Longtime Energy Department nuclear cleanup hand Ken Picha has been named to a top post at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) on an acting basis.
Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White said in a widely distributed email Friday that Picha is replacing Dae Chung as acting EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations.
The move was effective Sunday. Chung, who assumed the acting post in January, resumes his role as head of the EM special projects office, White said in the email. The field operations post helps oversee nuclear operations, construction, environmental restoration, and other tasks.
Lately, Picha has served as a senior adviser and senior site liaison coordinator for EM field operations. He has over 30 years of experience at nuclear facilities, including 25 years around the EM complex, White said. Picha has worked on assignments at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state.
“He has served on International Atomic Energy Agencies committees for development of waste management guides and has held leadership roles where he was responsible for EM’s tank waste and nuclear material management program as well as specific aspects of EM’s safety program,” White said of Picha.
The Picha appointment is White’s first major personnel announcement since being sworn in as EM-1 at the end of March. Chung had been named acting head of field operations in January by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Jim Owendoff.
“During this time, Dae worked effectively to enhance contractor performance and instill performance-based outcomes and a sense of urgency to EM’s cleanup activities by prioritizing corporate level engagement to ensure alignment with EM priorities,” White wrote.