The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) — the agency’s independent nuclear safety and security enforcer — will retire “at the end of the summer,” according to a letter he sent to industry colleagues Thursday.
“Last Friday I informed Secretary Perry’s [chief of staff] and [deputy chief of staff] that I will be leaving the Federal Government at the end of the summer,” EA Director Glenn Podonsky wrote in the letter. “I informed the EA managers today of the same.”
Podonsky, who has spent some 30 years at DOE, said he expects his deputy, William Eckroade, will succeed him. Eckroade has been EA’s No. 2 since 2009.
Looking forward, “I have absolutely no idea what lies ahead but I do know that my wife is not interested in having twice the husband with only half the pay, so some form of employment is inevitable,” Podonsky wrote.
However, the longtime DOE’er warned, he plans to work right up until his last day.
“So for anyone hoping for some relief from my tyranny it will not come until the gentler and kinder Bill Eckroade steps in after the summer,” Podonsky wrote.
The Office of Enterprise Assessments evaluates nuclear and industrial safety, physical and cyber security, and other operations throughout the DOE complete. It can fine and penalize operators of any DOE facility for nuclear safety and security security lapses. The office’s director reports to the secretary of energy.
