Staffing Solutions - TSSD Services, Inc.

January 2011
A Newsletter for all TSSD Services Staff
TSSD
Services, Inc.
In this Issue
2010 Year in Review and
What’s Next in 2011
TSSD Makes the “Top
100” List of Maine
Businesses
Site Highlights:
Seabrook
Humboldt Bay
Three Yankees
KAPL
Duane Arnold
STP
Point Beach
Photos: left: unit one transformers instralled at Point Beach,
WI. Below: Point Beach unit two
transformers in storage.
Staffing Solutions
TSSD
A Newsletter for all TSSD Services Staff 2010 Year in Review
January 2011
TSSD makes
“The Maine 100”
Focus on employees and core clients in 2010
sets the stage for growth in 2011.
In 2010, TSSD continued to build on the strategy to diversify its client base, while
maintaining the company’s core values, including top quality customer service to
clients and the utmost loyalty to employees. Portland Magazine celebrates
top Maine businesses.
“Our employees are our most valuable asset, and TSSD would not exist without the
expertise they bring to our clients in the power industry,” said Todd Smith, TSSD
President. “As a company, our top priority is to take care of our employees for the
long term and be known as the best in the business!”
In 2010, TSSD focused its business development efforts on building existing relationships and establishing new clients through the company’s broad network of
industry contacts. “We prefer a targeted approach to business development, characterized by a focus on renewing and enhancing existing relationships within the
industry,” said Smith. “The recovering economy was a challenge for not only TSSD
but the entire industry, and I am very pleased that we weathered the weak economy
and look forward to 2011 as a year of progress. We are still soundly on the path of
controlled growth and I do not see that changing in the coming year.” continued on page 6
TOUCHDOWN!
All STP Outage Milestone Modifications Issued
Photo, left:
The South
Texas Project
on the Colorado River in
Bay City, TX
(http://www.
stpnoc.com/
About.htm).
In 2010, a team of 27 individuals on the South Texas Project (STP) in Bay City, TX,
achieved a major project milestone after working for 2 ½ months to ensure that all
outage modifications were issued on time. The team achieved and surpassed the
milestone date, with all modifications issued ahead of schedule. TSSD employees
made a large contribution to the effort as a part of the 27-member team at STP and
at the AREVA Fort Worth office.
It is great that our TSSD employees were able to support this accomplishment,
and is clearly a reflection of the quality of the work being done,” said Matt Marston,
TSSD VP of Operations. “I know from experience how much you must rely on
others (project team members, reviewers and subject matter experts with design
inputs in particular) to meet these milestones. Great work!”
continued on page 6
In October 2010, TSSD was named in
Portland Magazine’s list of top 100 businesses headquartered in Maine. The list
includes Maine companies such as LL
Bean and IDEXX Laboratories, and is
based on gross revenue data from Dunn
& Bradstreet, a corporation that maintains information about more than 200
million companies worldwide. TSSD
took the #95 spot for the year.
“This is a great validation of TSSD’s
continuing efforts and progress in the focused growth of the company,” said Todd
Smith, TSSD President. “I’m proud that
we are contributing to economic development in Maine.”
The article points to a number of changes
in the list from previous years when oil,
paper, and banks held key spots. In 2010,
Maine tourism-based industries and
smaller family-run businesses became
more prominent. Article commentator
Evan Livada points to survival qualities that can be valuable in a struggling
economy and are shared by many of the
continued on page 5
TSSD
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TSSD Services, Inc. Page 2
Site Highlights
Updates from TSSD
contractors around the country.
Duane Arnold
Energy Center, Iowa
John Carville, Construction Supervisor
Security force-on-force site upgrades
were completed in time to help DAEC
perform well in 2010. Craft was ramped
up and RFO22 began in late October.
Additional security upgrades will occur in
2011, as well as the pool to pad fuel storage campaign next spring.
