  U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, fourth from right, and EM Los Alamos Field Office leaders meet with Los Alamos County officials recently at the Los Alamos County Chambers. From left: Los Alamos County Public Utilities Department Manager Philo Shelton, acting EM Communications & Stakeholder Engagement Director Carrie Meyer, EM Los Alamos Field Office Deputy Manager Ellie Gilbertson, EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Jessica Kunkle, Robertson, Los Alamos County Council Chair Denise Derkacs, Deputy Los Alamos County Manager Linda Matteson and Los Alamos County Councilor Randall Ryti.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — In her first visit to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) cleanup site since being named head of the cleanup program in June, Senior Advisor Candice Robertson recently traveled to Los Alamos to meet with local community leaders and the EM workforce to get a firsthand look at sustained progress underway.
With an extensive career in public service, Robertson places importance on public engagement, and her visit to Northern New Mexico highlighted this core tenet of her leadership style.
During the jam-packed visit, Robertson met with a wide range of stakeholders, pueblo leaders and community leaders, including representatives from the Accord Pueblos, EM Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) transportation pueblos, and Los Alamos County Council. She also visited community leaders in Espanola and Santa Fe, New Mexico, members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and officials from the New Mexico Environment Department.
Robertson capped off her visit by participating in a public town hall-style event along with DOE Nuclear Security Under Secretary and National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby. More than 500 people participated in person and online. Attendees provided comments and asked questions during the event.
 From left, Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos President and General Manager Brad Smith, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson and EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Jessica Kunkle talk to the Los Alamos National Laboratory legacy cleanup workforce during a recent town hall-style event in New Mexico.
In her meetings, Robertson listened to the concerns and challenges faced by the various groups of stakeholders and ensured she and her team remain committed to increasing public engagement throughout New Mexico.
As a former commissioner for Nye County, Nevada, Robertson emphasized how her past experience has helped her to understand the importance of alignment and building consensus where possible. She acknowledged many times throughout her visit that while tough decisions often must be made, taking time to try to get as much buy-in as possible not only results in better informed decisions, but also smoother implementation of those decisions.
Robertson toured the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) legacy cleanup site and visited with EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) senior management and employees.
She observed the ongoing effort to address 158 buried corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) containing cemented transuranic waste — an EM priority for 2024. The tour stopped at LANL’s Technical Area-21, which was the lab’s Manhattan Project- and Cold War-era plutonium processing complex, including the former Radiological Liquid Waste Facility, the last legacy building there to undergo decontamination and decommissioning.
“You’re all doing amazing work,” Robertson told EM-LA and N3B staff during the tour.
 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, fourth from left, views work to prepare buried corrugated metal pipes containing cemented transuranic waste for retrieval at Technical Area 54, Area G, at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, center, visits Technical Area 21 (TA-21) for an overview on the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) legacy waste remaining from the complex of Manhattan Project and Cold War buildings that housed LANL’s plutonium processing facility. Pictured in the background is the former Radiological Liquid Waste Facility, which will be the last existing legacy building at TA-21 to undergo deactivation and demolition.
Additionally, Robertson, along with senior EM-LA and N3B leadership, took part in a meeting with the workforce. Robertson emphasized the importance of the LANL legacy cleanup mission to the entire EM program.
“What you all are doing here is some of our highest priority work across the complex, both in terms of the fact that the state of New Mexico has two key sites for EM — LANL and WIPP,” Robertson said. “And what you do here matters greatly to the state of New Mexico for continued support for WIPP, which enables cleanup progress across the entire complex.”
She added, “You all are doing some really innovative things that can help set the stage for continued cleanup success across the entire program.”
 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Senior Advisor Candice Robertson converses with EM Los Alamos Field Office Deputy Manager Ellie Gilbertson during a recent town hall-style event for the Los Alamos National Laboratory legacy cleanup workforce in New Mexico.
Speaking to almost 600 EM-LA and N3B staff and subcontractor employees, EM-LA Manager Jessica Kunkle outlined her priorities, including getting to know the site workforce, strong collaboration with the N3B team, ensuring continuity in leadership and serving as an advocate for the LANL legacy cleanup mission.
“At my core, I am a people person. Cultivating and nurturing personal connections and relationships is vitally important to me,” said Kunkle, who was raised in Los Alamos. “Bringing people together to work as part of a team to accomplish goals is something that I am passionate about. I’m looking forward to doing that here with the integrated EM-LA-N3B team.”
In his remarks, N3B President and General Manager Brad Smith stressed the importance of the cleanup work underway to all those who live in Northern New Mexico.
