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Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors (2023)

Chapter: Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
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Appendix A

Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff

Janice Dunn Lee (Chair) retired in January 2017 after a 40-year career in nuclear policy and regulatory fields. She served for more than 30 years at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC, in senior management positions focused on nuclear nonproliferation, national security, and nuclear safety policy. Her most senior position was director of international programs, a role in which she served for more than 8 years. This was followed by 10 years with international nuclear organizations in Paris, France, and Vienna, Austria. In particular, for almost 5 years, Ms. Dunn Lee served as deputy director general of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. She then served a 5-year term as deputy director general and head of the department of management at the International Atomic Energy Agency and was the highest-ranking American in the United Nations (UN) agencies based in Vienna. In January 2019, Ms. Dunn Lee came out of retirement for a 1-year assignment to be the acting chief executive officer of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund in New York City. She graduated from University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and has a master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Patricia A. “Trish” Baisden (Vice Chair) retired in 2013 from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) after a career spanning more than 37 years. Since retiring, she has become an adjunct professor at San Jose State University and has been the primary instructor for the American Chemical Society/Department of Energy Summer School in Nuclear Chemistry, an intensive 6-week undergraduate fellowship program designed to introduce nuclear and radiochemical concepts to outstanding upper-level undergraduate science and engineering majors, and to stimulate their interest in pursuing graduate studies in the field. At the time of her retirement from LLNL, Dr. Baisden was deputy program manager for the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program, a position she assumed in 2012 upon the conclusion of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC). NIC was a multi-laboratory scientific and technology development program at LLNL focused on using the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to achieve ignition and thermonuclear burn in the laboratory via inertial confinement fusion. She also served as director for operations and LLNL institutional deputy for NIC. Dr. Baisden is a nuclear chemist, and during her career at LLNL, she held a number of technical and management positions, including division leader for analytical sciences, deputy director of the Seaborg Institute, materials program leader for NIF, chief scientist, and deputy associate director for the Chemistry and Material Sciences Directorate. She has served on numerous study panels and review committees, as an editor of the journal Radiochimica Acta, and as chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology. She has served on five National Academies’ consensus

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×

study committees. Dr. Baisden’s research interests include nuclear fusion, lasers and optical materials, heavy ion reactions, heavy element fission properties, the chemistry of 4 and 5f elements, and nuclear power and advanced fuel cycles. She earned a B.S. in 1971 and a Ph.D. in 1975 in chemistry under Professor Gregory R. Choppin from Florida State University. Before joining the staff at LLNL, she held a 2-year postdoctoral appointment with Professor Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Margaret S. Y. Chu (NAE) provides consulting services to domestic and international clients in nuclear waste management, nuclear fuel cycle analysis, nuclear security analysis, and research and development. Her career has been devoted to promoting safe nuclear energy and nuclear fuel cycles. Dr. Chu’s extensive experience includes successfully managing large, multidisciplinary projects and negotiating with customers, regulators, and stakeholders. For more than 20 years, she served at Sandia National Laboratories in several capacities, including as director of the Nuclear Waste Management Program Center, manager of the Environmental Risk Assessment and Waste Management Department, and deputy manager of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) and Technical Integration Department. In 2002, Dr. Chu was appointed by President George W. Bush as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which is responsible for developing the nation’s waste disposal system for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. She has authored nearly 50 publications and has received numerous awards. Dr. Chu was a member of the National Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board, a member of the Advisory Committee of Reactor Safeguards at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee at DOE. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for her contributions for permanent disposal of radioactive waste in deep underground repositories. Dr. Chu holds a B.S. from Purdue University in chemistry and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in physical (quantum) chemistry.

Paul T. Dickman is a senior policy fellow, based in Washington, DC, with Argonne National Laboratory, focusing on international nuclear energy, nonproliferation, and national security policy. He has held several senior leadership positions. At the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mr. Dickman served as chief of staff to Chairman Dale E. Klein. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, he served on the undersecretary’s staff as deputy director for the Office of Policy. Mr. Dickman is also an active member in the American Nuclear Society, currently chairs its External Affairs Committee, and served as study director for the Society’s Special Committee Report on the nuclear accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi. He is also an advisor to the Japanese government agency responsible for the decommissioning of the Fukushima accident site and is president-elect for the World Council on Isotopes. Mr. Dickman serves on the National Academies’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and was a committee member for the National Academies’ study Independent Assessment of Science and Technology for the Department of Energy’s Defense Environmental Cleanup Program. He has published technical and policy papers on radioactive waste management, nuclear materials recycling and disposition, and international nuclear nonproliferation. Mr. Dickman holds a bachelor’s degree in history (of science) and a master’s degree of natural sciences in nuclear chemistry and physics.

