WRPS given prestigious project management awards

The AY-102 Recovery Project was named the international Project of the Year by the Project Management Institute (PMI) at its Oct. 28 Global Conference. From left, Caterina La Tona, vice chair of the PMI Board of Directors, Sebastien Guillot, AY-102 Recovery Project manager, Doug Greenwell, WRPS Retrieval manager, and Mark Dickson, chairman of the PMI board.

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), an AECOM-led company, received the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) 2017 Project of the Year Oct. 28 for its work to remove radioactive waste from an underground storage tank at the Hanford Site in Washington state. WRPS is the Hanford tank operations contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection.

The international award was given to the Hanford Double-Shell Tank AY-102 Recovery Project, in which workers removed more than 725,000 gallons of nuclear waste from a failed storage tank, meeting a critical Settlement Agreement commitment signed with DOE, the Washington State Department of Ecology and WRPS.

“The work we do at Hanford is difficult and hazardous, making it imperative that safety is at the forefront of everything we do,” said Mark Lindholm, WRPS president and project manager. “Our union workers are highly trained, highly skilled and dedicated to completing the job safely. It’s fitting and deserving that their work, supported by our skilled engineers, project managers, and safety, radcon and industrial hygiene staff, is being recognized with this prestigious award.”

PMI’s Project of the Year recognizes large, complex projects that cost in excess of $100 million and demonstrate superior performance of project management practices, superior organizational results and positive impacts on society.

The other finalists for the PMI Project of the Year award were DeBeers’ Gahcho Kue diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Sound Transit’s University of Washington Light Rail Extension in Seattle. The winner was announced at the PMI Global Conference in Chicago.

In addition, WRPS’ AP Farm exhauster upgrade project received a PMI Award. Read more…