The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it had promoted a nearly three-decade agency staffer to the position of director for the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS).
Later in March, John Lubinski will formally succeed Marc Dapas, who retired in January after nearly four years as director.
Acting NMSS Director Scott Moore will return to his position as the office’s deputy director. John Tappert, who filled in for Moore as acting deputy, will resume his role as director of the office’s Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Activities.
The Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards provides regulatory oversight for domestic production, storage, transportation, and disposal of fresh and spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive materials. Its operations cover licensing, inspections, licensee evaluations, and enforcement, among other work.
That includes ensuring “appropriate standards and regulatory guidance are in place such that licensing review activities for a potential Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository are completed in a timely, thorough and fiscally responsible manner,” according to the NRC.
The NRC adjudication of the Department of Energy license application for the nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev., has been frozen for the better part of a decade after being defunded by the Obama administration.
The office has five separate divisions: Safety, Security, State, and Tribal Programs; Spent Fuel Management; Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review; Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs; and Rulemaking.
Lubinski has been with the NRC since May 1990, starting as a mechanical engineer for NMSS. His positions since then have included senior enforcement specialist in the Office of Enforcement, and chief of the Inspection and Fuel Manufacturing sections at NMSS. Lubinski’s most recent role was deputy director for the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response.
