Y-12 Blog
Y-12 Apprenticeship Program 2020 graduates present their diplomas. From left: Jacob Scarborough, electrician; Christopher Drinnon, pipefitter; Brandon Muir, pipefitter; and Dustin Wilson, electrician.
After 13 years as a Y-12 laborer, Christopher Drinnon acted on his father’s advice: “You should get in a trade.” Now a recent pipefitter apprentice graduate, Drinnon graduated on October 6 from the Y-12 Apprenticeship Program alongside three skilled journeymen, one pipefitter and two electricians.
Since 2008, Y-12 has celebrated 97 graduates and eight graduation ceremonies in the program. Before graduation, each apprentice is trained to union specifications for journeymen level classification upon completion of the program. In addition to qualifications, apprentices learn from experiential training opportunities and work three month rotations in different workshops throughout Y-12. Through these experiences, apprentices gain valuable knowledge in their field and on site.
“The Apprenticeship Program has positioned Y-12 for long term mission support, at a time when skilled craft workers are in high demand,” said Will Farmer of Y-12 Infrastructure. “Our program is a great way to transfer knowledge from highly skilled workers to the new workforce and is our guarantee that we will be able to meet our future production goals,” he continued.
A combined partnership between CNS and the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, the Apprenticeship Program is registered with the Department of Labor as well as the Veterans Administration. Y-12’s Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee is also involved to guarantee the welfare of the program by meeting each month to address various topics on how to grow and assist the program.
Apprentice supervisor and JATC member Zach Yost said, “Our committee exists to ensure that we’re nurturing unsurpassed talent for our program. Today, it’s safe to say that we’ve found that here with our 2020 class.”
The graduates also were recognized for not only their hard work but also the sacrifices that were made by the apprentices and their families.
“The main lesson was not to give up,” said Brandon Muir, Y-12 pipefitter. “The experience was an adjustment; adding 3.5 hour classes, two nights per week on top of a 10 hour day was challenging.
That’s not counting my commute and having a new baby, but the on-the-job training made it worth it.”
In honoring the graduates, Y-12 Site Manager Gene Sievers emphasized the significance the skilled trades have on the mission and the development of the men and women who follow in their footsteps.
“Being skilled in the art is extremely important,” he said. “Your knowledge and capabilities are foundational for Y-12’s enduring mission, our national security, and the future generation of skilled trades.”
With milestones met, Y-12’s four new journeymen will progress to a new chapter making their impact to on site operations and continuing the legacy and strength of our workforce.
“This is a great accomplishment for you, CNS, and our union. This is something that can never be taken from you and will provide you a path to a career that you can be proud of,” said ATLC President Mike Thompson. “I know and appreciate the sacrifices you have made to achieve this graduation. But it doesn’t end here. You will continue to learn and become more proficient in your skills. The responsibility you face couldn’t be more important. You are the ones who will take our place and carry on the proud tradition of being some of the most skilled tradesmen in the world.”
Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) is demonstrating a continued commitment to business partnership, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of ongoing outreach to business owners and potential vendors, CNS representatives are continuing their Partners in Excellence (PIE) event series virtually.
CNS began the PIE event series in April 2018 because the government contract solicitation process is sometimes considered complex or cumbersome for businesses, particularly newcomers and small businesses.
The latest round of online PIE workshops and forums allow potential business partners to attend while adhering to local social distancing guidelines in Texas, Tennessee, and across the country. PIE workshops are targeted based on agenda content, but larger events like the recent August PIE forum are open to a broader audience of business owners.
“Our goal is to increase the capacity and capability of our contractor base to support our small project execution,” said Cindy Morgan, director of CNS Supply Chain Business Management. “In our world, small projects are defined as $50 million or less.”
While CNS has a focus on modernizing the aging infrastructure of Pantex and Y-12, the company doesn’t only need construction contractors.
“We purchase a variety of goods and services from small and large businesses, and we need vendors for everything from general office supplies to information technology and staff augmentation,” said Randy Crawford, Pantex Small Business Program Manager.
The PIE events are a chance for CNS leaders to offer attendees a slice of knowledge about successfully doing business with Pantex and Y-12, break down the requirements, and share upcoming opportunities. During the August 29 PIE event, Bill Tindal, the CNS chief operating officer, provided an overview of the Pantex and Y-12 site histories and explained why the company uses subcontractors as partners.
There’s also a chance to network with fellow business owners to encourage partnerships. “Sometimes a small business is not able to bond for a large job, but they have the expertise and skills that a larger business does not,” said Morgan. “Providing a chance to network encourages those businesses to work together and submit a joint bid.”
