Senior Engineering Consultant, 2009-present
Tetra Tech Advent, Ann Arbor, MI

Performs technical senior level consulting and analysis for nuclear power plant owners in the areas of nuclear and environmental licensing, radioactive material handling and transport, 10 CFR 50.59 evaluations, Appendix R, and system design.  Provides technical and licensing support to industrial users of radioactive materials and to decommissioning facilities.

• Supporting, as a contract senior licensing engineer, a combined operating license application including responding to requests for information, annual updates, incorporation of changes to the referenced certified design, incorporation of changes to industry templates, etc.
• Directing, as mentor, implementation of improvements to the procedures prescribing those processes supporting the combined operating license application.
• Assisting in the management and maintenance of the regulatory relationship between the applicant and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• Managing an update to the combined operating license application with the end goal of finalizing the application and establishing the licensing-basis freeze point iaw DC/COL-ISG-011.

Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Manager, 1999 – 2009
University of Michigan’s Phoenix Memorial Laboratory – Ford Nuclear Reactor, Ann Arbor, MI

Regulatory:  

• Scrutinized operations and maintained an open relationship with the Commission for the nation’s third largest university research reactor for over seven years with no cited violations.
• Led the cautious, deliberate, and complete incident response to an event involving a fuel element inadvertently loaded outside the reactor core and then operated at full power providing the necessary confidence to the commission that a cited violation was not warranted.
• Led an effort to generate a Commission acceptable program for a university research reactor to ship irradiated reactor fuel in compliance with all Commission and DOT requirements.
• Prepared a security response to the events of September 11 which was practical, complete, cost effective, and had a minimal impact on the educational and research role of the reactor facility.
• Implemented then new 50.59 process for reviewing changes to a reactor facility resulting in better assessments by the staff of why many changes do not require the approval of the Commission.
• Established a continuous expanding, extensive network of subject matter experts.

Management:

• Was the technical, licensing and project lead for the $9.8M decommissioning of the Ford Nuclear Reactor overseeing seven sub contractor organizations and approximately 28 personnel.
• Administered and directed operations and research activities associated with the nation’s third largest university research reactor: Annual budget of $2.5M and 24/7 operations.
• Improved efficiency and cost effectiveness of staffing: Staff costs decreased from $1.4M in FY99 to $1.1M in FY02 while simultaneously increasing output by 100%, meeting increased security needs following the events of September 11, and providing a competitive salary program.
• Managed approximately $1.5M in service contracts with organizations outside the University.
• Developed new commercial relationships to support operational costs thus reducing University costs.
• Responsible for EPA, OSHA, and NRC compliance of the reactor and laboratory facility.

Engineering:

• Led the design and construction of an inherently safe, fully enclosed radiography facility utilizing modular, prefabricated concrete components.  Successfully calculated, without the aid of computer models, the radiation exposures and shielding requirements.
• Managed significant materiel improvements with limited budget through in-house effort, grants, and material contributions from outside organizations.
• Developed trending of critical parameters to identify degradation in materiel condition and need for preventive maintenance prior to failure to ensure the efficient application of limited resources.
• Conducted an engineering judgment review of the susceptibility of the reactor facility to a large external threat which was supported by calculations of a subject matter expert.
• Led technical activities for decommissioning the reactor facility based on a unique detailed structural knowledge of the facility including historical review of the actual construction of the facility and others’ experiences in decommissioning similar facilities.
• Established continuous, extensive network of subject matter experts.

Assistant Engineering Supervisor, 1998 – 1999
Commonwealth Edison Company – Quad Cities Nuclear Station

Regulatory:  

• Led the site engineer department in successfully supporting a performance inspection by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.  
• Participated in several successful engineering responses to issues raised by the NRC.
• Management:  
• Assisted in the daily management of the System Engineering Department (43 persons) including resource allocation, prioritization of activities, selection of new personnel, and disciplinary actions.  
• Responsible for the performance of the operating unit during outages.  
• Interacted with operators, engineers, and regulators to identify problems and redirect resources before an event requiring high level management attention could materialize.  
• Managed the implementation of an EPRI program which determines monitoring or preventive maintenance necessary to detect and correct deficiencies in key equipment before failure.

Engineering:
Performed technical analysis of a failure in the feed water level control system, subsequently identified through examination of trends of several key plant parameters collected over hundreds of hours.

System Engineer, 1997 – 1998
Commonwealth Edison Company – Quad Cities Nuclear Station

Regulatory:  

• Led the regulatory defense supporting improved accuracy of feed water flow measurements through a statistical analysis of cross calibration results, resulting in an increase in power output.  
• Successfully defended the adequacy of the design basis for and the performance of safety related, emergency cooling system support equipment during a Commission led AE inspection.

Engineering:  

• Supported the operating staff’s requests to correct problems with assigned systems, structures or components in a sustained effort to provide minimal distraction or performance problems.  
• Developed training system that was adopted for use by all engineering departments: instrumental in the restructuring of the training, qualification, and requalification program for System Engineering.  
• Maintained the P&IDs, wiring diagrams, vendor manuals, and process descriptions for systems assigned.

Graduate Research Assistant, 1993 – 1996
University of Cincinnati

Coordinated laboratory operations, facility usage, and equipment utilization; oversaw purchasing; and fabricated specialized instrumentation systems and apparatuses for radioactive assay.  Developed familiarity with OSHA requirements in an operational laboratory environment and cross program studies in Industrial Hygiene.

Naval Officer, 1989 – 1992
USS Cincinnati (SSN-693)

Directed the safe operation and maintenance of a naval nuclear propulsion plant.  Supervised personnel: responsible for performance reviews, professional development, resolution of payroll issues, resolution of legal issues, etc., for personnel assigned.