Bill Bates

Bio

Bill Bates is the deputy associate laboratory director for the Environmental and Legacy Management Directorate at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), focusing on disposition and cleanup of the legacy nuclear materials, waste, and facilities across the Department of Energy (DOE).

Bates has over 36 years of experience in the nuclear industry, including previous roles in reactor technology, reactor instrumentation and control, and high-level waste systems. He has also held facility management roles with Savannah River Site K Area Materials Storage, the L Area Spent Fuel Program, and the Receiving Basin for Offsite Fuels. Between 2006 and 2008, he served as manager for K area business programs, project controls, and quality assurance. He returned to operations management in late 2008 as the deputy director, and later director for Nuclear Materials Storage for K and L Area facilities. He transitioned to SRNL in 2012 as the deputy associate laboratory director for Nuclear Materials and moved to Environmental and Legacy Management in 2021.

Bates has participated in several important multi-national lab teams, including the 2013 Plutonium Disposition Working Group, the 2015 Plutonium Disposition Red Team, the Department of Energy Environmental Management’s 2019 H-Canyon and Spent Fuel Management Independent Project Team, and the 2020 DOE Nuclear Materials Handling and Infrastructure Independent Project Team. Bates led the Federally Funded Research and Development Center team for the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) section 3134 Hanford Supplemental Low Activity Waste Treatment Analysis and the 2021 NDAA-3125 follow-up study to the NDAA-3134 effort.

Bates has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Lehigh University.