Advanced Mix Waste Treatment Project
NSA criticality safety engineers began supporting Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC (BBWI) on the Advanced Mix Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) in May 2007. The AMWTP mission is to retrieve, characterize, treat and package transuranic waste for shipment out of Idaho to permanent disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
NSA has been an integral component to BBWI’s success in criticality safety. Since NSA has been involved with AMWTP, the following accomplishments have been achieved:
- Every performance based incentive involving criticality safety has been achieved
- Nine Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) MCNP calculations have been originated and approved
- Eight CSEs have been originated and approved
- An additional ten CSEs have been originated and are in the review process
- Twenty-two operation requests have been approved using the engineering change request process
- Two NCS reports have been written providing guidance for absorbent use and NCS-exempt criteria.
As a result of the superior support provided on the project, NSA scored a 940 out of a possible 950 on the BBWI supplier performance evaluation. This accomplishment is a testament to the results oriented team approach NSA engineers take with respect to our clients, as well as confirms our belief that recruiting and retaining the best engineers in the nuclear industry is the only way to serve our clients and sets us apart from the competition.
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
In August 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Fluor-B&W Portsmouth LLC an initial five-year contract to begin the decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of the buildings and facilities formerly comprising the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Between October 2010 and March 2011, NSA supported the Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC (FBP) team in transition of the Portsmouth D&D Contract. Following transition on March 28th of this year, NSA was awarded a long-term contract to provide resources to support the FBP Nuclear Safety and Engineering organization.
The scope of the support contract is to provide Professional Support Services in several labor categories, including Readiness Team Leader, Operations Program Development Leader, Conduct of Operations Specialist/Mentor, Nuclear Safety Engineer, and Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer. NSA’s initial task order under the contract covers seven engineers, including four nuclear criticality safety engineers and three nuclear safety engineers.
NSA engineers are currently supporting daily waste management activities at the site and are supporting the planning activities for the start of D&D activities on the three enrichment cascade facilities, X-333, X-330 and X-326. Over the next several months, our staff members will be supporting consolidation of the former United States Enrichment Corporation and LATA/Parallax Portsmouth, LLC nuclear safety programs into a single FBP nuclear safety program. This will include development of a Documented Safety Analysis for the D&D activities, generation of nuclear criticality safety evaluations for planned D&D processes, and other activities associated with execution of the D&D contract.
ORNL Nuclear Nonproliferation Technical Support
In April 2011, NSA and its team partners were awarded a new Basic Ordering Agreement by UT-Battelle, LLC, operating contractor for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), for nuclear nonproliferation technical support.
The scope of the contract includes technical support services and project management support services for ORNL’s Global Security and Nonproliferation Program. To achieve success, NSA has established a comprehensive small business team that can provide all technical services required by the contract statement of work. Our team partners for this contract are Omega Consultants Inc.; Process Engineering Associates, LLC; Theta Technologies, Inc.; Watermark Risk Management International, LLC; Bull Run Metal Fabricators & Engineers, Inc.; ARMEC Corporation; HUKARI Technical Services, Inc.; and J. C. Carter Associates, Inc.
