Former deputy manager of site gets senior DOE post

Former DOE Idaho Deputy Manager John Kotek has been named principal deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Kotek will be responsible for implementing the department’s strategy for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. He will also oversee the nation’s nuclear energy research and development programs and infrastructure, which includes the Idaho National Laboratory, according to a news release from Gallatin Public Affairs, a lobbying company that has employed him since 2007.

In 1999, Kotek managed research and development at Argonne National Laboratory-West. He was named deputy manager of the DOE Idaho Operations Office in 2003.