safety performance cleanup closure U.S. Department of Energy • Volume 1, Issue No. 10 • December 4, 2009 EM Taps Peer Reviews to Help Manage Its Big Projects When it comes to managing big construction projects, the Offi ce of Environmental Management is in the fi rst stages of a culture change. EM Assistant Secretary Inés Triay has made it one of her top priorities to bring new budget and schedule discipline to the $15 billion of large-scale waste treatment plants and other specialized facilities that EM is building at its sites around the country. In the past, delays and cost overruns on those projects have led to critical reviews of EM’s performance by the Government Accountability Offi ce and other auditors. To change that, Triay has committed EM to adopting the successful Construction Project Review model for managing large, complex projects fi rst developed by the Department of Energy’s Offi ce of Science in the early 1980s and later adopted by the National Nuclear Security Administration as well. In This Issue It is a team approach built around peer reviews conducted at regular intervals by experts drawn from throughout EM and other parts of DOE. Reviewers have no Construction Project Reviews .....1 continued on page 2 Biomass Groundbreaking ............1 Breaking Ground for a New Green Era In Brief .........................................1 People ..........................................3 at Savannah River On a cool, sunny fall day, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu joined Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s senior senator, and other members of the South Carolina – IN BRIEF – and Georgia Congressional delegations to break ground on a new renewable energy fueled facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Oak Ridge: Incinerator’s Mission Complete The Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator located in East Tennes- see Technology Park was perma- nently shut down on December 2 after handling its fi nal load of liquid and solid waste. During 18 years of operation, the incinerator treated more than 35 Letting the wood chips fl y at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Biomass Cogen- million pounds of hazardous and eration Facility at the Savannah River Site, the shovelers were, from left to right: U.S. polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Representative Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.); U.S. Representative John Barrow (D-Ga.); mixed waste from approximately House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.); Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, U.S. Representative Joe Wilson (R-S.C.); Ameresco President and CEO George Sakellaris; twenty DOE sites. For much of that U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and time, the incinerator was the only DOE-Savannah River Manager Jeffrey Allison. facility in the United States permit- ted and authorized to treat PCB The new Biomass Cogeneration Facility will replace a deteriorating, ineffi cient coal mixed waste. powerhouse and oil-fi red boilers and generate savings of approximately $35 million continued on page 6 continued on page 4 December 4, 2009 • U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Environmental Management • 2 Construction Project Raines, who chaired the review committee on WTP, noted that another Reviews change its report called for was ending . continued from page 1 the practice of having the contractor and DOE maintain separate reserve connection to the projects they assess accounts for their respective liabilities and can offer independent and objective in the event the contract is terminated. advice as critics and advisors. That change was made after the report Dan Lehman, who oversees was issued, giving managers more fl ex- construction reviews for the Offi ce ibility in allocating funds. “As a result of Science, said they don’t focus on of the review, headquarters focused on process or checking the right boxes. getting that done,” Raines said. Their key feature, he said, is bringing in knowledgeable people “who are able And, after issues identifi ed in the to ask the right questions with the goal Bob Raines, Acting Deputy Assistant review of the Portsmouth DUF6 plant of fi nding out facts, analyzing the facts Secretary for Project Management, were addressed, DOE’s Offi ce of in real time based on their experience, supervises EM’s Construction Project Engineering Construction Management, providing feedback to the project, and Review process. which serves as the Department’s anticipating problems.” budget watchdog, upgraded its rating Waste Treatment Plant, the Salt Waste on the project to indicate it has greater Processing Facility at SRS and the confi dence it will be fi nished on time Uranium-233 Project at Oak Ridge and within budget. have been completed and the report But beyond the specifi c gains that have on the IWTU review, which was already been generated, Raines sees conducted last month, is now being the real