Y-12, Pantex receive awards for infrastructure achievements

  • Posted: Thursday, August 8, 2024, 2:09 pm

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Infrastructure recently presented Excellence Awards to teams supporting infrastructure at Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant. The annual award program recognizes teams and individuals for infrastructure-related accomplishments that advance the NNSA mission. Three teams from the Y-12 National Security Complex and four teams at the Pantex Plant were recognized for work completed in Fiscal Year 2023.

The award-winning teams are made up of Consolidated Nuclear Security employees from Pantex and Y-12 as well as NNSA’s Y-12 and Pantex field offices. The infrastructure improvements they were recognized for ranged from operations to emergency response support.

“These award-winning projects highlight our outstanding commitment to improve facilities and infrastructure in order to continue safe and secure delivery to our wide variety of customers,” CNS Chief Operations Officer Chris Harkins said. “Recognition from NNSA reinforces that our teams are among the top in the nation.”

Y-12 projects include new facilities, process improvements

The award-winning projects at Y-12 included the new Operations Center and Fire Station as well as shipping and receiving improvements.

“Infrastructure work impacts the mission, but it also has an intensely personal impact for every employee on-site,” Y-12 Field Office Manager Mary Helen Hitson said. “Each of these projects, while impressive in their own rights, directly improve employee safety, security, and morale.”

One team replaced two 1940s-era facilities on-site, the Y-12 Fire Station and Operations Center. The new emergency services buildings modernize operations and improve quality of worklife for first responders who occupy facilities around the clock, 365 days a year. The work, completed as an NNSA pilot program for construction, successfully demonstrated that a similar construction approach can be applied at other sites.

Two teams responded to ongoing challenges in shipping and receiving. The first drove wireless capability installation to track real-time shipments using laptops and tablets, reducing delivery time by 25%. The second developed the first-ever overarching program for material disposal, creating and revising procedures, training users, and conducting assessments.

Pantex projects include upgrades, replacements, and rapid response

The Pantex projects receiving awards included bay and cell upgrades, equipment replacements, and a quick-turn electrical outage.

NNSA’s Office of Infrastructure ensures the existing buildings and systems we have are safely operated, effectively managed, and that the facilities being added are adequately maintained to meet mission needs,” Pantex Field Office Manager Jason Armstrong said. “These individuals have raised the bar of mission success for many years to come.”

The Pantex Bay and Cell Portfolio is a multiyear suite of projects to upgrade the bays and cells where Pantex performs critical assembly and disassembly work. A team working two projects in the portfolio, the High-Pressure Fire Loop and the Flame Detection System, delivered more systems in less time than expected, allowing additional availability for mission work.

Two teams replaced aging equipment on-site. The first team demonstrated exceptional agility, timeliness, and collaboration to find and install a new air compressor after an aging air compressor failed. The second team removed combustibles and repaired a fire protection system and associated utilities in a vital operations facility 17 weeks ahead of schedule with a perfect safety record.
Finally, another Pantex team completed a complicated series of electrical switching and system impairments flawlessly, safely, and in record time in response to a cable failure.

These projects highlight the breadth and caliber of work at Pantex and Y-12 as the sites continue infrastructure modernization efforts.

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Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. Bechtel National, Inc. is the lead member of CNS; minority members include Leidos, Inc.; ATK Launch Systems, LLC; and SOC LLC. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on performance excellence and the imperatives of safety, security, zero defects, and delivery as promised.

For more information on each site, visit www.pantex.energy.gov or www.y12.doe.gov. Follow Pantex on Facebook, X or LinkedIn. Follow Y-12 on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

CONTACT
Kathryn King, APR
Communications
Office (865) 315.5996
Kathryn.King@pxy12.doe.gov

Successfully completing two the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)-driven pilot projects to use a more commercial building approach to replace two 1940s-era facilities, the Y 12 Fire Station and Operations Center, earned this team an Excellence Award from the NNSA Office of Infrastructure.
Successfully completing two the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)-driven pilot projects to use a more commercial building approach to replace two 1940s-era facilities, the Y 12 Fire Station and Operations Center, earned this team an Excellence Award from the NNSA Office of Infrastructure.

The Integrated Project team at Y-12
The Integrated Project team at Y-12 created an unclassified wireless capability in a warehouse, allowing workers to manage inventory transactions, receipts, and real-time shipment tracking using wireless laptops and tablets. Their efforts were honored with an Excellence Award from the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Infrastructure.

A multidisciplinary team at Y-12 National Security Complex developed the first-ever overarching program for disposition of material, earning an Excellence Award from the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Infrastructure.
A multidisciplinary team at Y-12 National Security Complex developed the first-ever overarching program for disposition of material, earning an Excellence Award from the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Infrastructure.

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