3 Yankees, ME, CT, MA
John Arnold, Special Projects
During the summer of 2010 Tony Bejma
coordinated the standardization of Connecticut Yankee (CY), Maine Yankee (MY),
and Yankee Rowe (YR) business record
filing.
Sue Arnold worked on various graphic
design projects, including booklets documenting archaeological excavations at
the Venture Smith homestead and other
excavation sites on CY property; and a
series of handouts for the August 10 US
government’s Blue Ribbon Commission’s
(BRC) visit to MY. BRC members toured
the MY site and held a public meeting at
Chewonki regarding long term storage of
spent nuclear fuel.
John Arnold continued to support the CY
and YR property disposition effort.
Below: Archaeological work on the CY property. Below,
right: BRC members and other tour participants at MY.
Humboldt Bay, California
Rick Peacock, Decommissioning Estimator
Above: the reactor head lift at Humboldt in May 2010.
Humboldt Bay decommissioning hit a milestone in May 2010 with removal
of the Reactor Head. It was shipped to Clive, Utah, where confirmation surveys of internals were completed. Energy Solutions was contracted to perform reactor internals segmentation including shipping and disposal of the
reactor vessel at Clive. The next milestone was occurred before Christmas
with removal of the highly contaminated turbines and condensers. Rick
Peacock has begun transitioning from large component removal to liquid
rad waste treatment. Jim Camp manages day-to-day training programs
with the help of several full time trainers.
Buerger and Woodhams Help Secure Seabrook
Part 73 project security modifications address “bullets and bytes.”
In 2009 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) released new rule under 10
CFR Part 73, specifying new security regulations for every operating nuclear plant
in the US. Every site has varying levels of upgrades and modifications to implement, possibly including training revisions, computer server upgrades, and new
infrastructure construction.
The Part 73 project at Seabrook entails two separate phases: physical modifications led by TSSD Project Manager Brantley Buerger, and cyber security upgrades
led by TSSD Project Manager Phil Woodhams. Physical security compliance was
achieved on May 24, 2010 and cyber modifications are in early phases.
Physical
Seabrook’s physical modifications began in July 2009, and included “detect
and assess” upgrades to PA cameras
and their power supplies; modifications to the gate house; fortification of
unattended pathways; revisions and
additions to programs, procedures,
and training; and documentation of all
regulatory compliance. At the project
peak there were 15 full-time engineering/project support people on the team
and 30 craft. “We had a great team.
Strict engineering codes had not previously been established for many of the
continued on page 3
Cyber
Woodhams and his team are assessing the current state of cyber security at Seabrook to fulfill future NRC
requirements. These assessments
will help in identifying specific cyber
security items that need addressing.
Some of these concerns may be addressed by administrative changes to
procedures or policies, others might
require either physical or cyber protection, perhaps even both.
Currenlty, Woodhams has a team
of system engineers and cyber
continued on page 3
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TSSD Services, Inc. Page 3
Securing Seabrook
Site Highlights
continued from page 2
Point Beach, Wisconsin
1.
2.
3.
4.
Physical
security modifications, so the project involved a consensus building process. In
the end, the stakeholders were satisfied,”
said Buerger. “Given that we basically
had guys in manlifts every day for a year,
we maintained an excellent safety record
and we had no significant quality issues.”
A project highlight involved installing a
“first-of-its-kind” fiber optic mesh intrusion
detection system over the outside of the
gate house, unofficially dubbed the “hairnet.” “It’s essentially a big net constructed
of fiber optic cable that will detect anyone
trying to penetrate the external façade of
the gate house,” said Buerger. The design is a lower-cost alternative to conventional methods, and the first time this type
of modification has been done in North
America.
Photos: 1. U1 transformers on rail car in Washington. 2. U2 transformers being unloaded from truck.
