Pantex Blog
CNS Enterprise Fire Department Team wins Sportsmanship Award at HAZMAT Challenge
A combined CNS Enterprise Fire Department Team represented Pantex and Y-12 at the 2019 Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Challenge held at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently.
The combined team did an outstanding job representing both sites and were voted by the other teams and operators in the competition as winners of the Sportsmanship Award. This award recognizes a team that embodies the values of working as a team, working with other teams, and being willing to step up wherever a need arises.
“The CNS Enterprise FD Team did an excellent job. It was rewarding to see how they came together the first day operating as one team in the events,” Doug Trout, CNS Senior Director, Enterprise Emergency Services said. “The planning beforehand and collaboration by the team was evident in all of the events. They have ideas for training to take back and are looking forward to next year. This was an excellent event.”
The HAZMAT Challenge has been hosted by the Emergency Management Division of LANL for the past 22 years, and HAZMAT teams network with one another, practice technical skills, and learn new HAZMAT techniques under realistic conditions in a safe environment.
During the Challenge, vehicles, trucks, tankers, and rail cars are used in some of the props to mimic real-life hazardous material situations. Past Challenge scenarios have included drug laboratory or chemical hazard identification, manipulation of complex valve configurations to stop leaks, confined space rescue, compressed gas leaks, a leaking rail car dome, pressurized drum opening, stinger operation responding to damaged tanker trailer, and damming/diking exercise from an overturned tanker.
Lyle Cary, Vice President of Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Services added, “The training value and relationships built during these events strengthens capability across the Nuclear Security Enterprise, and because of the number of teams from federal, state, and municipal departments, it strengthens the Nation”.
Representing Pantex were Firefighters John Sappington, Daniel Sholder, and Cody Steever, and Fire Captains Mark Campbell and Chad Zarbock.
Representing Y-12 were Firefighters Chris Altman, Scot Rose, and Craig Shaver, and Fire Captains Jeremy Maiden and Jim Arnold.
CNS Enterprise Fire Department Team wins Sportsmanship Award at HAZMAT Challenge
A combined CNS Enterprise Fire Department Team represented Pantex and Y-12 at the 2019 Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Challenge held at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently.
The combined team did an outstanding job representing both sites and were voted by the other teams and operators in the competition as winners of the Sportsmanship Award. This award recognizes a team that embodies the values of working as a team, working with other teams, and being willing to step up wherever a need arises.
“The CNS Enterprise FD Team did an excellent job. It was rewarding to see how they came together the first day operating as one team in the events,” Doug Trout, CNS Senior Director, Enterprise Emergency Services said. “The planning beforehand and collaboration by the team was evident in all of the events. They have ideas for training to take back and are looking forward to next year. This was an excellent event.”
The HAZMAT Challenge has been hosted by the Emergency Management Division of LANL for the past 22 years, and HAZMAT teams network with one another, practice technical skills, and learn new HAZMAT techniques under realistic conditions in a safe environment.
During the Challenge, vehicles, trucks, tankers, and rail cars are used in some of the props to mimic real-life hazardous material situations. Past Challenge scenarios have included drug laboratory or chemical hazard identification, manipulation of complex valve configurations to stop leaks, confined space rescue, compressed gas leaks, a leaking rail car dome, pressurized drum opening, stinger operation responding to damaged tanker trailer, and damming/diking exercise from an overturned tanker.
Lyle Cary, Vice President of Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Services added, “The training value and relationships built during these events strengthens capability across the Nuclear Security Enterprise, and because of the number of teams from federal, state, and municipal departments, it strengthens the Nation”.
Representing Pantex were Firefighters John Sappington, Daniel Sholder, and Cody Steever, and Fire Captains Mark Campbell and Chad Zarbock.
Representing Y-12 were Firefighters Chris Altman, Scot Rose, and Craig Shaver, and Fire Captains Jeremy Maiden and Jim Arnold.
Pantex Fire Department members train newly formed Y-12 Honor Guard
Members of the Pantex Honor Guard visited Y-12 in June to train their fellow firefighters.
“We received approval to form an honor guard, and we decided who better to train us than our fellow coworkers,” Y-12 Assistant Fire Chief Mari-Kaye Monday said. “Pantex’s Honor Guard was established in 2011.”
