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Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges (2001)

Chapter: Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
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Page 177

Appendix A

Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

D. Warner North, Chair, is president of NorthWorks, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in management science and quantitative risk analysis, and consulting professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Previously Dr. North worked for Decision Focus Incorporated and SRI International. He has carried out applications of decision and risk analysis on management of toxic substances in the environment, quarantine policy for the exploration of Mars, wildland fire protection, weather modification, nuclear waste disposal, and environmental impacts from energy technologies. He has served as a member and consultant to committees of the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, as a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel on toxic substances under Proposition 65 for the governor of California. He is a past president of the Society for Risk Analysis, and he has been a committee member for many previous National Research Council reports dealing with risk, including Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment (1994) and Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society (1996). Dr. North received his B.S. in physics from Yale University, and M.S. degrees in physics and mathematics and a Ph.D. degree in operations research from Stanford University.

Charles McCombie, Vice-Chair, is an independent strategic and technical advisor to various national and international waste management programs. Currently he is director of Pangea Resources International.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
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Page 178

Formerly, he was scientific and technical director of Nagra, the Swiss Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste. He has 30 years experience in the nuclear field, 20 of which are in radioactive waste management. His responsibilities have covered performance assessment, engineering and geological investigations and overall program direction. He was the Swiss coordinator of collaborative work with numerous national programs and also with the IAEA, NEA and EU. He has also held positions as a research scientist with the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority and with the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research. He has served on a number of committees advising national and international organizations on radioactive waste management issues. He is currently a member of the American Nuclear Society, Swiss Nuclear Energy Society, International Radiation Protection Association, the Nuclear Advisory Committee of the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute and the National Research Council's Board on Radioactive Waste Management. Dr. McCombie received a B.Sc. degree in natural philosophy (physics) from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and a Ph.D. degree in physics (materials science) from the University of Bristol, England.

John F. Ahearne is the director of the Ethics Program at the Sigma XI Center for Sigma XI, The Scientific Research Society, a lecturer in public policy, an adjunct professor in civil and environmental engineering at Duke University, and an adjunct scholar at Resources for the Future. His professional interests are reactor safety, energy issues, resource allocation, and public policy management. He has served as commissioner and chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, systems analyst for the White House Energy Office, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense. Dr. Ahearne currently serves on the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Advisory Board and Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee, and is chair of the National Research Council's Board on Radioactive Waste Management. In addition, Dr. Ahearne has been active in several National Research Council committees examining issues in risk assessment. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of Sigma XI, the Society for Risk Analysis, the American Nuclear Society, and the National Academy of Engineering. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University.

Robert J. Budnitz is president of Future Resources Associates, Inc., in Berkeley, California. Previously, he served as Deputy Director and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
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Page 179

Director of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, and he also held several management positions at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the University of California. His professional interests are in environmental impacts, hazards, and safety analysis, particularly of the nuclear fuel cycle. He has been prominent in the field of nuclear reactor safety assessment and waste-repository performance assessment, including probabilistic risk assessment. Dr. Budnitz has served on numerous investigative and advisory panels of scientific societies, government agencies, and committees of the National Research Council. His most recent NRC committee service was with the BRWM Committee on Buried and Tank Wastes and the Committee on Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards. He received a B.A. degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. degree in physics from Harvard University.

Ghislain de Marsily has been a professor of applied geology at the University of Paris VI since 1987 and is also professor at the Paris School of Mines. He has extensive background in hydrology, as applied to radioactive waste disposal and for his contribution to an earlier BRWM report Rethinking High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal. He was elected to the NAE as a foreign associate in 1999. Dr. de Marsily was head of the hydrogeology group at the Paris School of Mines from 1973 to 1987. He is a member of the advisory group of the French Nuclear Safety Authorities, and of the National Committee for Evaluation of Research in nuclear waste disposal. He has also served on advisory panels for geologic disposal at the European Commission, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute, and for Sandia National Laboratories on the WIPP project. Dr. de Marsily graduated as a mining engineer from the Paris School of Mines in 1963 and received a Doctorate of Science in 1978 from the University of Paris.

Lars O. Ericsson is professor and head of the Department of Geology at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. Dr. Ericsson has experience in rock mechanics and engineering of waste repositories. He is a member of the Swedish National Committee of Geo-science organized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Swedish Committee for the International Hydrology Programme of UNESCO. He served as president of the Swedish Society of Engineering Geology, and as a representative on the coordinating group on site evaluation and design of experiments for radioactive waste disposal (SEDE-group) of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the European Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×

Page 180

ment. Prof. Ericsson received his M.Sc. in civil engineering and his Ph.D. in engineering geology from Chalmers University.

