Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of colors and the singing of the national anthem what's so Okay, ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats Good morning My name is Ho Neh. I'm the director of the office of nuclear reactor regulation and along with my co-host Ray first now the director of the office of nuclear regulatory research I'm very pleased to welcome you to the NRC's 31st annual regulatory information conference or what we lovingly refer to as the Rick You know, I noticed the displays this year and it seems like the people that take the artistic liberty and designing it are really Keeping up with the times last year that we had some mock-ups of accident tolerant fuels and this year It looks like columns of molten salt, so Each year the Rick attracts a very broad audience from all over the world and this year is no exception We have around 2,500 registered participants from 38 countries and to all of you who traveled great distances to be here with us today Thank you for making the trip and we really hope you have a great conference We also have some distinguished guests in the audience that I'd like to recognize We have three former NRC chairman Richard Miserve Nils Diaz and Allison McFarland. We also have four former NRC commissioners Jeffrey Merrifield, George Apostolakis, William Magwood and William Ossendorf. Thank you all for your service on the commission We really appreciate your continued interest in the NRC and it's always good to have you back As you know, the Rick is the NRC's largest public annual conference and to pull off an event like this It really takes a dedicated team of hard-working NRC staff lots of volunteers from all the NRC offices and contractors I do want to give a special shout out to Lorna Kipfer Hi Lorna, I said I was gonna do this. Lorna's been the life force of the Rick for the last decade So please join me in a hearty round of applause for Lorna and the dedicated staff that brought me this conference Three very quick housekeeping reminders. First, please keep your name badge visible and on you at all times for your safety and security Second, if you see something say something report any suspicious or unusual activity to a security officer or a hotel volunteer staff member and We do anticipate that several of our technical sessions will be at full capacity if that's the case Please follow the instructions of the NRC volunteers and they'll tell you what to do so as you know the NRC has embarked on a journey of change and transformation and with that in mind we have taken steps to transform the Rick itself we've Brought to you a really wide-ranging program of technical sessions and you can find out about all those technical sessions in the new Rick mobile app And you can find out more with the mobile app. We're really really excited about it So I'd like to tell you about what's new at the Rick With the technical sessions, we've also included sessions this year on the nuclear fuel cycle that's a new addition and One of the things we're really excited about that I just mentioned is the new Rick mobile app I think we think it's it's just fantastic and I want to tell you a lot more about and I know you're probably thinking that hey It's it's just an app. We live in a world where there seems to be an app born every minute But trust me for the NRC to finally have a mobile app. It's a pretty big deal and it's a big accomplishment for us So join us in basking in our glory You know using the app you can quickly access the conference program full speaker biographies all the session presentation materials the poster displays Participant contact information there's also networking features you might find interesting And what's really cool about the app? We added a live polling feature to help us interact more with the audience and we're going to be using Live polls during the conversation with the NRC chairman and the executive director for operations We'll also be doing some live polling of the audience during the advanced reactor session later today session t4 and The reactor oversight process session tomorrow morning session w-15 And if you know the NRC We never really do anything new unless without a pilot test So I hope you've downloaded the app because I'd like you to pull out your mobile phones right now And I want you to tell us how we feel this morning. We're gonna put a test poll question up so you go to the app and basically hit the live polling button and Select the opening session test poll and tell us how you feel. I Really hope this works. I'm a little nervous, but we'll see so let let's move on Let's talk about what else is new with the Rick so this year We were delighted to have a special guest speaker on the agenda. We have Nathan Mirvold who will join us later this morning Nathan is the founder and chief executive officer of intellectual ventures He's also the vice chairman of terror power and formerly the chief technology officer at Microsoft And we're really looking forward to his remarks on innovation transformation regulating new nuclear technologies And we hope that his remarks will Help inspire us and also help us to stretch our imaginations Also new to make things even more interesting and more engaging several NRC commissioners will be chairing technical sessions during the Week and you can find out which programs those are In the mobile app as well. I really like the mobile app. It's very functional We hope some of these new things that we've brought to the Rick really enhanced the value of your experience at this conference We know you travel a long way to spend your valuable time with us and we want your feedback tell us what you think about these things and We always try to make the Rick each year is Rick better than the year before so You guessed it use the app to give us the feedback and if there's one thing I hope you take away from this year's Rick. It's that many things at NRC are no longer business as usual Okay, now we're gonna get to the point. Oh before I do that Can we put the live poll results up and see how people are feeling? Okay Great Wow, that just happened. That's fantastic I'm glad people are ready for spring too And I'm really glad that most of the people that polled are full of energy And I hope that represents the the audience here and and believe me I'm really glad I didn't put more of you to sleep because I do want to start stop talking So and in some ways I feel a little confused too because in some ways I think we all just did the largest group time travel experience. It's like the NRC finally made it to the 21st century Okay, so now let's get to the point of the program where we're gonna answer the question That's probably been in the your back of your mind since I we start since the beginning of the program Why is there a living room set here on the center stage of the Rick? so New and different this year the NRC chairman and the EDO will be sharing their perspectives and views in a More conversational and fluid manner while they talk about three important issues facing the agency The first issue is the changing workload those things that we need to be working on The second topic is the changing workforce those great people at the NRC that are helping us get the mission done And the third topic is the need for efficiency and innovation and how we get our work done and During each of the discussion topics those three topics there will be a live poll question We want you to use your apps again just like you did a moment ago and look for the questions on the two The large screens to the left and right of the stage and tell us how you feel we're gonna bring those live poll results into the to complement the Conversation as well as the questions and answers so we're gonna get the conversation started I'll be facilitating the discussion topics Ray first and I will join us After that with the question and answer so make sure you fill out the your question and answer cards and hand them to NRC volunteer we're still old school with the cards, but that's okay. We can make that work well So without any further ado, I'd like to welcome the NRC chairman Christine Saviniki to the stage She's no stranger to the Rick. This is her 10th appearance at this conference many of you know chairman The honorable Christine Saviniki. She's been the chairman since January of 2017 She's been on the Commission since 2008 and currently serving her third term. Good morning chairman I've noted your perfect attendance at this conference and that is a noteworthy achievement for 10 years Next I'd like to welcome our EDO Margie don't to the stage Margie has been the EDO good morning Margie Margie's been the EDO since July of 2018 and and this is our first Rick in her new capacity, but she's no stranger to NRC She was formerly the general counsel from 2012 to 2018 and prior to that the director of office of international programs And now that you're my boss, I can't do any more lawyer jokes, but that's okay Okay, well Okay, there's more of them Okay, so this is new and different is new and different good morning everyone I just want to add my welcome to host more complete welcome that he just gave everybody and It's just a tremendous turnout and the Rick is always such an enriching week to spend with colleagues and friends that we've worked with for so Many years so again welcome and thank you all for coming Yes, and I'd also like to extend my welcome to all of you and and to our International colleagues who traveled so far and to also extend my gratitude to this the NRC staff that that helped us Put this together. It really is It really is ambitious for us I know that you've seen sort of armchair discussions in lots of different fora, but this is very new for us So it's exciting you but it's a nuclear version of spontaneous Which is that we had all kinds of we practiced how to walk on the stage yesterday Right, so you're gonna give them all our secrets So I just wanted I did want to welcome one person especially my husband's here He came because it might be the only time he sees me this week It's so busy, but no I did want to extend a thank you to him. It's his first Rick as well Well, thank you. So we're gonna get the conversation started here And I want to go to the first topic on the changing workflow, but I'm gonna set the stage On one hand, we have the emergence of new technologies like accident tolerant fuels advanced manufacturing methods Advanced non-light water reactors And on the other hand we have an operating reactor fleet that is has growing interest in subsequent license renewals But at the same time it's getting smaller due to premature shutdowns That's also leading to news business models and decommissioning. So this this changing regulatory landscape I think demands that the NRC needs to be strategic and flexible and adapting to the challenges So I'd like to go with the chairman first on this chairman You've been on the commission for for now over 10 years and from your policy vantage point Can you tell us what's different and how that affects the agency going forward? Well, we did rehearse walking on the stage, but I do want to clarify that this is Unscripted here, so we're gonna we do know the topics But as I reflect on that question hoe what an amazing opportunity the window of the last 10 years has been for me Because it may be one of the brightest contrast points if you took a 10-year slice of NRC history When I joined this commission in 2008 There were points where we were receiving not just one see a well application a month, but sometimes two We can trace that with today. We have reactors that are ceasing operation early We have a focus on decommissioning so if the world can change that much in 10 years It can change again in another 10 years and what it's taught me is to have a Real really deep humility about the ability to predict what that future is going to look like and I think that's the strength Of what NRC is focusing on right now what we're looking at I know resiliency is talked about a lot agility is another term that's used But it is how can we structure and resource and organize our people and our work processes in a way That would allow us to be at least in the middle of the curve of adapting to whatever The the future circumstances in the industry we regulate throws our way And so I think that we're we're looking at the the things that have served us so well in the past and NRC is and always has been a very high-performing organization But I think that the truth is that we realize The things that have served us so well in the past are not necessarily The ways in which we should achieve this important mission going forward and I think we've widened the aperture on that and That's the really exciting thing that we're involved in right now at NRC I think it's a tremendous tremendous creative opportunity for all the current employees And we're also soliciting for a lot of external feedback and ideas If I may just follow up with that you said the things that have served this past well May not be what we need to be doing today is what I sort of heard Can you give us a sense of kind of what type of things we need to be thinking about with this changing workload today? Transformation allows us to look at the work We have now and kind of an over the horizon projection of the kind of work Both the amount and the the subject area of work that we anticipate getting in the future And it isn't so much that the what is changing I think that we need to step back to first principles and look at the how of how we accomplish a lot of the things We do because I think it's not an abandoning of a lot of what makes us strong. It's an opportunity to say I'm not the person. I was ten years ago. I'm not the organization I was I have an opportunity to look at what serves now what works best, okay? And we'll get to the house. I think in the third topic so Margin from general counsel to the EDO Wow, that's a that's a pretty big that's a pretty big change I would say so you have a really unique set of experiences and Perspectives to lead the NRC in this really dynamic environment Can you tell us about what you consider the NRC's operational strategies to adapt in this dynamically changing environment? Yeah, so I'll put a little bit of a finer point on what it's looked like this year We've completed some very important milestones and we have we issued our 94th license renewal Which was an extension of a licensing term for a plant nuclear power plant? We have we're finishing up our mitigating strategy rule after Fukushima and in materials we Signed the agreement with Wyoming transferring much of the are much of the uranium recovery work to Wyoming So this is completing a lot of very important multi-year effort work But what we're seeing is a lot on the horizon so we have plenty of work to do because we have that a large the largest in the world nuclear fleet and We also have new things on the horizon that you were mentioning how like New technology advanced technology fuels all kinds of different things So what I would say about the work for the workload is that it is steady And we need strategies in place that are going to help us meet those challenges And one thing that we did is we did a futures assessment this year And what that is is it's it helps us stretch of our thinking. It's a it's a scenario boat based Look at what nuclear might look like in the future. It's not a prediction It really is four separate scenarios and we're going to use that to make sure that we