The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that Dr. Jack Craig will serve as the new site manager for the Savannah River Site.
According to Mark Whitney, acting assistant secretary for environmental management, Craig will replace Dr. Dave Moody, who announced late last year that he will retire in June.
Craig is the current director of the EM Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has been director since 2004, Whitney said.
Craig's Energy Department bio states that he has 20 years of experience in various technical, management and executive leadership positions within the department. The positions have largely been centered on environmental management, and in his role in Ohio; Craig is responsible for oversight of 192 federal staff members that support 15 Department of Energy sites with an annual budget of more than $1 billion.
Despite his travels, Craig is no stranger to the Savannah River Site. Beginning in March 2010, Craig acted as manager of the site's operations office and oversaw disposition of legacy plutonium and uranium materials, receipt and management of spent nuclear fuels from research reactors and treatment of 37 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste.
In Whitney's notice to employees, he wrote about Craig's credentials and his upcoming plans.
"Jack and I will travel to SRS in the coming weeks to meet with SRS staff and with some of our key community partners as we begin preparing for the leadership transition," Whitney wrote.
Craig holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Ohio State University and has completed graduate studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Before joining DOE, he managed environmental projects at Department of Defense facilities and held various positions with the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C.
Craig's upcoming appointment comes after Moody's four years with SRS and 36 years with the Energy Department. In November, Whitney also wrote about Moody's accomplishments. These include reducing the Site's footprint by 75 percent, permanently closing four radioactive liquid tanks, maximizing production of vitrified high-level waste canisters, upgrading H-Canyon for continual mission, finding a final disposition path for non-MOXable plutonium and spearheading an effort to find an innovative and economic alternative to build a third Glass Waste Storage facility.
"Dr. Moody's leadership at the Savannah River Site over the last four years has resulted in tremendous achievements for the cleanup of the Site," Whitney wrote. "I am confident Dr. Moody will be equally successful in whatever challenges he chooses to tackle next."
Derrek Asberry is a beat reporter with the Aiken Standard. He joined the paper in June. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.