Yucca project veteran promoted

WASHINGTON -- Christopher Kouts, a veteran Yucca Mountain Project manager, has been named to the No. 2 leadership post of the program, it was announced this week.

Kouts, 58, was named principal deputy director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

He has worked on the Nevada project for 22 years, most recently in charge of developing specialized canisters that would be used at the planned nuclear waste repository site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"Chris has a long and successful history with this program and has a strong desire to make it succeed," director Ward Sproat said in an internal e-mail to Yucca employees.

Kouts, an engineer by training, is from the Washington, D.C., area. Sproat announced the appointment Thursday at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission conference.