can adapt to our environment We're going to do things that no matter what scenario we see ourselves in We're going to kind of inoculate ourselves so that we will be effective And we'll talk about that more later in the session some of the strategies. We're going to use in that regard But we're we need to work smarter and so some of the things that we're doing to work smarter is we are we have centers for Centers of expertise we call them coes. We have an acronym for everything so you're gonna hear a lot of acronyms today Sorry chairman McFarland. She tried to get us away from that former chairman McFarland so so We have put some strategies in place like centers of expertise coes and what that's doing is it's helping us bring all our experts to one place And by doing that we can share our thoughts much more quickly We can move along and and take and implement lessons learned more efficiently It also helps us save resources because we're not running around the whole agency finding all the experts of centers of expertise We're merging the offices of NRR and NRO and that will bring us efficiencies and also bring together the technical knowledge of the new reactor office and Hose office NRR And then finally we're using Technology to help us use business insights to better track plan and organize our work We're gonna be looking at our data mining our data for for ways that we can better think about how we can approach problems Learning from other organizations. So and I think that So if we look at all of these issues, I think what might be most important for us is the way we will marry Technology not necessarily new because but it would be new for us like the mobile app But it's it's important that we harness that so we can look at the data that we already have so those are some of the ideas Thanks, Margie, you know, I'm looking at the results of the live poll here It's hard to see but what I saw was something similar to what the chairman said We asked the audience what the biggest challenges are and it looked like the audience selected those that pulled that it's more of The how we do our work the better use of risk information rather than sort of the what's if you will at least That's what the polls show would either of you'd like to comment on the poll results Well, I would know as a preview that commissioner. Computer will be chairing a technical session on what is risk-informed decision making? So it looks like I think there's a lot of pre registrants for that and now we know why based on that live poll results It's clearly a focus area that I think the feedback we're getting is and it is interesting That is a rich and complex topic So I I think getting to the how of that will be an important part of that dialogue in the technical session and just I think a lot of sidebar conversations here this week at the Rick Okay, well, thank you for that now if I may add just from a perspective of having returned to the agency and just having been back For the last six months. I think the question I encounter very often is what does it mean to be risk-informed? So I think the sessions we have here at the Rick will really maybe help us have a more unified understanding of the concept Okay, so let's switch to the second topic now, which is the changing workforce So in getting ready for the wreck and I wrote some things down. There's not the answer cards It's just to help me moderate this discussion here I wrote down some statistics from the our office of the chief human capital office and in February of this year We have roughly 2,900 staff members on board at the NRC and that's significantly less than the roughly 4,000 We had in 2010 4,018 to be exact Look at the retirement statistics. We have 24% of our staff eligible to retire now 38% eligible in three years and 42% eligible in four years and I looked at the demographics of the workforce We have 23% that are under 39 years old and only 2% that are under 30 years old By the way 30 years old I read this morning today's the 30th anniversary of the internet They'll be the worldwide web for those of you read the news. Okay. Anyway, I digress. Sorry. So those people weren't born So so those statistics, I want to start with Margie First if I may chairman Margie those statistics really must have your attention. I would think And can you tell us what what it means to you and what the NRC should be doing to Prepare itself to build a sustainable workforce for continued success Yeah, so those statistics certainly do have my attention and You know, I want to say that it's gonna sound cliche, but our workforce is our greatest asset It really is true They're committed to our our mission of public health and safety common defense and security and protection of the environment And they're getting the work done for today But we really need to put in place strategies and we have strategies and we are continuing to work on this to make sure that we can retain and recruit New hires and that we can also Build the skills of our current workforce and and to have the workforce of the future So I can tell you a couple things that we're looking at a couple strategies that we're using for retention We have something that's very ambitious. It's a strategic workforce planning process that is very ambitious It's a multi-step process where we start out with an environmental scan and Again, we're gonna use that futures assessment to make sure that we're thinking really broadly we do an environmental scan and then once we Figure out exactly what we're gonna not exactly But we figure out what we think will be necessary in the future Then well, it's a multi-step process where you finally end up figuring out where you your skills are going to be Adequate for the future, but then also where there are gaps And then to address those gaps We have some other strategies that we're using we're using competency models to make sure we can really assess the skills and Develop and train and look at our training programs and our qualification programs to make sure that they're gonna work for the future for us And then finally we have something where we call it skills transformation and for that We are looking at experiences that we can give our staff so that is like I was talking about his work ceases We can move them to work or complete when we complete work We can move them to new work and make sure that they have the skills That's necessary that are necessary for them to be effective and we really think this is going to be good for our workforce because they can Better plan their future too. So this is something that we think is going to be a great retention tool these strategies are good for retention The new hires that is a the entry level what I would discuss as that 2% ho that really does have my attention It's far below the federal government statistics for under 29 so 2% is quite low So we are working on a strategy to have entry-level hiring Very soon So if you're out in the audience and you're a student look for us or if you have children or you know Make sure you're looking out for the NRC because this is a great place to work And we're gonna continue to make it a great place to work And then finally our leadership is the chairman has really spearheaded this effort where we We are making sure that we are externally aware and that we're being strategic in our thinking so I think Okay, thank you Margie German. I've seen you nodding in agreement with some of what Margie saying Can you tell us what's going through your mind on this topic? Well, I think I would describe it very similar to what Margie's discussed I'm kind of reacting a little bit to the poll results as well. It is as I predicted a fairly even Spread I know that technical competence is edging out the other categories, but I think all of the areas I would interpret the poll result to mean all of these areas are going to be important to us Leadership and entry level those kind of bookend the two categories of someone's career But I think we're beginning with where we are and the people we have we have Tremendous resource and the human capital of the agency and Margie has talked about the mechanics of strategic work planning, and that's really what that's all about is Beginning with looking at where we have capacity where we might have gaps either now or in the future And that's done in comparison to a workload and then we're also looking at opportunities To kind of they use the term re-scaling That's very fashionable right now But I look at it as investment in our current workforce in new opportunities Developmental opportunities not just so that they can do their job today But how might we make them a double threat that threat or a triple threat or give them new capacity? So that we can move peep to work as it emerges in a more agile way You know it I was here for the period when we went from four thousand to the under three thousand that we have today And when our work shifted a bit away from a heavy emphasis on new reactor work was moving more to some of our Post Fukushima work We found that we had extremely cumbersome internal processes for moving people and just basically Reassigning them from something that was coded as a new reactor activity to something that was coded as an operating reactor activity Those are obstacles that organizations put in their own way and part of transformation Is the basics of looking for where we're not even serving our own processes well, and how could we do better? Okay, I do want to draw something out from the poll result That kind of caught my attention. It was the subject of external awareness and yesterday I was in a meeting with one of our deputy executive directors Dan Dorman He was talking about the external awareness factor in the futures assessment that we hadn't really been looking at the effect of natural gas Prices on the industry we regulate so I've certainly sensed a focus on external awareness particularly with the leadership at NRC coming from the top levels of the organization So I'd like to ask either of you if you'd care to share your views on what external and awareness means to you When we talk about that Well, I would know that It got 16% in the poll result external awareness did I it makes me intrigued like many of us are very data driven I wonder what the split would be if it were only NRC employees who were responding on this They might resonate more with the focus on external awareness The way I view external awareness is thought the agency has at times had a very singular focus on Technical competence and while that is obviously very important to the work We do as we move people to broader and broader responsibilities often that is a necessary but not sufficient Component in grooming future project managers and leaders of the agency So we have had a focus on that I might toss this back at you Ho and say you have gone Stepped away from NRC and come back not once but twice once to the International Atomic Energy Agency and once to the Nuclear Energy Agency under the OECD When you step away and come back, what have you seen in terms of the workforce and their focus? Okay, well, I hadn't necessarily been anticipating getting questions, but I Suppose I should react to that I I think what I've seen coming back chairman in terms of the work Focus and then the workforce. I really think there were things that really remained very steadfast was the the workforce's commitment to the work of the agency and wanting to do our work very very well and wanting to Really have high technical quality in the products we deliver in the licensing and oversight programs What I've also seen which is actually very encouraging. I know you've heard that the you know The NRC we've embarked on this journey of change and transformation And I really think that there are many staff that I've encountered and headquartered in the region They're really are embracing the spirit that are really looking at ways to do their jobs better They recognize that the the state of the fleet is not what it was today as it was let's say 20 years ago So I've seen a recognition of that and I think people are are are being more Externally aware and I would have I would apologize for tossing a question to you But you know, you know full well you can take the woman out of the chairman's office But you can't take the chairman's office out of the woman, right Allison So so how maybe maybe I'll ask this on external awareness. I I think really for us it's it's taking the best ideas and the brightest ideas thinking big and creative and and Harnessing what we see out in in other organizations other government agencies There's so much for us to learn and we're very open We we do have a learning environment and so for external awareness for us. That's that's what we're doing We're benchmarking. We're looking at these other Like I said, even international organizations were so appreciative of the willingness of our international partners to share their Experiences with us. So when we say external we mean the whole globe And I think with our next speaker we're gonna see that well and I would just add to that by saying It's our vision and I'm a hundred percent confident that NRC can give anybody a run for their money I when I think about the talent and ingenuity that we have I know that we could be the federal agency bringing examples that are showcased across the government And I'm really excited about I think we're on the threshold of that kind of energy and excitement emerging on Transformation and I I don't set any standard less than best in class for us I I know we've I know we've got it We've got what it takes and we could absolutely crush this thing. So But you know, it's like any change it comes down to a choice and and NRC I've been here long enough. So I have the blessing of being able to say this from my long observation But NRC is capable of anything it puts its mind to but what will it choose? That's the question and I think as leaders you can lead But the organization as a whole is going to have to embrace and invest itself in transformation and we'll see okay Well, thank you And I would say from the poll I was very encouraged to see technical confidence as an area that people thought were important I would just share this weekend. I know Kathy Haney the region to regional administrator I were on a very early morning phone call at 1 a.m. Saturday morning dealing with an issue at a plant an unusual event And I could say when we were listening to what was happening at the facility It really underscored the importance of our technical competence and our sharp skills out in the region to really understand What's happening at the facility so we can make the right response decision? So I really appreciate the audience feedback on the technical competence. So we'll move to the third topic now This is a efficiency and innovation and how we do our work. You know, we are on this journey of change We want to be a more risk-informed regulator to enable new technologies and we want to embrace innovation and creativity And how we do our work and I think it's a really exciting time to be working at the agency right now And along with this effort and trying to shift our mindset to embrace things like innovation and creativity I would say this setup you see today right now was actually Done in part in large part by the bright young people that form the agency innovation forum So they helped us conceive this idea So I really think that's a really wonderful sign that we're trying to be more innovative