“Everybody eats the food from around here, breathes the air around here and drinks the water from here, which means we have a direct impact on everything that's happening in risk reduction. That's a righteous mission and each of you play a role in that,” Smith said.
 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) leaders participated in a U.S. House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus event last week focused on how best to manage, deploy and use digital tools in the EM program to accelerate cleanup and strengthen worker safety.
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, caucus chair, shared remarks on the topic of digital transformation at the July 23 event. At top left, he is pictured with EM Senior Advisor Candice Robertson, and at bottom left with EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery.
At bottom right, Robertson, far right, and Helena Fu, director of the DOE Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, look on as moderator Mark Whitney, vice chairman of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) and president of National Security, Amentum, speaks at the event.
Interest surrounding digital transformation is growing, and attendees continued the discussion on opportunities to use new and existing digital tools to enhance success at EM’s 15 cleanup sites. The caucus event, the second this year, was hosted by EFCOG, the Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association and Nuclear Energy Institute.
-Contributor: Carly Howard, Matt Roberts
AIKEN, S.C. — U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management team members at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently replaced equipment essential to operations in the H Canyon chemical separations facility following more than six months of research, troubleshooting and coordination.
The General Purpose Evaporator is used to help concentrate low-level radioactive waste from various sources in the canyon, including sump material, leaks, lab waste and rainwater.
“In November 2023, the General Purpose Evaporator lost vacuum, making it inoperable,” said Regina Marquez, the evaporator design authority engineer for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s management and operations contractor. “Finding the cause of vacuum loss proved to be a six-month troubleshooting effort involving testing several pieces of equipment, tanks and hundreds of feet of piping.”
The evaporator is original to H Canyon, which was built in the early 1950s. Due to the size and number of potential points of failure in the approximately 75-year-old, massive evaporator system, a calculated method for troubleshooting was necessary.
H Canyon worked with employees of Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC), the site’s liquid waste contractor, to ensure the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) could take the unprocessed evaporator material and evaporate it for H Canyon temporarily. ETF treats low-level radioactive wastewater and generally receives waste from the evaporator that, during its normal operations, has already been through an evaporation process. Since the ETF also has evaporators, the facility’s personnel changed some processing parameters to evaporate the waste in the evaporator’s stead.
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A view of the original condenser being removed at the H Canyon chemical separations facility at Savannah River Site. |
The evaporator’s vacuum issue was determined to be a tube failure in the condenser, requiring a condenser replacement.
“We discovered we already had a spare condenser that was an exact match to the model we were replacing in a no-longer used facility, the F Canyon chemical separations facility, onsite,” Marquez said.
Replacing the 10,000-pound condenser, which sits in a contaminated area, was not a small task. Workers detached overhead piping, cooling water lines and asbestos-containing gaskets to remove the old condenser, which was then lifted from the evaporator system by the largest crane onsite and prepared for disposal. They also used that crane to set in place the new condenser.
 The new condenser is shown ready for installation at the H Canyon chemical separations facility at the Savannah River Site.
“This equipment replacement is a testament to how SRNS employees come together as a team to accomplish even the most difficult tasks,” said SRNS President and CEO Dennis Carr. “Congratulations to the team for a job well done, and, most importantly, a job accomplished safely.”
H Canyon is the only operating, production-scale, radiologically shielded chemical separations facility in the United States. H Canyon dissolves spent nuclear fuel and disposes of it through the site’s liquid waste program.
-Contributor: Lindsey MonBarren
 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Coinciding with National Intern Day on July 25, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) interns met with U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee at his office, where he dedicated nearly an hour to speak to the interns and answer questions. They expressed excitement over the opportunity to learn more about the member of Congress and the EM cleanup mission. Pictured from left, front row: intern LaTreil Wimberly, EM Management and Program Analyst Samina Mondal, intern Nia Timmons, Fleischmann, and interns Kayla Alston, Angel Colburn and Jalen Greene; pictured from left, back row: EM Program Support Specialist Adam Williamson and interns Maxwell Oliver, Keimahrey Bates, Ryan Vanecek and David Lu.
RICHLAND, Wash. — Hanford Site workers just finished draining the last large basin that used to hold uranium fuel rods from nuclear reactors. Crews pumped out nearly 1 million gallons of contaminated water from the K West Reactor basin.
Three contractors to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management worked together to drain the water and drive it 8,000 gallons at a time in tankers to a nearby treatment facility.
This week crews are back at the 20-foot-deep basin filling it with grout. The grout encapsulates contaminated debris and stabilizes the basin for future demolition.
