Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
1/15/2016
Jim Haynes, the president and CEO of Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), is leaving his position to return to Bechtel, CNS announced yesterday. Haynes will head the corporate human relations team for Bechtel Corp., Bechtel National’s parent company that employs 58,000 people in 38 countries. Morgan Smith, chief operating officer of the contractor that manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant, will become CNS president and CEO on Feb. 1, the announcement said. CNS is a Bechtel-led contractor team.
Haynes served as the first CNS president and CEO since early 2014, when both National Nuclear Security Administration sites were placed under a single CNS contract. Y-12 and Pantex had previously been managed separately by B&W Y-12 and B&W Pantex since 2000. “Consolidating two sites was never expected to be easy, and we have certainly faced many challenges to achieve the first-ever consolidation of NNSA sites,” Haynes said in a statement distributed to company personnel. “We have been tested by extreme weather, aging facilities, production challenges, labor negotiations, benefits changes, and funding uncertainties.”
“I am particularly pleased that, on my watch, we advanced the largest set of infrastructure projects since the original construction of the sites, including a critical turnaround of the $6.5 billion Uranium Processing Facility project” at Y-12, Haynes said. “In addition, we reduced operational risk, overhauled our maintenance approach, and improved project delivery and site housekeeping.”
Haynes noted that Smith has 38 years of technical and managerial experience, which include previously helping implement the consolidation of the Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power laboratories into a single organization.
“Jim oversaw the consolidation of the management of two complex nuclear facilities separated by 1,000 miles and maintained mission execution as goal number 1. Thanks to his leadership, those vital national security facilities are performing their mission while also realizing cost savings that will be reinvested to upgrade decaying infrastructure and systems,” Bechtel spokesman Fred deSousa said in a statement. “Projects are progressing on time and budget. This is what we were hired to do, and it will only continue in the next phase of CNS’ evolution under Morgan Smith.”
Haynes last month expressed disappointment in the low performance score CNS received for its first 15 months of performance from the NNSA – 57 percent out of 100, rated as “good.” Haynes said in response that “the score is lower than expected and should be disappointing for every one of us.” According to a source familiar with the leadership changes, workers at the two CNS sites are confused by the disconnect between the low evaluation score and the progress NNSA has simultaneously touted among its achievements in the last year. The NNSA highlighted its completion of the Uranium Processing Facility site readiness subproject and the Nuclear Facility Risk Reduction project, both at Y-12, as major achievements in 2015.
No penalties were assessed for CNS as a result of Haynes’ departure, according to the NNSA Production Office. Under the CNS contract, the contractor could be asked to forfeit salary in the event of key personnel changes within the first two years of period of performance. More personnel announcements are expected potentially as early as next week to fill CNS positions, including that of chief operating officer.
