WASHINGTON — The company that manages the Savannah River Site has hired Strom Thurmond Jr. to help retain its lucrative contract, but some say Washington Group International is most interested in cashing in on the Thurmond name.

“Why do they want him? It’s not for his nuclear engineering acumen, his environmental science skills or ability to advocate for clean and safe energy for South Carolina,” said Bob Guild of Columbia, an environmental lawyer and chairman of the S.C. chapter of the Sierra Club.

“He is being hired because of the presumption that he brings access to the movers and shakers that grease the skids of this decision-making process.”

Thurmond, 32, is the former U.S. attorney for South Carolina and the son of legendary U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. The elder Thurmond, who died in 2003, helped send billions of federal dollars to the Savannah River Site.

Washington Group officials say they did not hire Thurmond for his name. “That’s not why he’s here. I don’t know if that carries much weight anymore anyway,” spokesman Jack Herrmann said.

Thurmond will help Washington Group by taking the pulse of Aiken as the company pursues the new contract, Herrmann said.

“We like to get a fresh perspective on what’s going on in the community, and Strom is very well-established in the community. We find him to be very candid and honest.”

In the past, the SRS contract has been worth about $1.5 billion a year to Washington Group, according to the Department of Energy, which owns SRS.

Washington Group’s Westinghouse Savannah River Co. has run the nuclear waste storage facility near Aiken for 15 years. But, for many years, it has not faced serious competition for the contract.

This year, California-based Fluor Daniel and other firms are mounting a serious challenge to Washington Group. About 70 companies attended an informational session on bidding for the new contract held in Aiken last month. The current contract expires Sept. 30, 2006.

Thurmond’s hiring raised a few eyebrows at Fluor Daniel, which has opened an Aiken office to pursue the contract.

“He’s new to this area in terms of his career,” said Dan Evans, the project director of Fluor Daniel’s Aiken office. “I don’t know how much he knows about it. I would suspect not a whole heck of a lot, but he might surprise me.”

Efforts Wednesday to reach Thurmond, a partner in the law firm of Smith, Massey, Brodie and Thurmond in Aiken, were unsuccessful. Thurmond worked at SRS when he was in college — in its ecology lab.

He has been criticized in the past for using his name to land a high-profile job. When he was 28 and just two years out of USC law school, President Bush — at Sen. Thurmond’s request — nominated Thurmond Jr. for U.S. attorney from South Carolina.

When sworn in on Nov. 19, 2001, Thurmond was 29 and the youngest U.S. attorney in the country. Despite the cries of nepotism, Thurmond Jr. earned the respect of many Democrats and Republicans.

Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com.