Independent Technical Reviews for Groundwater and Soil Remediation Projects at US Department of Energy Sites

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn S. Kaback ◽  
Grover Chamberlain ◽  
John G. Morse ◽  
Scott W. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Remediation ◽  
Review Process ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Background Information ◽  
The Us ◽  
Sensitive Issues ◽  
Alternative Solutions ◽  
Experienced Team

The US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has supported independent technical reviews of soil and groundwater projects at multiple DOE sites over the last 10 years. These reviews have resulted in significant design improvements to remedial plans that have accelerated cleanup and site closure. Many have also resulted in improved understanding of complex subsurface conditions, promoting better approaches to design and implementation of new technologies. Independent technical reviews add value, because they provide another perspective to problem solving and act as a check for especially challenging problems. By bringing in a team of independent experts with a broad experience base, alternative solutions are recommended for consideration and evaluation. In addition, the independence of the panel is significant, because it is able to address politically sensitive issues. The expert panel members typically bring lessons learned from other sites to help solve the DOE problems. In addition, their recommendations at a particular site can often be applied at other sites, making the review even more valuable. The review process can vary, but some common lessons ensure a successful review: • Use a multi-disciplinary broadly experienced team; • Engage the panel early and throughout the project; • Involve regulators and stakeholders in the workshop, if appropriate; • Provide sufficient background information; • Close the workshop with a debriefing followed by a written report. Many groundwater remediation challenges remain at DOE sites. Independent technical reviews have and will ensure that the best capabilities and experience are applied to reduce risks and uncertainties.

scholarly journals Experience With Using Code Case 2564 to Design and Certify an Impulsively Loaded Vessel

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Haroldsen ◽  
Jerome Stofleth ◽  
Mien Yip ◽  
Allan Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Regulatory Approval ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Us Army ◽  
The Us ◽  
User Design ◽  
Qualification Testing ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Explosive Destruction

Code Case 2564 for the design of impulsively loaded vessels was approved in January 2008. In 2010 the US Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program, with support from Sandia National Laboratories, procured a vessel per this Code Case for use on the Explosive Destruction System (EDS). The vessel was delivered to the Army in August of 2010 and approved for use by the DoD Explosives Safety Board in 2012. Although others have used the methodology and design limits of the Code Case to analyze vessels, to our knowledge, this was the first vessel to receive an ASME explosive rating with a U3 stamp. This paper discusses lessons learned in the process. Of particular interest were issues related to defining the design basis in the User Design Specification and explosive qualification testing required for regulatory approval. Specifying and testing an impulsively loaded vessel is more complicated than a static pressure vessel because the loads depend on the size, shape, and location of the explosive charges in the vessel and on the kind of explosives used and the point of detonation. Historically the US Department of Defense and Department of Energy have required an explosive test. Currently the Code Case does not address testing requirements, but it would be beneficial if it did since having vetted, third party standards for explosive qualification testing would simplify the process for regulatory approval.

scholarly journals TMI-2: Lessons learned by the US Department of Energy: A programmatic perspective

1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Schmitt ◽  
H. Reno ◽  
K. Bentley ◽  
D. Owens
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
The Us

D&D Knowledge Management Information Tool: A Web Based System Developed to Share D&D Knowledge Worldwide

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Lagos ◽  
H. Upadhyay ◽  
P. Shoffner
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Web

Deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) work is a high-risk and technically challenging enterprise within the U.S. Department of Energy complex. During the past three decades, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has been in charge of carrying out one of the largest environmental restoration efforts in the world: the cleanup of the Manhattan Project legacy. In today’s corporate world, worker experiences and knowledge that have developed over time represent a valuable corporate asset. The ever-dynamic workplace, coupled with an aging workforce, presents corporations with the ongoing challenge of preserving work-related experiences and knowledge for cross-generational knowledge transfer to the future workforce [5]. To prevent the D&D knowledge base and expertise from being lost over time, the DOE and the Applied Research Center at Florida International University (FIU) have developed the web-based Knowledge Management Information Tool (KM-IT) to capture and maintain this valuable information in a universally available and easily accessible and usable system. The D&D KM-IT was developed in collaboration with DOE Headquarters (HQ), the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG), and the ALARA [as low as reasonably achievable] Centers at Savannah River Sites to preserve the D&D information generated and collected by the D&D community. This is an open secured system that can be accessed from https://www.dndkm.org over the web and through mobile devices at https://m.dndkm.org. This knowledge system serves as a centralized repository and provides a common interface for D&D-related activities. It also improves efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge and promotes the reuse of existing knowledge. It is a community-driven system that facilitates the gathering, analyzing, storing, and sharing of knowledge and information within the D&D community. It assists the DOE D&D community in identifying potential solutions to their problem areas by using the vast resources and knowledge base available throughout the global D&D community. The D&D KM-IT offers a mechanism to the global D&D community for searching relevant D&D information and is focused on providing a single point of access into the collective knowledge base of the D&D community within and outside of the DOE. Collecting information from subject matter specialists, it builds a knowledge repository for future reference archiving Lessons Learned, Best Practices, ALARA reports, and other relevant documents and maintains a secured collaboration platform for the global D&D community to share knowledge. With the dynamic nature and evolution of the D&D knowledge base due to multiple factors such as changes in the workforce, new technologies and methodologies, economics, and regulations, the D&D KM-IT is being developed in a phased and modular fashion.

