Dr. Allison Macfarlane, an expert on nuclear waste issues and a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, was on Monday sworn in as the 15th person chosen to lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She will serve a term ending June 30, 2013.
Macfarlane, 48, holds a doctorate in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was most recently an associate professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and has held fellowships at Radcliffe College, MIT, and Stanford and Harvard Universities. From 1998 to 2000 she was a Social Science Research Fellow-MacArthur Foundation Fellow in International Peace and Security. She has served on National Academy of Sciences panels on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons issues.
Appointed by Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2010 as part of the Blue Ribbon Commission, Macfarlane and 14 other members of the commission drafted recommendations for a new plan to manage the back end of the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. Her research has focused on environmental policy and international security issues associated with nuclear energy, especially the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. In 2006 MIT Press published a book she co-edited, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste, which explored technical issues at the proposed waste disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev.
“This is a singular honor. I am grateful to the President for nominating me and to the Senate for confirming my selection,” said Macfarlane after a small private ceremony attended by the agency’s other commissioners and several senior NRC staff. “The agency faces multiple challenges. I look forward to working collegially with my fellow commissioners and the excellent, dedicated staff at the NRC to address these issues,” added Macfarlane.
As the NRC notes, Macfarlane is the third woman to serve as chair of the commission and the only individual with a background in geology to serve on the commission.
The NRC was formed in 1975 when the Atomic Energy Commission was dissolved and its responsibilities were divided between the new independent commission for nuclear regulation and the Energy Department for energy research and promotion.
Source: NRC
—Edited by Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine)
