Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the Bechtel-led joint venture that runs the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said Friday that Todd Ailes will become its new president and CEO effective July 1.
Ailes will succeed Rich Tighe who is leaving CNS after about four years to become project director for Bechtel’s Sentinel project in Utah, CNS said in a June 26 press release.
Ailes who has most recently been the CNS chief operating officer, has about 35 years of nuclear production, weapons manufacturing and related work, CNS said in the release. Previously in his career, Ailes spent 15 years with CNS management at the Pantex Plant in Texas where he served as vice president of plant operations and site manager.
From 2021 to 2025, Ailes was also project manager for the Pueblo Chemical Agent–Destruction Pilot Plant in Colorado. He has also worked at the Kansas City National Security Campus.
Tighe, a Bechtel senior vice president, served as CNS’s president and CEO since September 2022, overseeing the separation of Pantex from CNS’s contract.
Pantex is now run by PanTeXas Deterrence, which is a BWXT-led venture.