Christopher (Chris) Harkins

Christopher (Chris) Harkins, Chief Operating Officer

Christopher (Chris) Harkins

Chief Operating Officer

Chris Harkins is the chief operating officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, the management and operating contractor for the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he oversees the administrative and operational functions of Pantex and Y-12.

Harkins most recently served as senior technical advisor to the president of the Los Alamos Legacy Waste Cleanup Contract and as senior vice president, chief engineer, and nuclear safety officer for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. At SRNS, his work included engineering management and systems engineering, as well as nuclear and criticality safety, design, and operations engineering. He led a division of 1,400-strong that had a combined budgetary responsibility of more than $230 million in support of DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration missions.

During Harkins’ more than 34 years of experience in nuclear operations, he also served as the director of Nuclear Propulsion Test Engineering for Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. In this position, he was responsible for nuclear and propulsion testing for multiple contracts for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines during new construction and complex overhaul and availabilities, including prototype reactors at DOE facilities.

Before joining the contractor workforce, Harkins had a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, he served in various submarine and staff assignments of increasing responsibility, including roles as the commanding officer of two submarines and commander of the Atlantic Fleet’s nuclear ballistic missile submarine squadron. He also served as the director of Training and Operational Safety for the U.S. Submarine Force in Norfolk, Virginia, where he set training and tactical system technical requirements and execution standards.

Harkins holds an executive master’s of business administration from Auburn University, is a DOE-certified naval nuclear engineer, and a certified Project Management Professional. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, United States Naval Institute, and the USNA Alumni Association.