Craig S. Hansen is an independent business consultant with 27 years of executive and senior-level experience in facility/site management; business and product line management; executing large and complex nuclear plant manufacturing, construction, decommissioning, and nuclear reactor servicing contracts; and successful leadership of complex technical projects facing a wide range of stakeholder challenges. He has extensive experience with BWXT, formerly the nuclear technology business of the Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W). Mr. Hansen’s most recent service was as president and board member (2013–2014) at B&W’s American Centrifuge Manufacturing, LLC (ACM), where he was responsible for management and operations of the American Centrifuge Technology and Manufacturing Center located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; there, his role included overseeing direction, management, and operation through bankruptcy and program realignment; managing a sophisticated technical manufacturing operation in a highly automated facility; and leading product-line diversification and demobilization due to government funding cuts. In B&W’s nuclear manufacturing division (2008–2013), he was vice president of nuclear equipment, where he was responsible for B&W’s global commercial nuclear equipment business along

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×

with U.S. and Canadian manufacturing sites, worldwide contracts, and product lines. From 2003 through 2008, Mr. Hansen organized and managed B&W’s government relations team. As B&W’s deputy site manager (2001–2003), he accelerated the cleanup and public relations at the U.S. Department of Energy Miamisburg Environmental Management Project (Mound Plant), a site on the National Priorities List since 1989 because of past disposal practices and releases to the environment. Prior to B&W, he worked on the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in Washington, DC, and in Idaho (1988–2001) in a series of progressively responsible positions at the nuclear reactor headquarters and naval reactor site management. He also served as the first chairman of the U.S. Department of Commerce Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee. Mr. Hansen has a B.A. from Eastern Washington University in operations management.

Edwin S. Lyman is director of the Nuclear Power Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and is an internationally recognized expert on nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, as well as nuclear power safety and security. He is a member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management and the American Nuclear Society, and has testified numerous times before Congress and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Since joining UCS in 2003, Dr. Lyman has published articles in a number of journals and magazines, including Science, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Science and Global Security, and Arms Control Today. He also co-authored the critically acclaimed book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (New Press, 2014). In 2018, he was awarded the Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society. Before joining UCS, Dr. Lyman was president of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington, DC–based organization focused on nuclear proliferation. From 1992 to 1995, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (now the Science and Global Security Program). Dr. Lyman earned a B.A. in physics from New York University in 1986 and a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1992.

Allison M. Macfarlane is currently professor and director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia (UBC). She has held both academic and government positions in the field of energy and environmental policy, especially nuclear policy. Most recently, Dr. Macfarlane directed the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University. She recently held a fellowship at the Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, and was Fulbright distinguished chair in applied public policy at Flinders University and Carnegie Mellon Adelaide in Australia. Dr. Macfarlane was the first geologist (and the third woman) to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a position she held from 2012 to 2014. She has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and Harvard University, and she has been on the faculty at Georgia Tech in earth science and international affairs, at George Mason University in environmental science and policy, and in the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Macfarlane served on the White House Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, created by the Obama administration to recommend a new national policy on high-level nuclear waste. She has also served on National Academies’ committees on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons issues, and she has chaired the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the group that sets the publication’s famous “doomsday clock.” In 2006, MIT Press published a book she co-edited, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste. Dr. Macfarlane has published extensively in Science, Nature, Environmental Science and Technology, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and other journals. Dr. Macfarlane’s research has focused on technical, social, and policy aspects of nuclear energy production and nuclear waste management and disposal, as well as regulation, nuclear nonproliferation, and energy policy. She holds a B.S. from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Earth science from MIT.

Albert J. Machiels retired from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in June 2017. During his 35-year tenure at EPRI, his responsibilities included the oversight and/or management of several research and development programs in the following technical areas: Nuclear Fuel Industry Research (NFIR), Severe Accident Issue Resolution, Severe Accident Technology, Control and Diagnostics, Advanced Light Water Reactor, Primary System Corrosion Research, Pressurized Water Reactor Materials Reliability Program, Boiling Water Reactor

