The Oregon Department of Energy has promoted Maxwell Woods to the post of administrator for nuclear safety and emergency preparedness division, succeeding Ken Niles who recently retired.
Woods has been with the Oregon DOE for six years, most recently serving as the senior policy advisor and team leader in the Energy Facility Siting Division. He is an experienced specialist in Oregon environmental and energy policy, said a spokesperson for the state agency Thursday.
Prior to joining Oregon DOE, Woods worked for AECOM from 2008 through 2014 as an environmental consultant on projects across the Western United States and Canada, including the remediation of the former Gunnar uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan in Canada. AECOM’s Management Services unit was sold to an investment group in January and is now Amentum.
Woods has also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer. He succeeds Niles who retired Aug. 31.
Among other things, Woods will manage a staff of a half-dozen people who monitor nuclear cleanup work at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in neighboring Washington state. The former plutonium production facility is only 35 miles from the Oregon border. The Oregon agency submits letters and position papers about Hanford to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Oregon DOE also regulates transport of radioactive material through the state. The office also oversees 34 dry casks of spent nuclear fuel stored on a concrete pad at the retired Trojan nuclear plant site.
