Mr. Edwin R. Deshong, III serves as the Acting Manager for the United States Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) where he oversees the organization’s $1.8 billion-dollar cleanup operations. DOE-SR’s missions include tank farm waste cleanup, nuclear material disposition, environmental restoration, and oversight of the Savannah River National Laboratory operations. Mr. Deshong has over 33 years of experience providing leadership and direction to federal and contractor staff responsible for the oversight and operation of nuclear facility operations within DOE-SR and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complex.
As the Site Chief Engineer with DOE-SR, he served as the principal technical advisor to senior management for all Savannah River Site (SRS) issues associated with nuclear safety and engineering. In addition, Mr. Deshong was the Site lead for all interactions with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and a key leader implementing the transition of primary authority for SRS from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management to NNSA by 2025. He also served as the Acting Deputy Field Office Manager, Assistant Manager for Programs and Senior Facility Representative for NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office (SRFO). Mr. Deshong was responsible for integrating nuclear operations, weapons quality assurance, weapons stockpile commitments, business management, nuclear security, and environment safety and health activities. Mr. Deshong supervised a staff of about 40 federal employees and provided oversight of more than 600 contractor employees responsible for executing the tritium mission. Specific areas of emphasis were project management, integrated safety management, startup/restart, public relations, staffing, and authorization basis programs. Mr. Deshong also served as the Defense Programs Action Officer and Liaison for the proposed Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility where he focused on integrating program funding, National Environmental Policy Act implementation, and Critical Decision activities.
Prior to serving as the SRFO Deputy Manager, Mr. Deshong was the Assistant Manager for Project and Programs where he was responsible for the entire small projects and maintenance program portfolios for the tritium facilities with an annual budget of $60 million. Prior to that, Mr. Deshong served as the Assistant Manager for Mission Assurance for SRFO in 2016, ensuring that the weapons stockpile mission was accomplished safely to meet Defense programs requirements. In this role, Mr. Deshong managed a diverse staff that is responsible for operations, weapons quality assurance, safety systems oversight, nuclear safety, maintenance, and the Directed Stockpile Work Program.
Since joining DOE in 1991, Mr. Deshong has worked at numerous DOE facilities and completed the Nuclear Executive Leadership Training requirements. Mr. Deshong is currently qualified under the DOE Technical Qualification Program as a Senior Technical Safety Manager. Mr. Deshong received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from South Carolina State University (1992) and a Master of Science degree in Computer Systems Management from the University of Maryland (2000).