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×

Vessel Integrity Program, Risk and Reliability, Balance-of-Plant Corrosion, and Used Fuel and High-Level Waste Management. From 1996 to 2017, Dr. Machiels was actively engaged in topics related to spent fuel management (storage and transportation) and advanced fuel cycles, areas in which his contributions gained international recognition. He served as EPRI executive liaison to the Nuclear Management and Resources Council (NUMARC, now part of the Nuclear Energy Institute) from August 1988 to October 1989. Before joining EPRI, Dr. Machiels was a tenured, associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to coming to the United States in 1970, he was a lecturer at the University of Liège, Belgium. Dr. Machiels has authored more than 200 publications and technical contributions, and has managed and contributed to the publication of more than 100 EPRI reports. He has served on several national and international panels and committees. In April 2012, Dr. Machiels received a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his strategic and technical contributions to the nuclear generation of electricity. He was only the eighth individual (and the first one from the Nuclear Generation Sector) to receive such an award in the 40-plus-year history of EPRI. Presently, he is a part-time consultant on topics related to the management of spent nuclear fuel. Dr. Machiels received Ingénieur Civil Chimiste and Ingénieur en Génie Nucléaire degrees from the University of Liège, in Belgium, and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Christophe Poinssot is nuclear counselor at the French Embassy in China and the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA) representative at the embassy, where he has served since 2018. In November 2020, he was appointed deputy general director and scientific director of the French Geological Survey (BRGM, Bureau de Recherche Géologiques et Minières). Dr. Poinssot has more than 25 years of experience in the CEA, where he occupied various positions. As a CEA representative in China, he was in charge of developing partnerships in industry and research and development in the field of low-carbon, numeric and digital, and health technologies. From 2011 to 2018, Dr. Poinssot was head of the Research Department on Mining and Fuel Recycling Processes at the Nuclear Energy Division, CEA Marcoule. Prior to joining this department in 2008, he spent 15 years in CEA Saclay working in the field of nuclear waste and used fuel management. In particular, he launched and coordinated the French research program on spent nuclear fuel long-term evolution and headed the CEA labs working on radionuclides migration in the environment. Since 2011, he has been a professor of nuclear chemistry at the National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) and has been appointed CEA international expert in fuel cycle and actinides chemistry. Dr. Poinssot has long been involved in international collaborations and has been a member of several scientific committees of international conferences and for the evaluation of research teams. In particular, he was a steering committee member of the study “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management Strategy and Policy,” which published its report in 2018. In 2017, Dr. Poinssot was awarded Officer from the French order “Palmes Académiques” and also received the Van Geen Prize and Chair from SCK-CEN (Belgium). He has authored more than 60 international articles and 110 presentations in international scientific conferences. His most recent research includes developing a holistic approach to assess the relative sustainability of the different fuel cycles and nuclear systems. He earned two master’s degrees in 1995 at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris in Earth sciences and material sciences, and a Ph.D. in 1997 in material sciences at the Université Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris).

Jeffrey D. Semancik has served as director of the Radiation Division for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection since joining the state in July 2014. In this role, he is responsible for policy development, decision making, program implementation, compliance and enforcement in the areas of radiation safety, radiological emergency preparedness and response, radioactive materials licensing and inspection, nuclear and radioactive waste management, and transportation of nuclear and radioactive material. Mr. Semancik serves as a member of the State of Connecticut’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Council, as compact secretary for the New England Radiological Health Committee, as state liaison officer to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as alternate commissioner for the State of Connecticut on the Atlantic Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact, as representative to the Northeast High Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force at the Council of State Governments, and as a Nuclear Advisory Committee member for Three Rivers Community College (Norwich, Connecticut). He serves on the board (and was chairperson in 2019) of the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×

is a member of the Government Coordinating Council to the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) Nuclear Sector Critical Infrastructure Protection Advisory Council. He is also an advisor on the Committee for Evaluation of Guidelines, Resources, and Tools for Radiological and Nuclear Emergency Response and Recovery and chairperson of the Committee on Naval Nuclear Propulsion. Mr. Semancik is qualified as and has contributed to the development of the Radiological Operations Support Specialist for emergency response to radiological emergencies, including participating in various multiagency nuclear power plant, improvised nuclear device, and radiological dispersal device exercises. Prior to state service, he worked in commercial nuclear power for 23 years in a variety of positions, including licensed senior reactor operator, operations manager, engineering director, and plant manager. Mr. Semancik began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy serving on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the guided missile destroyer USS Scott during Operation Desert Shield. He holds a B.S. in physics from the U.S. Naval Academy, an M.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut.

Ken B. Sorenson retired from Sandia National Laboratories in January 2018 after 35 years of service. For 23 years, he served as technical manager, overseeing technology development for the back end of the commercial nuclear fuel cycle. The focus of this work was on long-term storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel, aspects of which included materials degradation of fuel cladding, response of storage and transportation packages to severe mechanical and thermal environments, safeguards and security of nuclear materials, systems analyses, and regulatory analyses. Mr. Sorenson led the development and managed the national laboratory component of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) program to assess the integrity of spent nuclear fuel under long-term storage and transportation conditions. This program, in collaboration with the DOE national laboratories, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC), and industry, is still active today. Mr. Sorenson managed the work at Sandia for the U.S. NRC after the 9/11 attack to assess the radiological consequence of various potential terrorist attacks on licensed storage and transportation systems. From 2013 to 2014, he served as president of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, an international organization focused on instilling best practices in the areas of nuclear materials safeguards, security, and safety management around the world. Mr. Sorenson was technical editor and wrote two chapters of a reference book titled Safe and Secure Transport and Storage of Radioactive Materials and wrote and coauthored numerous journal articles and conference presentations. Currently, he is consulting with Sandia in the areas of knowledge transfer, technical report writing and reviewing, and strategic planning support. Mr. Sorenson earned a B.S. in 1975 in civil engineering from the University of Arizona, an M.S. in 1982 in civil (structural) engineering from Colorado State University, and an M.B.A. in 2000 from the University of New Mexico. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Colorado (P.E. 0018367).

