Bio
A nuclear physicist by training, Al serves as the Safety Basis Authority in the Nuclear Safety and Experiment Analysis Section at HFIR.
Before coming to ORNL, Al spent over three decades serving on a series of assignments of high visibility in complex multi-billion-dollar environments across the nuclear industry. Al’s experience includes tenures at institutions that include the University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, Fermi National Accelerator Lab, Westinghouse, Savannah River Site, Bechtel, BWXT, Idaho National Lab, Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Nuclear Fleets at Florida Power and Light, Progress Energy and Duke Energy, AECOM Corporation, and Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station. Al’s experience encompasses all aspects of the industry from inception to deactivation and decommissioning, conceptual design to nuclear authorization and licensing bases establishment, engineering and commissioning to operations, and nuclear research & development to management of nuclear design, safety and operations at U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) power plants and the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear reactors, internationally prominent accelerator institutions and one-of-a-kind non-reactor nuclear facilities. Al has sponsored, chaired and/or served on a variety of Boards, Steering Committees, Forums, Expert Panels, Design and Operational Focus Teams, Root Cause and Readiness Committees and Challenge Boards, and Audit, Inspection and Oversight Teams. Al currently serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Reactor Pressure Vessel Replacement Project (one of DOE's projects of highest visibility, complexity and significance) and the Chair of its Subcommittee for Regulatory Strategy.
Al has served as Chief Nuclear Officer, Chief Accelerator Physics Officer, Chief Quality Assurance Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Advisor, Chief Licensing Basis Officer, Principal Regulatory Affairs Officer, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Senior Nuclear Safety Analyst at DOE Center of Excellence, Safety Basis Authority, Integrated Safety Management Systems Subject Matter Expert (Phases I & II) and Interpretative Authority for 10 CFR 20, 10 CFR 50, 10 CFR 830 (Subparts A and B), and 10 CFR 835. Al has further served as the ultimate approval authority for nuclear design, commissioning, procurement, operations, nuclear Safety Basis management and regulatory compliance with Codes of Federal Regulations, NRC Reactor Oversight Process (Traditional Enforcement and Significance Determination Process Enforcement), DOE Price-Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA) Enforcement Management, and Consensus Codes and Standards (i.e., ACI, ASME, IEEE, NFPA, etc.).
Al’s collaboration with the DOE has resulted in Co-Authoring of DOE Orders, Directives and Standards on Nuclear Safety Management, Oversight and Operational Readiness Review Processes. Collaboration with the commercial nuclear industry, key stakeholders (such as ASME, EPRI, NEI, Westinghouse and other Federal Stakeholders) and the NRC resulted in Promulgation of Regulation to Govern Aging Management and Subsequent License Renewal of Nuclear Reactors (60Y-80Y License Extension). Al has benchmarked the best contractor oversight model (Facility Evaluation Board at SRS, as identified by the DOE Headquarters) and an unprecedented benchmark of the best Oversight Model of a Federal Agency (also as identified by the DOE Headquarters - invitation was extended by the office of the Chief of Nuclear Safety at the DOE Headquarters), DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office providing Oversight to Y-12, National Security Complex.
Al has been a keynote speaker in the commercial nuclear industry UFSAR Best Practices Workshop to present "UFSAR - Complex Evaluations (Aging Management)." He has authored, reviewed, owned, and managed SARs, DSAs, TSRs and USQs across the DOE Complex. He has Founded, Chaired, and served as Program Owner for 10 CFR 50.59 & 10 CFR 72.48 (NRC’s USQ Processes) at Duke Energy and the Columbia Generating Station. He served on the Duke Nuclear Fleet USQ Evaluation Challenge Board for review and approval of complex USQ Evaluations across the nuclear Fleet. Al has conducted invited reviews and/or advised Los Alamos National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center on management of nuclear and accelerator safety. A recent impactful and unprecedented accomplishment is Al’s distinguished selection by the Nuclear Energy Institute to serve as the Principal Reviewer on behalf of the commercial nuclear industry.
Over a career spanning over three decades, Al has successfully managed a number of hazard Category 1 Reactor Facilities, Accelerator facilities, and high hazard category 2 and 3 non-Reactor nuclear facilities by leading and guiding multi-disciplinary teams achieve significant milestones. Significant accomplishments include, moving nuclear stations from Policy Note 14 to INPO 1 and 2 standings, and transitioning licensees from Column 3 and 4 of the NRC Matrix to Columns 1 and 2. Noteworthy accomplishments further include, successfully building and managing organizations across the DOE Complex by delivering them out of significant enforcement space and expeditiously transforming them into exemplary organizations obtaining DOE awards and fees by successfully meeting deliverables and milestones that are aligned with the DOE requirements and expectations, contractual commitments and regulatory obligations.