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Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles (2013)

Chapter: Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
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Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

ROBERT C. DYNES (NAS), chair, is president emeritus of the University of California (UC) and a professor of physics at UC San Diego. A first-generation college graduate and a distinguished physicist, Dynes served as the sixth chancellor of the UC’s San Diego campus from 1996 to 2003. He came to UC San Diego in 1990 after a 22-year career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he served as department head of semiconductor and material physics research and director of chemical physics research. His numerous scientific honors include the 1990 Fritz London Award in Low Temperature Physics and his election to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1989 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. Since leaving the UC presidency in June 2008, Dynes has joined the boards of Argonne National Laboratory, the review panel for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Helmholtz Foundation in Germany, and the San Diego Foundation. He is currently serving on the National Research Council’s Governing Board and the National Academies of Science Council. Active in the national scientific arena, he is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, and the Governor’s Nurse Education Initiative Task Force. He is a fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology and a member of the Business–Higher Education Forum. He served as chair for the Committee on Evaluating Testing, Costs, and Benefits of Advanced Spectroscopic Portals and is currently serving on the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB). A native of London, Ontario, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Dr. Dynes holds a B.S. in mathematics and physics and an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Western Ontario, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics and an honorary doctor of science from McMaster University. He also holds an honorary doctorate from L’Université de Montréal.

ALLEN G. CROFF worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for 29 years, retiring in 2003, and is now an independent consultant. At ORNL he held positions in line and program management working on projects in waste management research and development, analysis of nuclear fuel cycles and nuclear materials management, and strategic planning. One of his significant achievements was creating the ORIGEN2 computer code used worldwide to calculate radionuclide buildup and decay in nuclear material and waste characterization, risk analysis, and nuclear fuel cycle analysis. He previously served as chair for a committee of the National Council on Radiation

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×

Protection and Measurements on risk-based waste classification. He is a consultant to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Mr. Croff was vice chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste and a member of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee. Mr. Croff has worked on numerous NRC committees including the Committee on Management of Certain Radioactive Waste Streams Stored in Tanks at Three Department of Energy Sites. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Michigan State University, an M.S. in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee.

BART EBBINGHAUS is a project manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where he studies the chemical and material properties of actinides, purification by pyrochemistry, recovery from wastes, and disposition in ceramics. For a number of years he also directed the plutonium analytical and materials characterization work at the LLNL plutonium facility. He was responsible for much of the technical work supporting the plutonium pit lifetime assessment. From 2006 to 2009, he was the technical advisor to the Nuclear Counterterrorism Program, which focuses on understanding the potential impact of improvised nuclear devices. He was involved in the technical review of the Department of Energy’s Graded Safeguards Table from which the figure of merit of nuclear material attractiveness originated. He received his Ph.D. in high temperature chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1991.

B. JOHN GARRICK (NAE) is the retired CEO of PLG, Inc., an international applied science and engineering consulting firm. He recently completed a presidential appointment as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. He served for 10 years (1994–2004), four years as chair, on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. He has an active consulting practice in the development and application of the risk sciences to systems in the nuclear, space, chemical, environmental, and marine fields. His research interests include the quantification and importance ranking of catastrophic risks to society and the environment to support societal decision making. He has served on or chaired numerous NRC committees, including the Committee on Evaluation of Quantification of Margins and Uncertainty (QMU) Methodology Applied to the Certification of the Nation's Nuclear Weapons Stockpile; the Committee on Engineering Aviation Security Environments—False Positives from Explosive Detection Systems; the Committee on Combating Terrorism; and the Committee on End Points for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Russia and the United States. He is a past president of the Society for Risk Analysis and received that Society’s most prestigious award, the Distinguished Achievement Award; is a Fellow of three professional societies; and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1993. He received his M.S. in nuclear engineering from UCLA and his Ph.D. in engineering and applied science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×

CAROL E. KESSLER is currently chair of the Nonproliferation and National Security Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory. She was formerly the director of the Center for Global Security at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and built the center into a renowned program of study in international security and nonproliferation. Prior to that, she served as the deputy director general for the Nuclear Energy Agency at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in Paris, France. From 1984 to 1988, Kessler was an export control and international safeguards analyst for the Office of International Programs at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 1988, she began her career at the State Department, serving as a foreign affairs officer for the Office of Nuclear Technology and Safeguards. She became the senior coordinator for nuclear safety in the Bureau of Nonproliferation Affairs, a position she held from 1995 to 2000. She recently served on the NRC’s Committee on Homeland Security and Export Controls. She received her B.S. in biogeology from Brown University. She holds one M.S. in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and another M.S. in national security policy from the National War College in Washington, DC.

MILTON LEVENSON (NAE) is an independent consultant. He is a chemical engineer with 65 years of experience in nuclear energy and related fields. His technical experience includes work related to nuclear safety, fuel cycle, water reactors, advanced reactors, and remote control. His professional experience includes research and operations positions at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Bechtel. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1976. Mr. Levenson is a fellow and past president of the American Nuclear Society, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Robert E. Wilson Award in Nuclear Chemical Engineering. He is the author of more than 150 publications and presentations and holds three U.S. patents. He has served on several relevant NRC committees including the Committee on the Internationalization of the Civilian Nuclear Fuel Cycle. He received his B.Ch.E from the University of Minnesota.

NANCY JO NICHOLAS joined Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 1990 where she is currently the director of Nuclear Nonproliferation Program Office. From June 2006 to June 2010 she was the nuclear nonproliferation division leader. Prior to that she headed the Nonproliferation and Security Technology Program Office where she grew the nuclear safeguards programs in Washington D.C., and Vienna, Austria. She gained significant operational experience by managing an operational Category I nuclear facility for the LANL’s Advanced Nuclear Technology Group. She also serves as vice chair and founding member of the Vienna-based World Institute for Nuclear Security. She recently served a 2-year term as president of the Institute for Nuclear Materials Management. Her technical field of expertise is nondestructive assay measurements. Ms. Nicholas earned a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Albright College and an M.S. in nuclear physics from George Washington University.