Each year, CNS awards over $1 billon in subcontracts to businesses that help accomplish specialized tasks in support of its vital national security mission.
MEDIC’s newest bus was used for September’s mobile blood drive events at Y-12.
More Y-12 employees rolled up their sleeves in September to meet the growing need for blood donations in East Tennessee.
During a typical month, @ MEDIC Regional Blood Center holds one donation event at Y-12 and collects about 70 units of blood. In September, MEDIC requested a second event due to a higher demand for blood in the region. Thanks to Y-12ers generously giving the Gift of Life, MEDIC collected 131 units during the month’s two donation events, which were held in MEDIC buses parked outside New Hope Center. #CNSCares #GiveBlood
Congratulations to Kevin Shipp of Y-12 Engineering; he was awarded the 2020 Sandia National Laboratories Weapon Intern Program Leadership Award. He is a graduate of the 2020 program, which was the 25th class.
This award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership in all facets of the program, including academic performance, project leadership and team management performance, professional development, and peer assessment.
“The Sandia National Laboratories Weapon Intern Program was an incredible experience,” Shipp said. “We were given access to resources and a wealth of knowledge that are unparalleled in the Nuclear Security Enterprise. It was also a privilege to participate in the program with my classmates who are top notch people from around the NSE and DOD. So, I was humbled and honored to be selected for the leadership award by them.”
Shipp also was chosen to speak at the WIP graduation ceremony on behalf on the class. He has made exceptional impressions on his peers as well as the WIP staff, bringing great credit upon himself, CNS, and the NSE.
Joshua Schwartz (left), Chris Haught (center), and Dallas Moser discuss maintaining strict controls to ensure nuclear criticality safety.
Anyone who works around special nuclear material at Pantex or Y-12 is aware of the enormous energy release possible from these materials. There are few things certain in life, but for CNS, maintaining strict controls on nuclear criticality safety is one. While the material forms at Y-12 present greater risks, both plants deal with quantities of nuclear material sufficient to warrant consideration for prevention of an inadvertent criticality.
“Y-12 suffered a criticality accident in the late 50s. As a result, many of today’s Y-12 and industry standard NCS program elements grew from lessons learned from that event,” said Ken Keith, deputy vice president of Mission Engineering. “We never, ever want to even approach a repeat event.”
Nuclear Criticality Safety is a collection of programs and activities that help ensure we do not repeat that event, and it requires constant vigilance. An inadvertent or uncontrolled release of energy in the form of radiation and heat is a criticality. To give you a sense of the hazard, only 700 g of 235U has the potential for criticality under the right conditions.
“The unique properties of uranium can create the energy to power reactors and weapons,” said Gary Sanders, CNS vice president of Mission Engineering. “But it requires special controls to both shield our workers from the radiation effects and prevent a cascading reaction.”
Chief NCS Engineer Chris Haught added, “The challenge we face with this hazard is when conditions are unsafe and approaching very near to a critical configuration, there are no warning signs. Because of this, the criticality hazard is non-intuitive and presents unique challenges for ensuring personnel safety. We understand fire hazards, or hazards around pressurized fluids or electricity through normal life experiences, but the criticality hazard must be learned through training and actual operating experience.”
That experience has led to constant monitoring, adjustment, and improvement.
Unanticipated changes in processing activities at CNS over the past couple of years challenged engineers and operations staff to better understand the processes, the assumptions for actions and material flow, and the why of why we care about what we do. CNS has reviewed the way it does business from top to bottom.
“We’ve improved several review and oversight functions, hired additional staff in several areas, improved lines of responsibility, improved training of operations staff, and improved administrative processes,” Keith said.
“We have further strengthened our Nuclear Criticality Safety Program with a dedicated leadership position and integrated and resourced a plan to address the legacy issues to ensure safety of operations,” said Sanders.
That dedicated leadership position is filled by Susan Kozemko, senior director of Criticality Safety Management & Integration. She manages a multidiscipline team that implements criticality safety requirements in a formal and disciplined manner. She also serves as chair of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Committee that is accountable to the site managers and provides oversight and guidance for the NCS program at Pantex, Y-12, and the Uranium Processing Facility.
“Vigilance is required in everything I do to ensure errors are corrected in a timely manner, actions are taken to prevent recurrence, NCS requirements are met, and improvements are proactively evaluated,” Kozemko said.
The work of NCS engineers is never over; it is a constant environment of review, adjust, and improve.
Keith summarized, “While many improvement efforts continue, much has been accomplished and more is to be done.”