DOE Honors SRS Employee as Safety System Oversight Engineer of the Year

AIKEN, S.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has named Nino Travljanin its 2023 Safety System Oversight (SSO) Engineer of the Year.

Travljanin, a safety system oversight engineer and nuclear safety specialist in DOE-Savannah River's Waste Disposition Engineering Division, was presented the annual award at the DOE Nuclear and Facility Safety Programs Workshop in New Orleans.

The SSO annual award recognizes superior or exemplary service by an employee who performed SSO functions. Nominees are submitted from each field office and the recipient is determined by a panel representing the chief health, safety and security officer and managers from the DOE offices of Environmental Management, Science and Nuclear Energy, and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

In his role at the Savannah River Site (SRS), Travljanin is responsible for overseeing the safety bases, safety systems and contractor engineering programs at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), Saltstone Production and Disposal Facility, and Effluent Treatment Facility.

In a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Joyce Connery, chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, recognized Travljanin for the award, noting that he demonstrated superior leadership and technical safety oversight at the SRS facilities.

"The Board joins DOE and its field office managers in acknowledging the important contributions made by the DOE safety system oversight engineers and extends its sincerest congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Travljanin," the letter says.

Throughout 2023, Travljanin performed exceptional oversight of the liquid waste contractor and contributed to multiple initiatives to improve and accelerate the liquid waste mission at SRS.

“Mr. Travljanin exemplified engineering oversight by maintaining a wide view of his facilities' activities and focusing on specific areas with his documented assessments,” said Keith Sandroni, director of the Waste Disposition Engineering Division.

Travljanin was directly involved with several processing improvements essential to completing the SRS liquid waste mission by 2037.

He completed the safety evaluation report for directly transferring decontaminated salt solution from SWPF to the Saltstone facility and led two DOE implementation verification review teams for reducing the concentration of monosodium titanate and increasing the allowable curie concentration of the waste received into SWPF.

In addition, Travljanin was recognized for dedication to his peers and the organization.

After finishing a site-specific SSO qualification, Travljanin completed the DOE SSO qualification and created study guides for the qualification standard competencies to help others complete their qualifications.

In a notable best practice, Travljanin coordinated regular SWPF and Saltstone Integrated Project Team meetings to review operational and engineering issues and challenges, as well as programmatic concerns or initiatives affecting the facilities. These meetings ensured a clear and well-coordinated DOE oversight effort.

-Contributors: Bryan Cox, Keith Sandroni