician and VPP Steering Committee member; and Gavin Lindsay, WRPS Industrial Safety Business Systems analyst and VPP Steering Committee member.
RICHLAND, Wash. – An innovative system used to make digging trenches safer and faster at the Hanford Site recently earned EM Office of River Protection’s tank farms contractor a top safety award.
Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) earned its sixth DOE Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Innovation Award for designing a conveyor belt system to lift soil from trenches, decreasing the potential for injuries while maximizing worker safety and increasing efficiency by more than 50%.
Working through cooperative efforts among labor, management and government at DOE contractor sites, the VPP promotes improved safety and health performance through public recognition of outstanding programs.
“EM is committed to worker safety,” said Ricky Bang, Office of River Protection Tank Farms Program Division director. “The development of this tool is critical to improving worker safety, involving the workforce, and increasing task efficiencies at the tank farms on the Hanford Site.”
 Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) won its eighth Voluntary Protection Program Star of Excellence Award in August. Pictured from left are Jason Green, WRPS Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) safety representative; Theresa Poston, WRPS HAMTC safety representative; Steve Killoy, WRPS environmental, safety, health and quality manager; Brad Davy, director of DOE’s Office of Worker Safety and Health Assistance; Rich Stone, WRPS parent company Amentum’s environment and energy vice president for safety, health and environment; and Gavin Lindsay, WRPS Industrial Safety Business Systems analyst and VPP Steering Committee member.
 A shoring system and innovative conveyor belt system used to move soil out of trenches helped protect workers manually digging the trenches to replace waste transfer lines on the Hanford Site earlier this year.
Workers deployed the conveyor belt system during a recent transfer line replacement project that required excavation around old equipment buried in a tank farm, which is a tank storage area. Workers had to dig trenches more than 7 feet deep by hand, so engineers developed a system to protect workers, an adaptable conveyor belt system to move more than 800 tons of soil.
“The Voluntary Protection Program awards reflect what we stand for at WRPS,” said Steve Killoy, WRPS environmental, safety, health and quality manager. “This solution increased worker safety and task efficiency, and reduced schedule time and project costs. By working together at all levels of the organization and with our subcontractors, we improved safety and efficiency while advancing our important mission.”
In past years WRPS won Innovation Awards for technologies that reduced heat stress, improved electrical work protection and reduced worker exposure during radiological surveys.
In addition to the Innovation Award, WRPS received its eighth VPP Star of Excellence award, presented to VPP Star sites that maintain an illness and injury rate at least 75% below the industry average.
-Contributor: Denise Mellene
 Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) Site Project Director Greg Wilkett, far left, and Site Project Deputy Director James Miller, far right, thank FBP maintenance mechanics Jim Lewis, second from left, and Dave Setty, center, and Maintenance Supervisor Matt Sevens, second from right, for their role in saving the life of a co-worker at the Portsmouth Site. The three team members received the Silver Medallion Medal of Safety Award, one of Fluor’s highest awards.
PIKE COUNTY, Ohio - The health and safety of Portsmouth Site employees is the first priority. When something doesn’t seem right, team members know to act.
That was the case when employees with Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP), EM's Portsmouth Site decontamination and decommissioning contractor, found one of their own unwell earlier this month. “These individuals did exactly what we focus on every day,” FBP Site Project Director Greg Wilkett said. “They saw something was not right and immediately took action, putting the health and safety of their co-worker as a priority and ultimately saving his life.”
FBP maintenance mechanics Dave Setty and Jim Lewis and Maintenance Supervisor Matt Sevens had approached their co-worker with concern. He initially refused help. But with persistence, the trio was able to get the teammate medical attention.
“We are together every day,” Setty said. “When we saw him, we immediately knew something was wrong, and he needed help.”
Setty, Lewis and Sevens were honored for their actions with parent company Fluor’s Silver Medallion Medal of Safety Award, established in 1992 to recognize employees who embody the company’s most vital commitment to protecting one another.
Their co-worker received the medical attention he needed and is recovering at home.
“This is a great example of what our culture is like here at the Portsmouth Site,” Wilkett said. “We look out for each other and always put safety first.”
-Contributors: Michelle Teeters, Jack Williams
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