People

Shuler

WM Symposia, which hosts the annual Waste Management Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., presented the 2025 WM Lifetime Achievement Award to James M. Shuler, a former Department of Energy manager with a career of more than 50 years in radwaste packaging and transportation.

The award recognizes the long-term commitment of the recipient to solving major nuclear waste challenges, which may include education, research, public policy, or implementation of solutions for managing nuclear wastes, and whose actions have contributed to the resolution of significant nuclear waste management issues.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Integrated Engineering Research Center, which officially opened in January 2024, is now known as the Helen Edwards Engineering Research Center. The name was changed to honor the late particle physicist who led the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the lab’s Tevatron accelerator and was part of the Water Resources Development Act signed by President Biden in December 2024, according to a Fermilab press release.

With the annual American Nuclear Society election right around the corner, ANS members will be going to the polls to vote for a vice president/president-elect, treasurer, and members-at-large for the board of directors. Nuclear News is printing here statements from each nominee for vice president/president-elect and treasurer. The February NN issue will feature the statements of board member-at-large nominees.

Poneman

The Harvard Gazette recently featured an interview with Daniel Poneman, former president and chief executive officer of Centrus Energy and former deputy secretary of energy. In the interview, Poneman offered his views on the “comeback” of nuclear power, artificial intelligence, safety and security issues, advanced reactors, climate change goals, and other issues of interest to the nuclear energy industry.

Climate, demand, hyperscalers: In the article, Poneman explained the nuclear comeback in terms of the converging concerns about climate change and electricity demand, as well as the issue of “hyperscalers.”

Marzano

Matthew Marzano became the newest member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when he was officially sworn into office by chair Christopher Hanson this week.

The nuclear engineer and former reactor operator was confirmed last month in a 50–45 vote in the U.S. Senate. Last July, President Biden nominated Marzano to serve on the commission, which is tasked with formulating policies, developing regulations, issuing orders, and resolving legal matters.

Marzano’s term expires June 30, 2028.

Welcome to the inaugural Nuclear News 40 Under 40! A year in the making, this list was a difficult undertaking for the NN staff, there being so many qualified and enthusiastic candidates to review. The task was further complicated by the great diversity of roles that exist within the nuclear community—from academia to labs and from utilities to government positions. Whatever their specific niche, those selected represent the exceptional talent, vision, and drive that is transforming the nuclear sector across the community. These 40 young professionals have shown remarkable commitment, innovation, and leadership in advancing nuclear science and technology, paving the way for a future in which nuclear power and applications will continue to play a vital role in addressing global challenges.

A nuclear engineer, former reactor operator, and nuclear navy educator earned U.S. Senate approval today to take a seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Matthew Marzano was confirmed in a 50–45 vote in the Senate and steps into an existing five-year term that will expire June 30, 2028. He joins the five-member commission, which has been without a tiebreaker vote since June 2023, when Jeff Baran’s term expired.

Marzano brings more than a decade of industry experience both working in nuclear plants and advising energy policy on Capitol Hill.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

This month’s Nuclear News features our inaugural 40 Under 40 list of the brightest rising stars in the nuclear field.

The time has clearly come for this feature. The current resurgence of nuclear isn’t just a technological transformation; it’s also a changing of the guard. Consider this: For the first time in modern history, the American Nuclear Society has more members under the age of 40 than over the age of 60.

Of course, for as long as I can remember, the nuclear workforce has always been a bit of a double-humped demographic camel. Picture a nuclear workforce age chart and you will see two distinct peaks, or what a statistician might call a “bimodal distribution.” “Peak 1” is on the right and is centered over the Baby Boomer generation, many of whom entered the industry in its heyday of the 1960s and ’70s. These are the men and women who built the nuclear enterprise as we know it today.

Schlender

Michael Schlender, former deputy director at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is joining Longenecker & Associates’ corporate advisory board, effective in January.

About Schlender: He has more than 30 years of experience in the U.S. national laboratory complex, including serving in senior leadership roles at PNNL and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

He is also the recipient of the secretary of energy’s Exceptional Service Award for his service to the Department of Energy, advancing excellence in operations across the national laboratory system.

Schlender holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biochemistry from Eastern Washington University, and a master’s degree in chemistry from Western Washington University.

Marzano

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 10–9 last week to advance the nomination of Matthew Marzano to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was a party-line vote, with all Democrats supporting Marzano and all Republicans voting “no.”

Marzano was nominated by President Biden in July to fill the open NRC seat, and the EPW Committee held a hearing in September on his nomination. His nomination will now go to the Senate for a vote, but it is not certain whether that will happen before the end of the year, in which case his nomination process would start over in 2025.

