Additional EM employee was honored for past role in DOE Office of Legacy Management team

WASHINGTON, D.C. — EM racked up eight of the Secretary’s Honor Awards for 2023, with DOE recognizing two employees at the Savannah River Site (SRS) for excellence and six teams from the Idaho, Hanford, Portsmouth and Oak Ridge sites for achievements.

The EM wins are among 67 Honor Awards for last year. The Department bestowed 53 teams with the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award and 14 individuals with the Secretary of Energy Excellence Award.

The Honor Awards are the highest form of internal recognition an employee or contractor can receive from the Department. The awards recognize those who display a high level of performance and leadership in their dedication to public service.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm presented Cynthia T. Strowbridge and Bruce Martin from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management at SRS with Excellence Awards in a ceremony last week. A virtual ceremony for Achievement Award recipients is set for 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 20.

Cynthia T. Strowbridge

Honored for setting the standards for contracting officers on large cleanup projects, Strowbridge was instrumental in negotiating and administering the Integrated Mission Completion Contract at SRS. She also helped facilitate the award of task orders worth over $1.8 billion integral to reducing environmental liability in South Carolina and ensuring taxpayers get the maximum value for the dollars spent on cleaning up liquid waste at SRS.

Bruce Martin

Martin’s innovative pension strategy at SRS has protected workers’ financial futures while saving taxpayers over $400 million. His creative thinking, diligence and analysis played a hand in extensive coordination across DOE and negotiations with interagency partners.

Workers with EM contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company finished building a protective enclosure, or cocoon, over the former K East Reactor building at the Hanford Site in 2022. The cocoon is designed to protect the reactor building while the radioactivity in the deactivated reactor core decays over the next several decades, making it safer to complete disposition of the reactor in the future. In the third photo above, Hanford Site officials are pictured at a media event marking the project completion. From left are Travis Creach, K East Interim Safe Storage construction manager, Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo); Paul Branson, K East Interim Safe Storage project manager, CPCCo; Brian Vance, manager, EM Office of River Protection (ORP) and Richland Operations Office (RL); Brian Stickney, deputy manager, ORP and RL; John Eschenberg, president, CPCCo; and Rob Roxburgh, communications director, CPCCo.

DOE honored six EM teams with Achievement Awards for their outstanding work in the cleanup program:

105K East Reactor Interim Safe Storage Project Team at Hanford Site

This team received recognition for placing the K East Reactor in interim safe storage ahead of schedule and under budget. The safe and cost effective completion of this project marks a significant and visible accomplishment in the Department’s mission to reduce risk to the nearby Columbia River in Washington state. The project was among EM’s key construction priorities for 2022.

Hanford Site Holistic Negotiations Team

This Achievement Award is for the team’s success in reaching a conceptual agreement with the Washington State Department of Ecology and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a path to treat, immobilize and dispose of Hanford’s tank waste. The result of three years of discussions and more than 70 mediated sessions, the conceptual agreement upholds the Tri-Party Agreement agencies’ shared commitment to a safe, affordable and achievable path that aligns with the agencies’ shared priorities and commitment to advance the Hanford cleanup mission.

Integrated Waste Treatment Unit Initiation of Waste Processing Project Team at Idaho National Laboratory Site

This Idaho Cleanup Project federal-and-contractor team was honored for its extraordinary dedication to safely initiate radioactive liquid tank waste processing in April last year. Their efforts substantially contributed to completing commitments to the State of Idaho and protecting the Snake River Plain Aquifer, and their professionalism and dedication to protecting workers, the public and the environment leaves a legacy of clean water for Idaho residents.

Oak Ridge Regulatory and Community Engagement Team

After several years of intense effort, this team achieved regulatory approval of and community support for construction of the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, a new onsite hazardous waste disposal facility. This accomplishment allows environmental cleanup to continue uninterrupted across the Oak Ridge Reservation while saving taxpayers nearly $1 billion. Team members used their expert knowledge of environmental statutes and deep understanding of the desires of the local community to persuade local, state and federal regulators and the public to support construction of the facility.

Portsmouth Site X-326 Demolition Project Team

This Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office team was recognized for its extraordinary work to safely demolish the iconic Portsmouth X-326 Uranium Enrichment Process Building. Completed with zero accidents, ahead of schedule and under cost, the successful demolition of this building was a critical first step in advancing the cleanup of the Portsmouth Site and became a central unifying goal for the entire site. Not only did these efforts result in a profound change to the Portsmouth skyline, they demonstrated the Department’s commitment to safe and compliant cleanup of the Portsmouth Site to Southern Ohio communities.

Spent Nuclear Fuel Wet-to-Dry Project Team at the Idaho National Laboratory Site

DOE honored this Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) federal-and-contractor team for safely transferring thousands of spent nuclear fuel elements from wet to dry storage and completing the project more than nine months ahead of a 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement milestone. A significant accomplishment more than two decades in the making, the project required close coordination among many parties, including ICP federal management and staff, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Naval Reactors Idaho Branch Office, and EM cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition. Team members were also steadfast in their commitment to ensure adequate protection of the Snake River Plain Aquifer.

In addition, a number of EM employees will receive DOE Cross-cutting Team Achievement Awards. These teams together accomplished significant achievements on behalf of the Department.

Karen Edson, a public affairs specialist with EM’s Office of External Affairs, was part of the DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) Beneficial Reuse Program Team, which was honored with a Secretary of Energy Achievement Award.

This team plays a vital role in the success of LM's mission of long term surveillance and maintenance of defense nuclear sites that helped bring about the end of the Cold War. One of LM's top priorities is getting properties back into reuse in a safe, efficient and productive manner while ensuring that the history and heritage of the important sacrifices and many innovations made during that era remain alive for many generations to come.

-Contributors: Carly Howard, Matt Roberts, David Sheeley