News

CNS begins management and operation of national security facilities

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) today assumed full responsibility for management and operation of the Pantex and Y-12 nuclear weapons facilities that perform missions vital to national security.

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration awarded CNS the contract to consolidate the two facilities under a single contract. During a four-month transition that began March 3, the CNS team prepared to integrate and operate both facilities to deliver their critical missions with safety, security, quality, and cost efficiency.

During the course of transition, CNS completed more than 3,000 scheduled actions; on-boarded 7,800 employees; inspected over 400 facilities; reviewed and approved more than 5,000 procedures; consulted with dozens of community leaders and elected officials; and established the structure and processes for managing the two sites as one enterprise. Transition activities were completed on schedule and under budget.

“The Pantex and Y-12 sites have proud traditions of contributing to national security and protecting the freedoms we enjoy in this country today,” said Jim Haynes, CNS President and CEO. “We are prepared and ready to build upon these traditions and improve the performance and sustainability of these sites with our NNSA customer and our employees.”

CNS member companies include Bechtel National, Inc., Lockheed Martin Services, Inc., ATK Launch Systems Inc., and SOC LLC, with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., as a teaming subcontractor. Its five-year contract begins today, and includes options that could extend the contract another five years.

“We have been looking forward to joining the employees of Pantex and Y-12, and the communities of Amarillo and Oak Ridge, since this competition first began,” Haynes said. “Together with our customer, the talented workforces of our two sites, and the committed leaders of our two host communities, we are well positioned to deliver our national security mission.”

The Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and Y‐12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are key facilities in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise, charged with maintaining the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Pantex is responsible for nuclear weapons life extension programs; weapons dismantlement; development, testing, and fabrication of high explosives components; and storage and surveillance of plutonium pits. Y‐12 is responsible for safe and secure uranium storage, processing, and manufacturing operations; supplying fuel for the U.S. Navy; and global non-proliferation.

About Bechtel:
Bechtel is among the most respected engineering, project management, and construction companies in the world. We stand apart for our ability to get the job done right—no matter how big, how complex or how remote. Bechtel operates through five global business units that specialize in civil infrastructure; power generation, communications and transmission; mining and metals; oil, gas and chemicals; and government services. Since its founding in 1898, Bechtel has worked on more than 22,000 projects in 140 countries on all seven continents. Today, our 53,000 employees team with customers, partners, and suppliers on diverse projects in nearly 50 countries.

About Lockheed Martin:
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products, and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

About ATK:
ATK Aerospace Group, which is representing ATK on the Bechtel team, is the world’s top producer of solid rocket propulsion systems and a leading supplier of military and commercial aircraft structures. It also specializes in small and micro‐satellites; satellite components and subsystems; lightweight space deployables and solar arrays; low‐cost, quick‐to‐market launch solutions; flares and decoys; and energetic materials and related technologies. The group has extensive experience supporting human and space payload missions. ATK is an aerospace, defense, and commercial products company with operations in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally.

About SOC:
SOC LLC is a trusted and proven provider of integrated security and mission support carrying out and enabling national security missions globally in support of the U.S. Government, international organizations, and corporations. Founded as a security contractor supporting the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, and State, SOC has broadened its portfolio to include a wide array of critical mission support, base operations, and professional staffing services. SOC is a company of more than 5,000 highly trained and experienced personnel running some of the most sensitive and complex assignments around the world.

About Booz Allen Hamilton:
Booz Allen Hamilton is a leading provider of management consulting, technology, and engineering services to the US government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not‐for‐profit organizations. Booz Allen is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, employs approximately 23,000 people, and had revenue of $5.76 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2013. In 2014, Booz Allen celebrates its 100th anniversary year.

CONTACT
Jason Bohne
(240) 344-1616

NNSA administrator makes first Pantex visit to inaugurate PREP

The largest federally owned wind farm in the country will officially commence operations Tuesday when Gen. Frank G. Klotz, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and National Nuclear Security Administrator makes his first official visit to Pantex to “throw the switch” on the Pantex Renewable Energy Project (PREP).

Klotz is scheduled to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the five-turbine, 11.5 megawatt wind farm, which will generate more than 60 percent of the electricity needed yearly by the Pantex Plant, the nation’s primary facility for the assembly, disassembly and maintenance of nuclear weapons.