 Isotek employees use manipulators to handle nuclear material and perform tasks to process and downblend uranium-233 inside protective hot cell structures.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management contractor Isotek recently took a different approach to machinery installation and repairs, saving time and money on the highest priority cleanup project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Isotek is responsible for eliminating the inventory of uranium (U)-233 stored in the world’s oldest operating nuclear facility, located at ORNL. That material presents risks and is costly to keep safe and secure. Originally created in the 1950s and 1960s for potential use in reactors, U-233 proved to be an unviable fuel source.
Half of the U-233 inventory was disposed of between 2011 and 2017. The remaining material requires processing to convert it into a form safe for shipment and disposal.
That processing requires highly skilled and trained employees who operate manipulators. The machines are essentially the “hands” that handle nuclear material, performing tasks inside protective hot cell structures.
While manipulators can perform intricate tasks and lift as much as 100 pounds, they are delicate machines with lots of small parts and cables that require absolute precision timing to work properly.
Small issues with manipulators can result in major impacts to the project.
During the first eight months using the manipulators, beginning in 2022, Isotek experienced excessive downtime due to malfunction issues. Each time, manipulator repairs caused processing delays as the project waited for subcontracted technicians to arrive.
And once the subcontracted support arrived, repairs were difficult to perform due to employees’ lack of experience on the state-of-the-art manipulators.
 Isotek brought in a technical expert for two weeks to train millwrights on how to maintain and repair manipulators essential to the Uranium-233 Disposition Project.
Isotek primarily uses a brand of manipulators fabricated in Germany. With no local subject matter experts, Isotek brought in a technical expert from Germany to help train the contractor’s in-house millwrights.
Over the course of two weeks, the expert trained them on the proper way to repair, assemble and install the manipulators. Isotek recorded the training for use in instructing future millwrights.
“I am amazed at how quickly our millwrights and other maintenance staff learned this new skillset and have employed it to help the project meet schedule,” said Sarah Schaefer, Isotek president and project manager. “They are masters of their craft.”
Having the training and expertise in-house allows for much faster repairs and avoids delays caused by limited availability of other repair technicians. That helps the project remain on schedule with processing operations.
 Among the topics covered in the two-week training on maintaining and repairing manipulators were the proper methods to install the machines into the hot cell structures. Repairs often require the machinery to be removed.
Isotek has already exceeded its 2024 performance goals for processing U-233, six months ahead of schedule.
The contractor has more than 10 manipulators in use on the U-233 Disposition Project. In addition to the training, Isotek repurposed space for the millwrights to conduct maintenance and repairs.
Since making those adjustments, the hot cells have not been shut down for unplanned manipulator repairs. Repairs only take half a day.
“The establishment of the manipulator repair space and training has allowed Isotek operations to meet schedule and focus on the day-to-day challenges of processing U-233,” said Schaefer. “The manipulator is no longer the concern.”
-Contributor: John Gray
 Pictured at left, Greg Sosson, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations, tours the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project. Here, Kevin Slomba, waste operations and compliance manager for EM cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, shows Sosson how workers use robotic manipulators in the facility to safely perform work remotely.
WEST VALLEY, N.Y. — Greg Sosson, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM), recently visited the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) to observe nuclear cleanup efforts and meet with federal and contractor employees.
EM crews at WVDP are working to demolish the Main Plant Process Building, one of the last major facilities at the site. Its successful deconstruction will further reduce environmental risks and position the site for the next phase in cleanup. The demolition is expected to be completed in fiscal year 2025, which begins this October.
“We were pleased to have hosted Greg at our EM site,” WVDP Director Bryan Bower said. “It’s important to see the work up close that’s being accomplished at the site, and how this work fits into DOE’s overall mission and cleanup strategy.”
During his visit, Sosson and the WVDP team members discussed cleanup topics such as project-phased facility decommissioning prior to viewing cleanup projects. Tour stops included the Main Plant deconstruction area, Remote-Handled Waste Facility, waste storage areas, the Sewage Treatment Plant, and disposal areas licensed by New York state and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“My observation of the Main Plant Process Building demolition confirms West Valley’s continued vigilance in maintaining a safe operation,” Sosson said.
Jennifer Dundas, assistant director of WVDP’s Office of Technical Services, thanked Sosson for visiting the site and observing the dedicated team that continues to perform work in a manner protecting workers, the public and the environment.
“Without our incredible workforce, there would be no cleanup or risk reduction for our communities and the environment,” Dundas said.
-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere
 A wildland fire danger sign outside the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Idaho National Laboratory Site notifies employees of “very high” fire danger. Increased fire risk requires that employees follow certain fieldwork restrictions.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) is helping prevent wildland fires at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site.
