In Memoriam: Joseph Bader

WC Monitor
8/1/2014

Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board Member Joseph Bader passed away this week at the age of 75. Bader had served on the DNFSB since 2004, and previously held executive and senior management positions at several companies, including Hill International, Inc., Fluor Daniel, Inc., Urenco, Inc., Exxon Nuclear and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In a notice issued late this week, the DNFSB said, “Mr. Bader was an enthusiastic proponent of the Board’s mission to protect the health and safety of the public and workers at DOE’s defense nuclear facilities, and immediately brought his decades of experience in the nuclear industry to bear upon thorny technical and policy issues. In nearly a decade of service as a member of the Board, Mr. Bader championed the concept of ‘safety in design,’ to ensure that safety is considered beginning with the earliest stages of nuclear design projects when fundamental decisions are made.”

The Board notice went on to state, “Mr. Bader worked closely with the staff and was a constant source of ideas for maximizing the Board’s impact on safety. All the Board Members and staff were inspired by his determination to fight through his long battle with cancer, and were saddened by the news of death on July 24, 2014. Mr. Bader will be remembered for his dedication, generosity, and his ability to find humor in every situation. He will be missed.”

In a written response to WC Monitor this week, DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur said, “Joe Bader made immensurable contributions to the Board and the Nation. He played a major role in all Board actions for nearly a decade. It’s hard to replace that level of commitment and knowledge. It’s hard to say goodbye to a friend.” The White House nominated Daniel Santos, a Senior Technical Advisor at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to replace Bader on the DNFSB in June.

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DOE hits 20% of DUF6 conversion at Portsmouth

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch said Tuesday it has now reduced its inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) cylinders at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio by 20%.

DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced Tuesday its AtkinsRéalis-led contractor Mission Conversion Services Alliance (MCSA) has converted DUF6 from 4,500 cylinders at Portsmouth, into a safe form for storage, disposal or reuse. That represents more than 20% of the site’s inventory.

MCSA has the operations contract that includes DUF6 conversion at both Portsmouth and its sister gaseous diffusion plant, the Paducah Site in Kentucky, DOE said in the news release. At one time, Portsmouth had more than 20,000 cylinders of DUF6, left over from decades of uranium enrichment for defense and commercial nuclear power uses.

Portsmouth and Paducah together converted more than 1,000 cylinders of DUF6 into oxide form during fiscal 2026. This week’s DOE press release did not say how many DUF6 cylinders were treated at Paducah during fiscal 2026. 

Before the conversion process began, DOE had 67,000 cylinders of DUF6 stored at Portsmouth, Paducah and the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. 

Commercial nuclear companies and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration are looking to use some of the converted DUF6 for beneficial purposes.

Converting each cylinder of DUF6 into safer uranium oxide powder can take up to 30 hours, split amongst the heating and conversion process, DOE said in the release.

Portsmouth crews beat their fiscal 2026 production goal of converting DUF6 from 546 cylinders two months ahead of schedule, DOE said.

Mission Conversion Services Alliance is a joint venture made up of partners Atkins, Amentum and Westinghouse. It has a contract, currently valued at about $2.5 billion, which started in June 2025 and is slated to run through September 2030.