Nuclear Regulatory Commission veteran Mirela Gavrilas replaced Brian Holian as director of the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response on Dec. 31.
The office leads the NRC effort to safeguard nuclear plants from foreign attacks in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement and other agencies through methods like force-on-force inspections — simulated terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants.
Holian retired after a 30-year career at the agency, where he worked as director of license renewal and director of the division of reactor projects before leading the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response.
Gavrilas joined the commission in 2004 after working as a University of Maryland faculty member and currently serves as the deputy office director for Reactor Safety Programs and Mission Support in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, according to an NRC press release.
Gavrilas holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland.