Peter Fritz is the scientific director of the Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Fritz has done extensive research on environmental isotopes, including studies in isotope hydrology, work on brines and gases in crystalline rocks, paleoclimatology, and methodological developments for radiocarbon dating of groundwaters. He has worked on nuclear waste disposal programs in Sweden (Stripa), Canada (Canadian Shield), and Germany (Konrad Mine). He is a fellow of the Geological Asociation of Canada, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Germany. Dr. Fritz completed his undergraduate, Haupt-Diplom (M.Sc.) and doctorate degrees in geology at the University of Stuttgart. Much of his doctoral research was undertaken in 1962 at the University of Pisa where Professor Tongiorgi and Dr. R. Gonfiantini had established one of the world's first environmental isotope laboratories focusing on isotope hydrology. He was professor and chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Waterloo in Canada, director of the Institut for Hydrology at the GST in Münich, Germany and holds an honorary professorship in geology at the University of Leipzig.

Roger E. Kasperson is executive director of the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden. He has taught previously at Clark University, the University of Connecticut, and Michigan State University. His expertise is in risk analysis, risk communication, global environmental change, and environmental policy. Dr. Kasperson is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and the Society for Risk Analysis. He has served on various committees of the National Research Council. He also has served as President of the Society for Risk Analysis and has been honored by the Association of American Geographers for his hazards research. He chaired the International Geographical Union Commission on Critical Situations/Regions in Global Environmental Change, was a member of the Sub-committee on Risk Reduction Strategies of the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board's report on Reducing Risk, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of EPA's Science Advisory Board. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago.

Nikolai Laverov is vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has worked in and with the Russian government on a range of ecological problems, particularly nuclear waste disposal. Dr. Laverov has held a variety of administrative positions, including chief of the Scientific

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×

Page 181

Research Organizations Administration, which oversees the work of the Ministry of Geology's subordinate institutes. In 1992, he was named co-chair of the Earth Science Joint Working Group, which is under the auspices of the U.S.-Russian Space Agreement. Dr. Laverov graduated from the M. I. Kalinin Nonferrous Metals and Gold Institute in Moscow in 1954 and earned a doctorate in geological-mineralogical sciences in 1958.

Jane C.S. Long is currently dean of the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to this position she was on the staff of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for 20 years. Dr. Long is an expert in fracture hydrology and rock mechanics and has worked on several U.S. and international underground repository research projects. She has led research departments in both energy technology and environmental remediation. She was chair of BESR's Rock Mechanics Committee, and chair of the Committee for Fluid Flow in Fractured Rock sponsored by USNC/RM. She also chaired the Sub-surface Science Committee for BRWM. Dr. Long received an Sc.B. in engineering from Brown University, an M.S. in geotechnical engineering and a Ph.D. in materials science and mineral engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Claire Mays is a social psychologist with Institut Symlog, a private French research consultancy. Radioactive waste management, as seen from the perspective of risk communication in society, became a major area for Ms. Mays in 1990 with a European Commission study comparing public information practices in Great Britain and France. She and her institute have conducted comparative studies of risk perception using interview and survey methods, and on social and psychological impacts of the Chernobyl accident in the contaminated territories using focus groups. Ms. Mays has acted as an observer and rapporteur for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Forum on Stakeholder Confidence. She is editor of the European Review of Applied Psychology, a bilingual quarterly. She was elected secretary of the Society for Risk Analysis Europe (1999–2001) and is a member of the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement. Ms. Mays received her A.B. from Harvard and D.E.S.S. from the University of Paris.

Atsuyuki Suzuki, is professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tokyo and member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Applied Energy in Japan, Nuclear Safety Research Association of Japan, Council for Nuclear Fuel Cycle in Japan and Nuclear Material Control Center of Japan. His scientific interests are management of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×

Page 182

nuclear fuel, plutonium and radioactive waste, nuclear fuel cycle safety, and public policy of science and technology. He has extensive experience in advising the Japanese government on nuclear issues. Dr. Suzuki serves as chairman for the Committee of Nuclear Safety Standards within the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, Nuclear Non-proliferation Committee of Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, and Nuclear Fuel Cycle Safety Research Committee of Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Dr. Suzuki is a member of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan and the American Nuclear Society. He has published more than 20 books and more than 200 papers. Dr. Suzuki received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Tokyo.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 177
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 178
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 179
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 180
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 181
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members ." National Research Council. 2001. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10119.
×
Page 182
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Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain.

Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.

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