National Academy of Engineering recognizes long-time NRC advisor

Dana Powers was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honors awarded to an engineer.

Powers, who has been an adviser to the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC) for more than two decades and is currently serving his sixth term on its Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), was given the distinction based on his work involving commercial nuclear power plant safety and radioactive source-term processes.

The Missouri native and senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the longest-serving member of the ACRS. The advisory group independently reviews and offers suggestions on issues regarding the safety of nuclear facilities, efficiency of reactor safety standards, and health physics and radiation protection.

Powers is in charge of developing safety research programs at Department of Energy nuclear facilities, as well as providing analysis on the safety of radioactive waste stored in tanks at those facilities. Powers' past roles with ACRS included serving two years as chairman and two years as vice chair, while an early role with Sandia involved being a consultant to President Jimmy Carter's commission on the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.