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Department of Energy Recognizes Winners of 2011 DOE Sustainability Awards

November 3, 2011 - 1:38pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the winners of the 2011 Department of Energy (DOE) Sustainability Awards. These awards recognize the achievements of DOE employees whose leadership and cost-reducing initiatives have saved taxpayer money by reducing the Department’s use of energy, water, and paper, while improving the energy efficiency of Federal buildings and vehicles. DOE’s sustainability initiatives saved more than $4 million in FY 2010 alone. Awards were presented to individuals, teams, and organizations for improving energy, water and fleet efficiency, as well as reducing pollution and waste across the agency’s facilities, including its National Laboratories. Deputy Secretary of Energy and Senior Sustainability Officer Daniel Poneman congratulated the winners in a ceremony at the Department’s Forrestal headquarters.
Read more of the full press release here...

From the 2011 Award Program...
Office of Environmental Management - Sustainable On-Site Shipping

Uniquely applying an off-the-shelf Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) technology to the onsite shipping of wastes to a landfll, the East Tennessee Technology Park created a paperless shipping process that improved air quality and allowed more shipments each day. Each waste shipment previously required eight paper forms. In addition, trucks were idling as the paperwork was being completed and during the truck inspection process. Implementing the RFID system removed the need for paper forms and eliminated 25 minutes of truck idling time - resulting in roughly 260,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions avoided and the use of 12,000 gallons of diesel fuel eliminated. An additional but unanticipated benefit of the RFID was a reduction in shipping information errors.

RFID safety and security features include a real time dashboard display that provides alerts if trucks do not complete runs in the maximum allowed time and transportation alerts if the truck is over weight limits. Cost savings to date attributable to the RFID technology are estimated at $8.7 million. The RFID paperless shipping technology has already been adopted by several DOE sites due to all of its associated benefits.

Click here for the full list and descriptions of the award winners (PDF 1.78 MB) including the East Tennessee Technology Park award  for Sustainable On-Site Shipping using the Radio Frequency Identification Transportation System (RFITS).

Nuclear Energy Insider:Turnkey Transportation Announced As Latest Speaker to Join Department of Energy Managers at Nuclear D&D Supply Chain Conference

Monday, Oct 10, 2011

The Nuclear D&D industry’s top buyers including DOE managers from Hanford, Oak Ridge, West Valley, Savannah River Site, Portsmouth-Paducah, Dounreay Site Restoration (UK) and EWN (Germany) will meet leading contractors at the Nuclear D&D Supply Chain Conference (Nov 17-16, Hilton Hotel, Charlotte) to discuss ways of reducing D&D costs, driving efficiencies and winning contracts by implementing successful business strategies.

Dean Newton, Director of Information Technology at Turnkey Transportation LLC is the latest speaker to join Nuclear Energy Insider’s fantastic speaker line-up with a unique presentation addressing the latest consolidation of business systems which can reduce operational costs, increase efficiencies and allow for sustainable staffing levels.

Nuclear Energy Insider interviewed Dean Newton last week to enable the industry to gain insight into this refreshing new approach to Information Technology systems within the D&D industry. Here is what Dean had to say…

October 2011 - Nuclear Decommissioning Report

RFITS Takes Shipping to the Next Level

Published in the October edition of the Nuclear Decommissioning Report .

Due to declining budgets and the drive for increased productivity, Information Technology Organizations need to support dynamic changes in business processes and strategically align themselves with both corporate missions as well as Department of Energy (DOE) mis­sions. Innovation should drive business in an efficient manner allowing reductions in such a way that enable the DOE to track,Photo of the Radio Frequency Identification Transportation System (RFITS) in use on the K-33 project in Oak Ridge, TN. manage and dispose of hazardous, radioactive debris and materials in sustainable and efficient methods. As business applications, network appliances and hardware become more intelligent, Bigdata drives the need to think about data differently.

Data is a living and dynamic asset that is in constant motion within the enterprise as it moves across business processes. The outputs of business process feeds business intel­ligence, just as business intelligence should feed business process. The last 30 years were focused on computer science; the next 20 will focus on data science and how to use data to execute in a lean environment.

Read more...

March 2011 - EM Recovery News

In the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management American Recover and Reinvestment Act Newsletter article titled Effective Financial Planning Spurs Recovery Act Success at Oak Ridge, Photo of the Radio Frequency Identification Transportation System (RFITS) in use in Oak Ridge, TN.DOE details the significant project accomplishments. All of the Oak Ridge ARRA funded D&D projects that shipped to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) used the Radio Frequency Identification Transportation System (RFITS) to create electronic shipping documents and track the movement of these waste shipments.

The use of RFITS was critical for both EMWMF Operations and the waste generators to achieve the required maximum efficiencies which directly contributed to "...accomplishing work on schedule and under budget to produce savings of $110 million that will be used for additional cleanup".

Read more... (7.42 MB PDF)

March 2010 - RFID Journal

Radioactive Waste Cleanup Project Becomes More Efficient, Greener

Published in the RFID Journal article written by Claire Swedberg.

Mar. 3, 2010—After a yearlong pilot project of an RFID-based solution designed to manage and track material for the largest decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) effort undertaken at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), Bechtel Jacobs is now expanding its usage of the technology. The solution, described as "a fully automated electronic shipping system," is designed to increase transportation operational efficiencies within the organization.

Bechtel Jacobs is responsible for the cleanup of the ETTP, located in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The decontamination and decommissioning of the K-25 building complex, as well as various auxiliary and support buildings, are the contract's primary scope. The K-25 project, alone, has been estimated to generate more than 300,000 cubic yards of waste materials (more than 30,000 shipments) for packaging, transportation and disposal.

Read more...

RFITS Related News

All of the following projects use the Radio Frequency Identification Transportation System (RFITS) to efficiently create electronic shipping documents.

Department of Energy Completes Demolition of K-33 Building

September 30, 2011 - Largest Completed Demo Project in Oak Ridge History

Department of Energy Completes Five Recovery Act Projects

August 18, 2011 - Moves Closer to Completing Recovery Act Funded Work at Oak Ridge Site

Department of Energy Begins Demolition on K-25's East Wing

July 21, 2011 - Moves closer to completing Oak Ridge’s largest cleanup project

Department of Energy EM Update

Janurary 13, 2011 - Oak Ridge completes K-25 building west wing demolition (2010 Milestones and Successes)

Oak Ridge CERCLA Disposal Facility Achieves Safety Milestone

December 16, 2010 - The Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) provides the onsite disposal capability for the majority of cleanup-generated wastes on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

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