and created Chairman for the last two years at the Rick I've heard you say and talk about you know whether the NRC can change to be more risk-informed and last year you talked about the pace of change Happening at the NRC and you mentioned that we were standing at the threshold of a step change with the transformation effort So were you prophetic last year? Where are we today? Prophetic, that's a big word isn't it? There'd be a lot of hubris in claiming to live in uniquely changing times And so you know, but having said that I'm gonna I'm gonna stand by my observation of last year, which is what I Think if you look at a lot of even technology development, there is a Kind of a plotting along. There's a really deliberative pace. There's kind of some failures and frustrations There's things that are tried hypotheses that are tested that don't prove out but then all of a sudden you can break beyond that and have a bit of a breakthrough and I Think that NRC stands at the threshold of doing something like that again All of these processes will involve, you know, hundreds and thousands of people at NRC that decide to take the Transformation journey and so the outcome is not assured, but I know that the capability is there and You know transformation is a really big word if you were to think about it in your personal life or your family life or your professional life and the truth of transformation for me is that it happens basically One outcome one conversation One action and one decision at a time and I think that is NRC's approach which makes the whole thing Conquerable even though it is such a such a tall objective. Okay Margie, so I've heard you say that our products are our decisions So could you please tell us what you see as the main focus areas for improving our innovation and efficiency to getting at our decisions? Yeah, so I'm gonna try to see if I can work in this analogy because it helps me think about these issues So probably by now everybody's familiar with Marie Kondo and her way of coming into a house and decluttering it And and the family is then surrounded by only things that spark joy So it is just it's a miraculous sort of change that happens She comes in and she tells you to look at what's what's really good and sparks joy and then others you appreciate it You respect what you had But you let it go because you know time's moving on and I really see our transformation as analogous to this because What we're trying to do is we one thing that you don't want to do we've learned from other organizations is you don't want to Change what's really good about your organization and what's really good about us and why first focus area is our commitment to the mission I did mention that before but it's absolutely imperative that as we change for the American people We remain committed to our mission. So that's really the first area when I'm thinking about decision-making that that we focused on the second thing that we're focusing on is we're looking far and wide for good ideas and This is what I was talking about about thinking big and it might come from the newest person at the agency Or it might come from the most seasoned person at the agency or it might come it might be external thinking And but we're thinking big we're trying to get a lot of new ideas into our decision-making And be very inclusive in how we resolve those issues and then we are trying to take risk and sights and I see that what's come up on the screen is Reducing the zero risk mentality and you know, I I thought about when I saw it I thought that's that's what's going to be picked and and I understand what this is This is this is really a signal and and I I agree with this that if you have a zero Risk mentality you can't easily shift or change because you're so concerned About the risk that you're weighed down with it in this way. This is my decluttering idea You know in my mind we have to take away the processes and the things that are we're built really around the mid Around mid 20th century technology. We've put a lot of processes in place and this is Making it very difficult for us to twist and turn so it's those things that we need to really look at Trying to address so that we can move forward in a more adaptive flexible way like the chairman was talking about it with more agility So and then finally once we make these better decisions We need to be able to communicate them well because we understand very well we we have decades of working with the community and With external communities and also internal within our organization and other federal agencies We understand that with change comes some uncomfortableness so to to to take care of that We need to build trust and we'll do that by Communicating our message well and I I just want to say I'm excited to be on this journey And I know that we can change in a way that will make us even even a better place to work than we are now and I Think we're gonna do it one decision at a time I Thought we'd have at least one or two Contrarians in the room that would vote for nothing everything is just fine that zero kind of Astonishes me because I know people have really strongly held views and then clear enterprise So that surprises me a little bit, but I guess you know it reminds me a little bit So since I've been on our commission for ten years I've testified before a lot of congressional committees and senator carper The senate environment and public works committee who has had a consistent interest in the agency's success and well-being Which I appreciate very much he has a staying and it says if it's not perfect you can make it better So I'll I'll interpret that 0% for everything is just fine is that no one's perfect so we can obviously make some things better But beyond that again, I see a strong emphasis in the result on a lot of different areas So tells me we're not gonna have the luxury of a singular focus and transformation It's gonna be like Margie said we're gonna have to really cast a wide net But I think in that there's a great opportunity every Employee then our C has some dimension of what they do that they might want to make a suggestion could be done better and differently So everyone is welcome in in this endeavor and I think that that can be kind of exciting for us Okay, I want to react a little to the poll results also on the reducing the zero risk mentality It was interesting to see that that's what the poll responders chose Most for us to focus on and I would say that I've seen in the last six months a few examples that are interesting to me And I'd like to get your thoughts One example in having these all-hands discussions and meeting with the staff I've heard the question. Well, what if I'm wrong and then I had another example recently I was in region four meeting with Scott Morris's staff One of his inspectors stood up and gave a real good example of how he saw something at a power plant He brought in some risk information looking how long the Component was actually being used and applied some risk and judgment to get on the right path to Disposition it and with the right level of resources in the inspection program So what would what would you say to the staff members in terms of the zero risk mentality? You know our mission is reasonable assurance of adequate protection Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share with the audience particularly those people at the NRC and in terms of what? Moving away from the zero men risk mentality means to you Well, I'll start I I use the term humility earlier and one of the things that I found that keeps me grounded is reading The votes of a lot of the former members of our commission and some of that We have some old records back to the early days of the agency But I think that there's humility and reflecting on the uncertainties that your predecessors Faced and again it gets to this notion of thinking that you've got it So uniquely complex and challenging while people throughout time and people throughout the brief history of nuclear Which is not like other types of sciences have really struggled with a lot less access to data and tools that we have today So I kind of pivot the question and say With the amount of kind of analytical and computational tools that we can have today With the thousands of years of reactor operating experience that we have today, which our predecessors decades ago did not have Can't we actually root our safety and security decisions in a greater confidence than our predecessors and have we become so Consumed with the the amount of decimal places that we can we can derive now that we've decided that that somehow correlates to overall assurance and certainty and I think we can lose sight of the fundamentals that we are human beings making Human decisions in a very cautious and careful and thorough way, but it doesn't mean that we just Fail to address and get our arms around an acceptable level of uncertainty Okay, thank you chairman. Okay. Well, let's have a round of applause for a chairman's finicky in our EDO Margie Dome And now we're gonna get to the question and answer part of this Conversation here, and I'd like to welcome Ray first and now the director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research to the stage and Ray's gonna facilitate the Q&A with the chairman in EDO Well, thanks. We got a lot of good questions as far as the polling goes we got about 500 people responding to To the polls that's that's a pretty good percentage. So thanks for everybody for for doing that I had a lot of questions on on innovation and I'll kind of combine a couple too because some of them were very similar With the new direction of the agency and on with RLP transformation, etc capitalizing on risk-informed decisions. What's the NRC doing to ensure? Leadership courage to change the culture of the NRC staff in order to meet these challenges and chairman Would you like to start with that? Well, I think that Margie and I touched on that a little bit and you notice that leadership was one of the focus areas in the live polling questions For Margie and I know we're focused on leadership development and looking at how we've prepared leaders in the past And what are the attributes that will best contribute to the success of future leaders in the success of the agency as a whole? So we have made some changes speaking of Margie's point about acronyms We have the SES CDP if we see your executive service candidate development program And it's really the beginning of the feeder pipeline for future leaders Not only in NRC, but the concept is they could flow throughout the government to other executive capacities and federal agencies But we began under Victor McCree Margie's predecessor to make some changes to the overall selection criteria and the weighting of factors and attributes and so we are trying to begin With a candidate pool that is more diverse in thought in race and gender in all these aspects and in Also educational backgrounds with a continued emphasis on technical competence But looking at the fact that you need executives that have things beyond technical Confidence and have we developed and has our pipeline been adequate from that standpoint So I think I think we have a lot of focus on it and we are a nuclear agency So after we've made these changes to the candidate pool for this class And then we will be assessing later on whether or not we achieved what we set out to achieve with those changes Thanks, I guess to maybe add to the question a little bit for you Margie is is along with that Where where do things are you doing since you've come on board as EDO to get Full support of the staff and the changes that are being made So I think I'll give a plug for something that we put in place and it was actually started while I wasn't an executive a senior executive as The general counsel but now we are implementing it. It's something we have coined the leadership model and Rob Lewis should deserve a lot of credit because he's put a lot of thinking into this if any of you know him and The leadership model is really a set of behaviors that it's common sense It's it's things that we would all think about would be necessary to when you're changing an agency But we put a lot of thought into it because it's helping us think about being more inclusive and taking risk insights into consideration And so this leadership model recognizes that everybody at the NRC is a leader We all are going to do our part. We all have a role in this transformation And so that's one of the things that we're doing and we're really carrying that through and trying to hold each other accountable for for these Ideals that are in this model So that's the first thing the second thing is the senior leadership team came together and most recently and we talked about the First line supervisors the ones that are really, you know, they're on a day-to-day basis working with our staff and how important it is to be supporting them in their journey to to transform and making sure that we are there for them because transformation is hard and and and they've requested that of us to make sure that we're there for them when they're making hard decisions that we Don't change those as they go up the line that we have the courage to make those decisions as well. And that also as we Bring these brighter ideas in and have new ways of thinking that that we think about how we were the processes that we were using Before and be open to even using new processes. So those are some of the things that we're doing, right? Okay, you mentioned about transformation Margie and and chairman as well. What's the what is that in RC transforming into? So, you know, I think of it like this this Marie Kondo, right? So here's why here's why so I see us really Changing in that we will look at what is very important to us and and we will hold on to that But we will streamline our processes will be able to move in a more adaptive and flexible way because we are going to look for new things that we can bring in new ideas and In the end where we we will change So many different parts of our organization in a way that really helps us achieve our mission in a different way We like to think about Innovation muscles like we talk about that innovation muscles trying to build that muscle so that It won't be something that we think about as this big large thing that we have to achieve It'll be part of our everyday Existence well we'll be thinking about changes as we go along We'll be able to readily see things and use new technology and and have someone to bring that to and get those solutions quickly So that's what we will transform into I think we already have gone a long way toward that We have done things like the reactor oversight process was which was a significant innovation at the time But now that's 20 years old and we don't want to do just one innovation here one innovation there We really want to look at the whole agency in our decision-making and and transform that so Transformation we won't decision at a time. That's why you say that chairman You want to take a stab at that question? I agree with the the description that Margie is given and I think that One of the things is that it isn't going to be a strongly top-down process Which is consistent with the way that she's described it I don't think that the Commission has an appetite or desire to come up with every dimension and idea an Attribute of a transformed agency members of the Commission turn over over time And this needs to be something that the