Government Services

We provide comprehensive security solutions that protect critical assets and infrastructure. Our integrated physical security expertise covers the full security spectrum from development of the design basis threat (DBT) to conducting vulnerability assessments against that DBT. We develop optimized security solutions that include the design and installation of physical protection systems combined with appropriate protective force requirements, including staffing, equipment, weapons, and procedures.

Our physical security team has decades of experience in all phases of physical protection system development. They have extensive experience conducting vulnerability and threat assessments to ensure each site’s physical security approach meets all regulatory requirements and is effective in defeating the design basis threat. We leverage our multi-discipline engineering capabilities with a grounded knowledge in system requirements and adversary capabilities to design state-of-the-art physical security systems. For existing facilities, site conditions can frequently change. We provide operating procedures, response protocols, and follow-up assessments to determine whether changing facility conditions or threats have altered the risk profile of the facility.

We advise our clients on security staffing requirements and support the development of protective force requirements. We also provide an array of services to prepare for and assist in the conduct of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) force-on-force readiness reviews. We help conduct full-dress rehearsal exercises, an important component of maintaining regulatory compliance, as well as limited scope drills. We offer drill and exercise controller training consisting of scenario-based exercises designed to improve controller confidence. We also offer an adversary operations training course to help our clients train their own adversary force in order to train and exercise their guard forces between NRC inspections.

We also offer:

Our subject matter specialists develop and deliver training and exercises that help clients build the knowledge and skills necessary to support protective forces, emergency responders, and U.S. government agencies in executing national security missions. Our instructors are certified in the application of instructional systems design and a systems approach to training processes.

Since 2018, we have been a member of the contractor team that supports the DOE National Training Center, providing approximately 45% of the staff that develops and delivers training in the areas of nuclear safety, safeguards, and security and protective force operations.

From 2015 to 2019, we supported the Defense Threat Reduction Agency program to provide nuclear security and readiness training to the government of Ukraine. Working alongside Ukraine’s George Kuzmycz Training Center for Physical Protection, Control and Accounting of Nuclear Material, our personnel jointly developed 26 courses covering a wide range of relevant topics. These courses were delivered 60 times to 1,385 Ukrainian government and military nuclear security personnel. Our team also assisted the Ukrainians in developing and executing force-on-force training exercises at all their nuclear power plants. Over the course of the four-year program, we oversaw seven workshops, seven table-top exercises, and 11 force-on-force exercises.

• Training analysis: Our instructional design specialists conduct needs assessments and comprehensive gap analyses to determine clients’ training needs and enhance nuclear security capabilities based on the industry’s best practices.
• Training design and development: The design of systematic and specific training content for distinct audiences is necessary to carry out their missions. Our instructional design team develops learning objectives, assessment instruments, exercises, content, subject matter analysis, lesson planning, and related instructional media.
• Training delivery: With training experience in over 100 countries, we know the value of hands-on classroom instruction. We facilitate blended learning as well as online education and training courseware for clients.
• Tabletop exercises: Our facilitators work with key client personnel to conduct tabletop exercises, or informal low-cost events allowing a simulated scenario to assess plans, policies, and procedures. Observations and feedback assist the facility management to fine-tune their local tabletop exercises and make necessary adjustments.
• Full-scale exercises: Our proven capabilities in implementing full-scale exercises range from multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-discipline to functional activities and tactical responses.

Sargent & Lundy supports U.S. government agencies in their efforts to prevent attacks that use chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) weapons. We support the full range of nonproliferation, counterproliferation, and consequence management missions, as well as other threat reduction activities such as international partner capacity building. Our threat reduction and consequence management staff have implemented security solutions and/or provided emergency response training at more than 300 partner nation sites ranging from small remote storage facilities to nuclear power plants.