value of the reviews in the prepared. opportunities they create for sharing The reports have praised some best practices across the complex and aspects of the projects’ management bringing needed resources to bear on a and criticized others. They have also particular project. “We are letting our included broad recommendations, sites know that there are more resources observations and, in some cases, have available to help the projects deliver,” called for specifi c actions to be taken. he said. “By sharing information across the complex, we will provide the “We have acted quickly on the recom- support they need to complete projects Ken Picha, Headquarters WTP Sponsor mendations the review teams have on time and on budget.” made and we will continue to do so,” EM conducted its fi rst review in April said Bob Raines, who supervises the The reviews create an analytic at the Depleted Uranium Hexafl uoride review process as EM’s Acting Deputy approach that helps managers maintain (DUF6) Conversion Facility at Assistant Secretary for Project Manage- a laser-like focus on keeping their Portsmouth, Ohio, one of the fi ve ment. projects on budget and on schedule in large-scale construction projects it the short and long term. “Our goal is to has underway. It has since reviewed Raines said the reviews have already ensure that every proposal and project the other four: the Waste Treatment led to changes such as appointing an at each of the sites is reviewed in the and Immobilization Plant Project at executive sponsor at headquarters for context of time and cost schedules, the Hanford Site; the Uranium-233 the $12.2 billion Waste Treatment so that at the end of the day we’re Downblending and Disposition Project Plant project to help maintain open successful across the complex,” Raines at the Oak Ridge Site; the Salt Waste communications with the project’s explained. Processing Facility at the Savannah managers and shorten the chain of command. Chip Lagdon, DOE’s Chief of Nuclear River Site; and the Integrated Waste Safety, who chaired EM’s reviews of Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho Dae Chung, EM’s Principal Deputy the Portsmouth DUF6 plant and the Site. Assistant Secretary, named Ken Picha Salt Waste Processing Facility at SRS, Reports on the reviews of the to the new post of Headquarters WTP said the process can be valuable to Sponsor on September 22. Portsmouth DUF6 plant, the Hanford continued on page 3 safety performance cleanup closure December 4, 2009 • U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Environmental Management • 3 – PEOPLE – Director for DOE’s Energy Technol- ogy Engineering Center (ETEC) in Canoga Park, Calif. Earlier, he served in various roles at DOE’s Savannah River Site including more than twelve years as a Remedial Project Manager in the Environmen- tal Restoration Division. Prior to joining DOE, he spent eleven years with the U.S, Army Corps of Engi- neers in project planning and study management, engineering design, and Tom Johnson construction divisions. Bill Backous Thomas Johnson was named He earned a Bachelor of Science Bill is a licensed professional engi- Deputy Director for Recovery Act degree in Civil Engineering and a neer who was most recently with the Projects at the Offi ce of Environmen- Master’s degree in Earth and Environ- Northwest Water Business Group in tal Management effective October mental Resources Management from Bellevue/Tacoma, Wash. Prior to that, 25, 2009. In his new position, he is the University of South Carolina. he was with CH2M Hill. Previously, assisting Cynthia Anderson, Director he was with the Washington State Bill Backous has joined DOE’s of the Recovery Act Program, with Department of Ecology for 22 years. Energy Technology Engineering implementation of the Recovery Act Center staff at the Santa Susana Field He also previously worked with the Projects within EM. Laboratory, in Canoga Park, Calif., as City of Seattle Public Works Depart- Using Recovery Act funds, EM has the Federal Project Director. ment, the Environmental Projection awarded nearly $6 billion in con- Agency and for a design and build tracts to create jobs across the coun- Bill succeeds Thomas Johnson in the engineering fi rm building nuclear try through the acceleration of legacy post. [see preceding item] In his new power plants. waste cleanup activities at its sites. job, he will oversee the day-to-day op- erations related to EM’s remediation Backous started his career in the U.S. Prior to being named Deputy Direc- of the former Atomic Energy Com- Navy where he was a nuclear power tor, Thomas served as Federal Project mission’s research activities at ETEC. plant mechanical operator for subma- rine propulsion systems. Construction Project Both Raines and Lagdon said fi eld managers and contractors have Reviews generally been receptive to the reviews, . continued from page 2 seeing them as efforts to help their projects succeed. contractors as well as federal project and site managers, because “it helps W.E.