UPF Procurement Exec to Stay on Project After All

After conflicting reports over the past month, it looks like Rich Brown will be staying in Oak Ridge after all and oversee the procurement activities for the Uranium Processing Facility and/or its follow-on projects. Just a few days after UPF Project Director Brian Reilly sent out a message announcing that Brown was leaving UPF to take a Becthel assignment in the United Kingdom, and would be replaced in the UPF role by Mark Swager, another Becthel veteran, a spokesman confirmed that Brown was staying put.

Jason Bohne, communications chief for Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing contractor at Y-12 and Pantex, acknowledged that Brown was staying in Oak Ridge. But Bohne declined to specify what position Brown would hold or confirm whether or not Swager would still be associated with the UPF project. There is reportedly a proposal on the table for Brown and Swager to share the procurement roles for the evolving project to modernize the uranium operations at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. However, there has been no response to questions about the CNS plans for the key project role. An announcement clarifying the situation is expected later this week.