“For 70 years, Pantex has played a vital security role by helping to create and maintain the nation’s nuclear deterrent. Now, Pantex is poised to help secure the future of America through utilization of renewable energy, as well,” said NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart.

Construction on the one-of-a-kind wind farm began in August under a unique finance model, known as an Energy Savings Performance Contract, which allows contractor Siemens Government Technologies, Inc., to build PREP with no upfront cost to the taxpayers. Siemens will be paid directly from the value of guaranteed energy savings generated by the turbines, an amount expected to average $2.8 million annually.

The five turbines, each 400 feet tall, were built on 1,500 acres of federal land adjacent to the main Pantex Plant. Erection of the wind towers was completed early this year, and crews have since been working to connect the turbines into the plant’s electricity grid.

PREP will generate approximately 47 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which is enough to power nearly 3,500 homes. The project will reduce CO2 emissions by over 35,000 metric tons per year, the equivalent of removing 7,200 cars from the road each year or planting 850,000 trees.

In addition to providing the majority of the electricity for Pantex operations, PREP will serve as the keystone for an ongoing collaboration with Texas Tech University (TTU) to make Pantex a leader in innovation within the wind energy sector. TTU and the NNSA Production Office (NPO) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would combine the resources of DOE/NNSA, Pantex and TTU’s National Wind Institute to study ways to create a world-class energy research center at Pantex.

CONTACT
Greg Cunningham
Public Affairs
Office (806) 477-5140
Pager (806) 345-1560

Program has saved 800 tons of paper from landfill

Every year, the Pantex Plant uses thousands of pounds of paper that must be destroyed to protect sensitive information. For the vast majority of that paper, a trip through the shredder is not the end of its purpose, but only a beginning.

After a few weeks composting in a pile of feedlot waste, the paper goes on to help fertilize thousands of acres of crops across the Texas Panhandle and beyond, beneficially reusing a valuable resource and saving massive space in the landfill.

“This program goes hand in hand with our commitment at Pantex to be good stewards of the environment,” said Jimmy Rogers, Waste Operations Department manager at Pantex. “Reduce, reuse and recycle has become a way of life for us, and this is a great example of that effort.”

The idea to use waste paper for compost sprouted about 10 years ago when the Waste Ops Department was looking for a better outcome for the paper than burying it in the landfill. Traditional recycling was considered, but it can be expensive and difficult to find a recycler to take paper shredded as finely as security requirements at Pantex mandate.

One of the Waste Ops employees came up with the idea of combining the paper waste with another waste stream that is plentiful in cattle country: manure.

“It turned out to be a perfect solution,” said Bill Allen, section manager for Waste Ops. “We’re fortunate to live in a part of the country where we have abundant supplies of the ingredients for composting like this.”

Pantex ships a load of waste paper every week or two to Shannon Leavitt, who owns Natural Fertilizer Company in Wildorado. Leavitt’s company takes cow manure from a pair of feedlots in the area and spreads it into rows in empty fields, where the paper is mixed in.

After a few weeks of turning, compost is created in a process very similar to home composting that many people do in their backyard. Heat and bacteriological action break down the ingredients and sanitize the mix, creating a perfect fertilizer source that Natural Fertilizer sells and spreads across fields of crops ranging from vegetables to corn and wheat.

Leavitt said the compost provides a valuable mix of fertilizers to farmers across the area, although he ships to customers as far away as New Mexico and even Arkansas. The manure provides an environmentally friendly source of organic fertilizers nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. The paper breaks down into a good source of carbon.

“It’s a tremendous process,” Leavitt said. “That’s 100 percent waste material that we are converting to a very viable and beneficial material.”

Since the program started in 2003, Pantex has shipped 871 tons of paper to Natural Fertilizer. That material has not only been used to sustain the area’s abundant agricultural products, it has been spared from the landfill. Pantex pays Natural Fertilizer around $1,500 a year to take the paper, an amount that is slightly less than the cost of putting it in a landfill.

The program is all part of an ongoing effort to reduce waste streams from the Pantex Plant, which has become a huge point of emphasis within the Department of Energy Complex. This year, Pantex has diverted 89 percent of its construction waste and 65 percent of its municipal solid waste from the landfill.

