Longtime Energy Department nuclear cleanup hand Ken Picha has been named to a top post at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) on an acting basis.
Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White said in a widely distributed email on May 25 that Picha was replacing Dae Chung as acting EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations.
The move was effective Sunday, May 27. Chung, who assumed the acting post in January, resumes his role as head of the EM special projects office, White said in the email. The field operations post helps oversee nuclear operations, construction, environmental restoration, and other tasks at DOE’s 16 active cleanup sites.
Lately, Picha has served as a senior adviser and senior site liaison coordinator for EM field operations. He has over 30 years of experience at nuclear facilities, including 25 years around the EM complex, White said. That includes assignments at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state.
Picha served on International Atomic Energy Agency committees for development of waste management guides and has held leadership roles for EM’s tank waste and nuclear material management program, White said.
The Picha appointment is White’s first major personnel announcement since being sworn in as EM-1 at the end of March. Chung had been named acting head of field operations in January by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff.
“She’s definitely now starting to make her mark on the organization,” an industry source said of White.
A second industry source called Picha one of the more knowledgeable and highly regarded officials within DOE’s cleanup complex.
Bixby Returns to DOE EM, Sources Say
The same two industry sources said this week Willis Bixby, a well-known figure around the DOE complex, has rejoined the Energy Department’s cleanup office in an advisory post.
Bixby was there “at the inception” of the DOE Environmental Management office, one of the sources said. The source expects Bixby will fill a “very high level” advisory role.
According to Bixby’s LinkedIn profile, he served as EM’s deputy assistant secretary from 1991 through 1996. From the mid-1990s through the end of 2006, Bixby worked in executive levels posts for companies such as Scientech, Duratek, and EnergySolutions. For the past decade, Bixby is listed as a principal in WWBX LLC, providing consulting services.
Earlier in his career, Bixby also worked for Nuclear Regulatory Commission and held DOE management posts at the Hanford Site in Washington state and the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. Bixby brings “decades of experience on the technical and operational side of EM,” according to the first industry source.
In another job change at the agency, DOE EM senior adviser Candace Robertson earlier this month became the department-wide chief human capital officer, according to her LinkedIn page. Robertson has served in a variety of positions at DOE, including director of external affairs at the Office of Environmental Management.
She’d also recently spent several months detailed as deputy chief of staff for Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.
