Locus Technologies To Sponsor EPRI and NEI Nuclear Industry Workshops

Locus To Present Papers at Two Nuclear Industry Environmental Workshops

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 29, 2010 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental software, announced today that it is providing Gold Sponsorship for the EPRI Groundwater Protection Workshop organized in collaboration with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) in San Jose, California on 30 June and 1 July, 2010. In addition, Locus is sponsoring workshops for the Radioactive Effluent Technical Specifications (RETS) and Radiological Environmental Monitoring Programs (REMP) at commercial nuclear power plants also being held in San Jose preceding the EPRI workshop. The RETS/REMP Workshop is a forum to exchange practical experiences and issues related to effluent and environmental monitoring programs at nuclear facilities. Locus professional staff will present three technical papers on information management technologies at the two workshops.

The EPRI workshop focuses on the innovative technologies for groundwater protection, monitoring, and remediation. The NEI RETS/REMP workshop focuses on monitoring radioactivity in effluent releases from nuclear power plants, and on assessing the environmental consequences of such releases.

Experience at decommissioning and operating nuclear power plants has shown that leaks and spills from systems and components and work practices have the potential to impact on-site soils, groundwater, and, potentially, air. Locus’ web-based software EIM is specifically designed to manage data from these types of events. The Locus software provides an unmatched level of data security and enforces an extensive set of QA/QC requirements on all uploaded data. The system helps reporting entities enforce data quality in accordance with the NRC or other standards such as NQA-1, and ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q 9001:2000, and validate incoming analytical data.

Locus has been collaborating with EPRI and the U.S. and international nuclear power industry over the last several years developing and implementing advanced information management systems at operating nuclear power plant sites. Locus is the market leader in organizing groundwater information and complex data workflow processes that meet or exceed stringent nuclear industry QA/QC standards.

“We are very pleased to offer sponsorship of these important nuclear industry workshops. With the increased interest in nuclear power for commercial use and the decommissioning of older generation power plants and weapons complexes, we feel that the market needs proven, off-the-shelf tool to manage radioactive data, which are subject to a different set of regulatory requirements from those typically seen at Superfund sites. We are very excited to introduce new and expanded functionality of EIM to EPRI and NEI Workshop participants” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

ZDNet | Water, logged: Software now calculates water footprint

One of the developers in the environmental compliance management software space, Locus Technologies, has added the ability to track water footprint-related information.

Read full article here.

San Francisco Chronicle | The Gulf Spill: Shut down the well first

It appears that almost the entire focus of the response to the BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico is on how to deal with the oil on the surface of the water. The focus needs to be on shutting down the well.

Locus and Overhoff to Offer Real Time Tritium Monitoring and Compliance Software at Nuclear Facilities

Cloud Computing Solution for Tritium Transparency at Nuclear Power Plants

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 15, 2010 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, and Overhoff Technology Corporation, the world’s leader in the design and manufacture of Tritium monitors and radiation monitoring systems, have partnered to offer a complete Tritium monitoring solution for the nuclear industry using Overhoff’s Tritium instrumentation and Locus’ award winning Cloud Computing software.

As the new Administration advocates expansion of America’s nuclear power industry, pushing for billions of dollars in federal incentives and announcing plans to build the first nuclear plant in decades, new issues have arisen regarding leaking and possibly dangerous levels of Tritium, a radioactive byproduct of the nuclear process. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which oversees the inspection and licensing of nuclear facilities, says roughly 30 of the nation’s 104 reactor units have experienced Tritium leaks. According to the NRC, none of the leaks have impacted public health or safety but, the unmonitored and unexpected releases have raised concerns within the industry and among watchdog groups nationwide.

Similar concerns regarding leaks at several plants in the mid 2000’s prompted the members of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to put forth a Ground Water Protection Initiative (NEI-07-07) in 2007. This Initiative identifies actions that utilities can take to improve their management and response to instances where the inadvertent release of radioactive substances may result in low but detectible levels of plant-related materials in subsurface soils and water, even when these are well below the NRC limits pertaining to the protection of public health and safety. One of the key actions that adoptees of the Initiative are expected to undertake is the establishment of an on-site groundwater monitoring program involving on site monitoring or regular sampling and analyses to ensure the timely detection of inadvertent radiological releases. The Tritium groundwater challenge was addressed in 2009 when Locus introduced the nuclear module for its flagship product EIM that is already deployed at several nuclear power plants.

According to the NRC, additional requirements pertaining to the monitoring of air releases of Tritium and Carbon-14 are likely to be promulgated in the future. To meet these requirements, new monitoring instruments and data management tools will have to be installed since many facilities are still using over 30-year old stack monitors and few, if any currently have H-3 or C-14 stack monitors in place.