Collaborating with the laboratory’s onsite fire officials, IEC personnel are taking preventative actions during fire season to ensure the protection of personnel, the environment and facilities in the event of an actual wildland fire at the INL Site. IEC supports wildland fire vegetation assessments, reducing fuel loads, ensuring portions of land that serve as barriers to potential fire are maintained, educating employees and reinforcing procedures.
At its facilities, IEC coordinates fire prevention efforts with the INL Fire Department, which oversees fire and emergency operations there. This coordination begins with enforcing the mitigation procedures for IEC’s preparedness and prevention activities and supplementing those created by the fire department.
In early summer, an annual wildland fire vegetation assessment is performed with the fire department. During the evaluation, fire department representatives inspect the inside perimeter of IEC facilities to ensure the removal of combustibles, like vegetation or tumbleweeds.
The assessments play a part in establishing strips of land without vegetation that form a barrier between facilities and potential wildland fires. Between 30 and 50 feet wide, these areas are created around each facility located on the INL Site and along the roads and highways.
Robert Nii, IEC fire marshal, recognizes that this coordination has led to successful fire prevention efforts at the INL Site.
“Major fire events at the INL Site are not frequent, but it’s clear that these activities are immensely successful,” said Nii. “Vegetation assessments at our facilities and properly managed defensible areas have protected buildings, facilities, our employees, and created a safe environment for firefighters to effectively do their job.”
IEC’s fire mitigation procedures also involve the company’s most important asset — the workforce. As fire risk increases throughout the season, cleanup employees at the INL Site are required to follow certain restrictions. This includes carrying a shovel and fire extinguisher while performing field work, limiting vehicle use to designated roads and trails, and receiving written approval from the IEC fire marshal to conduct “hot” work, like welding and cutting.
While the most significant fire risk on the INL Site is lightning strikes, Nii recognizes the important role people play in preventing wildland fires.
“Our fire prevention activities would not be as successful without the commitment, cooperation and heightened awareness of our workforce,” said Nii.
The INL Site sits on 890 square miles of an expansive sagebrush steppe landscape in eastern Idaho. The dry desert climate of the region creates an increased risk of fires, especially during the wildland fire season, which is generally considered to begin in May and last through October. During that period, precipitation levels fall and vegetation dries out.
The most recent major wildland fire at the INL Site was the 2019 Sheep Fire, which burned 112,107 acres. The INL Fire Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and additional support agencies successfully contained the fire within a week of ignition, and fire mitigation practices prevented serious damage to INL Site facilities. Wildland fire events like the Sheep Fire allow EM, its contractors at the INL Site, and the INL Fire Department to evaluate continually improving mitigation and response procedures to ensure people, property, and the environment are protected.
-Contributor: Carter Harrison
RICHLAND, Wash. — Workers are upgrading and strengthening the framework of the Hanford Site’s local area network to continue supporting the cleanup mission for years to come.
The Information Management Services team with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) finished upgrading the system this spring.
Workers upgraded network components and added more support to industrial control systems. At Hanford, the systems control and monitor things like water and power infrastructure and emergency services systems.
“The upgrades are important to support the 24/7 tank waste mission at Hanford,” said Mike Eddy, EM Hanford’s deputy chief information officer. “These intelligent and innovative control systems rely on a strong network. We’re always looking for ways our systems can improve reliability, reduce costs and simplify operations.”
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Field Support Services team members Mathew Lighthall, left, and Quinn Bragg work on computer network components to increase bandwidth as more industrial control systems come online to support treating waste from large underground tanks. |
Hanford Mission Integration Solutions field technicians Bryan Hurt, foreground, and Jesse Van Zoelen ensure all network lines are reconnected after upgrades to Hanford’s computer network. |
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Workers also use the control systems to demonstrate facilities and systems that support the site’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program are ready to operate. The program is a collection of projects and infrastructure improvements that will operate together to vitrify, or immobilize in glass, and dispose of millions of gallons of radioactive and chemical waste from Hanford’s large underground tanks.
“The upgrades give us the capability to continue increasing our network bandwidth,” said Jim Smith, HMIS’ director of Information Technology Infrastructure and Operations. “This is important as the site brings more industrial control systems online to support 24/7 operations to treat waste.”
 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions protégés met to share knowledge and experiences during the 2023 Mentor-Protégé Center of Excellence Day.
AIKEN, S.C. — A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently added seven new small businesses to DOE’s Mentor-Protégé Program.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) protégés met to share knowledge and experiences during the 2023 Mentor-Protégé Center of Excellence Day.
Since 2016, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) has supported the DOE Mentor-Protégé Program, an initiative that assists small businesses in improving capabilities as subcontractors across the DOE complex. SRNS operates a Mentor-Protégé Center of Excellence, where companies exchange best practices and valuable insights.
