Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security has named Ken Guess the director of Nuclear Safety Oversight, according to an Aug. 20 CNS press release. Guess’ most recent position was serving as power ascension test director in the operational readiness department at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2, and he served 25 years as a submarine officer in the Navy. “I’m excited to be starting a second career here,” Guess said in a statement. “Organizations that have aging infrastructures like Y-12 and Pantex have challenges. My goal is to continue the focus on the mission, ensuring we’re all doing the best job we can for the security of our country….As a strategic weapons officer on a missile submarine, we were ready to execute. I never even remotely doubted that the weapons systems would work as advertised.”
Bill Heineken, CNS’ director of Nuclear Operations Support, said in a statement he likes that Guess was an “end user” of weapons produced at Y-12 and Pantex. “Ken’s role is to integrate and execute the nuclear safety role and conduct of operations at the enterprise level,” Heineken said. “In searching for someone to hold this role, we wanted to make sure we had the right person to meet this challenge.”