Volume V, Issue 3 • March 2023
Alaron hits remarkable safety milestone
Alaron Nuclear Services today (March 22) marks a major safety milestone - employees there have worked 18 years (more than 6.3 million hours) without a lost-time accident.
 
“This is a remarkable achievement that places Alaron and the employees who achieved this goal in elite company,” said David Gilson, Alaron General Manager. “Attaining a safety record of this magnitude is not accomplished without tremendous effort and focus on safety from everyone working within the company.”
 
Alaron’s 40 employees were honored today with a celebratory luncheon and gifts (see group photo below). They also heard messages of appreciation from the leadership of Alaron’s parent companies.

(You can watch the video to Alaron from VNS leadership in the video folder of the What We Do SharePoint site. Just click here.)
 
Dominique Richit, CEO of Veolia Nuclear Solutions, praised the Alaron team for its unrelenting commitment to safety. “What you have achieved at Alaron these past 18 years shows your commitment to creating the safest possible work environment. Your problem-solving skills and constant self-awareness are much appreciated,” Richit said.
 
Veolia’s global commitment to being the world champion of ecological transformation means that its employees must be exemplary in the areas of occupational risk prevention and health and safety in the workplace, Richit added. Alaron employees are doing just that, he said.
 
“All of us at VNS Federal Services are committed to safety as the number one priority for our company,” said Steve Moore, VNSFS President and CEO. “As evidenced by this milestone, you (Alaron employees) never give safety a day off. Thank you for staying safe, and keeping others safe on the job, too.”
 
Alaron is a flexible nuclear materials processing facility located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, where it has consistently supported the nuclear industry for more than three decades. Its five primary business lines include: low-level nuclear waste processing and consolidation; highway to rail transloading; licensed facility access; surveying and decontamination; and motors, pumps and specialty coatings.
 
The safety culture at Alaron is second to none, said Duane McLane, Vice President of ESH&Q for VNSFS.
 
“A positive safety culture keeps us injury-free and avoids impacts to ourselves and our families,” McLane said. “At VNSFS, people are our most important asset. We are committed to the elimination of worker injuries, quality issues, occupational illnesses and damage to equipment and property. Thank you (Alaron employees) for always being proactive about workplace safety, for taking responsibility for your safe work environment and for doing the right thing every time.”
 
Gilson, a seasoned nuclear industry manager with more than 38 years of experience, began as Alaron’s General Manager in January. “When I arrived, I was thrilled to learn of the dedication that the safety professionals and the entire team show to maintain such a safety culture. I am honored to be a part of such tremendous commitment.”

Congratulations to everyone on the Alaron team! Here's to 18 more accident-free years!
Conference highlights VNSFS capabilities
basicImage
VNSFS successfully put its mark on the recent 2023 Waste Management Symposia conference, highlighting Veolia’s broad range of capabilities and innovations helping to reshape the radioactive waste management industry.

From the plenary address given by Veolia Director General Jean-Francois Nogrette (see article below), to Veolia’s presence in the French Pavilion and exhibit hall, to the VNS and VNSFS experts in the technical program, the Veolia team demonstrated why 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting, eventful year.

The five-day conference (Feb. 26 to March 2) set attendance records, with more than 2,500 attendees and a sold-out exhibit space featuring 173 organizations, companies and government agencies. It is one of the premier networking and educational events for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear cleanup program.

"Our team took full advantage of the setting to highlight our impressive range of capabilities and our strengths as an innovative partner, said Steve Moore, VNSFS President and CEO. We had many productive meetings with current and potential partners to talk about ways we can continue to help DOE in its important mission."

