U.S. Energy Department contractor Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings has promoted Jack Craig as its new chief operating officer (COO).
Craig, who joined the SNC-Lavalin Group company in 2018 as vice president of strategic programs, assumed the new post on Nov. 1, according to a press release.
He succeeds Robert Frost, who continues to serve as a director at Atkins, company spokeswoman Jessica Singleton said in a Wednesday email. Frost was president of Nuclear Safety Associates when it was acquired in 2014 by Atkins. He served as COO of Atkins Nuclear Secured Holdings starting in April 2016.
Before joining Atkins, Craig had a long career at the Energy Department. That included serving as the agency’s top manager at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where he oversaw 11,500 contractor and federal employees between 2015 and 2018.
While at DOE, Craig helped set up the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center in Cincinnati, which he led from 2004 to 2015, according to the Atkins press release. He was recently picked to serve as a member of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management Advisory Board.
Craig works out of the Atkins office in Aiken, S.C. “Jack brings a wealth of industry experience and knowledge that will be instrumental in guiding our growth strategy and maintaining operational excellence,” Atkins Nuclear Secured President Tom Jouvanis said in the press release.
Altogether Craig has logged over 30 years around the federal nuclear sector, Atkins said.
Atkins is a lead partner in Mid-America Conversion Services, which converts depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky into a more stable form for disposal. Atkins is also a minority partner with AECOM on the Washington River Protection Solutions contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The WRPS team is responsible for managing 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks.
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Monday said he would not reverse his decision to retire, even with the opportunity to take the top Republican spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Shimkus said last week he would reconsider his Aug. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2020 after Energy and Water Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) on Oct. 28 announced his own retirement at the end of his current term.
The Illinois lawmaker, first elected in 1996, is currently the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce environment and climate change subcommittee. There was talk last week that he could take on that role for the full committee in the next Congress, or even be elevated to chairman should Republicans regain the House majority.
“I was asked by local Republicans, party leaders in Washington, DC, and a bipartisan group of rank and file House members to reconsider my retirement,” Shimkus said in a prepared statement. “I was honored by their outreach. In response to their lobbying, I promised to seriously consider the request, which I did last week in DC and this past weekend at home.”
Shimkus said he considered the ‘pros and cons” of staying in Congress and determined he would not return for another campaign. He did not offer additional detail regarding his thinking.
“I look forward to finishing the 116th Congress with my colleagues,” Shimkus stated. “Despite all the angst displayed daily, members of the committee are working diligently on some bipartisan compromises. If we are successful, they could very well find their way to the President’s desk for his signature.”
Shimkus has been perhaps the lead proponent in Congress for resuming the frozen licensing for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The Obama administration defunded the proceeding a decade ago, and the Trump administration has failed in several attempts to secure new appropriations from Capitol Hill.