Through pollution prevention efforts, Pantex has reduced hazardous waste generated at the site by 99 percent since 1987.

“These efforts help us meet goals established by the DOE, but we do this because we want to protect the environment,” Rogers said. “We live here. Our families live here. We feel an obligation to make sure we leave a cleaner environment to our children and grandchildren.”

Armed Forces Day commemorated at Pantex

The Pantex Plant honored veterans Wednesday at its annual ceremony to commemorate Armed Forces Day. Members of the Pantex Fire Department Honor Guard raised the American flag as attendees recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem. Pantex has been holding an Armed Forces Day ceremony for more than 15 years to honor those who served.

Pantex has a long history of supporting military personnel and currently employs 782 military veterans amongst its workforce of approximately 3,100 people.

Donations delivered to Snack Pak 4 Kids

For the past two weeks, a group of volunteers at Pantex has been collecting donations for the Snack Pak 4 Kids program, gathering an impressive amount of food for needy children.

Pantexans donated more than $1,000 to the effort, as well as a variety of food items, which were placed in barrels located throughout the plant.

Snack Pak 4 Kids is an Amarillo-based charity started in 2010 to provide backpacks with snacks in them for children to take home for the weekend. The program is designed to provide food to hungry children when they are away from school and unable to access a reliable source of sustenance. The program serves over 4,000 students in 24 school districts in the Texas Panhandle.

The volunteers this week delivered 5,000 Pop Tarts, 82 jars of peanut butter, as well as other snacks and money donated by Pantexans.

The effort was led by Pantexans Josh and Tracy Cunningham, Rick and Lisa Jones and Sherry Philyaw.

Admiral Cecil Haney, Commander, USSTRATCOM, visited Pantex Tuesday to tour various facilities and conduct an all-hands meeting with Pantex workers. Haney thanked Pantexans for the work they perform to help maintain a credible nuclear deterrent, thus ensuring the safety of the United States.

Haney briefed Pantexans about the responsibilities and capabilities of USSTRATCOM and discussed how the work done at Pantex factors into that mission. Haney said as the number of weapons in the U.S. stockpile decreases, the work done at Pantex to ensure the safety and reliability of each nuclear weapon becomes even more important.

Haney told Pantexans that although they do not wear a military uniform, the work they do to protect America is as crucial as the work done by those who do.

When B&W Pantex Science Bowl Coordinator Debra Halliday decided to take her 9-year-old grandson with her to the national Science Bowl competition in Washington DC last month, she thought he would have a memorable trip, but she didn’t know just how memorable it would be.

Halliday said her grandson, Griffin Koehn, was with her during the awards ceremony when Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz was congratulating the winners and presenting trophies. As Moniz exited the stage, he stopped for a moment to talk with Griffin and posed for a photo that will no doubt become a cherished memento.

“Secretary Moniz was so gracious,” Halliday said. “He shook hands with Griffin, and Griffin said to him ‘When I grow up, I want to be a scientist just like you.”

Halliday said her grandson enjoyed being a runner during the competition, as well as visiting some of the historic sites in Washington. But getting to meet the secretary of energy was the best part of the entire trip.

NNSA NEWS

U.S. Department of Energy
National Nuclear Security Administration
Production Office News Release

AMARILLO, Texas -- Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office (NPO) and Texas Tech University (TTU) signed an agreement today that could pave the way for the Pantex Plant to become a leading force in the drive to increase use of renewable wind energy.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed today in Lubbock by NNSA Production Office Manager Steven Erhart and TTU Chancellor Kent Hance and University President M. Duane Nellis. The MOU enables both parties to analyze the feasibility of creating a national research center at Pantex that would combine the resources of DOE/NNSA, Pantex and Tech’s National Wind Institute (NWI) to “create a world-class wind energy research center.”

“Pantex has clearly signaled its commitment to lead the way toward a more sustainable energy future for the federal government and the country as a whole,” said NPO Manager Steve Erhart. “The vision laid out in this MOU will build on that commitment and pay huge dividends for decades to come with our longstanding partner Texas Tech University.”

Pantex and Tech have a long historical connection. The property of the original Pantex Ordnance Plant was leased to the university for $1 after the plant closed following the conclusion of World War II. The federal government reacquired some of the land in 1951 to open the Pantex Plant. TTU now owns approximately 6,000 of the Plant’s 18,000 acres, which is farmed for research purposes and used as a security buffer for Pantex.

