The Savannah River National Laboratory will this week formally begin its search for a new lab director, a Department of Energy official said Monday at a public meeting in South Carolina.
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management will post a job announcement seeking a replacement for Majidi this week, Edwin Deshong, EM’s deputy manager the Savannah River Operations Office, told the Savannah River Citizens Advisory Board on Monday.
The current director, Vahid Majidi, announced last week that he will resign in January after about six years at the lab, which is managed by Battelle Savannah River Alliance under a contract awarded by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) in December 2020 and which, with options, is worth up to $3.8 billion over 10 years.
Majidi is the president of Battelle Savannah River Alliance, though he was a holdover from the days before EM placed the facility, regarded within the agency as the national lab for nuclear-cleanup technology, under a separate contract.
Sharon Marra, who has been with the lab for almost a decade, is Majidi’s deputy director for operations.
“With the establishment of Battelle Savannah River Alliance, I pledged to serve a three-year term and ensure a methodical transition to new leadership,” Majidi said in a lab press release announcing his retirement. “I feel SRNL is positioned for successful further expansion and now is the time for me to announce my departure.”