3. U1 transformers installed. 4. U2 transformers in storage.
Point Beach is installing new Unit 1 (U1) and Unit 2 (U2) main transformers in preparation for unit uprates scheduled for the end of 2011. Project
Manager Jack Knox has shepherded these units from fabrication in Japan
(Mitsubishi AKO) to installation (U2) and storage (U1). The transformers
came by ship to Everett, Washington, then rail to Luxemburg,Wisconsin,
and finally by truck to Point Beach. The Unit 2 main transformers were installed during the spring 2010 refueling outage; The Unit 1 main transformers are scheduled to be installed during the spring 2011 refueling outage.
Riding for Research
DeBartolo Supports Cancer Research in Wisconsin
How many people can say they rode a R1200 GSA motorcycle more than 230 miles through the woods of Wisconsin?
JohnMichael DeBartolo, a TSSD contractor who works as
Station Uprate Project Human Performance Coordinator at
Point Beach Nuclear Plant in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, has
done it twice in four months. In June, DeBartolo joined 140
Wisconsin Dual Sports Riders to raise more than $14,000
dollars for life-saving cancer research at the University of
Wisconsin (UW) laboratories. He rode different trails in
the same area again in September with more
than 200 dual sport riders, and DeBartolo is
now preparing for his next adventure ride,
possibly from Bastow, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.
“On the June ‘Ride for Research,’ I made
the entire 230 miles and was supported by
some great people that pledged more than
$1,000 dollars,” said DeBartolo. “One
hundred percent of the money is used by the
UW Comprehensive Cancer Center for work
on important research about understanding
and treating new forms of cancer.”
continued on page 6
The most challenging work was the adjustment and testing of infrared illuminators installed to allow security officers to
“see in the dark.” “This is one of the hardest things I have done in 30 years. We
worked 12 to 14 hours of night shift work
for three weeks in May to meet a regulatory compliance deadline,” said Buerger. In
order to adjust the illuminators the project
team killed all station lighting at night and
security officers tried to infiltrate secure
areas to test illuminator response. Because of the physical layout at Seabrook,
there were many design challenges on
the project. The camera work, which had
to be finished on June 1, was completed
ahead of schedule on May 24, which also
marked the completion of physical security mods.
Next, Buerger will be working on “Forceon-Force” modifications, where outside
adversary teams simulate attempts to
break into secure areas of the plant, which
allows Seabrook to review and enhance
the plant’s response and defense plans.
Above:
DeBartolo at a
bridge crossing
on the course.
Left:
DeBartolo (in
blue) and other
riders on the
trail during the
ride.
Cyber
specialists performing baseline assessments. The result of these efforts will be
a list of items that need improvement.
When the list is complete, the project will
enter the primary work phase, including
physical and/or cyber hardening.
“The overall goal is to protect the plant’s
digital assets from attack from a cyber
perspective,” said Woodhams. “The cyber mods are analogous to the physical protection we all recognize; fences,
armed patrols, and access authorization.
The two Part 73 projects are like two sides
of the same coin; one side bullets, and the
other bytes.”
TSSD
Services Inc.
TSSD Services, Inc. TSSD Profiles:
George Lavigne
Oconee Nuclear Station, located on Lake Keowee in Oconee County,
South Carolina (Duke Energy http://www.duke-energy.com/powerplants/nuclear/oconee.asp).
On the Digital Replacement
project at Duke.
George Lavigne is currently working
at the Duke Energy Oconee Nuclear
Station, located in the upstate portion
of South Carolina, just outside of Seneca. George is assigned to the Digital
Replacement project for the reactor
protection system for all three Oconee
units. This is the first digital reactor
protection system changeout in the
US, and George is specifically working on Reactor Protective System procedure development and validation for
installing Areva’s TelepermXS Protection System.
George has been with TSSD for approximately three years. He joined the
team because he could receive insurance benefits for his children, which
were not available through other contract companies at the time. “I really
appreciate the variety of opportunities
that TSSD offers nationwide, as well
as the necessary benefits for the family. TSSD really works with its contractors
to find the best person for the job, and
they are honest and open when discussing the opportunities and contract
issues,” said George.