• Policy; concept of operations (CONOPs); and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) development: Our subject matter specialists have served in numerous policy-forming positions across the DOE and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), influencing and recommending guidelines for countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD) operations, emergency management, and threat and risk reduction. We employ highly skilled personnel, many with military or DOE nuclear weapons backgrounds, with vast knowledge and experience in CWMD operations to assist in developing strategic policy and tactical CONOPs and TTPs.
• Enhanced nuclear security: Our proven skills in leading and executing programs aimed at enhancing domestic and global nuclear security include assessing hundreds of nuclear facilities and nuclear and radiological storage sites, implementing improvements at those facilities, and developing and executing of training and exercises at partner nations.
• Global partnerships: We support U.S. government programs to strengthen the CWMD capabilities of our international partners. We have supported programs in over 100 countries involving all aspects of CWMD, including the prevention of illicit trafficking and strengthening port and border security capabilities.
• Nuclear material elimination: With experience across all DOE national laboratories, we bring unparalleled capabilities in the security and elimination of nuclear and radiological materials. Our team has served as delegation leads on missions to the former Soviet Union to help reduce their uranium stockpile and to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom to search for and eliminate nuclear and radiological material.

We provide advice to senior government officials at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), DOE National Nuclear Security Administration, and the national laboratories in the development of national deterrence policy. Additionally, we support the national laboratories and nuclear weapons production facilities to ensure effective stockpile stewardship. At DOE’s National Training Center, we provide training in the critical skills necessary to ensure the safety and security of our nuclear stockpile.

• Nuclear fuel cycle: Our knowledge and expertise cover the entire spectrum of the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium production (processing, conversion, enrichment, and recovery), plutonium production (production and chemical separation), manufacturing and fuel fabrication, reactor services, weapons production, recycling, and storage. We also understand the wide range of non-nuclear materials required to develop and maintain our national stockpile.
• Weapons security policy: We have supported the DOD’s weapons security policy through the execution of weapons system safety analyses and nuclear command and control assessments. Our personnel have served at every level from operational command of nuclear and security forces to national command staff in the Pentagon.
• Weapons system safety: We have provided analytical support to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to determine the consequences of nuclear weapons systems incidents and accidents. Our extensive quantitative risk analysis capabilities provide the DOD with the data necessary to inform policy and doctrine regarding the weapons’ storage, security, employment, operations, and delivery.

Sargent & Lundy supports the U.S. government and private industry in the development and implementation of emergency response procedures for nuclear or radiological incidents. We have experience with emergency operations from the policy level to “boots on the ground.” Our decades of experience in the nuclear industry provides us keen insight into the unique requirements of nuclear and radiological emergency response.

• Emergency planning: With our knowledge and experience in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Preparedness System (NPS), we help clients design customized procedures ensuring effective response to any conceivable emergency incident. Our team has designed interagency response plans for high-threat incidents that are today’s standard for multiple federal agencies and departments, as well as international partner nations and governments.
• Incident management and response: We help clients build, train, evaluate, and improve programs ensuring compliance and effective integration with multi-jurisdictional responses to all threats and hazards. See additional information under Education, Training, and Exercises.
• Emergency operations centers (EOC) design: We offer expertise in the design, organization, and effective operations of EOCs compliant with NIMS and various federal, departmental, and international partner nation requirements. Our extensive expertise in civil, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering affords our clients a single source solution for building highly effective EOC facilities, as well as evaluating and recommending improvements to existing EOC facilities to improve performance, coordination, interoperability, and compliance.
• Modeling and simulation: We use modeling and simulation tools to assist clients in emergency management situations by analyzing possible emergency scenarios, evaluating recovery strategies, and training personnel to respond to emergency situations. Our team is experienced in the use of U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and DOE consequence management modeling tools to model hypothetical scenarios and respond to real life emergencies. Our personnel developed one of the primary software tools used by the DOD to conduct physical security, protective force, and adversary modeling and simulations.
• Nuclear and radiological operations: Our work in the nuclear industry has taught us the requirements for safe operations in nuclear and/or radiological environments. We understand how to conduct these hazardous operations safely and effectively, from hazard identification and selection of the proper protective clothing and equipment to conduct of operations, radiation safety, and contamination control. Whether these operations are part of mission requirements or in response to radiological accidents or attacks, our expertise provides a broad range of education, training, and exercise services in emergency response areas.

We provide environmental engineering services across the DOE Complex. These services cover all engineering disciplines for the upgrade and retrofit of existing facilities, as well as the design of new facilities and the systems and components contained therein. In addition to A/E services for facilities and specialty equipment and system design, we also provide project management, project controls, and cost estimating services.

We have supported the Hanford Site for almost 30 years, including engineering services for the Hanford Tank Farms. We have delivered designs for both safety-related and general service systems and components. These designs range from complete radioactive waste retrieval systems to individual equipment upgrades and modifications, covering all engineering disciplines. We also perform infrastructure upgrades for electrical power systems, control systems, and ventilation system upgrades, such as chiller designs and the use of portable exhausters.

