News

Amarillo, Texas—Emergency response personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration and Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), will conduct an emergency management exercise January 17th at the Pantex Plant.

During this exercise, between 8:00 a.m. and noon people in the vicinity of the Pantex Plant may observe response personnel simulating response activities as part of the exercise.

This event is part of emergency management exercises conducted on a regular basis by the U.S. Department of Energy Pantex Plant. These exercises test the ability of emergency personnel to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations, and ensure that the public, Pantex employees and the environment would be protected in the event of an actual emergency.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) honored North Amarillo Auto Parts as Small Business of the Year at this year’s Amarillo Small Business Awards. The ceremony was a collaborative effort among CNS, West Texas A&M University, the City of Amarillo, and the 'West Texas A&M University">WTAMU Small Business Development Center to recognize small businesses in the Texas Panhandle area.

With a fleet that includes fire trucks and specialized security vehicles, many of Pantex’s requests fall outside normal auto parts requests. Paul Bently, Pantex crafts supervisor, said “Matt (Newkirk) at North Amarillo Auto Parts spends countless hours on the phone and on the internet searching for hard-to-find parts that we need every day in the shop.”

CNS has set a goal to award 60 percent of contracts to small businesses. “CNS would not be able to achieve its mission without the support of small businesses; they truly are the heart of our economy,” said Ryan Johnston, the CNS Small Business Program Manager.

Watch this short video about North Amarillo Auto Parts and its relationship with Pantex.

Pantex Emergency Management was recently granted membership in the National Information Sharing Consortium, an independent consortium of civic, federal, and private leaders in public safety, emergency preparedness and response, and information sharing technologies.

NISC was launched in 2012 to improve the state of public safety and emergency management information sharing and interoperability. The organization achieves this goal by sharing, connecting, innovating, and leading. With its NISC membership, Pantex Emergency Management has new access to tools, templates, and lessons learned that will provide value to the site’s emergency response operations.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC honored North Amarillo Auto Parts as Small Business of the Year at this year’s Amarillo Small Business Awards. The ceremony was a collaborative effort among CNS, West Texas A&M University, the City of Amarillo, and the WTAMU Small Business Development Center to recognize small businesses in the Texas Panhandle area.

With a fleet that includes fire trucks and specialized security vehicles, many of Pantex’s requests fall outside normal auto parts requests. Paul Bently, Pantex crafts supervisor, said "Matt (Newkirk) at North Amarillo Auto Parts spends countless hours on the phone and on the internet searching for hard-to-find parts that we need every day in the shop."

CNS has set a goal to award 60 percent of contracts to small businesses. “CNS would not be able to achieve its mission without the support of small businesses; they truly are the heart of our economy,” said Ryan Johnston, the CNS Small Business Program Manager.

Watch this video about North Amarillo Auto Parts and its relationship with Pantex.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry tours the Administrative Support Complex construction site during his first visit to the Pantex Plant.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry recently made his first visit to the Pantex Plant to observe operations and tour new facilities. He toured the Administrative Support Complex construction site, bays and cells used for weapon assembly and disassembly activities, and a weapon and component staging area. Secretary Perry also viewed the new Confined Large Optical Scintillator Screen and Imaging System (known as CoLOSSIS II) and a live-fire demonstration of the Common Remotely Operated Weapons System. The visit provided Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC an excellent opportunity to showcase Pantex’s important role in America’s security and the site’s ongoing infrastructure revitalization efforts.

Pantex’s Mike Bromley of Projects Management recently received the 2017 American Society for Engineering Management Best Dissertation award at the organization’s International Annual Conference in Huntsville, Alabama.

The engineering and management professionals in the ASEM remarked that Bromley’s dissertation integrated analytical and managerial concerns with quality design and data collection, resulting in conclusions with application to many organizations.

The analysis of his dissertation, Economic Analysis Model for High Reliability Organizations, required significant input related to plant operations, facilities, personnel, costs, events, incidents, and accidents. Bromley said he appreciated the helpful input from many Pantex subject matter experts on meteorology, asbestos, cost estimating, safety analysis, process engineering, and high explosives. He also added that a non-employee could never have collected the required data, and it was a challenge to keep everything unclassified.

AMARILLO, Texas –The Amarillo Chamber of Commerce is shining a spotlight on its “Top 20 Under 40” winners, and among them are two Pantexans; Joshua Cunningham and Brandy Ramirez.

To be eligible, along with being under the age of 40, the candidates must be employed in the area for at least three years, and in the same field, though not necessarily at the same businesses. Nominations were received through the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce website, and the winners were selected by judges who reviewed nominations and picked the top 20 award winners as up-and-coming Amarillo professionals who are standouts in their professions.

Cunningham currently serves as Pantex Nuclear Material Control & Accountability Manager. In this role, Cunningham is responsible for the control and accountability of all special nuclear material and accountable nuclear material. He graduated summa cum laude from West Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 2005, joining Pantex the next year as a Laboratory Engineering Technician. He has fulfilled several roles, including scientist, production section manager, facility manager, and senior scientist, prior to accepting his current position.

Cunningham says he is “passionate about leadership and takes great satisfaction in caring for those that are part of his team and focusing on opportunities for impacting positive change for the people he serves.”

Ramirez, a graduate of Caprock High School, received her degree from West Texas A&M University in Mechanical Engineering and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Science and System & Engineering management from Texas Tech University. She began as an intern at Pantex in 2010 and took on a full-time role in System/Facility Engineering in 2012. She serves as the president of the Amarillo Society of Women Engineers and the Pantex Women in Nuclear chapter, and hopes to inspire young women to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

“My goal is to learn more about Pantex in hopes of moving from a technical position to management, where I can inspire others and apply skills obtained through professional development that Pantex has offered me,” said Ramirez.

