NEW MANAGER HIRED FOR DISPOSAL

By AMY RIGGIN/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday,  June 2, 2005 

Washington Group International announced Tuesday that the company had hired a new project general manager to head chemical weapons disposal operations at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

During a meeting of the Arsenal's Citizen's Advisory Commission, Bob Love, who is project general manager for operations at Anniston, Ala., announced that David Reber had been selected for the position.

Love has been acting project general manager at the Arsenal since March 14. He took over for Stephen DePew, who resigned weeks before operations began on March 29 to take a job with another company.

"Today my relief showed up," Love told the commission as he introduced Reber.

As project general manager, Reber is responsible for the overall operations of the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, which is charged with incinerating 3,850 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Arsenal.

Prior to coming to Pine Bluff, Reber was vice president and deputy project general manager for Transuranic Solutions, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant at Carlsbad, N.M. He was responsible for the safe and environmentally compliant characterization, transportation and disposal of nuclear waste received from more than 20 Department of Energy sites located across the nation.

Also, he successfully led waste cleanup activities at six DOE facilities and implemented cleanup at five additional DOE facilities.

Prior to his corporate career, he was a commissioned officer in the Navy and a qualified nuclear engineer officer.

He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California at Irvine and completed his graduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Catholic University of America.

David and his wife, Pattie, have five children, ranging in ages from 6 to 19 years old.