ECA Update: March 28, 2012
Published: Wed, 03/28/12
Lab announces results of Voluntary Separation Program
Los Alamos National Laboratory Press Release March 26, 2012 LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, March 26, 2012--Los Alamos National Laboratory today announced that 557 employees will leave the Lab as part of a voluntary separation program announced last month. The employees come from nearly all Lab functions, excluding certain essential areas.
"I would like to thank each and every employee who volunteered for the program," said LANL Director Charlie McMillan. "Some of them devoted their entire careers to serving the nation during a truly historic time for the country and the Lab. They set the example that we will continue to follow."
The Lab announced it would seek a voluntary reduction of between 400 and 800 employees from its regular, permanent workforce of about 7,600. The program is aimed at reducing the possibility of involuntary layoffs and better positioning the Lab to execute its missions with flat or lower federal budgets.
Employees who volunteered to leave will receive severance packages of up to 39 weeks of pay based on years of service. They will also have access to the Lab's health insurance plan for a limited time.
"The loss of hundreds employees will be painful, but the program did accomplish what it set out to do. This VSP, and other actions that started late last year, are necessary to preserve our capabilities during uncertain economic times," McMillan said.
Join elected officials and industry leaders from across the nation for a discussion on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and the key role Carlsbad, NM and the one-of-a-kind Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) play in solving America's nuclear problems. As mayor of Carlsbad, N.M., I appreciate comments Illinois Congressman John Shimkus made about our community to Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu during a recent hearing.
Shimkus stated that Carlsbad sustained siting support for the DOE's nearby Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground deep salt repository for defense-generated transuranic waste, when the state did not fully support the project.
Carlsbad's support has been an essential component of WIPP's success, but I did want to clarify the state's role in WIPP's history. New Mexico and the federal government have had what's called a consent-and-consultation agreement throughout the WIPP process, which provided the state with a key role at the negotiating table.
The state could have obstructed the project at any time and did, in fact, play a key role in changing WIPP's mission from a potential high-level repository to a repository for intermediate-level defense waste. As evidenced by Nevada's recent flat-out rejection of Nye County's support for Yucca Mountain, I assure you there are multiple ways a state government can block a repository.
It is also very disappointing that congressmen who seem to be so concerned about the debt and spending are supporting Yucca, which has a predicted life cycle cost of $192 billion compared to the same life cycle at WIPP of $39 billion. Congress should quit playing politics with the taxpayers' money and make a rational business decision based on overall safety, economic factors and what is best for our country.
Due to WIPP's tremendous success, Carlsbad residents are currently very interested in expanding the area's role in waste disposal and New Mexico officials have agreed to talks about their initial expectations. Our state governing body has always played a pivotal role in what I hope will be an increasingly growing role in our solving of the nation's nuclear waste problems.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory plans to lay off 45 employees this week to adjust to the fiscal 2012 federal budget approved in late December.
It also has reduced retirement benefits in a move that lab officials say is tied to long-term costs rather than the current budget.
The Department of Energy national lab based in Richland employs 4,758 people and gets 93 percent of its budget from federal agencies. Because the job cuts could bring the total number of layoffs in a rolling 12 months to as many as 100, it needed to wait for final approval of a Workforce Restructuring Plan by DOE before it could move ahead with layoffs.
The plan was signed this weekend.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu plans to visit Hanford in June to hold a town hall and other meetings to discuss safety issues with vitrification plant workers.
No date has been set, but the visit is being planned, said Matthew Moury, a Department of Energy deputy assistant secretary, during a presentation to the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. He discussed safety, including nuclear safety culture and technical issues that could affect safe operations of the vitrification plant.
This was the first time a caucus briefing has been organized to focus specifically on safety, but it seemed appropriate based on issues at Hanford, said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. He organizes the briefings each spring to educate congressional leaders and their staff about environmental cleanup at DOE sites, including Hanford.
The safety culture at the vitrification plant became an issue in summer 2010 when Walter Tamosaitis, the former research and technology manager for the plant, outlined concerns in a letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Since then, the defense board has issued a recommendation to DOE on nuclear safety culture to make sure that workers feel free to raise technical concerns about the plant's design and construction that could affect its future safe and efficient operations and that concerns are considered and addressed.
The director of a Department of Energy investigative office said Hanford vitrification plant subcontractor URS appeared to interfere in an investigation of potential nuclear safety noncompliance.
URS requested that vit plant senior manager Donna Busche, who has raised concerns, not be interviewed until her manager was available to observe the discussion, according to a memo from John Boulden III, director of the Office of Enforcement and Oversight for the Office of Health, Safety and Security.
Busche, the manager of environmental and nuclear safety at the plant, filed an employee concern this month with the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security, or HSS. The $12.2 billion plant is being built to treat up to 56 million gallons of radioactive waste left from the past production of weapons plutonium.
The HSS office earlier conducted a nuclear safety investigation to assess whether employees on the project were free to raise concerns -- particularly technical issues that might affect the future safe operation of the plant -- without fear of retaliation.
The 2000 decade -- infrastructure reduction at Y-12 continued D. Ray Smith, The Oak Ridger March 25, 2012 OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- As we continue to examine the early years of the 2000 decade, there were several major changes that took place. A new contractor, BWXT Y-12 (now B&W Y-12) took charge in November 2000, and quickly became engaged in the many improvements that needed to be made.
A major cleanup effort was initiated across the site and housekeeping was emphasized as part of maintaining a safe workplace. Not that these things had not been in Y-12's culture all along, however, bringing in approximately 100 individuals in the top positions of the organization caused a lot of fresh eyes to see things that those of us who had been here for years had all too often just come to accept.
These new managers often asked, "Why are things the way they are and what can we do to improve them?" It then became obvious what could be done ... it seemed we just needed to ask more probing questions.
One of the many new initiatives was a program known as Infrastructure Reduction which by 2003 was really beginning to take older structures and unused buildings down. The program known as Modernization was also gaining momentum.
The contract for waste characterization, processing and waste operations services was awarded to a partnership between Utah-based EnergySolutions and Environmental Dimensions Inc (EDI) of New Mexico, with various subcontractors. It covers all aspects of radioactive and hazardous waste management, including planning, storage, movement, characterization, processing, and packaging at RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), radiological and nuclear facilities at LANL.
|
|
