CRBC-PMI V.P. Marketing, Ken Albin, PMP, presenting the 2007 POY Award to 232-Z Project Manager, Michael Minette, PMP (on the right) and Demolition Project Manager, Earl Lloyd, PMP (on the left).

“This was the second open-air demolition at Hanford, and it was conducted safely less than two feet from other nuclear facilities that continued operating throughout the demolition,” said Fluor Hanford Project Manager Michael Minette, who accepted the award for the project team at a March 6 ceremony in Pasco, Wash. “When the facility cleanout began, airborne contamination levels of plutonium in one portion of the facility were four times higher than those found in the most radioactively contaminated buildings previously demolished in the country.

Project Manager, Michael Minette and his 232-Z Project Team

Since 1994, the Columbia River Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute has recognized and honored organizations and companies in the region for project management excellence and outstanding project team performance. The annual award also recognizes key project management factors, including cost control, risk management, the originality of applied management techniques, and the project’s complexity.

The four projects nominated for the Project-of-the-Year award this year were the 232-Z Project, the 216-Z-9 Trench Slant Well Drilling Project (Fluor Hanford), the Plutonium Finishing Plant Project to Disposition Excess Nuclear Materials (Fluor Hanford), and the Integrated Disposal Facility Project (CH2M HILL Hanford Group).

A team of certified Project Management Professionals examined each project’s nomination package to determine how the project incorporated best-management practices while achieving objectives for project scope, schedule, cost, and quality. Overcoming significant challenges is another key consideration.

“The results from this year’s competition were very close. Each project had to manage highly radioactive materials and meet mandated regulatory milestones,” said Ken Albin, vice president of Marketing for the Columbia Basin Chapter of the Project Management Institute. “In the end, the Z-232 Project demonstrated superior project performance and exemplary project management. The Project-of-the-Year competition provides an opportunity for chapter members to learn valuable lessons and gain insight into excellence in project management.”

The 232-Z Plutonium Incinerator Deactivation and Demolition Project will now compete as a semi-finalist in the international Project-of-the-Year competition conducted by the national Project Management Institute.

The Project Management Institute (PMI), with more than 200,000 members in approximately 125 countries, is the world’s leading advocate for the project management profession. PMI sets industry standards, conducts research and provides education, certification and professional exchange opportunities, designed to strengthen and further establish the profession. PMI advances the careers of practitioners, while enhancing overall business and government performance through documentation of return on investment.

For more information, visit www.pmi.org.