In a season of showing thanks, Strata-G is appreciative of all of your hard work throughout the years. One way we aim to show our gratitude for each of you is during our annual Fall Fling Celebration. Every year, we celebrate those who have reached 5, 10, 15, and now 20 years of company service – helping Strata-G fulfill our mission to serve all of our clients with integrity, service, and quality. Thank you, team, for your dedication to providing excellence in all that you do
Devin Brackett, Strata-G’s Lead Industrial Hygiene Technician, recently achieved his Safety Management Specialist (SMS) Certification. Moreover, Devin was asked to give a presentation on Version 2 Armband Slate Safety in Washington D.C. for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Voluntary Protection Participation Association (VPPA) Conference. Congratulations, Devin, and thank you for all that you do!
Thank you to our employees for coming out for our 20th Anniversary Celebration! We hope you enjoyed your time at the party, as the evening was filled with new and familiar faces, joy and laughter, and meaningful conversations and connections. The significance of this momentous occasion was MADE by you all.
A massive thank you to Kate Honebrink and her band of party preppers for pulling together such an awesome event. Congratulations to all the employees who won door prizes, and thank you for playing our games. We hope you were able to leave with some Strata-G swag, but if not and for employees who could not make the event, Kylie would love to meet up with you to drop off some goodies. Please email her or give her a call. If you would like an employee challenge coin, please contact Kate.
Employees were gifted a Strata-G 20-Year Anniversary challenge coin during the party, inspired by our Founders, Dan Hurst and Darrell Daugherty. Their commitment to living out the simple principle of treating others as you would have them treat you is the founding principle that makes Strata-G a unique company. The two sides of the coin contain symbolic images related to Dan and Darrell. One side of the coin bears our company logo and a monarch butterfly – a symbolic reminder of Dan, and his love for God’s creation and all the meaningful symbolism of life that is reflected in nature. The other side of the coin has our core values, integrity, service and quality around a buffalo nickel – a symbolic reminder of Darrell, and his warm-hearted welcoming nature.
Recently, a group of stouthearted Strategists explored the grounds that make up the Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. For years Brushy Mountain served as a coal mine for the State of Tennessee following the end of the Civil War. In the 1960’s, Brushy was relabeled as primarily maximum-security and was “the last stop for the worst criminals.” George, a former inmate at Brushy and pictured in gray, now holds all keys accessing the prison, an immunity he joked that he wished he had obtained when serving his sentence. This group thoroughly enjoyed their tour and hopes to make their way back to Brushy, but just for a visit…
Wade Adams, a Strata-G field radiological engineer supporting UCOR’s Nuclear Waste Operations, has completed the Decommissioning Certificate Program sponsored by Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
UCOR asserts, ‘Offered to decommissioning workers internationally, the program provides a formal means to document that an individual has achieved a baseline level of training in facility and site decommissioning. Adams received his certification after successfully completing 120 hours of formal training in the decommissioning process, lessons learned from past experiences, and insights into decision making, planning, and implementing decommissioning of various types of nuclear facilities. The training also includes how to plan and perform radiation surveys and calculate the potential for radiation exposure during the decommissioning process.
“This training and the certification were useful in further developing my skills and making me a better contributor to our cleanup mission,” Adams said. “I learned a lot that helps me on a day-to-day basis.”
Myra Long, UCOR dosimetry and radiological engineering manager, said UCOR has already reaped the benefit of Adams’ training in this program. He recently authored a technical justification to exempt UCOR from a portion of the federal regulations governing surface contamination values of hard-to-detect radionuclides. This exemption allows UCOR to use less expensive, conventional survey techniques to verify the absence of radionuclides can’t be detected using field instruments. DOE Headquarters accepted this justification, and it is now included in UCOR’s Radiological Protection Program.’
Excellent work, Wade! Thank you for continuing to serve our clients with integrity, service, and quality
Strata-G celebrated Board of Advisor member, Dr. Harold Conner, on his 2022 Management Award from the 40,000-member American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). This award recognizes “an outstanding individual who has made a substantial contribution to the management and leadership of engineers involved in the field of chemical engineering.” This recognition is particularly meaningful because it is about leadership and management, two practices Dr. Conner has honed almost to perfection during his long career. Winning the award means that he will attend AIChE’s annual meeting and submit an abstract and a paper, followed by a presentation in a session designed around his topic.
In early May, Strata-G volunteers turned out to cultivate a pollinator garden for Foothills Land (FLC) http://foothillsland.org/ FLC one of Strata-G’s environmental outreach partners as part of the company’s corporate outreach program. Strata-G’s outreach program focuses its efforts in four areas: food, shelter, education, and environment. Under each, the company supports several organizations that align with its core values of integrity, service, and quality. Throughout the year, numerous outreach activities engage Strata-G employees in giving back to the community, in keeping with the company’s belief that success is meaningful only if it reflects back to those who need support. For more information, contact Grace Kihm, Strata-G Outreach Coordinator, at gkihm@stratag.org
The 2022 Strata-G award winner in the annual Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair was Celina Sebae, an L&N Stem Academy junior. Her project, Modeling of School Data as A Baseline for the Development of Recycling Programs Within the District, focused on environmental sustainability. One of Strata-G’s sustainability experts, Anne Prosser, commented, “Maybe Knox County Schools will implement more recycling based on her study.”
Strata-G dedicated two safety awards to its employees in March. With over 3.6 million safe work hours, our staff understand and practice safety on the job and at home each and every day. The National Safety Council’s awards are well-deserved and appreciated.
Muddy Boot Award Celebrated
Strata-G celebrated the award of ETEC’s Muddy Boot to Steve McCracken, former manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. Steve contributed to the cleanup mission at several DOE sites, notably Fernald and Mound, OH; but the project that led to success in cleaning up ETTP, the first of a nuclear gaseous diffusion site in history and the largest environmental project in the DOE complex, was a simple haul road. Steve’s idea of building a dedicated road to route heavy trucks bearing thousands of loads of contaminated material from ETTP to the onsite landfill kept the public and the environment safe. The Muddy Boot was well-deserved.
