Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chairman Bruce Hamilton is resigning from the panel, effective early this month, the agency said in a press release late Monday.
Hamilton has submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump, according to a one-paragraph announcement. The panel’s vice chairman and newest member, Thomas Summers, will step in as acting chairman.
The DNFSB said Hamilton’s departure will occur in “early September,” but did not list an exact date. The release does not cite a reason for Hamilton’s resignation.
A Republican first appointed to the bipartisan board in August 2015 by then-President Barack Obama, Hamilton has served previously as a board member, vice chairman, and acting chairman, according to the agency website. He previously spent four decades in the nuclear industry, including a stint as head of a fuel procurement company.
Summers is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with more than three decades of active duty. He was sworn into office virtually Aug. 17 after being confirmed by the full Senate in a voice vote July 2 – the same date three incumbent board members, including Hamilton, were also confirmed.
Summers will serve a term set to expire Oct. 18, 2025. Following confirmation, his installation paperwork from the White House stipulated he would be vice chairman, according to DNFSB. For now at least he will be acting chairman.
Before coming to the DNFSB, Summers served 18 months as a senior adviser on executive level issues at the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In that job he dealt with topics such as research, development, testing, and evaluation of defense programs.
The other two current members are Jessie Hill Roberson and Joyce Connery, both of whom, like Hamilton and Summers, were confirmed to new terms during July 2 Senate votes. Hamilton’s current term was to expire Oct. 18, 2022.
Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee has taken on the nomination to fill the fifth and final seat on the DNFSB. President Donald Trump forwarded the nomination of Matthew Moury to the Senate on July 21.
