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| Keeping AECL at the forefront of global innovation are our 2008 Awards of Excellence winners (pictured above), recognized for their outstanding contributions to Canada's nuclear industry. |
2008 Recipients of AECL Awards of Excellence
Each year, AECL recognizes an outstanding group of employees with Awards of Excellence. Nominated by their peers, Awards of Excellence winners are acknowledged for their unique and valuable contributions in a variety of disciplines and endeavours. The recipients of these awards embody AECL’s values of innovation and excellence in performance, and are chosen by a panel of Executive Management Committee members.
In 2008, we were pleased to introduce the D.F. Torgerson Discovery Award in honour of Dave Torgerson, former Executive Vice-President of AECL. During his 32 years with AECL, Dave was a champion for the recognition of excellence in innovation - the sentiment behind the award. Formerly named the Discovery Award, the renaming serves as a tribute to Dave’s significant contributions to AECL’s recognition programs.
G.L. Brooks Award for Exceptional Practical Engineering
Jim Nickerson is recognized for his extraordinary leadership and contribution to steam generator design, research and development programs and steam generator life management. In particular, Jim has been instrumental in establishing AECL as an industry leader in Plant Life Management. Many of the refurbishment decisions adopted by New Brunswick Power were based on information gained using methodologies developed by Jim and his team. He has been a credit to our organization, and this award recognizes the numerous contributions that Jim has made to both AECL and to the nuclear industry throughout his 27-year career.
Nima Zobeiry, for his innovation in the development of the Finite Element Model and Seismic Time History Analysis of an entire quadrant of feeder pipes. Each of these contributions is recognized by industry specialists as “significantly improved” over previous models, and has enhanced AECL’s efficiency in feeder pipe analysis, effective model verification and quality assurance capability. This has translated into the ability to clearly justify refurbishment at more than one of our CANDU plants, and has enabled a positive case to be put forward on future refurbishment opportunities. Implemented within just three months, Nima’s work has demonstrated both originality and ingenuity, and is an exceptional contribution from someone in the early stages of his career.
D.F. Torgerson Discovery Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research
Bill Hocking is recognized for his vision and innovation in designing and establishing a unique surface analysis facility at the Chalk River Laboratories. The application of surface science to study reactor materials, including fuel, pressure tubes, feeder pipes and steam generator tubes has been of significant benefit to AECL and to the global nuclear industry. Bill’s accomplishments have positively impacted financial revenue, customer satisfaction and expansion of the knowledge base associated with AECL’s research and development programs.
The team of Michael Albert, Don Metzger, Stefani Rice, Geoff Colling, Rod Jones, Saumil Sabhaya and Aaron Quastel is recognized for innovation in the development of a new quality control tool capable of confirming the leak tightness of replacement calandria tube roll joints. The new tool makes it possible to test joint on an active reactor and in a 20-minute test it delivers a result equivalent to testing for three hours by traditional methods. The tool has been acknowledged by technical staff as one of AECL’s most important innovations. The work of this team enables AECL to confirm to customers that life extension of CANDU plants is financially feasible.
The team of Laura Obrutsky, Richard Lakhan and Dennis Hawley is recognized for development of an innovative inspection technique. This advanced technique, which measures degradation of carbon steel tube supports in steam generators, is a significant step forward in non-destructive testing technology, and has already been used in condition assessments for NASA. It has also been used to monitor degradation of Bruce and Pickering steam generator components, and as such, the technique has been a significant contributor to life management activities. This avoids unplanned outages, resulting in significant cost savings for our customers. This team’s value-added technique positions AECL as the vendor of choice to perform these necessary and critical assessments.
Tim Sykes and Kerry Weisenberg are recognized for their innovation in the design of the inflatable Door Seal Alternate #3 (DSA3), the culmination of more than 11 years of research. Revenue for the first six months of production is expected to exceed $600,000. Additionally, the reliability and enhanced performance of their seal will reduce current costs to CANDU owners. This seal’s performance has far exceeded what was possible with previous technology, positioning AECL as the industry leader in the development of elastomeric seals.
The team of Robert DeAbreu, Stephen Donohue, Frank Butcher and Allan MacCormack is recognized for design, assembly and commissioning of a new and unique radiation test assembly. Data obtained using their test assembly is crucial for validating models used in the design of the Advanced CANDU Reactor@ (ACR) fuel channel. This has played a significant role in the ACR program, including the ability for AECL to conduct high-temperature tests previously done outside of the company.
Holly Hamilton is recognized for his innovation, leadership and perseverance in the conceptualization and then development of Zirconia-burnable neutron absorbers (Zr-BNA) for ACR fuel bundles. For many months Holly led his team to overcome obstacles in dealing with this new material, which is now part of the ACR reference fuel design. AECL is now capable of defining industry Zr-BNA specifications - critical intellectual property. Holly’s development allows for a more economical, more enhanced ACR-1000 bundle and therefore an enhanced ACR product.
The distinguished merit award for exceptional contribution in any discipline
Liliana Comanescu and Beom Su Lee are recognized for their tireless contribution to Point Lepreau’s Level II Probabalistic Safety Assessment (PSA). Spanning more than five years, this was the first Level II PSA ever conducted in Canada on an operating reactor, taking into account external events such as earthquakes, fires and floods. Their successful completion of this PSA has cemented AECL as a trusted PSA services supplier, and has maintained the company’s leadership role and demonstrated commitment to CANDU safety.
The team of Laurence Leung, Lan Quin Yan and Ebru Nihan Onder is recognized for outstanding technical support to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) in resolving a significant emerging issue on safety margins. Industry experts on Critical Heat Flux and Post Dryout Heat Transfer, they were able to provide a timely and favourable resolution to the issue, saving the customer an estimated $2-million in additional cost. Their innovation has revolutionized this area of OPG’s safety analysis, and has demonstrated AECL’s position as supplier of choice for R & D and safety analysis. It has also reaffirmed our commitment to the CANDU product, and to our customers.
Bruce Wilkin is recognized for his innovation, leadership and perseverance in improving safety and licensing documentation for Chalk River Laboratories' ZED-2 research reactor. His work has reduced safety and licensing uncertainty in conducting future ZED-2 experiments. It has also confirmed to the regulator our attention to safety, and thoroughness in our safety analysis. Robust licensing and continued operation of ZED-2 are essential to the success of the ACR project.