Leadership

BIOGRAPHIES

President and Project Manager

Sean Dunagan, President and Project Manager for Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, has more than 16 years of experience supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), including as DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Senior WIPP Recovery Manager and CBFO Deputy Manager.

Prior to accepting his current position in September 2019, he served as Research & Development Manager, Special Projects & Remote Site Support, for Sandia National Laboratories-Carlsbad Programs Group. He was responsible for several different work scopes in support of DOE and WIPP, along with primary responsibilities for the Sandia Carlsbad office. He is recognized as an expert in nuclear repository performance assessment and safety cases.

He served as CBFO Senior WIPP Recovery Manager during the three-year shutdown of the facility, successfully leading restart of operations. In this position, he resolved remaining safety issues; built consensus with regulators, staff, stakeholders and DOE leadership; managed federal and contractor staffs’ work scope development; and planned, established and managed needed capital and operational subprojects. He was responsible for recovery project integration with other CBFO and contractor organizations; fiscal planning and acquisition of needed resources; and reporting on technical, programmatic, regulatory, environment, safety and health, and fiscal execution of site work.

His areas of expertise include project management, strategic planning, regulatory compliance, facility oversight, relationship management, and collaboration with key stakeholders and elected officials at both the state and federal levels.

He holds master’s and bachelor’s of science degrees in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University.

He is a well-known, active community leader, including Living Truth Academy vice president and board member; Journey on Fire treasurer and board member; Oasis Christian Fellowship member and financial committee member; and Spring Farms Subdivision, Inc., member.

Chief Operating Officer

Mark Pearcy oversees site and operations compliance and day-to-day leadership of all activities at the WIPP site. That includes receipt and emplacement of transuranic waste in the WIPP underground; maintaining existing and future underground disposal areas; and compliance with the Documented Safety Analysis and environmental permits in an effort to ensure that workers, the public and the environment are protected during operational activities.

He has 15 years of nuclear operations and project management leadership experience in the DOE complex. An established leader with 13 years of management experience, Pearcy has a demonstrated track record of managing WIPP Underground mine operations since July of 2014. Prior to his current position, he managed National TRU Programs as well as the program that certified transuranic waste at generator sites around the DOE complex. He has experience in maintaining contract and project baseline alignment; and effectively working with State and Federal regulators and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to address WIPP Underground operating issues and requirements.

Pearcy has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from Old Dominion University.

Chief of Staff

Keith Stone brings over 35 years of Department of Energy (DOE) experience in Nuclear Facility Operations, Deactivation and Demolition, and Waste Management to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). In 2018, Keith returned to WIPP after a six-year deactivation and demolition assignment as Deputy Chief Operating Officer. Late in 2019, Keith was reassigned to the National Transuranic Waste (TRU) Program. His previous WIPP service, from 2009-2012, included establishing the initial engineering function in the Central Characterization Program (CCP) and supporting remote handled (RH) TRU project work.

Keith spent 1985-2009 at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in a variety of operations and waste management assignments. He was a Site Project Manager for SRS when they were initially certified in the 1990’s, and he was a manager at the SRS Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) when CCP was deployed for the first time. Following several years as the SWMF Facility Manager, Keith managed several SRS site infrastructure departments including Site Transportation, Heavy Equipment Operations, and Cranes and Rigging. His deactivation and demolition experience was earned at the Separations Process Unit Demolition Project in New York adjacent to the Knoll Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL). Keith led a technically and contractually challenging deactivation and demolition effort to completion.

Keith holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina and the University of Delaware respectively.