heart of the organization is really moving forward with and if done Well, I agree that it becomes part of the culture and it becomes The atmosphere and it isn't something that's a project off to the side like over the next hour of my day I'm going to have innovative thinking. It's just a way of thinking that is brought to everything that you do Okay, I'm going to switch gears a little bit This is more of a specific question and this is not to take away chairman from your technical session But it might be related to that Do you think the nuclear profession is placing too much hope and emphasis on advanced reactors or advanced reactors really? Going to be a panacea or could it become an albatross. Oh Goodness well that is a good question to ask my Extremely erudite panel that I will have this afternoon in the advanced reactor technical session But you know Ray when you read the question and said, you know, are we placing too much hope? I guess it depends on what you're hoping for so with an absence of a definition of that I'm really not sure I'm a I don't like absolute statements. I guess I should have been a lawyer instead of an engineer But I don't know that anything is is a panacea So I'm really not sure how to answer that question I think the energy policy of the US has nuclear playing a role now and into the future and so for nrc what we're focused on is Having a kind of a regulatory framework that provides the absolutely necessary Assurances of reasonable assurance of adequate protection But also doesn't is not so aligned to large light water reactor technology that Certain advanced reactor technologies are such a Bad fit with that that they that were just an absolute obstacle on the path Thanks, maybe Margie related to that question What what's what do you see the staff is doing to be ready for the advanced reactor concepts that that we see coming along in the future So some of the things that the staff is doing and you can speak better than me Ray You're allowed to do that. So I'll touch on it and then I am I'm gonna send it back to you But but you know one thing that the nrc is really really good at is we put plans together In fact, we put plans together so much that we have an acronym IAP that applies to several different plans integrated action plan implementation for non water non light water Reactors and so we have a lot of planning. So we've put plans in place They have milestones to make sure like I've talked about Throughout this session that we're looking at making sure we have the skills that are necessary that we have the resources that are necessary but also that we have the tools the codes and things like that that will be necessary for Us to be successful with advanced reactors and we'll have to use all the strategic workforce planning that I was talking about to make sure that we have the skills that are Necessary and I'm gonna toss this back to you But one thing that we're looking at to make sure that we're thinking broadly is this futures assessment that that has several It has four scenarios and we're really thinking about How you get prepared for technology that you've never licensed before and Will bring really new and challenging issues. It's a very exciting time, but it does take a lot of planning So Ray, what I forget. I think that pretty well covered it I know in working with from the research perspective I remember this my boss up here, so but from a research perspective and working with the new reactor office as well I think what our goal is to be ready for whatever's coming down the line What, you know, it's hard to predict exactly what what technology might come first But our really our goal is to be ready and I think from the outside It may be hard to understand by the things that that we've talked about even this morning in this session How they all come together, but as Ray's talking about, you know Different technologies for advanced reactor Margie Margie talked earlier about centers and centers of expertise The agency is looking at that as one opportunity to kind of house Experts or expertise together and in the morning they could you know If someone from that center could be reviewing a safety aspect of a molten salt reactor design That's been submitted for certification in the afternoon They could be supporting the operating reactor fleet in reviewing some safety dimension of a license amendment request that's coming And so when we talk about agility and putting people on the work as it comes in That's why I talked about Reinvesting and investing strongly in the workforce that we have to make sure that we give them that kind of fungibility across different technologies Okay Margie, I think I'll have this question to you. The NRC is open to new ideas. We stated that in the discussion How are you monitoring or or assessing this at the at the lower staff levels at the NRC? So I'll just I'm not sure if it's talking about how my Staff at all levels of the agency get to get their ideas up to senior management I'll just take it. I'll just take that and then maybe sort of talk about this So some of the things that we're doing we have something called innovate NRC So yeah, we have a lot of different ways of surfacing your ideas But we have something called innovate NRC Which was a grassroots effort by my predecessor Vic McCree and it was at first only out in other offices and out in the region and What it would do is it's kind of a collection box of good ideas and so if you had a good idea a good way that we could maybe streamline our work or Maybe some things that we shouldn't be doing any more all kinds of things anything that you could think of that would help the agency move Forward in this journey You could put it into these collection boxes and and these were being handled at the different organizations But then we figured out That you couldn't resolve all problems at the organizational level and so we then did an innovate an agency innovate NRC and so that now is providing an opportunity for our our staff to Staff all over the agency to put in ideas for innovation and so that's I would say that's the way We're harnessing the ideas and then what we have is we have a pairing of executives with the innovation team To make sure that we're getting back to those individuals who have suggested the ideas and that we're trying to bin them And and we have already taken some examples and already put them in place Thanks German Next question is how do you see the use of modern technology? Extending the life of current power plants in the context of decision-making in zero risk mentality Well, Margie's mentioned the futures assessment a few times and One of the things that I found really interesting about it is it does have what we call the four scenarios or four stories as We've called them of what the nuclear industry may look like in the United States over a longer period of time But one of the strengths I think of the futures assessment that we've had done is that There are certain takeaways and things that NRC could think about doing that makes sense No matter which of those visions of the future ends up being true And I think that some of the resiliency that we need and maybe that's the humility of a learning From ten years ago when I joined the Commission where there was such a rapid Upsizing of our capacity and our staffing and everything else what I appreciate and enjoy as the prudency of some of these new thoughts is thought They benefit you no matter what the future throws at you And so I think that's an aspect of what the futures assessment has us thinking about is if you have a lot of remote sensing devices in nuclear power plants and they're feeding back Surveillance data in a fundamentally different way than sending out a human Operator or employee to go and check out the functioning of some plant component Of course the operator of the plant is going to use that new Remote technology in a different way, but then Transformation for us is how can we take that on board on our side of the safety ledger How can that be a benefit for as I said early earlier being able to provide the American public and even greater assurance of the knowledge of safety at a plant and so I think that as the technology uses new Artificial intelligence new data analytics. We're looking at through our futures assessment is what might that mean for us How might that show up on our side of the safety mission and that's part of what we're exploring for the future Got a question for you Margie on workforce With the statistics that were presented on on aging workforce, etc What what what's the NRC doing in decreasing budgets to look at new hires? So we are so we're just Beginning to take a different kind of look so we've been Reducing the size of the agency and that's that's really made sense because a lot of our work has gone away We like the chairman had said in her opening, you know, we had a COL coming in You know once a year sometimes twice a year and so that has really changed And so we've been reducing the size of the agency and we've gone down about 25% and so in that time period when we were Reducing the size of the agency were very carefully doing this and monitoring our work making sure we could get The work done for the day we were not able to do new hiring like we had done for for the last I'd say Decade and a half with something that we called the and it well, I won't go through it was a new hiring process I don't get the NSPD and so So we had this process that we put in place and it was very effective, but we we stopped Utilizing that process as we were bringing the agency down. We did this through attrition We've come down like I said almost a quarter of our size which is really tremendous probably the size of many of your Organizations and so we didn't do the new hiring and then when we started thinking about this We thought well, we need to continue because all government agencies my prediction would be are going to be leaner Just because of the aging federal workforce, they're gonna be leaner and we need to work smarter and so We need these new the new thinking and That that new entry hires will bring in and so what we're doing is we're looking at how to continue to bring the agency down Appropriately, but also to bring that new the new hires in and so and to reinvigorate That process that we already had that was very successful So it's it's not a whole wholesale turn It's just a little turn around the corner because we already had this process and and like I said, you know We're hoping that we through this session are swiping interest in the agency Thank you, Ray. Thank you chairman Margie. We have just I want to give you 40 seconds to see if you have any final thoughts here We're gonna conclude the session, but anything you'd like to add Margie just the overall new and different thing we did here Yeah, so I'm hoping that this has really energized all of you for the week And that will get really good input and discussions during our sessions And that will continue at the agency to think big and and then I just want to re-emphasize. This is It really is a great place to work I'm so appreciative of all the efforts that the staff has given me To to make me help me to be successful In this new leadership role and and I'm looking forward to you know being on this journey to change one decision at a time Thanks margin channel the final final word any new book you read or show you're watching you want to talk about? We always love hearing about that. I Have a painful commute, which I've probably mentioned in the past But I listened to a lot of podcasts as a result and I thought of a lot of different things I did know that you'd offer me an opportunity to just kind of have some final thoughts, but I Listened to Oprah Winfrey because she is an amazing interviewer and she interviews a lot of really interesting Kind of thought leaders and scholars and other people like that But it was noteworthy to me when she said she she named the toughest questions She was ever asked and she said it was I don't know what the context was But she had to actually go back to the moderator like the next day and catch him or her in the hallway and go I've had time to think about it now, and I have an actual answer to your question But it's intriguing as people if they're thinking about right now What would be the toughest question that that Oprah went for you to interview thousands of people? What was the toughest question? She was ever asked and the question was what do you know for sure? And it's an interesting thing to think about particularly for me Having a technical background and then coming to the NRC and thinking about the fact that we have a lot of focus on uncertainty and that's appropriate because we're kind of trying to come to Levels of confidence that we need to come to on various decisions. We have to make But we know a lot for sure, and I think that it's good sometimes to pull back and think about Yes, this problem seems intractable It has a lot of tentacles into other things and it can be really complicated But to pull back and go but what am I absolutely sure about when it comes to this? So I think for me, I'm sure that change is possible I'm sure that NRC has a lot of dazzling ideas and concepts And I know that we can bring that forward. I don't know what we'll choose to do and I don't know what form it will take I don't think it'll be a top-down thing and I I think as Margie said if done Well, it'll become part of a mindset of how we go about doing things So maybe as each of you go about and have conversations at the rig this week You'll challenge each other as you're talking about something that seems unsolvable You'll say but what do we know for sure about this and at this point Given all of the work of the pioneers in nuclear the nuclear enterprise all of the people who have come before us our Regulatory counterparts from around the world that are here a lot of things have been tried a lot of things a lot A lot's been learned over the course of decades in this very very young technology in a historic sense But we know a lot we know we are we are blessed to know a lot more than our predecessors knew And so I think that it's a great foundation for us to build on moving forward for for not just for regulatory But for the nuclear enterprises a whole thank you for that final note. I know for sure that I'm no Oprah Winfrey, so Big round of applause for Chairman Svinnicki and Margie Donner Now we'll be transitioning to the next commissioner plenary Continue with a plenary program. It's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker is Commissioner Jeff Barron Honorable mr. Barron was sworn in as commissioner in October of 2014. He's currently serving a term ending in 2023 during this tenure Commissioner Barron's priorities have included a strong focus on safety as as the agency adapts to a changing Workload requiring and implementing effective safety enhancements in response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident improving oversight of power reactors entering decommissioning and boosting the openness and transparency of Agency decision-making over the past four years. He has visited operating power reactors a nuclear plant undergoing active decommissioning Research and test reactors. We went on a tour of one together Commissioner Barron and nuclear plant fuel cycle facilities a low-level waste facility and a variety of other other Facilities using radioactive materials. He's also been to Fukushima Daiichi for a