Lori Gee, SRNS small business specialist, said SRNS aligns the skills of small businesses with business needs, focusing on areas typically dominated by larger corporations.
“This collaboration not only reinforces our commitment to innovation, development and growth, but also emphasizes the vital role of small businesses in advancing DOE missions,” Gee said.
Over the past five years, SRNS has awarded more than $123 million in subcontracts to protégés, with $41 million awarded in fiscal year 2023 alone. Of the 48 protégés in the DOE program, SRNS manages 12 through its Mentor-Protégé Center of Excellence. That equates to 25% of the total — the highest number among the more than 30 facility management contractors in the Department.
Lisa Tanner, SRNS small business liaison officer, praised the program team for its dedication to small businesses.
“By sharing expertise, knowledge and resources, this program nurtures small business growth and development,” said Tanner. “To meet emergent needs of the site, this program provides support in key areas, such as technology development, staff augmentation, project management and construction.”
To date, two protégé companies at SRS have successfully completed the program and three are scheduled to graduate this year. US&S Facility Services, one of the graduating protégés, specializes in janitorial services and building maintenance.
“This experience as a protégé has provided us with invaluable mentorship, resources and industry insights, significantly enhancing our capabilities and competitiveness as a growing diverse business,” said Euleta Alston, US&S president and owner. “The collaboration with SRNS has not only accelerated our growth but strengthened our contributions to DOE missions. We are very grateful for this program.”
Typically, companies participate in the program for two years with the option for three one-year extensions.
“Our Supplier Excellence team utilizes the Mentor-Protégé Program to build a pipeline of qualified suppliers in critical supplier segments,” said Dave Dietz, SRNS senior procurement director. “The program serves as an incubator for small business growth while meeting the needs for critical products and services at SRS. We are thrilled to have another great combination of firms signed this year.”
Protégés that receive mentor-protégé agreements at SRS can secure subcontracts to work at other EM facilities. SRS shares mentoring insights with other DOE sites to simplify the procurement process and save federal procurement dollars through efficient purchasing methods.
-Contributor: Mackenzie McNabb
RICHLAND, Wash. — Crews at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant are using containers of test glass to hone their skills on operating equipment used to seal lids on containers that will be filled with immobilized waste. The equipment is one of several remotely controlled systems in the finishing line of the plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility. There, a robotic arm checks the containers for contamination, decontaminating if necessary prior to disposal.
 Joshua Vajda, right, receives the 2024 American Nuclear Society Special Award from H.M. Hashemian, chair of the society’s Honors and Awards Committee.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Joshua Vajda, an employee of Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) contractor UCOR, recently earned a top honor from the American Nuclear Society for contributions that benefit U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) sites nationwide.
The American Nuclear Society Special Award recognizes an individual for contributions in research or developing understanding in an important area. This year the organization focused on accomplishments advancing peaceful applications of nuclear technology and addressing future challenges.
The society is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the “Atoms for Peace” speech given by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Vajda was recognized for furthering regulatory aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle and for his leadership in nuclear deactivation and decommissioning efforts. Those efforts support national nonproliferation, nuclear waste cleanup and environmental sustainability.
 From left, Caridad Estrada Cardona, John Woods, Joshua Vajda and Shawn Cameron are pictured before performing work inside the Oak Ridge Research Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Vajda provided valuable hands-on experience to the summer interns.
Vajda supported EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) as the technical lead and regulatory expert. Vajda’s most significant contribution led to the latest publication of the WIPP waste acceptance criteria, which allowed shipments of downblended surplus plutonium from the Savannah River Site (SRS) to commence in January 2023.
Through his years-long involvement with various groups and national laboratories, Vajda developed technical information specific to transportation, safety analysis and criticality. He incorporated this complex data into waste acceptance criteria requirements in a way that allowed SRS to implement those requirements at the working level.
From 2015 until 2023, Vajda was active in public involvement strategies in New Mexico, communicating the waste acceptance criteria project status at WIPP to local stakeholders.
He also served as a consulting engineer at General Fusion in Canada, where he helped develop engineering design for the potential construction of a fusion prototype power plant.
“Joshua delivers outstanding technical results for UCOR, and I’m very pleased to see that his peers have recognized his talents with this award,” said Eric Abelquist, UCOR’s chief technology officer.
In Oak Ridge, Vajda is responsible for deactivation and demolition engineering activities supporting OREM’s cleanup at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including the recently demolished Low Intensity Test Reactor and ongoing work at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor.
-Contributor: Ella Stewart
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