Our Services
Used Fuel Management
High energy density and lethal radioactivity makes the handling of used nuclear fuel particularly hazardous and without room for error. Bernie’s Team of nuclear professionals understand the unique dangers of used nuclear fuel operations and possess decades of experience in the transportation and storage of these materials.
Loading Services
Bernie’s Team provides staff augmenting professionals to assist with the removal of used nuclear fuel from a station’s spent fuel pool, installation of the used fuel within a spent fuel canister, sealing and testing the spent fuel canisters, and movement of the canister from the reactor building to an onsite storage location.
Loading Services include:
Turnkey Used Fuel Loading • Operational Consulting • Crew Supervision • Loading Crew Oversight and Augmentation
Storage Procurement
Bernie’s Team supports the design, engineering, and procurement of onsite used nuclear fuel facilities including the expansion of existing facilities and acquisition of used fuel storage containers. Additionally, Bernie’s Team of previous U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors provide objective review of the engineering, licensing, and procedures associated with used fuel storage facility acquisition and management; ensuring manufacturing quality of procured components and heightened readiness for regulatory inspections.
Storage Procurement Services include:
Cask Procurement & Oversight • Ancillary Procurement
Transportation Services
Bernie’s Team’s seasoned professionals conduct objective, independent reviews of irradiated fuel and radioactive materials move plans, permits, and other documents ensuring compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations and industry best practices.
Transportation services provided include:
Used Fuel Transportation Planning Coordination & Integration • Radioactive Materials Planning Coordination & Integration
Outage Management
Effective outage management orchestrates the complex coordination between an organization’s capital, people, material, tools and equipment, and data assets to safely and efficiently refurbish, replace, and replenish plant systems. Bernie’s A-Team professionals provide expert staff augmentation support for managerial, supervisory, and individual contributor roles within your outage organization.
Outage Preparation
Bernie’s A-Team advisors support the detailed planning and scheduling of outage work, including package preparation, materials and tools reservations, equipment rentals, and contractor assignments. Additionally, Bernie’s Team engineers support design change and maintenance package readiness reviews for specialty welding and valve maintenance and replacement activities.
Bernie’s A-Team advisors augment outage preparation staff to provide:
Work Planners
Outage Schedulers
Welding and Valve Engineers
Outage Execution
Bernie’s A-Team possesses decades of outage management experience coordinating the execution of tens of thousands of outage maintenance activities by thousands of plant staff and contract workers. Their work supports increased operational and personnel safety, higher plant operating capacity, and reduced maintenance, inventory, and expediting costs.
Bernie’s A-Team professionals supplement outage staff to provide:
Outage Control Center Managers
Outage Coordinators
Outage Schedulers
Work Package Closeout Coordinators
Administrative Support
Post Outage Follow-up
Successful outage closeout ensures the proper updating of plant safety and engineering records as well as the financial closeout of budgets and issuance of vendor payments . Bernie’s Team’s skilled post outage professionals work with your staff to review and closeout paper and digital work performance and plant systems records thereby enabling the ongoing safe, reliable operation of the facility.
Bernie’s A-Team consultants augment post outage staff as:
Work Package Closeout Managers
Welding and Valve Engineers
Administrative Support
Facility Management
Proper facility lifecycle management maximizes its owner’s return on investment. Bernie’s A-Team provides expert staff augmentation and advisory support for facility design, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance, upgrades, and decommissioning.
Engineering
Bernie’s Team advisors possess unmatched engineering experience with initial and upgrade design, preventive maintenance optimization, and life extension of dry cask storage facilities and their associated used fuel canisters.
Engineering services include:
Initial and Upgrade Facility Design
Facility Operational Engineering Analysis
Support Equipment Design
Licensing
Licensing of nuclear electric generating stations and their associated used fuel storage facilities is a complex process. Bernie’s Team advisors possess decades of experience successfully developing, reviewing, and processing nuclear facility licenses within the established U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission framework. As such, our advisors are uniquely qualified to assist with the preparation and submission of facility licenses associated with:
10 CFR Part 50: Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities
10 CFR Part 72, Subpart K: General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites
10 CFR Part 63 Preparation: Disposal of High-level Radioactive Wastes in a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Implementation
Ensuring a facility performs properly throughout its lifecycle requires effective pre-commissioning and ongoing operational testing. Bernie’s Team provides staff augmentation and advisory services to support these activities.
Implementation Services include:
Pre-commissioning and Modification Testing
Floor Weight, Fire, Power, and Heat Removal Evaluations
Heavy Loads Lifting and Anchor Point Weight Support Evaluations
Program Management
Program management represents the overarching coordination of resources – people, capital, materials, and data – between the organization’s various business functions, processes, and projects. When effective, the organization’s limited resources optimally serve to achieve its stated business goals. Bernie’s A-Team provides expert staff augmentation and advisory support for managing your organization’s complex, mission-critical programs.
Project Management
Bernie’s Team advisors support the end-to-end management of complex, mission-critical projects from initiation and planning to execution, evaluation and control, and closeout; ensuring the realization of on-time, on-budget, on-quality performance. Our project experience spans plant construction, online operations and maintenance, refueling and maintenance outages, plant modifications, and decommissioning.
Bernie’s A-Team augments project management office staff to provide:
Project Planning Consulting
Project Implementation and Reporting Consulting
Expense Management and Reporting Consulting
Project Risk Management Assessments
Procedure Development
Bernie’s A-Team possesses decades of experience documenting the detailed instructions necessary for the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of complex systems. These procedures transfer inherent organizational knowledge, drive performance consistency, and enhance process efficiency while reinforcing organizational values.
Our advisors specialize in the development of:
Administrative Procedures
Operating Procedures
Licensing Procedures
Training Program
Effective training programs enhance employee knowledge, skills, and experiences so to prepare a sufficient number of individuals to meet the organization’s near and long-term talent needs. Bernie’s Team’s skilled training professionals work with your staff to systematically develop and execute a training program that develops employees and imbues them with the organization’s values.
Our advisors assist your training staff with:
Program Development
Program Delivery