The five-member commission has been without a tiebreaker vote since June 2023 when Jeff Baran’s term expired.

Wright

Oil industry executive Chris Wright has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the next secretary of energy. Wright is also to serve on Trump’s new Council of National Energy, which, Trump said in a statement over the weekend, “will consist of all departments and agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American energy.” Trump previously named North Dakota governor Doug Burgum as head of that council.

Following the announcement of his selection, Wright posted on X, “My dedication to bettering human lives remains steadfast, with a focus on making American energy more affordable, reliable, and secure. Energy is the lifeblood that makes everything in life possible. Energy matters.”

As the American Nuclear Society’s 2024 Winter Meeting and Expo kicks off in Orlando, Fla., the nuclear industry’s eyes are turned toward the future—advanced technologies, updated regulations, a new administration, and importantly, the future of the workforce.

Christine Roy

While flipping through the course catalog at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, I read that civil engineers can design amusement park rides. I was instantly inspired and chose my major because I wanted to design something for Walt Disney World. After college, I started my dream job at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, which is famous for designing Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center, a celebration of human innovation, communication, and the progress of civilization. This was a win.

My introduction to nuclear

During my first two years at SGH, I experienced all aspects of working in the Engineering Mechanics & Infrastructure group, from analyzing structural failures to studying pipelines and modeling antennas. In 2006, I worked on my first nuclear facility. It consisted of structural analysis and design of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory.

The life and career of James Wm. Behrens have been intertwined with the American Nuclear Society since his joining as a member in 1979. Now, to recognize Behrens for his philanthropic and programmatic commitment to ANS, the conference room at ANS's new headquarters has been named in his honor.

Gago

The governing board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators has appointed José Gago as the new WANO chair. He was formerly the general manager and chief executive officer of the Asociacion Nuclear Asco-Vandellos (ANAV) in Spain.

Gago will succeed the current chair, Tom Mitchell, on March 1, 2025, after Mitchell completes his full six-year term in the role.

Background: Gago has been ANAV’s governor at the WANO Paris Centre’s governing board since 2012 and was elected its chairperson in 2020. He has been the president of the Spanish Nuclear Society and a member of the Foro Nuclear board of directors, and he has kept close contact with the nuclear industry, serving on several advisory boards and participating in the International Atomic Energy Agency expert missions.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Robert Lewis deputy executive director for operations in the areas of materials, waste, research, state, tribal, compliance, administration, and human capital programs. Craig Erlanger has been named director of the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR). Both appointments are effective on October 20, 2024.

Marzano

The U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works will consider the nomination of Matthew Marzano to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a hearing on Wednesday, September 11.

In July, President Joe Biden named Marzano as his choice to fill the open seat on the five-member commission. The NRC, the nation’s independent regulator of civilian nuclear safety, has been without a tiebreaker for votes among the four current members since commissioner Jeff Baran’s term ended in June 2023.

The NRC has been in the spotlight in recent years as the United States experiences a resurgence in demand for and technology advances in nuclear power. The commission is facing a high volume of license requests and is working to modernize and streamline its review process.

Kimberly Cook-Nelson

For Kimberly Cook-Nelson, the path to the nuclear industry started with a couple of refrigerator boxes and cellophane paper. Her sixth-grade science project was inspired by her father, who worked at Seabrook power station in New Hampshire as a nuclear operator.

“I had two big refrigerator boxes I taped together. I cut the ‘primary operating system’ and the ‘secondary system’ out of them. Then I used different colored cellophane paper to show the pressurized water system versus the steam versus the cold cooling water,” Cook-Nelson said. “My dad got me those little replica pellets that I could pass out to people as they were going by at my science fair.”

After three years in the Department of Energy, including two as assistant secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Katy Huff stepped down in May to return to the world of academia as a professor at the University of Illinois–Urbana-­Champaign.

Among her many accomplishments while serving as NE-1, Huff pushed for energy security—both at home and abroad, in places like war-torn Ukraine—and for the development of additional advanced and traditional nuclear plants, the potential restart of shuttered nuclear facilities, and a better funding stream for college nuclear programs.

Actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger recently criticized Germany for shutting down its remaining nuclear power plants last year. Speaking in June in his native Austria at the 2024 Austrian World Summit, a climate conference held in Vienna, Schwarzenegger noted the contradiction of the German government’s stated goal of cutting carbon emissions while simultaneously eliminating the clean-energy source of nuclear power.