Christine Wormuth, most recently the Secretary of the Army, will be the Washington-based nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative’s (NTI) newest president and third chief executive officer effective Nov. 17, the organization announced last week.
“NTI’s mission to reduce global nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats is more vital than ever,” Wormuth said in NTI’s release, adding she was “honored” to join the mission. “I’m excited to lead this exceptional team as it builds on NTI’s legacy and helps shape a safer, more resilient future.”
Wormuth served as the 25th Army Secretary from 2021 to 2025. She has 30 years in defense policy, strategic planning and international policy, the release said, including serving as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Defense Department from 2014 to 2016. Outside the government, Wormuth was director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Arlington, Va.-based policy research center the RAND Corporation.
Liquid waste treatment, plutonium down-blending, and other work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina have not yet been affected yet by the federal shutdown, according to a DOE spokesperson.
“DOE’s Savannah River Site is not currently experiencing a lapse in funding and continues to operate in a normal capacity, with staff reporting to work and carrying out the Savannah River mission safely,” the spokesperson said via email. Like other DOE sites, SRS is first using up carryover money left over from fiscal 2025, which ended Sept. 30. The current shutdown commenced Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats and Republicans could not agree on the terms of a stopgap continuing budget resolution.
In October 2024, DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) took over the role of landlord at the federal complex from the DOE Office of Environmental Management going from landlord to tenant.
KNOXVILLE, TENN. – East Tennessee could become a nuclear industry hub, several state officials said at a conference here Wednesday.
That was a central theme in an afternoon panel discussion of regional business opportunities at the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association’s (ETEBA) annual Business Opportunities and Technical Conference.
Tennessee Department Economic and Community Development Chief Policy Officer Braden Stover said the state agency has set up a Nuclear Energy Fund to help expand the state’s nuclear development and companies to build in the state. The state fund, created in 2023 by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R), currently has $70 million.
KNOXVILLE, TENN. – Several executives with Department of Energy prime contractors said Wednesday morning that workforce gaps will need to be filled if they plan to meet the growing demand for nuclear energy and services.
Panelists from across the DOE nuclear complex told attendees at the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association’s (ETEBA) Business Opportunities and Technical Conference here Wednesday their companies have had workforce concerns, particularly on the construction side.
“I think we as a country are grossly under-served by the number of trades and crafts workers that we have,” said David (DJ) Johnson, Honeywell International’s vice president and general manager of federal solutions. “I think we need more opportunities to really develop more humans that do trade work and craft work.”
The Congressional Nuclear Security Working Group and Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center (ANWA) postponed a Monday Oct. 24 meeting at the Capitol with Brandon Williams, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
“Due to the federal government shutdown, the planned Discussion with The Honorable Brandon Williams and Dr. Richard Tighe [CEO of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the prime contractor for Y-12 National Security Complex] will be postponed until December,” a spokesperson for ANWA emailed the Exchange Monitor. The exact date has not been confirmed yet.
Williams and Tighe were going to discuss nuclear security modernization Monday evening.