The Department of Energy this week appointed nearly a half dozen nuclear scientists, engineers, policy experts and industry leaders to a federal council tasked with advising the agency on its current and future nuclear energy programs, according to a press release.
Bill Magwood, director-general of the intergovernmental Nuclear Energy Agency, will chair the 11-person Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC), which operates under the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), DOE said in a Wednesday press release. Magwood, who also served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2010 to 2014, will be NEAC’s international issues expert, the release said.
DOE also appointed Maria Korsnick, president of the prominent trade group Nuclear Energy Institute, to provide an industry perspective to the body.
NEAC, which meets biannually, advises energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and NE chief Kathryn Huff on “national policy and scientific aspects of nuclear issues of concern to DOE,” the release said. The council is also tasked with reviewing DOE’s nuclear programs.
With its new class of NEAC members, DOE plans to “streamline and focus” the council to tackle current priorities in the nuclear energy space instead of reviewing past projects and initiatives, the agency said.
“A change in the structure and focus in NEAC will help DOE act more quickly and effectively to research advances in nuclear power to meet the nation’s energy, environmental, and national security needs,” DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain Andy Griffith said in a statement.
NEAC was first established by DOE in 1998.