Investing in International Information Exchange Activities to Improve the Safety, Cost Effectiveness and Schedule of Cleanup - 13281
- Cogentus Consulting (United States)
- NDA United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
- NuVision Engineering, Inc. (United States)
- US DOE (United States)
With decreasing budgets and increasing pressure on completing cleanup missions as quickly, safely and cost-effectively as possible, there is significant benefit to be gained from collaboration and joint efforts between organizations facing similar issues. With this in mind, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have formally agreed to share information on lessons learned on the development and application of new technologies and approaches to improve the safety, cost effectiveness and schedule of the cleanup legacy wastes. To facilitate information exchange a range of tools and methodologies were established. These included tacit knowledge exchange through facilitated meetings, conference calls and Site visits as well as explicit knowledge exchange through document sharing and newsletters. A DOE web-based portal has been established to capture these exchanges and add to them via discussion boards. The information exchange is operating at the Government-to-Government strategic level as well as at the Site Contractor level to address both technical and managerial topic areas. This effort has resulted in opening a dialogue and building working relationships. In some areas joint programs of work have been initiated thus saving resource and enabling the parties to leverage off one another activities. The potential benefits of high quality information exchange are significant, ranging from cost avoidance through identification of an approach to a problem that has been proven elsewhere to cost sharing and joint development of a new technology to address a common problem. The benefits in outcomes significantly outweigh the costs of the process. The applicability of the tools and methods along with the lessons learned regarding some key issues is of use to any organization that wants to improve value for money. In the waste management marketplace, there are a multitude of challenges being addressed by multiple organizations and the effective pooling and exchange of knowledge and experience can only be of benefit to all participants to help complete the cleanup mission more quickly and more cost effectively. This paper examines in detail the tools and processes used to promote information exchange and the progress made to date. It also discusses the challenges and issues involved and proposes recommendations to others who are involved in similar activities. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9-332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22225018
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-13-WM-13281; TRN: US14V0471045973
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2013: Waste Management Conference: International collaboration and continuous improvement, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 6 refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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