first-hand look at conditions and activities on the site. As was mentioned in the introduction by Honi, the commissioners are hosting some technical sessions and I'm going to make a pitch for a Commissioner Barron session this afternoon Technical session T3 regional session on the current nuclear power plant regulatory issues That's at 130 in ballroom D and you're running neck and neck with the chairman on who's having the most attendees So maybe this will take care of that. So with that Commissioner Barron, thank you Thanks, Ray. Good morning. It's great to see everyone here. We'll try to further boost attendance for this afternoon After four Rick speeches, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there aren't very many Cheesy nuclear jokes out there and most of them are really quite bad So I am dropping them from the speech. I'm done with them Frankly, I'm tired of the pained groans. They're demoralizing when you're up here But I am not going to leave you in a lurch. I'm going to meet your demands for comedic levity Which brings me to new reg zero five four four NRC's legendary collection of abbreviations now I Suspect that some of you might not believe that NRC actually published a 37-page tome of impenetrable acronyms So I brought it along Here it is this on the screen. I'm not making this up. It's real. Oh, maybe you could load this into the mobile app People can have this This is actually revision five says right here revision five Which means we actually went through the exercise of assembling every imaginable nuclear abbreviation six times The latest version Was lovingly put together by a working group of 20 NRC employees To those 20 individuals, I don't know who you offended to get that assignment But on behalf of the Commission, please allow me to formally apologize According to the abstract the goal of this new reg is to improve communication with and within the NRC Typical not sure 37 pages of previations get you there But I digress I actually got through the new reg and I still don't really understand what new reg stands for But this document is nothing short of riveting it includes some great questions to ponder One section is titled why use abbreviations? Good question another section asks. What is plain language? It was at that point. I figured we were in real trouble But if you if you suspend your disbelief and temporarily accept the premise that the world can be made better Through abbreviations. There's some great stuff in there When you hear the word badger You may think of a cute animal or the act of pestering someone who are a student at the University of Wisconsin Commissioner computers I'm a modder, but at NRC badger means boron 10 aerial density gauge for evaluating racks If someone says that's classy You may think that you are the recipient of a nice compliment do not be fooled or flattered That NRC employee is trying to tell you about a continuum linear analysis of soil structure interaction At NRC CPR is not a life-saving procedure. It is the common prioritization of rulemaking Watch out for that If the mention of Epicure makes you think a gourmet lunch is coming your way You will be sorely disappointed to learn that what may be in the offing is an experimental program For iodine chemistry under a radiation That's for abbreviations. There are just over 1,000 to go So we have something to look forward to for next year, I guess now in fairness to the agency The preface does say in an ideal environment the NRC would not require a reference book of abbreviations. I Would like to think we can all agree on that The new rag also advises us to avoid using abbreviations whenever possible and in all seriousness I think that's good advice as an independent safety regulator Serving the public transparency openness and clear communication are critical to NRC success When we share as much information as we can Describe the issues and the agency's work in understandable language and are open to the feedback we receive Then interested stakeholders can meaningfully participate in regulatory discussions and NRC makes better decisions Since last year's Rick a new conversation started about transformation and innovation at NRC Staff has begun to focus on how we as an agency make decisions and how we communicate with each other and external stakeholders Heard a little bit about that earlier this morning Regardless of whether we label it transformation. I think this particular effort makes a lot of sense We need to identify the full range range of views early so we can carefully consider them as we move through the decision-making process Ultimately we want the decision-maker to have an open-minded and thorough analysis of the different options and viewpoints There's no question in my mind that when we do this well it improves the quality of the decisions we make In my time this morning I want to share my thoughts about how NRC should approach transformation and give you some concrete examples of potential changes I see as positive and changes. I believe would take us in the wrong direction In my view it makes sense to consider Transformational change when a new technology challenges NRC's existing regulatory approach or when the agency has historically struggled to regulate Effectively in a particular area on the other hand when a regulatory process has worked well over the years It's better to pursue targeted refinements aimed at solving clearly defined problems Whether NRC is considering a major Transformational change or a more modest incremental change. We must keep our focus squarely on our safety and security mission transformation at NRC can't be about Rolling back safety and security standards to save money and it can't be about fewer inspections or weaker oversight That would take NRC in the wrong direction When considered with these criteria in mind some of the transformational changes proposed by the staff or external stakeholders past Muster and others do not There are ideas we should explore as part of this effort and other ideas We should reject it's inconsistent with our mission as an independent safety regulator a Strong case for transformation can be made when it comes to updating NRC's regulations to account for non-lightwater reactor technologies NRC's current power reactor regulations were written for light water reactors which make up the entire existing fleet So it makes sense to update those requirements to address different technologies NRC is already doing a lot of work in this area and I support developing a performance-based technology inclusive regulation for the licensing of non-lightwater reactors as The agency proceeds with this effort. It will be important to balance the broad Rulemaking activities with the need to focus sufficient resources on the design specific work for particular applications The staff also recommends developing a new digital instrumentation and control regulation based on high-level performance-based safety design principles rather than on highly prescriptive standards The new rule likely would move away from exclusive reliance on one set of consensus standards and Establish a process by which applicants could meet alternative standards that have been successfully used in other industries and countries NRC's regulatory approach to digital instrumentation and control would seem to be a strong candidate for transformational change Over the years NRC has struggled with this complex set of issues It has proven to be a real challenge to ensure that digital upgrades are done safely and do not introduce any unacceptable risks While establishing a reliable regulatory framework for making these upgrades Although digital technology has been around for decades and is used extensively in other sectors of the economy US nuclear power plants still rely primarily on analog technology and components as a practical matter digital represents a new Technology that challenges our existing regulatory framework Because digital instrumentation control technology has rapidly evolved in recent decades and will continue to do so It is particularly ill-suited to rigid standards and prescriptive guidance If other sectors of the economy or nuclear regulators in other countries have had success with alternative Consensus standards it makes sense for NRC to evaluate whether compliance with these standards could be an acceptable way of meeting NRC safety and security requirements On the other hand I am concerned that a near-term rulemaking to establish this new regulatory framework Could shift focus away from the current efforts to improve key guidance documents at a time when significant progress is being made I do not want to lose the momentum we have right now And if updated guidance is able to effectively resolve The major regulatory challenges and provide a predictable framework for making digital upgrades I have a hard time seeing the case for setting that guidance aside and starting from scratch with a new rule Instead of deciding now whether to initiate a rulemaking sometime down the road I think it would be better to first see whether updating the guidance proves to be an effective solution Although I am open-minded about ultimately pursuing a transformative digital instrumentation and control rulemaking I believe the staff should complete the ongoing efforts allow the new guidance to be used for a period of time and Then determine the extent to which the new guidance is resolved the challenges in this area at that point We can decide whether rulemaking is still needed There are a lot of ideas for making changes to the engineering inspection program some good and some not so good Engineering inspections are an essential part of the suite of baseline inspections Conducted in every operating nuclear power plant across the country They play an important role in verifying that safety systems are capable of performing their intended safety functions under accident conditions NRC began conducting engineering inspections in response to a significant safety event at Davis Bessie in 1985 And these inspections have evolved over the years to confront emerging issues and new findings As the NRC staff's engineering inspection working group concluded the current suite of engineering inspections is effective in identifying safety issues in fact since the year 2000 these inspections have resulted in over 2000 inspection findings Most of the findings are green, but several were white or even yellow The working group explained that one of the reasons the engineering inspection program added value to reactor safety Was its ability to identify latent conditions that would not manifest themselves through routine plant surveillance activities This helped NRC inspectors identified defective components before they failed So although many of the performance deficiencies identified over the years was were of lower risk significance Some of these deficiencies would have become more risk significant if NRC hadn't caught them early before component failure The commission is currently considering options for modifying the engineering inspections The staff recommends replacing the current design Basie's assurance inspection and some other regional team engineering inspections with a comprehensive engineering team inspection Complimented by focused engineering inspections. There are there's an acronym for all that so Be assured. It's all okay. The comprehensive engineering team inspection Would verify the ability of plant components to perform their licensing base Licensing basis functions following plant modifications The staff recommends performing them on a four-year cycle In the years they are not performing a plant a focused engineering inspection would be performed instead these inspections would focus narrowly on a particular engineering area, which would change each year So there are two basic changes being contemplated here first a shift in the content and focus of each year's engineering Inspection and second a reduction in the frequency of the comprehensive engineering inspection I believe the first change would improve both safety and efficiency the second change would do neither NRC would just be doing less There is a solid safety basis for moving from the current inspection to the newly designed inspections Which were developed based on feedback from inspectors in the field The safety advantage of the focused engineering inspection is that it will focus on different and often Uninspected safety significant areas each year This provides and our the NRC staff with the flexibility to shift the engineering inspection focus to areas of emerging need as The nuclear power plant fleet ages on the other hand Reducing the frequency of the comprehensive engineering inspection from once every three years to once every four years Would reduce inspections solely to reduce costs The baseline inspection program is at the heart of what NRC does to ensure that nuclear power plants operate safely There is no persuasive rationale rooted in safety for reducing the frequency of comprehensive engineering inspections NRC should not inspect less in order to save money Some stakeholders argue that NRC should accept licensee self-assessments in lieu of independent NRC engineering inspections They suggest that NRC allow industry self-assessments to replace NRC inspections in other areas too such as radiation protection emergency preparedness and security NRC should not head in this direction These are foundational baseline inspections that since the beginning of the reactor oversight process have been viewed by NRC as necessary For every nuclear power plant in the country regardless of licensee performance These baseline inspections are essential and NRC inspectors need to be independently conducting them We should not allow licensees to inspect themselves in lieu of NRC inspections We need to ask ourselves. Why does NRC conduct inspections in the first place? Because our independent inspectors find problems that licensees don't Because licensees perform better and more safely with us performing rigorous independent oversight Because the public has entrusted NRC a public agency that works for them with the responsibility of Establishing standards to protect their health and safety and enforcing those standards impartially None of those purposes are met when licensees are allowed to inspect themselves This concept is fundamentally inconsistent with our mission as an independent safety regulator There is nothing wrong with licensees performing self-assessments for their own purposes fact licensees routinely conduct self-assessments in advance of significant NRC inspections to gauge their readiness But when NRC inspectors then conduct those inspections our inspectors still identify issues that the self-assessments did not The thousands of engineering inspection findings over the years conclusively demonstrate that Several other transformation concepts being discussed involve different aspects of the reactor oversight process as a general matter I would be wary of making any radical changes to the reactor oversight process Because it has generally been an effective safety framework The program is not static adjustments are routinely made to inspection focus areas inspection samples and inspection procedures When problems do emerge we need to clearly define and address them But in a program that is generally working well It will usually make sense to address specific well-analyzed challenges through targeted refinements rather than sweeping transformations