The conference’s technical program featured a record number of presentations, including more than 240 technical papers from professionals and students. VNSFS subject matter experts shared how our combination of deep and varied experience, technological innovation, and operational know-how is helping partners. Photos of our presenters are below, as well as photos of the Veolia booth at the conference.
VNSFS speakers and presenters
Jim Kriskovich, VNSFS Senior Technical Advisor, participated in a roundtable discussion on the advancement of HEPA filters at DOE sites.
Ron Mitchell, Deputy Director of Technology Deployment, gave an update on how we are treating problematic reactive metal in Texas.
Keith Witwer, Sr. Project Manager, discussed how GeoMelt is a permanent solution for the growing inventory of water treatment secondary wastes at Fukushima in Japan.
Process Engineer Ben Garrett provided an overview of Veolia’s modular waste systems designed for the treatment of waters contaminated with radioactive isotopes.
Kevin Finucane, VNSFS Project Manager, also discussed the use of GeoMelt at Fukushima - but focused on how it vitrifies low- and intermediate level wastes.
David Wilburn, Business Development Director at Alaron Nuclear Services, presented a poster detailing “Transloading Economics in our high-priced truck transport market.”
A look at the Veolia booth at WMS 2023
Setting up the booth. The second story was used constantly during the conferences for meetings with clients and teaming partners.
The booth includes free-standing kiosks showcasing the VNSFS businesss lines, GeoMelt and our new CVE joint venture.
VNSFS President & CEO Steve Moore speaks to Veolia employees before the conference opening.
Ben Garrett, VNSFS Process Engineer, sets up the GeoMelt vitrification model at the booth.
Veolia CEO makes keynote speech at WMS
The theme of “Planning for the Future: Innovation, Transformation, Sustainability” resonated throughout the recent Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix - starting with the keynote speech given by Jean-Francois Nogrette, CEO of Veolia’s France and Special Wastes Zone.

Mr. Nogrette shared Veolia’s vision for a long-term nuclear future where waste is more manageable, safer, less costly and requires far less landfill capacity. A future where technologies can greatly reduce or even eliminate risks to humans involved in the disposal of nuclear waste, and where learning from other sectors fortifies efficiency, strengthens resilience and lengthens the lifespan of nuclear plants.

You can view brief clips from Mr. Nogrette's speech on the VNSFS What We Do SharePoint site (accessible to anyone with a vnsfs.com email address) and also on the VNSFS YouTube Channel.

The full 17-minute speech can also be viewed on our What We Do site.

Speaking of the What We Do site ... it's where you will also find Veolia logos and marketing materials, as well as all past issues of the VNSFS Voice. Please bookmark the page in your favorite so you can return there easily!

And, speaking of the VNSFS YouTube channel, which is relatively new ... please subscribe if you don't currently (only 24 subscribers as of now) and share links to the videos hosted there on your LinkedIn page. This will draw people to the channel, where they, too, will hopefully subscribe.
SSSB project in Alabama nearing its end
VNSFS project in Alabama - the decommissioning, dismantling and disposal of the Surface Ship Support Barge (SSSB) is nearly complete, with the removal of the major sources of radioactivity, without incident or spread of contamination, from the vessel.

The SSSB, located at the Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, once provided support to nuclear-powered U.S. Navy vessels. VNSFS is a key subcontractor to APTIM and provided important support on the demolition of the former spent fuel water pool, also referred to as the “wet pit,” or the heart of the vessel.

APTIM is on schedule to wrap up field activities on the SSSB by April, with project closure slated for June. The SSSB worksite is planned to be fully released from radiological controls for unrestricted use upon meeting strict radiological standards and approval from the Navy; after which, it will be returned to Alabama Shipyard.

“The removal of the SSSB’s wet pit is a major milestone in its dismantlement and disposal, but an even greater accomplishment is the safety performance executed by our Program Manager Bruce Fox and his team. They worked more than 204,000 safe work hours in a hazardous environment without sustaining a single Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable or lost time incident,” said APTIM Senior Vice President of Nuclear Decommissioning Dave Lowe. “We look forward to completing this one-of-a-kind project and performing future work of this nature with the U.S. Navy.”

