Pantex Blog

CNS employees were recognized with awards from NNSA’s Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations – or NA-50 – for the exceptional accomplishments made in support of NA-50 efforts to achieve the NNSA mission. At the September 10 Pantex event, Bill Eckroade, Pantex deputy manager for the NNSA Production Office, and NA-50 Associate Administrator Jim McConnell honored employees who worked on the projects. At Y-12 on the same day, NPO Manager Geoff Beausoleil, Y-12 Site Manager Bill Tindal, and Senior Director of Infrastructure Programs Steve Laggis handed out the awards.

“Each of our sites have old infrastructure, and that adds substantial challenges in the workforce and keeping our operations efficient, reliable, and safe,” Eckroade said. “As I’ve seen people trying to manage that infrastructure, you see workers using innovation persistence and sometimes sheer determination for making old infrastructure work to achieve the mission we’ve been assigned. But, the good news is that in recent years, we have seen enhanced allocations of resources to help us with our infrastructure.”

McConnell said Pantex is a good example of the forefront of what NA-50 does considering the combined safety implications of the site and the large amount aging infrastructure. “My job is to help you succeed, and your success is the thing that I then get to feed back into the system to allow people to bring us even more opportunities and more resources, so that the success you did in 2018 turns into the things you’re doing right now,” he said. “It was great seeing all the great work you do here.”

At Y-12, Laggis thanked team members for demonstrating excellence in “doing the right things to the right infrastructure in the right way.”

Tindal told the honorees, “Your insistence on excellence, your tenacity in doing the job right, and your understanding that teamwork is often the best solution on a project, has been recognized by NNSA as the best of the best across the enterprise in 2018.”

Beausoleil’s comments echoed those of McConnell in that CNS’s work has brought success. “Your work in revitalizing our infrastructure will help support missions for years to come. You have my sincere gratitude and congratulations,” he said.

Laggis ended the program by saying each of the winning teams were important ingredients in the success of CNS. “Without your great work,” he said, “we could not reach our goals and complete our mission.”

A combined CNS Enterprise Fire Department Team represented Pantex and Y-12 at the 2019 Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Challenge held at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently.

The combined team did an outstanding job representing both sites and were voted by the other teams and operators in the competition as winners of the Sportsmanship Award. This award recognizes a team that embodies the values of working as a team, working with other teams, and being willing to step up wherever a need arises.

“The CNS Enterprise FD Team did an excellent job. It was rewarding to see how they came together the first day operating as one team in the events,” Doug Trout, CNS Senior Director, Enterprise Emergency Services said. “The planning beforehand and collaboration by the team was evident in all of the events. They have ideas for training to take back and are looking forward to next year. This was an excellent event.”

The HAZMAT Challenge has been hosted by the Emergency Management Division of LANL for the past 22 years, and HAZMAT teams network with one another, practice technical skills, and learn new HAZMAT techniques under realistic conditions in a safe environment.

During the Challenge, vehicles, trucks, tankers, and rail cars are used in some of the props to mimic real-life hazardous material situations. Past Challenge scenarios have included drug laboratory or chemical hazard identification, manipulation of complex valve configurations to stop leaks, confined space rescue, compressed gas leaks, a leaking rail car dome, pressurized drum opening, stinger operation responding to damaged tanker trailer, and damming/diking exercise from an overturned tanker.

Lyle Cary, Vice President of Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Services added, “The training value and relationships built during these events strengthens capability across the Nuclear Security Enterprise, and because of the number of teams from federal, state, and municipal departments, it strengthens the Nation”.

Representing Pantex were Firefighters John Sappington, Daniel Sholder, and Cody Steever, and Fire Captains Mark Campbell and Chad Zarbock.

Representing Y-12 were Firefighters Chris Altman, Scot Rose, and Craig Shaver, and Fire Captains Jeremy Maiden and Jim Arnold.