Let me give you a few examples of potential reactor oversight process changes that raise concerns for me One proposal is for NRC to conduct fewer baseline inspections for plants that are performing well Since the very beginning of the reactor oversight process the basic premise of baseline inspections has been that these are the minimum Inspections that should be performed for every plant in the country regardless of performance. So this would be a huge change I worry that if we went down this road, we would see more cyclical up and down performance from plants We know that performance doesn't improve with less oversight it declines. That's why NRC performs oversight in the first place I strongly believe that we should not do less than the minimum on inspections Another set of proposals focuses on minimizing the importance of white findings Some argue that only a yellow or red finding should result in a column change in the actual matrix and an increase in NRC oversight They also say that white finding should be quickly closed that they don't accumulate and that follow-up NRC inspections Should be optional rather than automatic I'm not sure what problem all these changes are supposed to be solving But major changes like these could have significant unintended consequences One of the basic premises of the reactor oversight process is that green and white findings can be leading indicators of larger more safety significant problems Pilgrim is a textbook example of that. Pilgrim was a column four From September 2015 until earlier this month and it got there from three white findings It didn't have any yellow or red findings But the white findings caused NRC to take a closer look at performance of pilgrim And when we looked more closely our inspectors found major problems If the changes being discussed today had been made four years ago pilgrim wouldn't have even moved to column two let alone column four That clearly would have been the wrong safety outcome and it highlights the risks of discounting the importance of white findings. I Want to mention one more proposed change to the reactor oversight process Currently NRC maintains its own independent models referred to as spar models To evaluate the risk significance of findings of plants These are separate from the licensees probabilistic risk assessments Some stakeholders are arguing that NRC should discontinue its spar models and rely on the licensees PRAs I think this would be a mistake The spar models are vital tools that enable independent decision-making by the regulator Not every licensee PRA would meet NRC's needs and the agency's reliance on the PRAs would require NRC to play a much greater role in the development and maintenance of those models as Risk information is used more and more by NRC and licensees risk models become increasingly critical NRC experts need a set of models that they know inside and out that they can modify to meet their specific regulatory needs and That can provide analytical defense in depth in case there are flaws and licensee PRAs NRC's spar models have served these important purposes well over the years. I don't see the need for a big change to the spar models As we think about areas where the agency has repeatedly struggled over the years and where significant changes may be warranted I believe we should focus additional attention on two areas the rulemaking process and the agency's ability to quickly assess and Understand the licensing basis of each nuclear power plant During my time on the commission. I've seen several rule makings that have taken a decade or longer to complete I think everyone agrees that this is far too long even for a complex rule Rulemaking is an important regulatory tool and we need to ensure that it is an effective tool at NRC In some cases we may use rulemaking to address a pressing safety or security problem in other cases A rule may be necessary to allow for greater technological innovation or new approaches to long-standing regulatory issues We should not allow unnecessarily protracted rule makings to become an obstacle to getting the right standards in place In order to improve the timeliness of NRC rule makings I believe we should look at what processes practices and strategies have worked well at NRC and other federal regulatory agencies In which have not For example, we should assess whether targeted rule makings focused on one or two regulatory changes Proceed more smoothly than broad rule makings that make many sometimes unrelated changes to a regulation We should also assess whether all of the current steps in NRC's rulemaking process are appropriate for every rule NRC's rulemaking process includes steps such as the draft regulatory basis and regulatory basis that other agencies rulemaking processes do not For highly technical rules these steps may add considerable value for rules that are not technically complex They may unnecessarily slow down the process Based on an evaluation of the factors and practices that have been shown to contribute to timely effective rule makings And those that have not we could decide whether we should make any changes to the rulemaking process To be a successful regulator NRC also must be able to promptly access and understand the regulatory requirements applicable to each individual nuclear power plant a Solid understanding of each plant's licensing basis is a prerequisite for effective oversight and enforcement However, because these requirements are often contained in voluminous microfiche documents that are decades old This foundational regulatory step is too often a challenge for the agency digitization of licensing basis documents is underway and may assist in quickly Locating records of license requirements and the staff is looking at whether the task interface agreement process can be updated to provide more timely Answers to questions from inspectors about the licensing basis of a plant But I believe we should perform a holistic review of how to enhance the agency's capabilities in this area To do the best job for the American people and our C needs to be able It needs to be open to new ideas and new approaches But we also need to carefully and thoroughly evaluate proposed regulatory changes to ensure that they will have a positive impact on safety That's our core mission and must remain our top priority Stakeholder feedback can help us to identify the ideas we should pursue and those we should not so please stay engaged I look forward to talking with many of you this week and in the future and we also have some time for questions right now Thank you As Commissioner Baron mentioned time for a few questions We had quite a few good ones come in and we'll try to get to as many as we can you talked about Rulemaking in your remarks. What do you see as the as the current rulemaking? Priorities for the for the agency your European point on that. Sure. Well, we have we have several important Rulemakings underway some of which are currently before the Commission for a while now. We've been working on an important fuel cladding Regulation 5046 C for those who are really Focused on these on these matters. I think it's important that rulemaking both because there's a safety issue that needs to be resolved in the rulemaking based on Decades-long research project that showed that some standards aren't as conservative as they should be But also there's an important aspect of innovation there Moving to more performance based standards, which is what this rulemaking would do For this area is something that would be helpful in the review of new Accident-tolerant fuel and innovative fuel technology. So I think it's I think that's an important rulemaking serves a couple of key purposes There are others. I think the cyber security rulemaking for fuel cycle facilities is an important one It's important to get that right and to get that proposed rule out for public comment We have the decommissioning rulemaking in front of us and that's a very Detailed proposed rule that we're taking a look at a lot of separate issues to consider there For me at least, you know, when we started initiated this rule back at the end of 2014, I guess I Always saw two important roles there for the rule one was to move away from regulation by exemption in this area I don't think it's efficient for anyone and this rulemaking would be an opportunity to do that and another Important function of this rule is really to take a fresh look At our at our program in this area In this rule really gives us an opportunity to hear from a wide variety of stakeholders about what they think about a lot of the key issues whether it's the role of states and local governments or Non-profit organizations the time frame around decommissioning Issues related decommissioning trust funds as a whole range of issues that that that decommissioning rulemaking Will be looking at or that are being considered as part of that process So I think that's another important rule. I could go on there are a number of key rulemaking matters that are that are either with us are on their way to us and There's plenty to keep us busy for the foreseeable future. Okay. Thank you Here's a question. It's on two ranges of digital I&C. We had two different questions coming at different angles And I'll read them both and then you can Take on the questions. The staff approach digital I&C common cause failure in a zero risk mentality How can this be changed to be more pragmatic and then on the other other side of the question given the current questions following the lion air and Ethiopian air Plain crash is the tragedy of that. Do you have any reservations with moving too quickly on digital I&C? Well, thank you for both those questions. I don't have a fear that we've been moving too quickly on it That's That's not a particular problem we are confronting at this time But I you know, I think this goes back, you know common cause failure is one of the key issues. There are others That have been sticking points for for the staff and for stakeholders over the years how to resolve these issues And I talked about it a little bit in in my remarks and we don't have time to go into a lot of detail on this but there are about I think five key documents guidance documents that The staff and stakeholders are at various stages of working through my Hope is that in when we hit when the Commission had a recent relatively recent Commission meeting on digital instrumentation and control. I think there's a lot of hope that these Guidance documents will really pave the way For it's striking that balance having the right standards in place that we're not taking risks We shouldn't take that we that we are taking unacceptable risks that safety will be Assured as it should but also that we have a path forward for Digital upgrades to go forward because I think there's a One of the things that's always amazed me about this issue digital instrumentation control is I think there is a widespread agreement That these technologies can enhance safety. They there are other benefits for Operators of plants, but there is a real ability to Enhance safety to get around a lot of the obsolescence issues that we have with analog And so I think we all want to get to that destination where you've got a predictable path To make the upgrades. I want to see whether we can get there on the guidance documents. It may be that we can And it may be that we can't Maybe that we get a lot of the way there and we've got to assess what the gap is after that But as I mentioned, you know in my remarks, I do worry that if we launch a new rulemaking effort today tomorrow next year I don't want to take momentum away from The efforts there on getting the guidance documents in a good place And I think that is kind of the natural tendency when you've got a big rulemaking that's going to get started It going people start focusing their attention there. I think we should keep our eye on the ball See how much we can accomplish with the with the guidance and then do a gap analysis and figure out is there Did we solve enough of the problem with the with the guidance or is there so much more That it makes sense to do a rulemaking and and perhaps look much more transformationally at this area. Okay, thanks Another question. How do you think more modern inspection technologies can reshape how the NRC? regulates with the maintenance rule and how the industry implements the rule. Yeah, I think this is you know It's not something I mentioned, you know in the area of new technologies that could potentially challenge NRC's regulatory approach over the years, but I think it's a it's a good one I know it's something that research is starting to look at questions of of big data and the analytics behind it and Sensors and other things throughout a plant that could give a lot of information potentially to operators that right now maybe Rely on human beings walking around and doing that work. I'm very open-minded about that You know, I think we we want to have the safety objectives and standards in place If folks out there are coming up with more, you know innovative ways to do that You know, I'm not wedded to having You know human beings walking around the plant doing fire walks for example if there are better ways to do that So we want to be whenever we're looking at something like that I think for us there are a couple things we need to do one is what's a big part of your job being ready For what's you know, I don't know if it's over the horizon or on the horizon or the side of the horizon at this point But you know, we're looking at we're seeing we can expect folks to want to pursue those kinds of approaches in the next few years We've got to be ready. What are the kinds of questions? We would need to answer it as regulators to have confidence that that kind of technology could improve safety And then we also have to think through is there something about our actual licensing process or our regulations? that Would potentially need to change if we were going to go in that direction And that's kind of a separate thing, but also, you know, as I mentioned can take a lot of time to work through those You know the hard thinking about specific regulatory requirements or technical specifications or other things so We got to start that kind of thing early, which is what again an area where feedback From all of you is helpful because if you have a sense you're going to be heading in a direction You know the sooner you let us know about it the better because we want to be ready and we want to make sure that Innovation aimed at improving safety is something that the agency is ready for it can get behind so it's a it's important aspect Well one last question for closing here your remarks talked about Transformation but things that you haven't covered in your talks and in your talk and your questions What what priority work is in the face of the Commission right now from your point? well that you know there's a We actually have the the transformation paper in front of us. We have the engineering Inspections paper in front of us. We have several of these rule makings. We talked about earlier But you know as the first It's a panel first group the fireside chat talked about You know there when when we talk about Transformation innovation isn't just one thing, you know and there are aspects of it that I didn't talk about even this morning in terms of You know the agency's human resources and our organization and there is a lot. We've been doing to be smarter about strategic workforce planning to be Smarter about how we move people throughout the agency to do work I think a lot of that's very important. It can be very valuable both for the agency But also for the employees at the agency who can use those as tools to kind of chart their career path I do you know if I if something that came out of the first Discussion that does have me worried and I do talk about a lot is the lack of new hires We've had in recent years. I think you know for the for the health of the organization We're gonna have to get back to doing New hires when you hear a statistic that two percent only two percent of the people working to NRC are below 30 That is way too low, you know and that's in it's we're getting this kind of reverse pyramid Where it's been so long since we've been bringing any kind of decent numbers of people onto the agency that We just don't have the new entrance and it's it's less about age and more about having New ideas new talent come into the agency You've got to have that pipeline of new talent for a successful organization whether your NRC or any other organization. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Okay, ladies and gentlemen next our next plenary is going to be from Commissioner Stephen Burns The honorable Stephen Burns was sworn in as a commissioner in the US NRC on November 2014 to a term ending June 2019 Commissioner Burns has had a distinguished career with the NRC and internationally as well He was our 16th chairman from January of 2015 through January of 2017 and immediately prior to Rejoining the NRC Commissioner Burns was ahead of legal affairs at the nuclear energy agency That's part of the organization for economic cooperation in Paris, France from 2012 to 2014 Commissioner Burns was a career employee at the NRC from 1978 to 2012 and he served as the NRC's general counsel from May 2009 to April 2012 as I'm sure you've already heard this will be Commissioner Burns's last Regulatory information conference as he stated that he will not be seeking an additional term after his current term expires So please join me in welcoming Commissioner Burns Well, good morning everyone. It's a pleasure to be here.  Yeah, okay So I thought I would take you through as Hose already giving me my career path 1978 40 years ago. I joined the agency now There's something about that number 40 if we think about Moses and the Israelites they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years Noah survived 40 days of rain Jesus and Muhammad both went into Into seclusion and prayer for 40 days before they emerged and carried out their missions So 40 is something it's all it is. It's a long time and maybe it's time for you to move on and that's what I plan to do But for this 40 years for me There are two NRC acts and I have one in the middle. So we're gonna see here's act one and Margie Margie sort of set the stage here She talked about Marie Kondo and what I hope to do today is to share some pictures as I clear out my files that give me joy and And all this is this is one I guess I was a little darker of hair But look at that modern computer that's sitting on on the desk This is about 30 years ago when I was in the chairman's office working for a chairman not I didn't gray that much being the chairman for about two years or so So that was my first act my first time around in the NRC which as Ho mentioned and concluded with When I retired as general counsel in 2012 and then I came back to town in November 2014 There's Allison and in the middle is my wife Joan who's joining me today Just trying to figure out what I've been doing with myself for these 40 years. I guess So over the course of this time And of course when it came back into town, I left this view from my office For this one. I guess Paris is a little more Elegant than Rockville Pike But any event with that in mind, I'm going to try to reflect on what I've learned And what the fun I've had some highlights and lowlights perhaps of my career and the lessons that I can be With you as wise as I am after this 40 years wandering in the wilderness When I joined the NRC in 1978 fresh out of law school Dark of hair as you can see I was eager to begin my career in public service and I came to the NRC then a fledgling agency just spreading its wings barely three years old Joe Henry was the chairman the NRC as they say was at its beginning if the agency was human We would say it was a toddler and I think frankly that's a good description of it at the time The NRC was trying hard to find its feet if you will while it was scattered around a dozen offices in the Washington area The Commission downtown about two blocks from the white White House in a building I'm also told was a bomb shelter For me. I was living in the district Recently been married and I was commuting up to Bethesda When the Metro stopped at Dupont Circle and I then had to get on the bus with the cleaning ladies going out to Bethesda At that at the time the Commission the Commission again was downtown as I said and So one of my I'm going to talk about my first commission meeting barely two minute two minutes two months Into my ten tenure at the NRC Here's the Commission hearing room downtown and at H Street And at my first commission meeting I had an important job as a young attorney with a rigorous education A great background. I had the privilege of flipping the presentation slides for the overhead projector at that now some of you have no idea what I'm talking about because you're You're used to PowerPoint and yes, you know when we said cut and paste and you do that on your computer We used to actually cut and paste That that was a that was a way to make sure people didn't comment on your documents too much because They didn't want to go on So the Commission met in those days in a long nearer room kind of dark instead of the amphitheater that you're all used to today with with the the Commission how there there's one the The one of the things that is constant is actually the Commission table So we still sit around the table that the Commission was using that 40 years ago I remember Admiral Zek when he was chairman Was there was some proposal to do it? Can you imagine this in 1988 digitized the Commission's? Hearing table or whatever, but the cost was some astronomical amount and he said heck no and the Admiral Basically said we're taking the table up to Rockville, and that's where it came in in 1988 So in any event I hardly could believe that I would go from flipping transparency slides in 1978 to eventually becoming a Commissioner and sitting as chair at that table and sitting as a Commissioner as I do today. That's something I didn't expect in my career So what would I say is the lessons learned from all of that? Commission meeting in my early days at the NRC and it's probably not a surprising one It's that I think we work better and that we communicate better when we are in fact together and the consolidation of the NRC's headquarters in 1988 was a significant accomplishment it took a while To get there, but we were no longer spread out taking shuttle buses trying to figure out how to get downtown The communication among us at the both at the Commission level and at the staff level was was greatly improved So as A lot young lawyer says it was not my job simply to sit in the office and Expound on the great things I had learned in those three years of law school I needed to do some other things And I want to tell you about some of my journeys and it wasn't sometimes the work that was so much interesting It was those side things that just happened a half occur one of them will happen in 1980 and I got to go to the Iowa State Fair Why? Because I had was representing the agency and an Iowa State Commerce Commission Proceeding that we got dragged into Because I hate to say at our in our management in region 3 didn't think at that time to call the lawyers and see whether we ought To be pulled into a Commerce Commission hearing so I was out there to represent two of our inspectors who are called to testify Well, this is one of these contentious things We're between the the basically the utility and the Public Service Commission is about who is going to pay for some repair work that had been done And it seemed like actually they started coming close to a Settlement so the judge or basically the Commission at the time decide to suspend the hearing for a day Well, we're going to fly back to Washington or Chicago. So what else could we do? We went to the Iowa State Fair We had a great stake. We saw the animals. We saw the fruits and vegetables. So anyway, you take your adventures as they can come Now another one hears me in Billings, Montana Also in 1985 a few years later and One one of these things the point on this one was we went out to Billings, Montana because we had a well-logger who was storing its sources in a facility that it was not authorized to do It wasn't reporting things under 10c of our part 150 for those you don't know That's the reciprocity provisions with our agreement states So the agency imposed an $1,800 fine Now the guy asked for a hearing the well-logger asked for a hearing And I figured eventually it took us $6,000 to go prosecute the civil penalty case and and to recover it But the fact of the matter is I think it was worth it And it was both definitely worth it because what this agency has to do some time is stand up For the requirements it imposes and to assure that the safety requirements and the obligations of a licensee are met But in the meantime when the hearing was over I got to go up on the overlooking Billings up to boot hill cemetery and have my picture taken by my co-counsel whose Reflection you can see there or shadow you can see there One other one. I want to mention Now this is not the lacrosse boiling water reactor. I Want you to remember but I did get to see The Highlandman six pack and lacrosse the world's biggest six pack And if you're interested one person could get a six pack of a day for 3351 years that's what it says on the back of the postcard now Why was I in lacrosse? Well, I was in lacrosse because again as part of our oversight and for and enforcement activities I was there because there's some questions about whether the seismic profile for the for the lack bar as we used to call it was sufficient in the time and there was a wound up being that the The licensee wound up eventually doing that to the test the soil liquefaction test that we wanted them to do But in the in the meantime a hearing had been requested by local Public interest group so we went out to to lacrosse to conduct that hearing eventually decided that What the licensee had done was fine But again, you've got to find adventures and and going to the lacrosse six pack and actually see you could see the Reactor from the top of the brewery and that was even that's before they served you at the very end So I want to take one one maybe a little more serious. So one of the actually most interesting things I Had done in my career As a lawyer on the staff was I wound up going to the Davis Bessie plant for eight days Sort of at a drop of a hat basically what happened is there was a loss of feed water transient in June 1980 in June 1985 probably the most significant one of the most significant if not the most Significant transient that had happened since the three-mile island accident And at that point the agency was standing up its fledgling incident investigation program This is something that actually came out of the recommendations from the three-mile island reviews And the agency is really trying to as they say at that point still getting its feet on the ground in terms of things like evaluating operating experience understanding Human behavior human actions and so this was an important investigation, but What happened licensee started lawyering up and So if they're gonna lawyer up we were gonna lawyer up and my problem was I was in the office too late that day So I got a trip to Toledo starting the next morning But all kidding aside I found this again one of the most interesting things I or did Because it really had me working very closely with our technical staff and really getting an idea of Really seeing firsthand how they approach? Issues the seriousness with in respect what they had for licensing staff And operators but going through and methodically evaluating and considering what had happened during this transient What what what were the things that the operators saw what got in their way? And I have to say I also had a lot of respect for the operators because although they had made some mistakes the the people in the control room and the ox operators Recovered and stopped this transient from becoming a really worse event the in terms of Figuring out what they had done wrong taking the steps To correct it and also owning up owning up to it So I really look at this as one of the most significant events that that I had had a Roll in during the early part of my career I Wanted also as a early part of my career. I started to do a lot more international Engagement and international travel this is one I got to go that's actually ambassador Walcott in the middle there Who's now our representative for the United States at the mission in Vienna, and I got to accompany her Into Southeast Asia Vietnam Indonesia and Thailand in 2008 as part of a mission to talk about things like the 123 agreements And the potential Assistance the United States might be off able to offer should those countries have pursued a new build You're seeing a reactor built by General Atomics in the late 1950s De-fueled in the 1960s because there were some other things going on in Vietnam and eventually refueled by the Russians after The Vietnam conflict came to it came to an end I've also got to do a lot a certain amount of travel as part of one of the things I really enjoy and that is Education and nuclear regulation and nuclear law that got me to Amman Jordan with a group Of People from the North at North Africa and the Gulf states actually one of them It was actually for up El Tawila right there in the middle who used to work at the NRC was working with the UAE at the time But one of the great things I got to do a side trip there I got to go to Petra and Believe it or not. I had taken some marshmallow peeps with me now Some of my international friends. They're gonna say what is a peep? It is a marshmallow those little things up there Those are marshmallow candies and they become very very famous. So I took them along I took this in the front of the the famous Treasury in Petra that was in the one of the Raiders of the the Raiders of the Lost Art Movie and I I won a prize from National Geographic So I got a free magazine subscription and they even Kathy Lee Givered actually even mentioned it on the today's show So, you know Why wouldn't I work here? But I want to talk about some other Travel to and more recently. I really enjoyed as a commissioner and as chairman going around meeting with my colleagues around the world It's taken me some fantastic places The the rock laboratory in Sweden and the Finnish repository Going 450 meters or more under the earth is really quite of an experience kind of a weird feeling you get In into India to see the power stations there and their laboratories. This is me Scramming the reactor in Prague now don't you know, they told me to do it. So don't you know, don't hold it against me One of the other things too, I got to go to Korea last year and for me also to go to the demilitarized zone Here's the general