The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday named Kevin Smith, currently the acting manager of its Kansas City Plant site office, as the new manager of its site office overseeing Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Smith, who has worked at several other DoE sites and served as an F-16 squadron commander in the Air Force, takes over one of the toughest field positions in the department, with Los Alamos facing intense scrutiny over several high-profile projects to modernize its plutonium facilities.
The NNSA office at Los Alamos also is under pressure to increase its oversight of the lab, which has suffered several safety and security lapses in recent years under its current operating contractor, Los Alamos National Security LLC, a consortium led by the University of California and Bechtel.
Smith’s past DoE assignments include being deputy manager of the NNSA office overseeing the Y-12 Site uranium processing site in Tennessee and assistant manager for the nuclear materials stabilization project at DoE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Before joining DoE, Smith served as the director of safety for the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, with responsibility for safety programs at all Air Combat Command bases in the United States and 100,000 personnel worldwide.