Three Pantex members conducted a week of training with the 10 members of the newly formed Y-12 Fire Department Honor Guard.
“We wanted to ensure we were ready to serve as a color guard or perform a variety of events, such as opening ceremonies, parades, and funeral services for fallen fire and emergency services members,” she said.
Monday said their team has worked for years to establish an honor guard within the Y-12 Fire Department. “It is the mission of the fire service honor guard to exemplify honor, respect, and dignity while embracing fire service tradition. We’re continuing the pursuit of excellence by establishing the honor guard, and the Y-12 Fire Department is striving to exhibit pride, professionalism, and teamwork to represent CNS.”
Wild Pantex: Guest Blog by Madeleine Thornley, Wildlife Intern
Hi everyone, my name is Madeleine Thornley and I am working at Pantex this summer as the wildlife intern in the Environmental Compliance Department. I recently graduated this May from Texas Tech University with a degree in Natural Resources Management and I am pursuing a career researching wildlife and ecology. Pantex conducts quite a few research projects closely with Texas Tech, so I heard about the work while I was a student there. I was drawn to apply to this internship position because of the heavy research focus and the good things that I had heard about Pantex. I am grateful for this opportunity to learn from Jim Ray, a Wildlife Biologist and Monty Schoenhals, an Agronomist who care about outreach, research, and helping young professionals gain expertise.
Throughout my time at Tech, I served as an officer for the Texas Tech Chapter of the Wildlife Society and I worked in a research lab focused on birds of prey. I’ve conducted research projects on the food habits of North America’s smallest falcon, the American Kestrel, and urban water birds like herons and egrets in urban lakes of Lubbock, Texas. Before this summer, I had spent previous field seasons doing field technician work researching avian and vegetation responses to thinning pinyon-juniper woodlands in New Mexico, diseases and parasites in Lesser Prairie Chickens in the panhandle of Texas, and the ecology of nesting American Kestrels in the Llano Estacado of Texas. Outside of my past jobs, I’ve also spent time volunteering on research projects throughout West Texas, so I have had the opportunity to work with quite a few species and gain diverse field skills.
What I am looking forward to most this summer is my research project on milkweed, and pollinators like the Monarch Butterfly. Pantex has been conducting research on milkweeds for the last few years by conducting surveys for the plants and assessing Monarch Butterfly presence in the forms of both the larval and adult forms. Assessing characteristics of the plant and butterfly use will allow us to answer important questions for pollinators in the region. Pollinators are experiencing a steady decline, so this research is vital. Some other projects that I will be involved with this summer include: helping with a current long-term Purple Martin project, conducting surveys for birds and Texas Horned Lizards, and assisting Pantex’s research on the large Burrowing Owl population at the plant.
This job is going to be vastly different than that of any others that I have worked - almost all of my experiences are from the research side of things, but this summer I will be learning a lot about the management side of things as well. The Environmental Compliance Department plays a big role in the important work conducted at the Pantex Plant, and I am excited to be gaining insight into what their day-to-day life consists of, and the challenges that they face.
Madeleine Thornley holding a female American Kestrel while working for a Texas Tech graduate student. (Note: Texas Tech University possessed proper state and federal permits for handling this species for research purposes.)
Pantexan demonstrates Phases of Matter at Canyon Library
Pantexan Bruce Phebus with HE Materials and Testing recently presented a demonstration on the Phases of Matter to children at the Canyon Library.
Bruce talked with the children about how gasses expand and cool, the components of air, and how clouds form.
He performed demonstrations such as balloons in the vacuum chamber, the Franklin cup, and touchable clouds for the children whose average age was around 5 years old.
“I think science demos are important because science shouldn’t be abstract. It should be something people and kids realize is a real job and it explains the world,” Bruce said. “I think science without seeing scientists in person and demos is like watching water polo from the Sahara. Any given kid can’t even imagine the pool let alone someone playing in it.”
He said doing these types of demos makes science relevant for children, and explains the world that children touch and see every day.
“It isn’t just ‘facts’ in a book that are untestable and unverifiable on their own, things they just need to accept,” Bruce said. “The key tenant of science is trust but verify! Learn it all for yourself!”