The radiologically controlled SSSB was constructed from a converted World War II Navy T2 tanker built by Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company, now the Alabama Shipyard. The removal of the wet pit entailed the size-reduction of approximately 2,500 tons of high-density concrete, reinforced by steel, that served as radiation shielding. Major sources of radioactivity from the lower pump room were also removed and shipped off site.
 
This 36-month project involves removing all hazardous and radiologically impacted materials and ultimately disposing of the entire vessel. The Prime contract awarded to APTIM is with the United States Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), with VNSFS being one of several key subcontractors.

Tony Scott, SSSB Project Manager for VNSFS, said of the total 5,300 tons of waste removed to date, more than 4,000 tons have been safely handled by the VNSFS team and shipped to Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas. The photos below show the progress inside the SSSB.
CVE has new logo and website
The VNSFS joint venture with CTI & Associates, Inc. which earlier this year was awarded the contract to operate two landfills at the Hanford cleanup site in Washington State - now has its own logo and website.

CTI-VNSFS Environmental LLC (CVE) can be found online at www.cti-vnsfs.

The logo can be found in the marketing materials folder on our What We Do SharePoint site - accessible to anyone with a vnsfs.com email address.

CVE grew out of a Mentor-Protégé agreement approved by the U.S. Small Business Association in July 2020. The two companies bring complementary strengths in self-performing landfill engineering, construction and operations. 

At the start of this year, CVE won the contract to perform landfill management, operations, inspection and maintenance services at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) and the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF). VNSFS had performed these services at ERDF since 2013, and at IDF since 2020.

In November 2021, CVE won the contract for the installation of a perimeter intrusion, detection and assessment system (PIDAS) at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The contract is part of a Security Infrastructure Revitalization Program (SIRP) at the Y-12 complex and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2024.
VNSFS Board of Directors photo
All members of the VNSFS Board of Directors attended the recent Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix - so we took advantage of the opportunity to get a group photo! Pictured in the front row, left to right: Willis Bixby, Pete Diakun and Dominique Richit. In the back row are Tyler Przybylek, Steve Moore and Brian Clarke.
The VNSFS monthly newsletter features profiles of our company's leadership, people and projects, as well as those from the broader VNS and Veolia, to help everyone better understand who we are and what we do. In this issue, we look the recent grand opening of the new offices for VNS North America in Colorado. If you have a suggestion for a Veolia, VNS or VNSFS profile, please send it to news@vnsfs.com.
VNS opens new Colorado office
VNS North America (NA) today opened its new Lafayette, Colorado, facility on Feb. 28 - bringing together two existing offices in the state under one roof. This facility will expand VNS’ capability to design and develop the cutting-edge technologies to address challenges in waste management, decontamination, and decommissioning.

“The state-of-the-art Lafayette facility will be a hub of innovation for all facets of Veolia Nuclear Solutions,” said Chris Woodhead, Chief Operating Officer, VNS NA. “Colorado has a rich history of spurring new ideas in engineering that solve tomorrow’s problems and improve lives. VNS is proud to have made this investment here, and we look forward to everything it will yield.”

In the photo at right, Woodhead (right) and VNS Chief Financial Officer Axel de Saint-Quentin cut the ribbon at the facility.

VNS invested more than $1 million into the new facility to both expand its development capabilities and recruit new talent. Employees at this site will support many aspects of the nuclear remote handling industry. Those include decommissioning of complex legacy facilities, damaged reactors, and graphite reactors, and operational support for Fusion and New Build Nuclear reactors.

The expanded facility reflects Colorado’s role as a VNS hub of engineering and innovation, with a history dating back to 1992. VNS will specifically use the Lafayette facility to expand its design and development of new robotic and remote handling technology in a cohesive manner. It will enable innovations on long-reach and high payload capabilities, and the wider application and optimization of remote handing technologies.
Dare to Dream program has VNSFS connections
Look out Shark Tank - here come The Happy Campers!