In his current job at Duke, George is
writing new procedures on the protection system. In addition, the station is
in the midst of a Procedure Upgrade
project. All the requirements for the
upgrade project also apply to all new
procedures, so established procedures
cannot be used as a model. “The challenging part is ensuring that periodic
testing covers all of the functions for
continued on page 5
Page 4
TSSD a Presence at DOE International Workshop
Marston receives accolades for his presentation to an international audience.
Matt Marston, TSSD VP of Operations, participated in an international Department of
Energy (DOE) Used Nuclear Fuel & High Level Waste workshop on September 1416, 2010. Marston was invited to the Technology Innovation and International Partnership Workshop in Arlington, Virginia, as an industry representative for commercial
dry fuel storage. Attendees at the workshop included several DOE officials, industry
officers from regulatory organizations in the United Kingdom, a member of the US
Blue Ribbon Commission, and representatives from various US nuclear plants.
“Being invited to participate in the workshop was a great way to hear more about
current research and discussion regarding Spent Nuclear Fuel, and it was also good
exposure for TSSD in the national and international decommissioning world,” said
Marston. “I enjoyed the chance to talk with the various participants and hear more
about their experience.”
Marston’s presentation, “Commercial Power Reactor Experience in Getting Fuel
from Wet to Dry Storage,” was among the first group of presentations in the workshop, which included 19 speakers. His commercial nuclear perspective provided a
counterpoint to many of the presentations and discussions about high-level policy.
“….your presentation was valuable and useful for our attendees and will likely be
valuable to those from the UK that may ultimately move from “pond” storage to dry
storage. Those attendees who manage spent nuclear fuel day to day were very
interested in the mechanics of moving fuel into dry storage,” wrote DOE National
Spent Fuel Nuclear Fuel Program Managers Sandra Birk and Barbra Beller in a letter following the workshop. “We are especially interested in the transfer system and
the potential for modifications to address repackaging fuel without a facility. We look
forward to working with you in the future in this area.”
The September workshop was organized under the DOE’s National Spent Nuclear
Fuel Program (NSNFP), which was established to support requirements to safely
and effectively manage all DOE-owned spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, and
prepare it for disposal. The NSNFP’s mission is to “provide technology solutions and
guidance to ensure safe, efficient handling, characterization, and disposition of DOE
managed spent nuclear fuel and high level waste.”
Carslick and Edmiston
Trek Across Maine
Above: on the road on day one of the Trek.
Below: Carslick and Edmiston on day one at
Sunday River, ready for the 180-mile trek.
In June, TSSD sponsored Jim Carslick and Jody Edmiston as they participated in the 2010 Trek Across Maine
in support of the American Lung Association.
The Trek is a three-day bike trip across the state, starting at Sunday River in Bethel and ending in Belfast.
For the past ten years,
TSSD has been a
loyal sponsor of the
Trek.
Over 1,900 cyclists
and more than 685
volunteers have
raised $1.7 million
for the ALA.
Below: TSSD President Todd
Smith with the two participants on day two of the ride.
TSSD
Services Inc.
TSSD Services, Inc. TSSD makes
“The Maine 100”
continued from page 1
smaller businesses on the list, who “do
well because when the winds pick up
in a storm, they care the most and have
the most at stake.”
“Lots of businesses are simply trying
to stay afloat. My general feeling is
times are still pretty tough throughout the country…. You can talk about
big places like National Semiconductor until you’re blue in the face, but
they’re just trying to keep up market
share, so you can’t learn as much from
their numbers. It’s really the small…
businesses who are showing the kind
of backbone we can learn from,” said
Livada.
For the complete list and commentary,
see http://www.portlandmonthly.com/
portmag/2010/09/the-maine-100-2/.
