The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has appointed a former Duke Energy engineer and 33-year nuclear power industry veteran to serve on its Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.
In a release, the NRC announced a four-year term for Stephen P. Schultz on the independent body. After retiring from Duke, he worked as an engineering consultant in Charlotte, N.C., and helped the International Atomic Energy Agency with guidance on reactor technology assessment. He’s also worked on initiatives with the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Electric Power Research Institute.
A registered PE, Schultz earned his engineering degree from Harvey Mudd College, followed by a master’s in nuclear science and engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from Northeastern University and a doctorate in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Schultz joins 13 other experts in nuclear engineering, risk assessment, chemistry, severe accident phenomena, materials science, instrumentation and controls and other fields represented on the ACRS. The committee originates from a blue-ribbon panel formed by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1947 to evaluate the technical health and safety aspects of reactor hazards. That group was eventually merged with another committee on reactor siting and made permanent by congressional legislation in 1957. Operating independently from the NRC staff, the ACRS provides technical recommendations directly to the commission on a range of issues that include new and existing nuclear plant licensing.