ARIAN PREGENZER retired from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in December 2011. At Sandia, she was senior scientist in the Global Security

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×

Program, where her responsibilities included initiating new programs in arms control and nonproliferation and developing strategies for nuclear security that cut across laboratory missions. In 1994, she led the establishment of Sandia’s Cooperative Monitoring Center to enable international technical cooperation on security problems. She worked closely with officials in the United States and Jordan to establish a Cooperative Monitoring Center in Amman in 2003. In 2012, Dr. Pregenzer was awarded the Joseph A. Burton Forum Award by the American Physical Society “For her intellectual and managerial leadership in creating centers that allow international technical and policy experts to explore confidence building measures and other arms control regimes.” Prior to her career in international security, she worked at Sandia to develop lithium ion sources for particle-beam-driven inertial confinement fusion. Dr. Pregenzer is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has bachelor’s degrees in physics, mathematics, and philosophy from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at San Diego.

SCOTT D. SAGAN is the Caroline S. G. Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Freeman Spogli Institute. He also serves as the cochair of the American Academy of Arts and Science's Global Nuclear Future Initiative. Before joining the Stanford faculty, Sagan was a lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University and served as a special assistant to the director of the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. He has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and at the Sandia National Laboratories and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sagan has also won four teaching awards: the Monterey Institute for International Studies’ Nonproliferation Education Award in 2009, the International Studies Association’s 2008 Innovative Teaching Award, Stanford University’s 1998–99 Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, and Stanford's 1996 Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching. He has written several books on nuclear nonproliferation and safety including The Limits of Safety. He received his B.A. in government from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.

AMY SANDS is the provost of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Prior to becoming provost, Dr. Sands served for two and a half years as the dean of the Graduate School of International Policy Studies. Previous to this appointment, she was the deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies for 7 years. From August 1994 to June 1996, she was assistant director of the Intelligence, Verification, and Information Management Bureau at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA). Upon leaving the government, Dr. Sands received ACDA's Distinguished Honor Award and the On-Site Inspection Agency's Exceptional Civilian Service Medal. Before joining ACDA, she led the Proliferation Assessments Section of Z Division (Intelligence) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. She recently served on the NRC Committee on Determining Basic Research Needs to Interrupt the Improvised Explosive Device Delivery Chain. She received her B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Arts in Law and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×

Diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) and a Ph.D. from Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

WILLIAM H. TOBEY is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. His most recent government experience was as Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration. There, he managed the U.S. government’s largest program to prevent nuclear proliferation and terrorism by detecting, securing, and disposing of dangerous nuclear material. Mr. Tobey also served on the National Security Council staff in three administrations, in defense policy, arms control, and counterproliferation positions. Prior to Mr. Tobey’s service with the Department of Energy, he was director of counterproliferation strategy at the National Security Council (NSC) where he oversaw development and implementation of U.S. policy on nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, was a delegate to the Six Party Talks with North Korea, managed U.S. efforts to dismantle Libya’s weapons of mass destruction programs, and authored United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 which criminalizes non-state proliferation and obligates all states to establish and maintain effective safeguards, security, and export controls. Tobey previously participated in a variety of international negotiations, including the Nuclear and Space Talks with the Soviet Union and the U.S.-Russia Space Cooperation Agreement. He holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from Harvard University and a B.S. from Northwestern University.

CHRIS G. WHIPPLE (NAE) is a principal in Environ International’s Emeryville, California office. His expertise is with the management of risks to health and the environment. Major emphases of his work have been with risks associated with radioactive materials, including radioactive wastes, with hazardous air pollutants and with environmental mercury. He has served on numerous national committees to study and advise on radioactive waste management, including committees of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), of which he is an elected member. He currently serves on NCRP’s Program Area Committee on Environmental Radiation and Radioactive Waste, on its Advisory Committee on Public Policy, and on its Nominations Committee. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 2001 and is a designated National Associate of the National Academies. Dr. Whipple has chaired the National Academy of Sciences Board on Radioactive Waste Management, and NAS committees on the Review of the Hanford Site’s Environmental Remediation Science and Technology Plan, Models in the Regulatory Decision Process, Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium, and the Committee on Risk-Based Approaches for Securing the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex. Dr. Whipple is also cochair of the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. He was a charter member of the Society for Risk Analysis and served as its second president. In 1990, he received the society's outstanding service award. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Society for Risk Analysis. His experience prior to joining Environ includes positions as vice president of ICF Consulting, vice president of ICF Kaiser International, and technical manager for Environmental Risk Assessment of EPRI’s Environment Division. He holds a B.S degree

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×

in engineering science from Purdue University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D., also in engineering science, from the California Institute of Technology. In 2004, he received Purdue’s Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 62
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 64
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2013. Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18335.
×
Page 67
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The material that sustains the nuclear reactions that produce energy can also be used to make nuclear weapons—and therefore, the development of nuclear energy is one of multiple pathways to proliferation for a non-nuclear weapon state. There is a tension between the development of future nuclear fuel cycles and managing the risk of proliferation as the number of existing and future nuclear energy systems expands throughout the world. As the Department of Energy (DOE) and other parts of the government make decisions about future nuclear fuel cycles, DOE would like to improve proliferation assessments to better inform those decisions.

Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles considers how the current methods of quantification of proliferation risk are being used and implemented, how other approaches to risk assessment can contribute to improving the utility of assessments for policy and decision makers. The study also seeks to understand the extent to which technical analysis of proliferation risk could be improved for policy makers through research and development.

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