The projects selected for Best-in-Class awards include the innovative tools and approaches used to integrate the Environmental Management Systems throughout the Laboratory; the new chapter added to the Laboratory's Engineering Standards Manual, which centralizes design requirements and guidance for construction of new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings, and incorporating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification requirements for line item projects; and the replacement of graphite molds with reusable tantalum metal molds, which eliminates graphite waste.
The projects that received the Environmental Stewardship awards were the statistical analysis of glove box glove failure and the complete switch to replacement furnace elements.
The analysis of glove box glove failure examined reasons for unplanned glove failures so future problems can be anticipated and solved in advance. This project helps minimize glove box breaches that occur due to glove failure, avoid unnecessary worker exposure, down time, and mixed low-level glove and clean-up waste.
The change to replaceable furnace elements reduces the amount of transuranic waste and allow for faster and easier installation.
Personnel from organizations across the Laboratory are part of the teams that received Pollution Prevention awards from the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Laboratory won the most awards of any facility in the competition this year. The awards recognize employees and/or teams who have minimized or reduced the Laboratory's waste stream through practices they've adopted.
Competition for Pollution Prevention awards is open to all NNSA sites; this year there were more entries than in any previous year, said Patricia Gallagher of Los Alamos' Solid Waste Regulatory Compliance group.
National Nuclear Security Administration officials are scheduled to present the winning projects and program teams with their awards this spring at Los Alamos.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.