U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Our Commissioner Wright was at the White House Africa Cancer Care Forum yesterday talking about his experiences as a colon cancer survivor and sharing how we support our partners in Africa build capacity to regulate the medical uses of radiological material in cancer care. The forum, hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, included other government officials, international experts and representatives from the @IAEA – as well as invitees from 13 African nations. The NRC is partnering with counterparts throughout Africa to establish and strengthen their regulatory control over radiation sources and X-ray generators used in the medical field. You can watch a video of the forum here: https://lnkd.in/eTkdamB4 #WhiteHouseAfricaCancerCareForum #GlobalCancerMoonshot 

Sometimes, our employees just need a little help. That’s where Jessica Center is #OnTheJob. She’s our reasonable accommodation coordinator and it’s her job to work with staff who have a variety of disabling conditions. She might help them with a workstation change, like getting them a sit/stand desk or an ergonomic chair or computer mouse for physical limitations. She might get services such as a sign language interpreters or technology like reading software that takes the digital information on screen and reads it aloud. The goal is to attract new talent and to retain our skilled staff as they run into medical issues. It’s all about getting and keeping good people. Jessica loves her job because of the satisfaction of facing a problem, figuring out a solution and implementing it so that the NRC keeps meeting our mission. 

Our Commissioner Wright joined Ramzi Jammal, the acting head of our regulatory counterpart to the north, in a U.S.-Canada forum yesterday hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute. The main topic was how the two countries are working together on advanced and small modular reactor licensing. The formal MOU was first signed by the NRC and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission – Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire back in 2019 and expanded recently to include the UK regulator. As Commissioner Wright pointed out, we see great value in this collaboration where we can take each other’s experiences, regulatory information and results into account for giving feedback to vendors or making recommendations for regulatory decisions. For more on this initiative, go here: https://lnkd.in/e-UJGSam

We’re pretty sure you’ve never popped a balloon inside a nuclear power plant’s cooling tower. But Doug Simpkins, from our Technical Training Center, has! Doug regularly leads educational tours at the mothballed Bellefonte plant in Alabama to enrich learning and understanding of nuclear safety and reactor operations. To highlight the tower’s acoustic properties, Doug often pops a balloon, showcasing how dramatically the sound echoes, much like in a cathedral. This echoing is due to the tower’s large open space and hyperbolic design, which allows sound waves to bounce and intersect in fascinating ways. Cooling towers, for operating plants, remove excess heat from the plant and keep the machinery and systems operating efficiently.

It was marked by a cross-ocean asynchronous signing – but the new MOU between the NRC and the Environment Agency of England is official. The Memorandum of Understanding is based on our usual template for bilateral cooperation, but with a shift from nuclear safety broadly to environmental issues and fusion systems. The Environment Agency regulates the use of radioactive substances to protect people and the environment from their harmful effects. We already have an agreement with the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the UK’s independent nuclear safety regulator. This MOU provides a conduit for sharing more information about the environmental aspects of regulated facilities. Given the burgeoning interest in fusion, the agreement benefits both countries by allowing for greater collaboration and information sharing.

When we say Gerry Stirewalt is a rock star, we mean literally! Whether he’s hiking in Peru, rafting wild rivers in Alaska, or photographing beluga whales in the tundra, Gerry carries with him the passion for the earth that led him to become a geologist. Gerry has been #OnTheJob with us for almost 20 years and serves as a senior geologist and technical reviewer. He’s been developing and implementing software to ensure licensees are characterizing geologic features at proposed nuclear power plants properly, performing in-person field audits, and so much more! Gerry received his PhD in structural geology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed post-doctoral studies at Columbia University and The University of British Columbia and previously worked in academia and with private engineering firms. And while it’s hard for him to pick his favorite mineral, he touts his 317-pound museum-level amethyst geode to be a top contender.  

Shaun Hamilton worked in digital cinematography producing music videos and commercials before writing a book to help the partners of survivors of sexual violence. Diana Stagner spent 13 years at the Federal Aviation Administration, where she worked on systems that help pilots communicate with control towers. Both were looking for new challenges and are now among our new hires looking forward to futures as inspectors who will help us oversee the safety of nuclear power plants in Region IV. Diana has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington. Shaun is a veteran of the nuclear Navy and holds a bachelor’s degree from Excelsior University in Albany, N.Y. We’re glad to have them aboard! #NRCHires

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Yes, it’s a holiday week and job hunting might not be top of your list. But we have a very special opportunity that is only open for a few more days – our Honor Law Graduate Program. This program offers a small number of graduating law students or judicial law clerks a two-year program of rotational assignments through different divisions in our Office of the General Counsel. It’s our primary mechanism for hiring entry-level attorneys. The program allows you to collaborate with seasoned attorneys and work independently on a variety of assignments. There are education and other requirements. For the full account of who is eligible and how to apply, go here: https://lnkd.in/eBpJn8TD

Commissioner Crowell was #OnTheRoad recently spending a jam-packed week in Japan. He met with officials from our regulatory counterpart - the Nuclear Regulation Authority – as well as with other nuclear and energy-related entities. In addition, he toured the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Processing Facility. There, he paused for a fun photo at the Visitor’s Center with NRC staff and Naohiro Masuda, the Executive President and CEO of Japan Nuclear Fuels Limited, plus -- the center’s frog “mascot.” Commissioner Crowell also toured the decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and saw the waste storage facilities and the site’s ongoing remediation activities.