A group of middle school students from Piketon, Ohio - including the daughter of VNSFS Sr. Security Specialist Carrie Ricer, won the recent Dare to Dream high school regional business pitch competition. The event, now in its 10th year, gives students the opportunity to create a business idea and pitch it to a panel of judges for the chance to win thousands of dollars in prize money.

This year, the Piketon LEAD program, comprised of students in sixth to eighth grades, beat out the high school competition (15 teams, narrowed from the 54 that entered) with their "Happy Campers" pitch for a mobile camper cleaning service. They took home $4,500 for the overall win and $500 for the most viable idea.

Ava Ricer (Carrie's daughter) said she was very surprised at the win. "When we got to the competition, it was very intimidating, but I feel that our research - and how we just had fun while we were presenting - helped us win. I think we brought a great idea that identified a need and can turn a profit."

VNSFS President & CEO Steve Moore was one of the Dare to Dream judges this year. He is a founding member of the Tri-State Angel Investment Group, an event sponsor. Steve and Ava are pictured above following the March 7 competition.
Restrictions on personal use of sites or services
By John Shelton, VNSFS Information Security Manager

Earlier this month, a member of the VNSFS Government Security Committee (GSC) requested the Electronic Communications Officer review an article from the Risk & Compliance Journal about tracking employee communications. The article referenced U.S. Justice Department guidance on the evaluation of corporate compliance programs and policies intending to preserve business communications. A recent study has also found that unsanctioned apps/services account for 26 percent of cloud -resident Sensitive Data Loss.

After reviewing the information provided by the GSC Member and an audit of cloud or web-based applications recently used on VNSFS end-user systems, we've determined that VNSFS will adjust settings on application and web technical controls. These adjustments may affect employee access to sites or services that have been utilized in a personal capacity. Business-related functionality will not be affected.

VNSFS has an approved policy, VFS-IT-PLCY-008, System and Communications Protection Policy, which has been in effect since 2018. The below sections of that policy authorizes VNSFS IT to perform mitigation efforts associated with this issue:

  • 6.1: VNS Federal Services will monitor, control and protect organizational communications (i.e., information transmitted or received by organizational information systems) at the external boundaries and key internal boundaries of the information systems.
  • 6.2: VNS Federal Services will employ architectural designs, software development techniques and systems engineering principles that promote effective information security within organizational information systems.
  • 6.4: VNS Federal Services will prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resources.
 
In addition, the VNSFS approved policy VFS-IT-PLCY-002, Configuration Management Policy, has the following sections that authorizes VNSFS IT to perform these actions:

  • 6.7: VNS Federal Services will restrict, disable and prevent the use of nonessential programs, functions, ports, protocols and services.
  • 6.8: VNS Federal Services will apply deny-by-exception (blacklist) policy to prevent the use of unauthorized software or deny-all, permit-by-exception (whitelisting) policy to allow the execution of authorized software.
Our safety stats from February
Injury is a reminder to assess your work area
On Feb. 14, a VNSFS employee at the Horns Rapid Test Center received a small laceration from concertina wire on a perimeter fence. The employee was assisting another employee in retrieving paperwork that was blown near the fence by windy conditions. The fence line was significantly closer to the ground due to sand build up in that location that allowed the employee to contact the wire with their left shoulder. 

A barb (or razor point – see photo) contacted the left shoulder causing a 3mm laceration requiring minor first aid. Subsequently, preventative antibiotics were prescribed causing this to become an OSHA recordable injury. 