For those nuclear facilities wanting to fulfill their responsibility under existing (e.g., 10CFR-51 and 10CFR-52) as well as likely forthcoming regulations, the Locus/TA Overhoff solution provides a complete system for Tritium monitoring. TA-Overhoff has been designing and manufacturing nuclear air and stack monitors since 1946. The company recently announced the new, state-of-the-art CAM-TC and CAM-TCI series monitors. The model CAM-TC is a full-service, state-of the-art, stack monitor that reads, analyzes and records Beta-Gamma Particulates, Iodine, Noble Gases, C-14, Tritium and optionally, Alpha Particulates. The data captured by the CAM-TC monitors is immediately passed to Locus’ EIM where it is managed and integrated with groundwater and other monitoring data. Within EIM, graphs can be plotted, reports generated, maps can be produced and statistical analyses performed.

“Nearly all of the activities associated with water and air protection at nuclear power plants, including the assessment of site characteristics, the ongoing monitoring of site conditions, and decommissioning of old plants or permitting of new plants, involve the collection and/or analysis of data. The tools and systems used to manage and store this information must satisfy strict NRC security and QA/QC requirements such as NQA-1 or ISO 9001:2008 to ensure that only the appropriate people can access the data, and that the quality of the data adheres to the highest NRC standards. It is also critical that these applications allow engineers and scientists to do their work in a cost-effective way, allowing them to focus less of their time on finding the data they need and formatting various outputs, and more on the evaluation and analysis of these data. In addition data must be transparent and verifiable to all stakeholders. All of these requirements are instantly met using Locus/Overhoff monitoring and data management solution. We are very pleased that Overhoff Technology has decided to join forces with Locus. The company’s outstanding reputation for having monitors that excel in performance will enhance Locus’ offering in the important nuclear monitoring market,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

“We are very pleased to join with Locus to bring an integrated and elegant solution to address the nuclear industry’s Tritium monitoring needs. Our experience in producing hundreds of different types of monitors for different users, coupled with Locus’ market leader position in Cloud Computing-based environmental data management, will benefit our joint clients,” said Dr. Robert I. Goldstein, President and CEO of Overhoff.

 

ABOUT OVERHOFF
Founded in 1972, Overhoff Technology Corporation specializes in the design and manufacture of Tritium monitors. With the world’s largest selection of Tritium monitors, Overhoff can offer monitors ranging from simple hand held units to complex integrated digital radiation monitoring systems.

For more information, visit www.overhoff.com or email sales@overhoff.com.

ExxonMobil to Implement Locus EIM Worldwide

ExxonMobil to Implement Locus EIM Worldwide

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., February 22, 2010 — Locus Technologies, the industry leader in Cloud Computing-based environmental compliance and information management software, today announced that it has received a 2009 Business Achievement Award in Information Technology (IT) from the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ). This award recognizes Locus for significantly expanding its client base and its product line.

In 2009, Locus expanded its Software as a Service (SaaS) applications in the areas of environmental compliance, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions monitoring, Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) and sustainability, and added clients in the utilities, grocery and engineered materials industry sectors. Locus also expanded its presence in its key market—oil and gas—by starting worldwide implementation of its environmental information management (EIM) product at ExxonMobil. In addition, the company expanded its presence in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) market.

Locus also gained recognition among key IT independent research analysts with initiation of coverage by Gartner, Verdantix, and UtiliPoint for its position in enterprise-level environmental software offered through its Cloud Computing platform. Also in 2009, Locus received accreditation by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to provide GHG emissions verification services, one of just a few companies to obtain this status.

“We are honored to be recognized for the fourth time by the Environmental Business Journal with its Business Achievement Award,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies. “The year 2009 was an outstanding one for Locus. As one of the oldest and most established providers of EH&S software using the Cloud Computing model, we broadened our offerings by introducing an entirely new category of SaaS GHG and sustainability products for the environmental industry, while at the same time solidifying our position at the top of water quality management services. We also significantly enhanced our Fortune 100 customer base, who embraced our new offerings.”

Said Environmental Business Journal Editor Grant Ferrier: “Locus has continued to innovate and demonstrate its leadership position in the environmental software industry by expanding its Cloud Computing-based services from water quality management to GHG and Sustainability offerings. We congratulate them on their continued innovation and success in serving the environmental business community.”

The EBJ Business Achievement Awards will be presented during the Environmental Industry Summit 2010, scheduled for March 3-5 in San Diego.

 

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESS JOURNAL
Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a ZweigWhite publication, is the leading business publication for companies operating in the environmental industry. EBJ provides a strategic overview and an independent perspective on market trends and business strategies that affect this changing industry including competitive strategies, new business opportunities, and up-to-date market trends and data.

For more information, visit www.ebionline.org.

Nuclear Industry Revival

This week, President Obama announced $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to build two new reactors at a nuclear power plant in Georgia, signaling the first wave of new nuclear plants in the U.S. in more than three decades. “This is only the beginning,” he said. “My budget proposes tripling the loan guarantees we provide to help finance safe, clean nuclear facilities – and we’ll continue to provide financing for clean-energy projects here in Maryland and across America.”