In addition to support for tank farms, we provide A/E services to other major Hanford Site operations, such as the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract and the Waste Treatment Plant. Recent key projects include 222-S Laboratory upgrades, the vital AY-102 Recovery Project (awarded 2017 Project Management Institute Project of the Year), A and AX tank farm retrieval projects, multiple effluent treatment facility upgrade projects, and tank farm upgrades for waste feed delivery.

We have also supported challenging DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) projects including the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Technical Area 55 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Superblock Plutonium Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and various projects at the Nevada National Security Site.

We provide A/E services in all disciplines across the DOE Complex. Our project portfolio includes more than 25 years of design upgrades to existing facilities for life extension or to support new missions. Additionally, we support A/E design activities for new facilities, ranging from conceptual design studies through detailed and final design. We also provide Title III engineering support during construction and commissioning.

Our service offering encompasses a full suite of A/E capabilities including architecture, landscape, and interior design; computer-aided drafting and building information modeling (BIM); civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, instrumentation and control (I&C) design engineering; Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) sustainability engineering; surveying; and facility physical and technical security design.

Projects range from studies to complete conceptual designs and final detailed designs for upgrades to existing facilities as well as new greenfield capital projects subject to DOE Order 413.3B. Formal value engineering as well as lessons learned from past projects help ensure designs are optimized in accordance with operational requirements and project budget and schedule constraints.

In addition to A/E design engineering, we provide project management and project controls services, including cost estimating and construction schedule development, as well as Title III support during construction. While fully capable of delivering all needed services for a project, we often subcontract meaningful scopes to local small businesses to help our management and operations prime contractors meet their small business subcontracting goals.

We are working or have recently completed A/E projects at Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Hanford Site.

We provide engineering, design, and analysis services in specialty areas including materials behavior and corrosion engineering and control, radiation shielding design and analysis, and risk analysis and management. We also develop designs for one-of-a-kind and first-of-a-kind specialty equipment and systems for demanding applications such as radioactive waste retrieval and processing. These design activities are often conducted in full compliance with a Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA-1) program that meets all DOE Order 414.1D requirements.

Over the last 25 years we have provided design engineering, fabrication support, testing and inspection services for one-of-a-kind/first-of-a-kind specialty systems and components for clients across the DOE Complex. For example, we have designed gloveboxes for Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In addition to the gloveboxes, we have designed the specialty equipment contained therein for high-precision operations involving nuclear materials and processes, as well as the utility systems supporting the operations within the gloveboxes. In addition to gloveboxes, we have also designed hot cells and supporting systems for the above-mentioned DOE laboratories, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Hanford 222-S Laboratory. A recent project encompassing all phases from conceptual and detailed design, support during fabrication, and factory acceptance testing (FAT) involved high-precision furnaces for material processing and heat-treating applications. We use our NQA-1 program and procedures for these equipment design efforts.

Our team also has specialty capabilities in materials behavior and corrosion engineering, radiation shielding design and analysis, risk and safety analysis, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and facility maintenance and management involving innovative risk-based techniques to ensure reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM).

We have performed risk, hazard, and safety analyses for high-risk and high-consequence systems and operations involving nuclear facilities, nuclear materials, explosives, and manufacturing facilities that require high reliability and availability. We have used these techniques to assess the probability of both safety and environmental risks and risks to project schedules and budgets.

Over the last 25 years we have used both qualitative and quantitative techniques to assess and characterize the hazards, risks, and overall safety of structures, systems, and components to ensure that risks to personnel, facilities, and the environment are understood and properly mitigated and managed. In many cases, the probability of an adverse risk being realized may be very low, but the potential consequences could be catastrophic. We have also applied these risk techniques to DOE nuclear facilities and high-volume manufacturing facilities to ensure high reliability, availability, and maintainability to meet mission objectives. Within the project management and project controls arena, these risk techniques can be applied to project cost estimates and schedules to ascertain the probability of achieving schedule milestones within budget as well as identify schedule activities that constitute most of the risk. We also consider human reliability performance in these analyses, and we implement conduct of operations programs for clients to improve the performance of maintenance and operations activities to both avoid accidents and respond if one does occur.