Jason Harrison, vice president of Business Development and Governmental Affairs with the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce, said, “The Chamber realizes the importance of our young professionals and is excited each year to recognize those business professionals under the age of 40 that exemplify the
highest of standards of professional excellence in their industry and careers and have demonstrated personal achievement in their lives, as well as brought value to the Amarillo business community.”

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a single contract for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on the 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.

The newly designated NA-50 Excellence Awards recently were presented at Pantex by NNSA Associate Administrator for Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations James McConnell and at Y-12 by NNSA Administrator Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz (Ret.). The award recognizes teams and individuals for outstanding accomplishments involving innovation, effectiveness, teamwork, overcoming adversity, and enabling future success.

CNS President and CEO Morgan Smith commended the honorees by saying, “The work we do is unique. We play a key role in the defense of the nation and the stability of the world. We face the challenge of meeting this important mission while working in facilities that are well past their intended life. Your work has helped tackle infrastructure issues that, if left unaddressed, could have exposed a risk to employees, the mission, or the environment.”

At Pantex and Y-12, the CNS Construction team was recognized for its operations with zero recordable injuries in fiscal year 2016, and the Development and Approval team for the Administrative Support Complex (Kirk McCutcheon at Pantex, Tom Smith at Y-12) was recognized for its work to develop the foundation and business case, as well as the extensive approval process.

One other Pantex award included the Outage Process Execution team, being recognized for the high-voltage distribution system outages conducted safely in support of the NNSA mission at Pantex.

Other Y-12 awards recognized: the team replacing some 700 fire suppression system sprinkler heads in Building 9204-2, the team that reroofed three Manhattan Project–era buildings as part of the Excess Facilities Disposition Program Roof Asset Management Program Risk Reduction project, the team that repaired the concrete beam in Building 9204-2, and the team that pursued multiple direct- and indirect-funded projects to reduce risks posed by excess facilities.

AMARILLO, Texas- Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC has partnered with West Texas A&M University, the City of Amarillo, and the West Texas A&M Small Business Development Center to recognize small businesses in the Texas Panhandle area at this year’s Amarillo Small Business Awards.

CNS has set a goal to award 60 percent of contracts to small businesses; including those classified as woman-owned, veteran-owned, small disadvantaged, and service disabled veteran-owned small businesses. CNS considers small businesses of paramount importance and continues to actively seek opportunities for them.

On hand for today’s event are Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson, CNS Vice President of Performance Excellence at Pantex, Tom Harrison, Director of Facilities and Construction at West Texas A&M University, Stan Peña, along with other noted dignitaries.

“CNS would not be able to achieve its mission without the support of small businesses; they truly are the heart of our economy,” said Ryan Johnston, the CNS Small Business Program Manager. “Today’s event will recognize some of the many great local businesses that help Pantex keep our nation safe and secure.”

As part of today’s program, a special award is being given out to the 2017 Pantex Small Business of the Year award.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a single contract for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on the 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.

AMARILLO, Texas – Lightning is prevalent in the Texas Panhandle, and the lightning equipment used at Pantex produces meteorological data that are useful to many outside of the plant. In late August, Pantex began issuing meteorological lightning data to the National Weather Service and the public. This will allow Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing and operating contractor, to provide additional capabilities and data to the National Weather Service and the greater Amarillo area.

Current lightning detection and location systems triangulate radio frequency signatures from lightning strikes using time of arrival mapping techniques. Due to inherent variability in the positional data obtained from these systems, a more definitive lightning location system utilizing visual data to confirm strikes is necessary.

A team of engineers and scientists from Pantex Systems Engineering designed a system that utilizes lightning capture cameras to detect and locate lightning strikes on or near Pantex, referred to as the Optical Lightning Detection System (OLDS). Six units will sit near the perimeter of Pantex, and images from these cameras will be downloaded through a cellular network for processing to determine the strike location if it occurs on-site.

Combined with the Lightning Map Array (LMA), which can detect cloud-to-cloud or inter-cloud strikes that usually preceded cloud-to-ground strikes by up to an hour, the system is vital to determining lightning patterns in and around the plant. This is important to Pantex given the prevalence of lightning in the Texas Panhandle and the criticality of the work performed at the Pantex Plant. (See Pantex Plant upgrades lightning sensors for more information.)

David Hattz and members of his Pantex Electromagnetics Group review the lightning data, including many photographs, and can map where lightning strikes occur and detect pre-strike activity. “It’s important we have this type of equipment given the criticality of the work we do. The LMA system detects the first inner-cloud strikes allowing us to notify employees up to an hour sooner when lightning is approaching the Pantex Plant,” Hattz said.

Since local law enforcement and meteorologists use the data produced by the lightning equipment as well, the group pursued getting the Record of Decision. In June, a local sheriff’s office called upon Pantex for help provide lightning data in and around the Blue Sky Airfield.

Pantex Engineer Wayne Blodgett said, “We found there were cloud to ground strikes in the airfield area, and we were able to provide data that shows the strikes and the time of the strikes. Requests like these are what makes having the Record of Decision in place easier. We are able to get the data to the requester sooner so they can use the information for their needs. Getting this exception to the review requirement allows us to provide data to the National Weather Service quickly. Our equipment is useful to many in the Amarillo area.”

The next phase of the development will give the system onboard computing and communications in the remote stations. The stations will process pictures in the field and send data on only cloud-to-ground strikes to a central server. The server will collect data from the remote stations and triangulate lightning strike locations in near real-time.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a single contract for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. Pantex and Y-12 are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, and CNS performs its work with a focus on the 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.