This is a good reminder to always assess your work area for hazards. Conditions are dynamic and can change quickly. Thoughtful and deliberate considerations of the surroundings (situational awareness) with actions to mitigate identified hazards (and “being careful” is not an effective mitigator) prior to taking any action. Be slow and deliberate in movements and avoid instinctive or reactive actions. Take 4 to Safety, as previously communicated, is a perfect tool to use for this purpose.
Keep safety at the forefront of your work tasks
By Henry Bolen, Corporate ES&H Manager

Do you know our VNSFS Safety motto? “Safety is no accident; it’s an attitude!” was selected from submissions across our projects and offices a few years ago. This motto was selected because it best summarizes VNSFS' view on the importance of safety and incorporating it into our daily thoughts and actions.

Each of us must have the attitude of making safety a core value in what we do. Just wanting to be safe is not enough. We need to ensure our entire approach to our jobs and each specific task is taken with safety at the forefront.

Below are a few ideas for keeping a positive safety attitude. Can you think of more? Please share in your toolbox meetings, pre-job briefings, daily turnovers and safety committee meetings.
 
  1. Plan to work safely – when getting ready to do a job, review what the hazards are with the work, identify the controls needed to reduce the risk from the hazards, and document these in your Job Hazard Analysis (JHA). Use the Take 4 for Safety tool, for even very simple tasks to ensure
  2. Be active in the task briefing – before you start a task, be sure to review the scope of the job, including the hazards and controls, with everyone involved. This includes any customer or sub-contractor workers that are also on the job. If you have questions about the task, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask. You just might ask the question that prevents an incident from happening.
  3. Don’t Look the Other Way – You’ve likely heard this before or even seen the famous poem by Don Merrell, but the key here is if you SEE SOMETHING unsafe or that could be an issue, SAY SOMETHING. Don’t be afraid to speak up to anyone on the job, whether it’s to a supervisor, peer, or even management.
  4. Show concern for others – We all want to be safe so we can return home to our loved ones, and we want the same for our co-workers. Showing concern means helping them out when needed, making sure they have the right tools and equipment, and not letting them break safety rules and procedures. The Good Catch Program is a great way to engage.
  5. Stay healthy, fit and focused – One way we can stay safe is by staying healthy and fit. This includes staying well-rested and having a balanced diet. This helps us to stay focused on the task at hand and keep a strong, positive attitude toward safe work, every day.
The VNSFS Human Resources Department provides information each month on company benefits, new hires, birthdays, birth announcements, etc. If you have something you would like included, please contact Amanda Spriggs-Rhea.
COVID testing and vaccine benefits to change
On May 11, the federal government will end the official COVID-19 public health emergency. Beginning May 12, BlueCross group health plan benefits for COVID-19 testing and vaccines will change. Updated coverage for this care includes:

  • BCBS will cover lab/office COVID-19 tests the same way they cover routine lab testing. Depending on each member’s plan, that could mean a copay, deductible/coinsurance or no out-of-pocket cost.
  • At-home COVID-19 tests won’t be covered.
  • COVID-19 vaccinations will have no cost for you when given by a network provider. If an employee uses an out-of-network provider for this vaccine, their out-of-network benefits will apply.
 
If you have questions about the lab testing benefit, you can find more information in your Evidence of Coverage. BCBS will also update bcbstupdates.com in early April with news for members.
The following folks joined the VNSFS team in the past month. We are happy to have you on the team!

  • Daniel Kershner, Sales Coordinator, Alaron
The VNSFS Service Awards Program recognizes employees’ service dates in increments of five years. Our vendor, Point Recognition, sends eligible employees an email with a username and password. Employees may then choose a gift or gifts that will be sent directly to their home.

Congratulations to those earning
Service Awards in February
John Shelton, 5 years
Here's wishing a very happy birthday to all the VNSFS folks celebrating this month. Hope it is (was) a great day!

Elliott Ahola, Billy Bird, Felix DeJesus, Eugene Essex, Willie Gire, Michael Grant, Del Hopkins, Paul Larsen, Michael Legler, Ron Mitchell, Bryon O'Hara, Kyler Page, Jeff Rowe, Ryan Sams, Tony Scott, Garrett Search and Jessica Shearer.