Speakers
Keynote Speaker New Reactors: Plans, Process, and Progress
David B. Matthews is the Director of the Division of New Reactor Licensing in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Office of New Reactors (NRO). He directs application reviews for design certifications, early site permits, and combined licenses. His organization also develops and maintains regulatory infrastructure to support new reactor licensing.
In past assignments, Mr. Matthews has developed and provided oversight for reactor security, emergency preparedness, and radiation protection inspection and licensing programs. As Director of the Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, he was responsible for overall policy, planning, and direction of NRC programs for plant license renewals, next-generation reactor licensing, non-power reactor licensees, and environmental issues related to licensing and operation of power and non-power reactors.
Mr. Matthews initiated regulatory reforms for improved NRC safety oversight through risk-informed regulatory approaches. He had a lead role in the Direct Assistance Program for Russia and the Ukraine in support of the Lisbon Initiative.
He managed development of NRC policies and programs related to reactor licensee financial qualification; he also managed decommissioning funding issues related to electric utility deregulation initiatives. Mr.Matthews was instrumental in implementing the emergency preparedness program in response to the accident at Three Mile Island. He served as the agency's principal point of contact for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and coordinated emergency preparedness licensing reviews conducted by the NRC and FEMA throughout the 1980s.
Luncheon Speaker
William "Bill" Elkins, Waste Treatment Plant Project Director has more than 36 years experience in project and construction management. Prior to his assignment on the WTP Project, Elkins was the Program Manager for Bechtel's Iraq Infrastructure project, funded by USAID. The $2.8 billion contract covered 99 separate engineering, procurement, and construction projects involving major power, water and wastewater plants, as well as countrywide telecommunication systems, institutional buildings, roads, railroads and bridges, and international air and seaports.
With Bechtel since 1971, Bill is a Senior Vice President of Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure, Inc. He is a former President of Bechtel Savannah River, Inc., where he was responsible for engineering, project management and construction resources for new construction, plant modification and repair, environmental remediation and decommissioning and dismantlement work. He has also held a corporate position of manager of Construction responsible for the worldwide construction efforts of Bechtel National, Inc. and Bechtel Infrastructure. He has held diverse positions on several large nuclear and fossil fuel power generation facilities and has more than 17 years of Department of Energy and other Government project experience.
Thursday Afternoon Speakers
Steve Prevette is a practitioner of Performance Measurement using the Theory and Tools developed and promoted by Dr. Walter Shewhart and Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He currently works as a statistician for Fluor Hanford in Richland, Washington, reporting to Occupational Safety and Health. He supports performance indicators in a broad spectrum of subjects, including safety, environment, operations, maintenance, and quality. His customers include the University of Washington and four DOE sites (Hanford, Fernald, Lawrence Berkeley and Los Alamos), and several Department of Energy contractors. Steve provides his customers with more than 3,000 charts and files per month. Yes, Steve has a control chart of the number of charts made each month.
Steve has published articles both with the American Society for Quality, and the American Society of Safety Engineers. "Lead to Succeed" for the American Society of Quality appeared in the September 2005 issue of Quality Progress and "Charting Safety Performance" by ASSE in its Professional Safety magazine in May 2006. He has provided Dr. Deming's Red Bead Experiment for more than 2,500 persons, and leads a monthly training session in performance indicators. He has taught evening statistical courses for City University's Richland WA site. Steve holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech, and a M.S. degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.
John Williams
is CEO and President of Xron Associates, Inc. Mr. Williams has provided safety analysis and regulatory compliance support throughout the DOE complex. Prior to his work in the DOE complex, Mr. Williams served in the U.S. Navy onboard nuclear submarines, and he was the Deputy Director for advanced reactor development in the Department of Energy. While serving in the Department of Energy, Mr. Williams also was detailed to the U.S. State Department where he was responsible for global plutonium policy and transparency issues. Mr. Williams recently completed a two-year assignment in Russia as the technical lead in a European Bank of Reconstruction and Development funded project that assisted Russia in the development of a Strategic Master Plan for cleanup of naval nuclear legacy wastes in Northwest Russia.
