WC Monitor
9/18/2015
WRPS President Announces Retirement
Dave Olson, the president of Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), announced his retirement Thursday and will be replaced by the Hanford Site contractor’s chief operating officer. Mark Lindholm will take over leadership Oct. 1, after having worked at WRPS, Hanford’s tank farm contractor, since January. As chief operating officer, Lindholm concentrated on production operations, waste retrievals, small projects execution, and capital project execution, including the associated engineering functions. He has more than 30 years of experience in government nuclear facilities operations, including at the Idaho Cleanup Project and the Savannah River Site.
Before January he was the manager of commissioning, readiness, and operations at Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant, leading a team of nearly 300 AECOM employees. He also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Idaho Cleanup Project from 2010 to 2012 and held a senior role at WRPS as the manager of single-shell tank waste retrieval from 2008 to 2010. Much of his career was at Savannah River, where he held management positions from 1989 to 2007.
Olson has worked for AECOM, the majority owner of WRPS, and AECOM’s predecessor companies for 30 years. “Dave has been an outstanding leader for WRPS and their tank farm operations,” said Kevin Smith, manager of the Department of Energy Office of River Protection, in a statement. “I have nothing but praise for his dedication and professionalism and I wish him the absolute best.”
Olson sent his employees a message Thursday calling the Hanford tank farms one of the most important environmental cleanup programs in the world. “Working together with the Department of Energy and the state Department of Ecology, this team has put in place the vision, the strategies, the projects and the people that will help us achieve long-term mission success,” he said. The tank farm project team is one of the safest he has been a part of, with one of the best safety records in the complex, he said. “The Voluntary Protection Program Star certification last year was affirmation that others outside of Hanford view it the same way,” according to Olson. He also talked about recent hiring at WRPS, in part to support vapor protection. “A large influx of new employees recently joined our ranks, and we have benefitted from the infusion of new energy, new ideas and new approaches to our business, while continuing those programs that have been successful,” he said.
Hospital to Present Findings on Beryllium Disease Study
National Jewish Health plans public meetings in the Hanford area next week to present findings of the Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program Epidemiological Study. The Denver hospital is a world leader in respiratory disease, including chronic beryllium disease. Almost 250 current and former workers from Hanford and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory participated in the study. It focused on work-related risk factors for beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease among current and former workers, as well as the effect of either condition on their health. Workers who have been diagnosed with sarcoidosis also were studied. Presentations will be made at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Richland Public Library and at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sept. 22 at the HAMMER Training Facility at Hanford.
Bechtel National Receives DOE Safety Award
Bechtel National has been awarded the Voluntary Protection Program Star of Excellence for its safety record and efforts to promote safety in 2014 at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant project. It is the highest DOE award for safety performance, given to projects that achieve a rate of recordable injures that is at least 75 percent below the Bureau of Labor Statistics national average for its industry and that also show strong involvement in mentoring and outreach on safety. Bechtel had its third consecutive year of reduced recordable cases at the vitrification plant construction site in 2014. “Safety is a core value in conducting our business,” said Peggy McCullough, Bechtel project manager, in a statement. “This recognition shows that our employees made a commitment to safety and are performing to that expectation.”