who's in charge of the three different forces in in Korea But one of the things that was very meaningful for me is because when I was born in New York City in 1953 my father was in Korea During the during the Korean conflict. That's him on the left there And he was responsible for the engineering detail that built the hut in Which the armistice agreement was signed in 1950 in 1953 and of course So which there's been a lot more talk most recently with the president's visits to to Korea and His visits to Korea and the question of further demilitarization or denuclearization in the Korean Korean peninsula One of the other things I've done to this this past year was go to Chernobyl. I visited the Fukushima site In about four years ago it had been the three-mile island But I had wanted to go to Chernobyl really because this accident Really is something not only a tragedy Which we wish would have never occurred and we work to prevent for the future But also because it really is the catalyst for the international framework for nuclear nuclear safety And it was important to see see this and the cooperation that's gone on between the European Union the United States Other country of hand other countries to build this the new safe confinement really an Incredible achieve and there you see in the background me on the right there and two of my staff members with me you see the the ruined Unit for where the accident occurred in 1986 But it's not all about international travel we do things here at home and obviously the most important part of our work is Our domestic responsibilities for oversight and regulation and licensing Within the United States, so I've always thought it's also important to get out and see what we regulate I will give my colleague chairman Saviniki credit because she's hit every one of the plants I haven't been able to do that but The ones I have I've been able to see a lot and it is important from my standpoint to do that because it gives us a better understanding What we're regulating what some of the issues are and to try to understand so I've been out there some power reactors Obviously some research facilities the construction sites. This is me at Vogel just a couple weeks ago The control rooms. I'm not scramming that one. I think that's a I think that's a simulator as it is out up here. I think that's up in Canada at Darlington and Also hospitals and materials licensees. I think this is the one where I'm actually trying to do the mock implant of the Seeds for prostrate thing. It says I'm not a doctor. I know why it became a lawyer I'm and that's not that's not for me and here here. We are looking at pebble pebble bed down at Texas A&M I want to talk about a couple other things one one thing This is kind of ironic because we're very close on the reissuance of the Seabrook Seabrook license, but I'll talk about one of the things I I will take credit for and that is back in 1990 when When the Seabrook license was coming up before the commission And there was a plan protest in front of the the the white Flint building That we knew about and the question was we didn't know how many people would show up for it Now back at that back then the the bottom of the building at white so it was actually pretty open You could you could more or less walk in there There were pretensions that the operator the cafeteria's thought that people would just Come in off the street and eat in in one of our Little cafeterias or Sandwich shops or whatever so the staff decided says we're not going to have the building open because You know bathroom access and things because you know people might want to use bathroom or something like that So there was a conundrum and at that time I was the executive assistant to chairman Carr And the important decision I had made whether was to give the staff go ahead to rent 10 porta potties For the white for to put on the white Flint campus We did we approved it and I think we want to Being so generous that everybody here in this picture, which was the full extent of the protest that day Everybody had a porta potty so That those are great things but what I want to say with that is Um What's my take away here? Obviously nrc operates in a an area of area arena. That's inherently controversial You know, we have a right in this country to debate to raise our voices And to have a voice even the protest is is not something That we should take lightly or or dispel lightly It doesn't mean you can throw Compost at people like we've had a problem within in a couple circumstances and we need to be respectful each other But we as members of the commission are here to hear The listen to and weigh external opinions And then make safety and security decisions as we're called upon to do And knowing that sometimes we're not going to keep everybody happy And that's but that's the case That's the democracy we live in I'll just share a few other Things 2011 atomic cupcakes. This is at the national press club. I think when uh, then chairman yatsuka was talking about Um, the you know fuka fuka shima talk about the tackiest thing you could do Given the subject matter, but the cupcakes were pretty good And then of course through my years i've had impeccable fashion sense You know, here's you know, this is what I wear in the office every day Um, sometimes we have celebrations and I've been happy to To wear my kurta that I bought in india a few years ago at our annual diwali celebration And this is this was just a great picture of my are you are your cranium? counterpart This past year this past year in the ukraine And of course for a long time and a lot of people in the general council's known I was santa and this is you know, perhaps my best sartorial composition But putting all Putting the humor aside for a moment one of the things I think there is a good record of is this our appearances in front of the congress, so there are a lot of pictures of us at before the congress I think I had 12 congressional hearings when his chairman and six more is as a commission and that of course doesn't include You know the the Basically the one-on-one meetings we may have drop-in visits with members Preparing for these briefings is somewhat more difficult than hearings themselves Sometimes you go through the murt murder boards You're trying to figure out all the type of information you think you might be asked or the like And one gets intelligence we have thank our congressional affairs office for that But you know obviously it's sort of like You're going to get questions out of left field sometime But the fact of the matter is That we're there because we have a responsibility to be responsive to the legislative branch and to be able to answer their questions to Rationalize what it is we do as an agency and that we do it responsibly in both the manner that that attracts to That tracks with our statutory Our statutory goals as well as within the budget that we are appropriated from the congress So I I think Sometimes that's a difficult thing to do It's not always the fun thing to do, but it is part again What I view as our goals in this democracy and one of the things that we have to adhere to Of course over the years. I think there have been any number of crises That I've seen that and been At the agency that we have worked through Three mile island Obviously 9 11 Fukushima other challenges in terms of how the agency has performed or how it works We have to for better or worse keep our eyes focused And reflect sometimes on mistakes that we may make But and over the decades as we've already heard I think from From the chairman and the edo and commissioner baron We struggle sometimes With the question of how much regulation is enough To be within what we consider to be that adequate protection Of public health and safety and the common defense and security And I spoke at the concept on the concept at the rick of the regulatory craft And that is that our focus on how we best Look at And how we best Address those challenges That we face as a regulator about giving that balance of finding that sweet spot Of really employing and practicing the regulatory craft And I spoke as I say at the rick about this and we have over time we have To use our broad discretion to impose requirements. We believe that meet the mandate of adequate protection We can't be too lax or too strict whether that's in the security or the safety arena We have to consider real life and actual operating experience way public and stakeholder input To guard against making decisions in isolation And I believe we've worked hard and we've done our best at that over the years I think I try to do that as chairman as commissioner to to give To practice that regulatory craft And when I look across You know the the time I've been at the agency I'm proud of some of my contributions primarily as a lawyer, but also as a chairman or commissioner The things like those post tmi Implementation of safety improvements the maintenance rule that chairman car was so passionate about License renewal part 52 security after 9 11 and now our Now our efforts to transform as you've heard them in today's earlier presentations We're here as I called it last year reformed and reforming And now we are transforming. That's the word we're using and I think it is a good focus and it gives us something It's more than ephemeral. It's it's about how we take things on how we think through things How we say not just because we've always done it this way, but because it makes the best sense for safety and for security And at the end of the day when I look past on my career, what's counted the most I think it's the people The people I've had a pleasure to work with to get to know who become my friends They are too many to name all here So I give you a picture of the chairman staff when I was on it in 1990 with chairman car I'm up there second from the left in the back row and my staff in the When I was in the chairman's office many of whom are still still with me Today tracy stokes andy seance jihari more jason zorn Steve baggett cathleen blake claire casputi's and nan belier They've been a great help and support to me over these last four years And I wish them well as they continue as well as I wish everyone from the nrc I don't have a clear view of the horizon. No one really does I know there will not be a third act for me I'm starting to fill up those boxes seeing whether they give me joy My wife is really pushing me on that one And for the last time as I put away the books and souvenirs and the memories of journeys and say goodbye I'd like to say I've got a pithy quote for you But I don't So perhaps I should just do what this man did Drop the mic say goodbye. Thank you for at all. Thank you Oh Thank thank you very much commissioner burns for those Great remarks. We went a little bit over a time. So, you know, we went all in on the app But we forgot how to use the timer, right? So Well, well, uh, please indulge us because I we do have a couple questions for commissioner burns and commission burns It's been great to work with you over the years and we're gonna get comfortable here I feel like I'm in an ica show Well, the chair's gonna break if it's ica furniture Okay, so By the way, the peep reference I bet that's maybe even an acronym in the new reg that commissioner burns brought but Commissioner burns. This is also the 40th anniversary of the accident three mile island unit two Do you feel that the level of oversight after 40 years of learning improving and enhancing is the right size for today's industry? Well, I think it always requires some reflection and looking at it obviously I actually had written a paper for A law journal on the impacts of the acts of the acts the three major accents tmi trinobyl and fubishima On the international legal framework and it it is astounding to me to read about what was or wasn't going on In 1979 in terms of things like operating experience for example The same event that happened at tmi happened at the beznau plant in switzerland nobody in the u.s Knew about it until we do did the investigations So what does that tell me it says I think we've come a long way We really started understood that operating experience that human interaction that you know the human machine interface But also human behavior and thinking through how you respond Um, I think we've gotten better about that But I you know it it's something I think we can continually look at because Some of the things I think we thought were perhaps most risk significant in 1979 or 80 or maybe not what are the big drivers big drivers now, so This is this this is this idea of being the learning organization this transforming Reforming and reform reformation and reforming that I spoke about okay. Thank you commission And we'll do one final question before the break here You have it yet. We received a couple questions related to international activities Can you give us your your sense on what what you consider the the benefits of internet nrc's international cooperative activities to the mission of the nrc Well, I think there are a number of things. I want I sort of mentions operating experience That was something after three my island the the us Uh Push and actually any a I'm pointing my uh, Mr. Mr. Magwood over there nuclear energy agency and the OECD actually adopted a principle that nuclear countries should Share operating experience that grew into with the IAEA look at uh, mr. Lentillo over there That was adopted through the IAEA and now that program is really jointly run That's an extraordinarily important thing. So that sharing of operating experience. We leverage research by cooperating internationally I think that uh, and it's you know, that gives us a little more bang for our buck or bang for our euro or whatever currency you're using Uh, and finally it is I think the ongoing engagement That I really enjoy meeting with our counter our counterparts. I I enjoy seeing Facilities that they regulate hearing what you know, they see as some of the the challenges are and I think that has a direct impact. This is So much more a global business Or or enterprise then when I came in in in 1979. Yeah, you know reactors are being sold You know outside the country and all that but the the fact of matter is what we hear and we talk About is so much more Integrated and I think that's just that's come over the years. I think that is one of the Clear impacts of the convention on nuclear safety And also a lot of talk that's gone gone on since a Chernobyl accident. It's reinforced I think in terms of Fukushima how we look at things so You know for me Having worked here and also in an international organization I am a big fan as they say of international cooperation and the benefits it brings Okay, thank you very much commissioner burns It's been a true honor and privilege to work with you in your time as an nrc attorney While you were also the chairman of the nrc and now a commissioner and thanks for all the advice of the apartment in Paris and we shared the same apartment but not at the same time, but uh But commissioner it's it's been wonderful to have you here We're so glad for the marks you've given us and the journey through your career and thank you for everything you've done for the nrc Both domestically and international. Thank you so much Okay, so thank you all for your attention here and allowing us to go about 15 minutes over We would love you to come back at 11 o'clock sharp. We have Nathan mirvold who will be giving us his special remarks So thank you so much