Site Highlights
Page 5
TSSD Supports
the Rookies
In 2010, TSSD sponsored
the Carolina Rookies, a 1314U baseball team based
in the Carolinas. The team
plays in the heart of Duke Energy, Progress Energy, and
SCE&G country. They are
a first year team that competes in both USSSA and Nations Baseball tournaments
throughout the year.
Pictured: Hamilton McGarity, Mikah Jones, Hunter Horne, Mitchell Trotter, Bryson
Stephenson, Brett Ward, Landon Harkey, Luc Greene, Davis McCarter, Zack Pedrick, Ryan Gilbert, Grayson Smith, and Jonathan Brakefield. Managers: Trip McGarity, Matt Pedrick, and Dale Moore.
“I’m proud that TSSD can
support the Rookies’ commitment to success through hard work, sportsmanship, and personal responsibility,” said
Todd Smith, TSSD President.
In their first year of competition, the Rookies won three tournament championships and
three runners-up. “These boys consistently maintain the highest level of character on
and off the field,” said team’s manager, Trip McGarity. “None of this would be possible
without the generous support of our sponsors like TSSD. We are very grateful for their
support of our youth, many of which could not play without these contributions. Thanks
for helping us build better ball players and people.”
George Lavigne at Duke
continued from page 4
the new equipment,” said George. “Unlike newer plants, individual loop drawings do
not exist for the equipment. It is necessary to go through all of the wiring diagrams to
understand the components that comprise the instrumentation loop.”
Knolls Atomic Power
Laboratory, New York
G2 Building Demolition
Above: final
transite panel
removal from
G2 in June.
Left: Cleveland
wrecking
equipment
assembly in
August.
George’s nuclear experience began when he joined the military in 1975. He was a
Navy Nuclear Reactor Operator until 1982, and later worked at Seabrook Station as an
Instrumentation and Controls technician writing the initial Instrumentation and Controls procedures for station startup in 1989. One of Lavigne’s most challenging projects was working on Seabrook’s Stretch Power Uprate and Extended Power Uprate. “I
was the only procedure writer assigned to complete the hundreds of procedure changes
required,” said George. Upon project completion, the CEO noted that it was the first
uprate project at Seabrook that did not get adversely affected by procedure issues.
Prior to his current work at Duke, George worked on the Mark VIe installation and
initial Cyber Security Assessments at Seabrook. On that project, he wrote the Cyber
Security program for the Florida Power and Light fleet.
“In the nuclear industry, there is never a lack of work and much of it is challenging. The best part for me is learning about new equipment and developing maintenance
instructions that will ensure the best possible ongoing equipment operation. There are
always unexpected challenges that must be met prior to implementation to ensure a
smooth startup,” said George.
G2 building demolition
in September.
George is preparing to pursue an additional degree in Computer Engineering, with an
emphasis in Cyber Security for Instrumentation and Control networks. He will go to
Clemson University, which is close to the Duke station.
George has an apartment about eight miles from the plant in South Carolina and travels
home to New Hampshire about once a month to see his wife, who is at home taking
care of parents. He has four children, with one currently obtaining an MFA in 6 months
and the fourth starting college this year.
TSSD
Services Inc.
TSSD Services, Inc. DeBartolo Rides
Page 6
continued from page 3
DeBartolo completed the 230-mile course (mostly two and single track) in one day, including
extra hero sections, which are additional trails allowing big bikes less than two inches of clearance between trees and also some very fast grass track.
Sweating for the Cause
Above: TSSD/Seabrook hot yoga participants.
Below: Participants in action during the challenge.
Brett Plummer, TSSD Project Manager
at Seabrook Station (NH) completed
a 90-minute “Hot Yoga” class to raise
$320 for the United Way in a “charity
challenge.” Hot Yoga is performed in a
room that is cranked up to 105 degrees.