The Dilemma between Aligned Expectations and Diversity in Innovation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timur Ergen
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
History Of Capitalism ◽  
Synthetic Fuel ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Technology Policies ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Innovation Processes

This chapter brings together arguments from economics, sociology, and political economy to show that innovation processes are characterized by a dilemma between the advantages of aligned expectations—including greater coordination and investment—and those of diversity, including superior openness to new technological possibilities. To illustrate the argument, the chapter discusses a historical case involving one of the largest coordinated peace-time attempts to hasten technological innovation in the history of capitalism, namely the US energy technology policies of the 1970s and 1980s. Close examination of the commercialization of photovoltaics and synthetic fuel initiatives illustrates both sides of the dilemma between shared versus diverse expectations in innovation: coordination but possible premature lock-in on the one hand, and openness but possible stagnation on the other. The chapter shows that even the exploration and interpretation of new technologies may be as much a product of focused investment as of trial-and-error search.

Innovationsmotor Medientechnik – Von der Schreibmaschine zur «Mittleren Datentechnik» bei der Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (1950 bis 1969)

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-117
Author(s):  
Christian Henrich-Franke
Keyword(s):  
Data Processing ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
Family Enterprise ◽  
The Us ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Media ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract The second half of the 20th century is commonly considered to be a time in which German companies lost their innovative strength, while promising new technologies presented an enormous potential for innovation in the US. The fact that German companies were quite successful in the production of medium data technology and had considerable influence on the development of electronic data processing was neglected by business and media historians alike until now. The article analyses the Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (Eiserfeld) as one of the most important producers of the predecessors to said medium data technologies in the 1950s and 1960s. Two transformation processes regarding the media – from mechanic to semiconductor and from semiconductor to all-electronic technology – are highlighted in particular. It poses the question of how and why a middling family enterprise such as Siemag was able to rise to being the leading provider for medium data processing office computers despite lacking expertise in the field of electrical engineering while also facing difficult location conditions. The article shows that Siemag successfully turned from its roots in heavy industry towards the production of innovative high technology devices. This development stems from the company’s strategic decisions. As long as their products were not mass-produced, a medium-sized family business like Siemag could hold its own on the market through clever decision-making which relied on flexible specialization, targeted license and patent cooperation as well as innovative products, even in the face of adverse conditions. Only in the second half of the 1960s, as profit margins dropped due to increasing sales figures and office machines had finally transformed into office computers, Siemag was forced to enter cooperation with Philips in order to broaden its spectrum and merge the production site in Eiserfeld into a larger business complex.

scholarly journals Albanian National Action Plan for Roma Inclusion 2016–2020: A Study on the Program Achievements at the Halfway Mark

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110361
Author(s):  
Gentian Qejvanaj
Keyword(s):  
Action Plan ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
National Action Plan ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Us ◽  
Implementation Period ◽  
Education And Employment

Roma segregation in Albania has been causing growing concern since the fall of the communist regime. In this study, we analyze the effectiveness of the Albanian national action plan for Roma inclusion 2016–2020, in 2018, halfway in its implementation period. We gathered data on education and employment from the pre-implementation period (2015) and compared it with the latest available data in 2018. Interviews with local experts and surveys by the Balkan Barometer will provide background information to assess the current state of Roma integration in Albania. Moreover, descriptive statistics from national and international institutions and structured interviews will draw an independent narrative of Roma affairs. In our conclusion, we suggest moving beyond the “us and them” approach with programs run on inertia; our findings highlight that although encouraging achievements have been reached under the 2016–2020 action plan, real inclusion is still far, as statistical achievements do not say much about the quality of the education or job training provided under the 2016–2020 action plan.

scholarly journals Psychodynamics of imagination failures: Reflections on the 20th anniversary of 9/11

2021 ◽  
pp. 135050762110097
Author(s):  
Amy L Fraher
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
September 11Th ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Type ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
Psychodynamic Understanding

This article aims to advance the psychodynamic understanding of imagination failures by studying lessons learned in the US government’s public inquiry into September 11th, 2001 (9/11). Analyzing the findings of The 9/11 Report, I theorize that two forms of macro-level hubris—America’s “hubris of empire-building” and Al Qaeda’s “hubris-nemesis complex”—amalgamated in a uniquely generative manner leading to events on 9/11. Previous studies of public inquiries often demonstrate that inquiry reports are monological story-telling performances used to create sense-making narratives that function hegemonically to impose a simplified version of reality to assign blame and depoliticize events in order to facilitate closure after shocking events. In contrast, findings here suggest that by constructing a critical narrative, The 9/11 Report may serve as a new type of public inquiry report that invites learning about the complex factors that underpin crisis. The article concludes by identifying fruitful areas of future research and ways to theorize further about the collective psychodynamics of macro-level hubris and the psychodynamic factors that hinder learning and contribute to imagination failures.

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