Michael Whedbee

Bio

Michael Whedbee, PMP, is the Section Head for Testing Science and Cascade Engineering, part of the new Enrichment Science and Engineering Division (ESED) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Currently Mr. Whedbee provides project and technical support to the Stable Isotope as well as Domestic Uranium Enrichment programs at ORNL in the areas of Nuclear Component Design, Manufacturing, and Operations, specifically in the area of centrifuge enrichment technologies. Michael was born and raised in East Tennessee and is a third generation “Manhattan Project” employee.

Mr. Whedbee has experience in complex systems engineering, design engineering, project management, and manufacturing in the DOE nuclear arena. Michael was the Group Leader for the former Enrichment Technology Group at ORNL and was hired to be one of the three new section heads for the new Enrichment Division. Before starting at ORNL in 2014, he was the Manager of Manufacturing for American Centrifuge Manufacturing (ACM) L.L.C. during the DOE Research, Development, & Demonstration (RD&D) Program for the AC100 American Centrifuge, managing the day to day manufacturing operations of the Technology & Manufacturing Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Mr. Whedbee was also the Engineering Manager for ACM during the development and qualification phases of the manufacturing processes used during the RD&D program. Mr. Whedbee also worked as a lead process engineer at the Y-12 National Security Plant from 2002 through 2007, working on various projects with the National Laboratories, weapons assembly and disassembly activities, as well as serving as the UPF project process engineering lead for assembly/disassembly processes. While at Y-12, he authored over 35 technical reports for many of the Nuclear Weapons Complex National Laboratory design agencies and received two NNSA Defense Programs Awards of Excellence. Before starting his nuclear career, Mr. Whedbee was a design engineer for commercial and construction equipment at John Deere Co. Mr. Whedbee received his Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, where he also completed a graduate certification program in Engineering Management. He holds an active Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and has completed a two year senior leadership development course through The Center for Creative Leadership.

Awards

2007 NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence

2003 NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence

Specialized Equipment

Gas Centrifuge