Participating with Plummer were TSSD
employees Rene Plante, Jim Carslick,
and Jody Edmiston. Donations came
from the Seabrook Nuclear Projects
staff.
TOUCHDOWN!
continued from page 1
At the beginning of October, ten STP
outage modifications (1RE16 and
2RE15), as well as two At-power modifications were issued through Document Control. All modifications had a
performance indicator date of October
4, 2010, and all were issued four days
ahead of the milestone date. The eight
major and four minor modifications
were the largest number of modifications that AREVA had ever issued to
meet a single milestone date. Both
STP and AREVA management praised
the accomplishment.
“My personal thanks to the entire team
on this accomplishment…this was an
incredible feat,“ said Lee Williams,
Vice President, Major Projects/Engineering Services-IBU/IBE
AREVA.
“Kudos to all who worked tirelessly to
achieve this monumental accomplishment,” said Tom August, AREVA Project Manager. “Only by coming together as a team, and adopting a ‘failure is
not an option’ attitude, were we able to
achieve the task and surpass the milestone goals.”
“I can’t believe you guys pulled this
off,” said Mike Berg, STP Design Engineering Manager.
DeBartolo had recently purchased his BMW R1200 GSA in May and had only 400 miles on the
bike when he took it into the woods for the first time. With a focus on “safety first” he successfully completed a two-day, off-road training course at the BMW Performance Center in South
Carolina before the Ride for Research.
More than six inches of rain had fallen in the Webeno area the week before the ride, and the
rain during the weekend was light. “Although I only fell twice in the tricky wooded sections, I
fell another eight times when stopped during resets on the trail, which my dual sport “friends”
were still talking about in September. Apparently the bike was a lot taller or the ground was a
lot lower than I thought,” said DeBartolo. In spite of a little soreness and damages that included
only a broken fog light, a bent engine case guard, and a lot of mud on the bike, DeBartolo considered the Ride for Research an adventure, a great way to meet people, and a lot of fun. In his
September Big Woods ride, he had no falls, no damages and twice the fun.
A highlight on the Ride for Research involved meeting cancer researchers from the U of W
laboratory. On Friday night two researchers gave a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation to discuss their work and plans in the coming year. In 2009, funding for the lab was cut. Donations
from the ride allowed researchers to continue examining specific markers for a more aggressive
form of cancer. After publication of a White Paper, findings were validated by other labs. The
conclusions developed have increased understanding of this new, aggressive form of cancer.
Now that details have been identified,
University of Wisconsin researchers presenting to riders on Friday evening.
researchers are determining the best
method of treatment. The researchers also attended the riders’ meeting
on Saturday to personally thank all
involved.
“I did not realize that there are many
small labs working for a cure for the
numerous variations of cancer. To actually meet two researchers working
in this field, learn more about their
progress, and listen to their excitement was inspiring,” said DeBartolo.
“I want to thank TSSD and everyone
who for sponsored me on the ride and
contributed to this worthy cause.”
2010 Year in Review
continued from page 1
As a direct result of these development efforts, TSSD was asked to be a team member
in a newly formed LLC that submitted a bid to decommission the West Valley site in
Buffalo, NY. TSSD’s unique corporate resume in commercial nuclear decommissioning was a significant factor in gaining access to this opportunity. Additionally, TSSD
has already had a great start to 2011 with the placement of many new employees
within our existing client base in early January.
In 2011, I hope that every TSSD employee at each site continues to feel invested in
this company and strives to set the example for all contractors. Our employees can
concentrate on two specific responsibilities that will continue to move the company
forward; compliance and communication. TSSD is a company employed at will by
each of our clients. This contractual arrangement carries with it a responsibility for
our employees to know and respect the policies and requirements of the sites where
they work [please review the TSSD Employee Manual sections VI- IX]. Also, because
TSSD’s best references come from our current and past employees, please spread
the word to your colleagues about your TSSD experience and continue promoting our
company to those looking for new opportunities,” said Smith.