Longtime Department of Energy manager Ed McGinnis has left the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy to take a position at the White House, a source said Monday.
McGinnis had served as principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy from May 2017, leading the office until Rita Baranwal was sworn in as assistant secretary for nuclear energy earlier this month. His tenure included a seven-month stint as acting assistant secretary, from May to November 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. By law, federal acting assistant secretaries are generally limited to 210 days in that role.
The organization chart for the Office of Nuclear Energy lists the principal deputy assistant secretary position as vacant. McGinnis’ official biography also cites him as former principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, but does not cite his current assignment.
There was no immediate word regarding McGinnis’ replacement. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
The source said McGinnis was detailed to DOE’s Office of Science, which in turn sent him to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to provide expert advice on nuclear power issues. The move happened a couple days after Baranwal assumed leadership at the Office of Nuclear Energy in July. But the source characterized it as agreed-upon by all involved.
This helps enable Baranwal to put her own leadership team into place at the office, while McGinnis had hoped for an opportunity to work at the White House, the source said. There was “no bad blood between him and Rita or anything like that.”
The Energy Department and White House had not confirmed McGinnis’ reported new assignment as of deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor. “We have no personnel announcements at this time,” an OSTP spokesperson said by email Thursday.
The Office of Nuclear Energy, funded at about $1.3 billion in the current federal budget, primarily aims to support the current U.S. nuclear power fleet and promote development of new nuclear technologies. It also manages DOE nuclear waste activities, and nominally would be in charge of the license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada. The Obama administration in 2010 defunded the proceeding at DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Trump administration has to date failed to persuade Congress to appropriate new money for licensing.
Over nearly 30 years, McGinnis’ roles at the Energy Department have included a nearly decade-long stint as deputy assistant secretary for international nuclear energy policy and cooperation. He also served as senior director for the Office of Global Radiological Threat Reduction.
A number of other ranking staffers are also leaving the Office of Nuclear Energy, including several retirements, according to the source. These include Shane Johnson, deputy assistant secretary for reactor fleet and advanced reactor deployment, who is scheduled to take leave in September and then formally retire in January, according to an internal memo sent this week to office staff.
