Jeff Avery, DOE Environmental Management’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, during a recent visit to New Mexico. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Jeff Avery has been Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management for the Department of Energy for almost two years now. Prior to that, he spent 26 years working for Naval Reactors, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, a joint Department of the Navy and Department of Energy organization charged with all aspects of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion including research, design, construction, testing, operation maintenance and the ultimate disposition of naval nuclear propulsion plants.
Avery sat down recently with the Los Alamos Reporter for a casual interview during which he discussed his career with Naval Reactors where he was based at Headquarters in Washington, DC. Prior to moving the the Environmental Management side of the house he was serving as the Director of Regulatory and Security Affairs, responsible for the NR program’s regulatory and policy matters, security programs, environmental affairs and associated stakeholder engagement, oversight of work at the Idaho National Laboratory, and nuclear facility lifecycle management. At one time, Avery was responsible for global nuclear powered ship port entry, nuclear propulsion technology exchange programs with the United Kingdom, nonproliferation and export control policy, and strategic communications.
“During my time as Director of Regulatory Affairs, I was responsible for oversight of the portfolio at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, which included all of the work associated with the shipping and examination of the spent fuel mission. The other thing I was responsible for was the decommissioning and dismantling mission,” Avery said.
During that time he was learning about the DOE Environmental Management program and one of the thoughts he had was that it might make sense for EM to come in and help the other reactors. .
“The Navy is good at a lot of things. I thought a partnership would be a good thing to help the Navy with the decommissioning and dismantling of some of their legacy facilities. I spent a couple of years working with folks on the reactors and with EM to set up this partnership, and it’s been a tremendous experience,” he said. “EM is responsible for taking down the S1W Prototype at the nuclear reactor facility in Idaho. We’re also working to take down the next prototype there, the A1W Prototype, which is the former aircraft carrier prototype.” (The S1W reactor was the first prototype naval reactor used by the United States Navy to prove that the technology could be used for electricity generation and propulsion on submarines.)
Nuclear Reactors now has work in upstate New York at the Knolls Power Laboratory and at the Kesselring Site and is getting ready to launch new work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Avery said.
“It was through that experience that I got to know the EM program and work more closely with EM folks across the program. At one point, Ike (William ‘Ike White) said, ‘Why don’t you come over and work for me’. When he asked me I said, ‘Yes, it’s a deal, I’m coming over.'” Avery said.
He said it’s been very special for him since he joined the EM program to see the work that he started in the Nuclear Reactors continue to grow and just to be involved now from the EM perspective with everything being done across the country is “just perfect”.
“Coming from outside the EM program it was important for me to get out around the field and see all the DOE sites as quickly as possible. I made it a personal goal to get out and see all the sites within the first year. And we did it. In fact we did it in 11 months, which was a bit of a push but a tremendous experience,” Avery said. “There are certain things that I’ve been able to see that are different about each of the sites and there are certain themes that are similar everywhere I go. There are certainly differences in terms of the mission at each site, differences in the technical challenges, the geography, regulatory framework, but mostly similarities is what I see.”
There are three big things Avery says he sees everywhere he goes.
“First and foremost is the passion, the talent and the dedication of our teams; it’s just universal. Everywhere I go I find a team that is passionate about what they’re doing, enhancing our environmental security in the country and supporting our national security. That’s kind of the first thing I see universally,” he said. “The second is the focus on making the delivery of safe progress. We’re very focused on making a difference and making progress around the country but doing it the right way. Doing it safely and doing it deliberately and that’s something I see that’s pretty much universal.”
And then the third thing, which Avery thinks is pretty special, is a continued focus on really embracing the value of community engagement.
“This is not a program where the Department can go it alone. It really takes all the stakeholders and partners working together to move the mission forward and I’ve seen that very clearly here in New Mexico,” he said. “We are listening to all the views and perspectives.
Avery discussed the Strategic Vision Project started by former EM-LA Field Office Manager Michael Mikolanis, which he said is tremendously important.
“First and foremost listening and soliciting different views from a range of stakeholders is vital. Last year alone I think we had more than 30 Strategic Vision listening sessions with the Pueblos, with the members of the community to hear those views and perspectives. Later this year we’ll be in a position to hold some additional public meetings to talk about what we’ve heard and what we’ve learned and the next steps,” Avery said, “A key relationship in all of this is with New Mexico Environment Department so we will continue to work with them and share our views and perspectives and make sure that we’ve also asked for the right opportunity, whether it’s hearings or other things to express our views and opinions on different options.”
He noted that he had the opportunity earlier this year to meet with the Four Accord Pueblos. He also attended State and Tribal Working Group Sessions.
“For me the most important objective is listen and learn. There is great value in that and I delivered this message to the State and Tribal Working Group. I truly believe we’re better when we’re seeking out diverse views and perspectives to define how we’re going to move the mission forward and to enable a brighter future collectively,” Avery said. “We’re better when we’re seeking first to listen and understand. I think that makes us better as a department. It makes us better partners. It improves the collaboration and it leads to better outcomes. It ultimately promotes a better and stronger progress.”
He added, “That’s what this is all about. Folks coming together with different backgrounds, different views and perspectives, to share how they think about shared challenges and opportunities so we can find alignment points and solutions to move the mission forward. It’s incredibly powerful.”
Avery said there is tremendous progress being made with the environmental cleanup mission in New Mexico.
“Last year, we met all of our transuranic waste shipping goals with a margin. We met all of our remediation obligations to the State of New Mexico for 2023 either early or on time. We completed the Middle DP Road Remediation Project – something that’s not only important to the Department but obviously very important to the local community,” he said. “If you look broadly at what we’re doing across New Mexico, for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, last year was a great year. We had more shipments of transuranic waste to WIPP last year than any other year in the last decade and we’re doing that all very safely and deliberately. That’s good news for the whole complex because it means that we’ve got that pathway to send transuranic waste to that facility, so we’re making great progress and we’re approaching our mission with a strong focus on engagement and alignment with the Strategic Vision..”
We’ve had some great engagement points around topics like workforce with the local community to try to strengthen STEM pipelines to support the communities and to support the work with the Department’s needs ultimately for the future of our workforce. We are having some very productive discussions with NMED surrounding the Consent Order and some potential changes.
Asked about the ongoing funding picture for EM-LA, Avery said there has been tremendous support from Congress for all the work that needs to be done at LANL and across the country.
“I think one of the reasons we have such strong support is because we’re showing results, that this program is a good investment and that we’re making a difference. I think when you can show that you’re working well with multiple stakeholders in aligning our approach and making progress, that builds confidence in what we’re doing,” he concluded.
Avery earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He holds master’s degrees in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University and Business Administration from Indiana University, and is a graduate of the Bettis Reactor Engineering School. He also completed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI fellowship program in national security policy and international relations.