Oak Ridge DOE cleanup boss Mullis to retire

John (Jay) Mullis, who heads the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management office at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, will retire at the end of March, Exchange Monitor confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Mullis is not taking a White House Office of Personnel Management deferred resignation, just a “regular federal retirement,” a DOE representative said Tuesday. The Monitor had heard from sources that Mullis was one of several senior managers expected to leave DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch.

Mullis has led Environmental Management at the Oak Ridge Site since November 2017. During one 14-month period ending in January 2023, he was detailed to DOE’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and acted as the Environmental Management’s regulatory and policy affairs, according to his bio. Mullis has logged over 30 years as a fed, and has worked the Naval Nuclear Propulsion program at Charleston Naval Shipyard.

Mullis is a licensed professional engineer in the state of South Carolina. He became qualified as a nuclear engineer while working for the Navy. Mullis holds a bachelors degree in engineering from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina.

The Mullis retirement will come almost three years after he spoke at the Radwaste Summit on the impact of a “silver tsunami” at DOE and nuclear contractors as many graybeards become eligible for retirement

Other top managers at Oak Ridge Environmental Management are deputy Erik Olds, chief of staff Mike Koentop and chief engineer Laura Wilkerson, according to the office website.