The core of the agreement signed Thursday is the new Pantex Renewable Energy Project (PREP), a five-turbine, 11.5 megawatt wind farm that is being built on federal land east of the main Pantex Plant. The project is expected to be completed this summer and will provide about 60 percent of the plant’s annual electrical energy needs. Through the MOU, TTU and NWI will receive access to information about PREP and the plant’s energy usage, including operational and output data, which will be used to study ways to make renewable wind energy more reliable and efficient.

“As the site of the largest federally owned wind farm, Pantex is well positioned to be a leader in the federal government’s emphasis for increased use of renewable wind energy,” Erhart said. “Given the historical connection between Tech and Pantex, it makes perfect sense to join our resources together to help secure the energy future for our country and our planet.”

The MOU describes a desire by the signatories to develop a TTU wind energy center that will be built on Tech’s portion of the Pantex land. The center would have access to much of the rest of the open land on the Pantex site to develop a utility-scale wind energy system to support the nation’s long-term energy goals by conducting wind research, contributing to local workforce development and developing wind energy technologies that help resolve the key scientific challenges facing the industry.

The mission of the NNSA Production Office is to ensure the safe, secure and cost-effective operation of the Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Follow NNSA News on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad. Visit http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/ for more information.

Photos available upon request.

CONTACT
Brenda Finley
NNSA Production Office Public Affairs
Office (806) 477-3120

Steven Wyatt
NNSA Production Office Public Affairs
(865) 576-9918

Panhandle Junior High takes second at National Science Bowl Car Race

A team of five competitors from Panhandle Junior High School capped off an eventful visit last week to the nation’s capital with a second place finish in the electric car race competition at the National Science Bowl.

Coach Kevin Meyer said the team competed hard, but was barely edged out at the finish line of the final race.

“Our team was very proud of that finish, only 15/100 of a second difference from first place,” Meyer said. “We had a great time and will treasure the experience forever.”

The academic portion of the Science Bowl is supplemented each year for middle school students with a battery powered car race that gives competitors the chance to apply their knowledge to designing a car to compete on a 20-meter track.

The Panhandle team won the right to represent the area at the national competition by besting 40 other teams in the Pantex Middle School Science Bowl competition in February. They were joined on the trip by a team from Lubbock High School, which won the high school competition.

The Department of Energy sponsors the Science Bowl competition each year to give students across the country a chance to compete in a contest of science and math knowledge. More than 50 regional competitions are conducted, with the winners having the chance to represent their area in Washington.

Debra Halliday, Science Bowl coordinator, traveled with the team as a sponsor and said the students relished the chance to demonstrate their knowledge of science and math, and to visit some of the iconic locations in Washington.

“It was such a pleasure to see this team do so well this year. They worked hard for a long time to receive this recognition,” Halliday said.

The members of the team are: Bradlee Brandvik, Arianna Hann, Samuel Koone, Noah Ford and Grace Kuehler.

Area middle schoolers work to build renewable energy vehicles

The next great innovator in modern automotive design might just be getting their start this weekend at the B&W Pantex Electric Battery Car Race.

Aspiring auto engineers from middle schools across the Panhandle will gather at Caprock High School to put their skills to the test in a 20-meter race to see whose design is the fastest and most stylish.

The car race, which is part of the National Science Bowl, will pit 24 teams of car builders against each other in a competition to build the fastest battery powered car. The event challenges students to use scientific knowledge, creative thinking, experimentation and teamwork to design and build a car powered by renewable energy.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsors the car races, with different types of propulsion chosen for the cars. In prior years, the cars were powered by solar power or Hydrogen fuel cells. This year, DOE chose electric battery cars. Teams were given kits a month ago to assemble into the fastest, most stylish car they can create.

“This is an exciting way for these students to get hands-on experience applying the knowledge they learn in school,” said race coordinator Debra Halliday. “It’s a fun way for us to encourage a new generation of inventors and engineers.”

The races start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Caprock High School. Each race will feature four cars running down a 20-meter track, as well as a competition for car design and most attractive car.

CONTACT
Greg Cunningham
Public Affairs
Office (806) 477-5140
Pager (806) 345-1560