Safford named NRC’s commission secretary

Duties: Safford succeeds Brooke Poole Clark, who assumed her new position as the agency’s general counsel in mid-October.

In her new role, Safford will provide executive management services to support the NRC and implement commission decisions. According to the NRC, the Office of the Secretary serves a critical role, with its responsibilities for scheduling commission meetings, managing the commission's decision-making process, codifying commission decisions in memoranda, processing and controlling commission correspondence, and maintaining the commission’s historical records, among other duties.

Background: Safford joined the NRC in 2008 as an attorney, and later was selected as deputy assistant general counsel in the Division of Materials Litigation and Enforcement within the Office of the General Counsel. She has served in leadership positions across the agency, including as deputy director of the Waste Confidence Directorate in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards; as assistant general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel in the Division of High-Level Waste, Fuel Cycle, and Nuclear Security; and as assistant general counsel in the Division of Legislation, Ethics, and Administrative Law.

Before joining the NRC, Safford practiced energy law in Washington, D.C. She earned a B.S. in biology and geology from the University of Rochester and her J.D. from Pace University School of Law. Safford is a graduate of the NRC’s senior executive service candidate development program.