Workforce Transition of the WVDP from Operations to Decommissioning

摘要

The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) is the only United States Department of Energy (DOE) project to design, build, operate, decontaminate, and dismantle facilities used to solidify high-level radioactive waste. Project work scope has been conducted by West Valley Nuclear Services Company (WVNSCO), the prime contractor at the WVDP site since 1981. This paper describes how WVNSCO made the transition from being a management and operations organization to being a project management organization ready to successfully decontaminate and dismantle facilities it built and operated.rnThe central challenge at West Valley was to transform an organization of approximately 800 people with a 20-year history of DOE operations into an organization that could efficiently dismantle what it had designed and built. This required changing the size, skill mix, and attitude of the workforce. Change was accomplished through early planning and the systematic implementation of a number of change initiatives.rnThe change process began with the recognition that work scope to follow the completion of high-level waste (HL W) solidification required different skills and methodologies for successful implementation.rnBenchmarking what had occurred at other DOE decommissioning projects and commercial nuclear facility decommissioning projects provided key insights into what would be needed to transform the WVNSCO workforce. Data collected via benchmarking included information regarding the size and makeup of a decommissioning workforce; self-performed work versus subcontracted work; changes to contractual requirements, job descriptions, training programs, separation and retention benefits; and communication programs. Benchmarking provided consistent data concerning the size and skill mix of decommissioning workforces, as well as information regarding change processes. It also illustrated options for contracting and management.rnArmed with new perspectives, WVNSCO management developed a strategic plan for implementing its own transition. Multi-faceted, the plan incorporated elements such as actions to downsize and reshape the organization, develop project management as a core competency, increase vertical and horizontal flexibility of assignments, consolidate job classifications, change certain provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, and communicate changes to employees and stakeholders.rnWorkforce transition has been a successful process for WVNSCO. Several highly effective decontamination projects have been completed since 2002 when high level waste (HLW) solidification operations ended at the WVDP site. The WVNSCO workforce earned significant incentive pay for completing projects ahead of schedule. Today, the WVNSCO organization is nearly half the size it was five years ago. An exemplary safety record has been maintained while carrying out substantial work scope during a period of change. This paper will identify and describe the actions taken to effect this workforce transition.