Candice Robertson, a long-serving hand with the Department of Energy currently acting as the No. 2 boss at the Office of Environmental Management, is moving to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission effective Dec. 4.
The news was shared by Office of Environmental Management senior adviser William (Ike) White in an “EM Colleagues” email Thursday.
Candice Robertson, “who has graciously served” since March as acting principal deputy assistant secretary of the $7.5-billion nuclear cleanup office, is taking a new job as the chief of staff for commissioner Brad Crowell at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), White said in the email.
Crowell was sworn in as an NRC commissioner in August. Crowell has served as director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, meaning both he and Robertson have links to Nevada. Robertson once served as a county commissioner in Nye County, Nev.
More information about the next steps for the Environmental Management’s No. 2 post “will be forthcoming,” White said. The senior adviser thanked Robertson for extending her stay in the No. 2 post “at my request.”
Robertson temporarily stepped into the No. 2 after the prior second in command at the cleanup office, Todd Shrader left Environmental Management to head DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
A senior industry source said Thursday Nicole Nelson-Jean, who heads nuclear cleanup’s field operations and Dae Chung, who oversees the office of corporate services, are possibilities for the No. 2 job.
Prior to her current post, Roberson was a senior adviser to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and deputy secretary David Turk, according to her DOE biography. She has served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to three DOE deputy secretaries including Dan Brouillette, who would go one to become secretary under former President Donald Trump. She first joined DOE in 2008 as an intergovernmental relations specialist in Las Vegas for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.
