Contractor Fluor-BWXT has promoted J.D. Dowell to become the new project director for remediation operations at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
Dowell, who has worked in nuclear management jobs for the military, DOE, and industry, has been at Portsmouth since 2018 as Fluor-BWXT’s deputy site director. In the new role, he will lead decontamination and decommissioning of the former uranium enrichment complex.
Bob Smith, who has been Portsmouth site project director since April 2018, is moving to a corporate role with the Fluor Government Group, the company said in a Wednesday press release. Both Dowell and Smith started their new jobs this week, said a Fluor spokeswoman. Smith will report to Senior Vice President Greg Meyer.
“We are dedicated to the Department of Energy’s mission to safely remove the original uranium enrichment buildings, dispose of the demolition debris and waste and remediate the environment for future redevelopment of this site,” Dowell said in the release.
After 26 years in the U.S. Navy, Dowell joined the Energy Department in 2008 as assistant manager for engineering and nuclear safety at the Hanford Site in Washington state, going on to hold several key management jobs at the federal agency. He served as deputy manager of the Hanford Site Office of River Protection from October 2013 until he joined Fluor as a senior project director in November 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Fluor-BWXT is currently operating under a 10-year, $3.8 billion contract that started March 29, 2011, and is scheduled to end March 28, 2021. The contractor employs about 1,800 people at Portsmouth.
