Pantex Blog
Corps of Engineers General Visits Pantex
HEPF sets bar for project management
Lt. Gen. Tom Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), visited Pantex this week to tour the High Explosives Pressing Facility (HEPF). Bostick toured the facility and said he came away impressed, singling out HEPF as an excellent demonstration of what can happen when federal agencies and contractors work together effectively to manage projects. USACE is managing construction in cooperation with NNSA, B&W Pantex and main construction contractor Kiewit Building Group.
Construction on HEPF is approximately 90 percent complete and is on schedule and under budget. When finished, the $65 million project will combine high explosives work from a half dozen older buildings – two dating back to World War II – into one state-of-the-art facility.
Construction on HEPF Project Reaches 85% Mark
Workers at the Pantex High Explosives Pressing Facility this month passed the 85% construction completion mark on construction of the 45,000 square-foot facility, which will combine High Explosives (HE) operations from numerous outdated buildings into one state-of-the-art facility. Completion of the project will help to bolster Pantex’s status as the Department of Energy’s High Explosives Center of Excellence for HE manufacturing.
The roof has been completed, officially enclosing the exterior of the facility, which allows the contractor to continue work inside during inclement weather. The roadway paving around the facility has started, which will allow for all-weather access.
The new state-of-the-art HE presses, which take advantage of advanced isostatic pressing techniques, have been installed. The process equipment has arrived and is being installed. All Blast-Resistant Doors have been installed. Offices have been built and are being painted.
The major remaining work activities include installation of overhead cranes, flooring and mechanical/electrical systems.
Acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held and NPO Manager Steve Erhart toured the HEPF on November 7th.
Construction of the $65 million facility began in late 2011 and is expected to be complete in May, 2014. B&W Pantex has begun pre start up activities to meet the CD-4 (approval to start operations) date of September 2016.
The construction effort is being managed by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and the design effort/plant support is being led by B&W Pantex with a design subcontract to CH2M Hill.
Pantexans Run Against Hunger
Officers run more than 50 miles to raise awareness
For the third year in a row, Pantex Security Police Officers Byron Logan and Randy Stokes took to the area's roads and highways to raise awareness of the hungry in the Texas Panhandle. Logan and Stokes biked and ran and biked more than 50 miles Friday during the annual Run Against Hunger, gathering food and donations for the High Plains Food Bank.
Capitol Christmas Tree Visits Amarillo
B&W Pantex Employees Help Welcome Tree
B&W Pantex employees serve snacks to attendees at an event celebrating a visit from the 2013 Capitol Christmas Tree. The 88-foot tall Engelmann spruce was harvested from the Collville National Forest in Washington and will be erected at the Capitol Building. Babcock & Wilcox was one of the corporate sponsors of the tree tour which will make 22 stops, including Amarillo, before arriving in Washington D.C.
Pantex Night at Discovery Center
More than 500 Pantexans and their families attended Pantex Night at the Don Harrington Discovery Center Sunday. Pantex volunteers served hamburgers and hot dogs at the science center event, which featured an exhibit on the extinct Megalodon shark, as well as a mummy in the Lost Egypt exhibit. B&W Pantex sponsored the shark exhibit.