This is great news for the environment and for Locus’ nuclear module of EIM

ZDNet GreenTech Pastures | Locus adds water module to environment software application portfolio

Water management problems capture more attention from environmental technology player Locus.

Read full article here.

California Passes $11B Water Deal

California passed a bill to fix our water infrastructure. This is the most comprehensive water infrastructure package in the history of California. And this is an $11 billion package that will be leveraged against an additional $30 billion that will be asked by the state’s voters next November in bonds to help finance new infrastructure and water ecosystem restoration, especially in places like the delta. That is altogether a $41 billion project.

In a series of bills that cleared the Legislature in largely bipartisan votes early Wednesday after all-night sessions, California’s water supply would be guaranteed through steps such as mandatory monitoring of groundwater reserves and expanded conservation.
“Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper,” said Mr. Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California.

An important part of the bill is a compromise that was reached on the issue of mandatory monitoring of the state’s groundwater supplies, which are often used during times of drought and are most vulnerable to contamination. Many Democrats wanted the monitoring, which has been optional, done by the state, if local agencies failed to do it. But some Republicans insisted the monitoring be handled locally to help allay fears among some water agencies of too much state intrusion. Under the deal, local agencies will do the monitoring.

Locus is very pleased with the outcome of this bill as it addresses groundwater monitoring and water quality management. Locus’ EIM SaaS water quality management software is market leader in this space with thousands of sites already using it to manage their groundwater quality.

Locus Introduces Environmental Data Management System for Nuclear Facilities

Market Leader Expands its Offering to Meet Demand From Nuclear Industry

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., September 14, 2009 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental software, announced today that it has expanded its flagship product EIM to include a module for nuclear facilities information management and reporting.

Nearly all of the activities associated with water and soil protection at nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, including the assessment of site characteristics, the ongoing monitoring of site conditions, and the remediation of adverse environmental impacts, involve the collection and/or analysis of data. The tools and systems used to manage and store this information must satisfy strict security and QA/QC requirements to ensure that only the appropriate people can access the data, and that the quality of the data adheres to the highest Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) standards. It is also critical that these applications allow engineers and scientists to do their work in a cost-effective way, allowing them to focus less of their time on finding the data they need and formatting various outputs, and more on the evaluation and analysis of these data.

The new EIM module was specifically designed for managing subsurface and other data at nuclear facilities, including commercial reactor sites, research labs, and nuclear materials production and storage complexes. The system provides an unmatched level of data security and enforces an extensive set of QC/QC requirements on all uploaded data. At the same time it provides a variety of easy-to-use options to upload, validate, flag, examine, map, plot, download, and report data. The system has the capability to store such radioanalytical parameters as uncertainty, uncertainty type (Standard, Combined Standard, and Expanded), and required method uncertainty. It also has the capability to convert weight to activity concentrations, calculate sums of ratios, and evaluate action limits that pertain to either single or groups of parameters. The system helps reporting entities enforce data quality in accordance with the NRC or other standards such as NQA-1, and ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q 9001:2000, and validate incoming analytical data.

“Locus has been present at Department of Energy (DOE) facilities such as Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) that deal with radioactive data for some time. With the highly expected return of the nuclear industry for commercial use and decommissioning of older generation power plants and weapons complexes, we felt that the market needs an off-the-shelf tool to manage radioactive data that are subject to a different set of regulatory guidance documents from those managed under regular chemistry data under the US EPA and other guidance documents. The new radioanalytical functionality introduced through this release provides any nuclear facility that has a need for data management and reporting—and almost all have—to meet these needs using Locus’ EIM,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. Locus worked with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in developing the needed functionality. As part of a demonstration of the system’s flexibility and expandability to EPRI earlier this year, various statistical (sign, fraction limit, and normal distribution tests) and graphical (regression-correlation, regression with error bars, box, and rank trend plots) outputs were added to EIM’s already impressive list of analytical tools. “We are very excited to introduce this tool at the upcoming EPRI Groundwater Protection Workshop (in collaboration with NEI) to be held in Charleston, SC from September 15 to 16, 2009,” added Dr. Duplan.

EIM, Locus’ Environmental Information Management tool, is the world’s largest commercial on-demand environmental data management system. EIM completely replaces existing stand-alone data systems and reporting tools to provide a comprehensive integrated solution to one of the environmental industries’ most vexing problems – the centralization and management of complex data pertaining to contaminated water, groundwater, soil, and/or air. EIM provides for the complete electronic processing of analytical data, beginning with the upload of electronic data deliverables from labs, and terminating in state-mandated regulatory exports and reporting. EIM is deployed through Software as a Service (SaaS) model which eliminates most of the difficulties associated with the adoption of a new technology, while offering the opportunity for more rapid customization to meet the ever changing needs of its user population. The system currently stores over 120 million records for over 35,000 sites worldwide.