Nathalie A. Wall is an internationally recognized radiochemist. Her research focuses on the environmental behavior of radionuclides for applications to the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear forensics. She is best known for her work on the thermodynamic properties of actinides and fission products. Dr. Wall worked in the Department of Nuclear Waste Management at the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA) and as staff scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. She was a faculty member of the Chemistry Department at Washington State University prior to moving to the University of Florida’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2019. A native of France, Dr. Wall earned her undergraduate degree in physical sciences in 1989 at the University of Paris. She completed her Ph.D. with Professor R. Guillaumont and Dr. V. Moulin in radiochemistry at the University of Paris in 1993 and was a postdoctoral research associate with Professor G. R. Choppin at Florida State University.

PROJECT STAFF

Charles D. Ferguson (Study Director) is senior board director of the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology and the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board in the Division on Earth and Life Studies at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Previously, he was president of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Prior to FAS, Dr. Ferguson was Philip D. Reed senior fellow for science and technology at the Council on

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×

Foreign Relations (CFR), where he specialized in nuclear issues and served as project director for the Independent Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy chaired by William J. Perry and Brent Scowcroft. Before CFR, he was scientist-in-residence at the Monterey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies, where he coauthored the book The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism (Routledge, 2005) and was lead author of the January 2003 report Commercial Radioactive Sources: Surveying the Security Risks. For his work on security of radioactive sources, Dr. Ferguson was awarded the Robert S. Landauer Memorial Lecture Award from the Health Physics Society in 2003. He is also the author of Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2011). In addition, he has worked as a physical scientist in the Office of Nuclear Safety at the U.S. Department of State, and served as a nuclear engineering officer and submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. Dr. Ferguson is an elected fellow of the American Physical Society in recognition of his service to public policy and public education on nuclear issues. He earned a B.S. in physics with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy, and an M.A. and a Ph.D., both also in physics, from Boston University.

Ourania “Rania” Kosti is a senior program officer at the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Her interests within the NRSB focus on radiation health effects, and she is principal investigator for the National Academies’ Radiation Effects Research Foundation Program, which supports studies of the atomic bombing survivors in Japan. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Kosti was a postdoctoral fellow at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, where she conducted research on biomarker development for early cancer detection using case-control epidemiological study designs. She focused primarily on prostate, breast, and liver cancers, trying to identify those individuals who are at high risk of developing malignancies. Dr. Kosti also trained at the National Cancer Institute (2005–2007). She received a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom; an M.S. in molecular medicine from the University College London; and a Ph.D. in molecular endocrinology from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, United Kingdom.

Catherine F. Wise (Co-Study Director from July 2022) is a program officer with the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She contributes to projects related to advanced nuclear fuel cycles and reactors, vehicle fuel economy technologies, decarbonization of the energy system, and carbon dioxide utilization technologies and infrastructure. Prior to the National Academies, Dr. Wise worked as a graduate research assistant studying proton-coupled electron transfer in electrochemical systems. She received a B.S. in chemistry from the College of William and Mary in 2015 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University in 2020.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 249
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 250
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 251
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 252
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 253
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Committee and Project Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26500.
×
Page 254
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The United States has deployed commercial nuclear power since the 1950s, and as of 2021, nuclear power accounts for approximately 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation. The current commercial nuclear fleet consists entirely of thermal-spectrum, light water reactors operating with low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel in a once-through fuel cycle. In recent years, the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Energy, and private sector have expressed considerable interest in developing and deploying advanced nuclear reactors to augment, and possibly replace, the U.S. operating fleet of reactors, nearly all of which will reach the end of their currently licensed operating lives by 2050. Much of this interest stems from the potential ability of advanced reactors and their associated fuel cycles - as claimed by their designers and developers - to provide a number of advantages, such as improvements in economic competitiveness, reductions in environmental impact via better natural resource utilization and/or lower waste generation, and enhancements in nuclear safety and proliferation resistance.

At the request of Congress, this report explores merits and viability of different nuclear fuel cycles, including fuel cycles that may use reprocessing, for both existing and advanced reactor technologies; and waste management (including transportation, storage, and disposal options) for advanced reactors, and in particular, the potential impact of advanced reactors and their fuel cycles on waste generation and disposal.

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