Todd Wright, who retired last August as vice president and general manager of AECOM’s Aiken, S.C.-based nuclear and environment business, has received South Carolina’s highest civilian award.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) formally inducted Wright into the Order of the Palmetto during a ceremony in the governor’s office last week. The award is given to recipients for a lifetime of contributions to the state. Prior winners have included singer James Brown and author Pat Conroy.
Wright began his 39-year nuclear career in South Carolina at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site, and was at SRS for about 28 years altogether.
During his tenure as vice president and general manager, Wright was responsible for overseeing AECOM-led Savannah River Remediation, the contractor in charge of managing about 35 million gallons of radioactive and chemical liquid waste at the site deemed South Carolina’s biggest environmental threat. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at Savannah River has vitrified more than 4,000 canisters of high-level waste, the company noted in a Friday press release. Wright was director of the Savannah River Nuclear Laboratory from 2003 through 2008 and it became a national laboratory during his tenure.
In a separate nuclear development from South Carolina, a recently retired official from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control has joined Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates as a senior regulatory specialist.
Longenecker announced the hiring of Shelly Wilson on Monday. Wilson, who retired from the state this month, has expertise in Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) compliance, regulatory strategy and high-level radioactive tank closure. Wilson worked at the South Carolina agency for more than 23 years, including the past 14 as a permitting and federal facilities liaison, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Wilson will work from the Longenecker & Associates offices in South Carolina. Longenecker is a woman-owned small business and a frequently used DOE subcontractor.
