From US NRC August 15 news release entitled “NRC Appoints Craig Harrington and Scott Palmtag to Four-Year ACRS Terms”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has appointed Craig D. Harrington and Scott P. Palmtag to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards for four-year terms. In addition, Walter L. Kirchner and Matthew W. Sunseri have been reappointed for additional terms. The ACRS, a group of highly experienced technical experts, advises the Commission independently from the NRC staff on safety issues related to the licensing and operation of nuclear power plants, nuclear materials and waste management, and radiation protection.
Harrington is a professional engineer with over 40 years of experience in commercial nuclear power. His career began with 23 years at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant, covering plant construction, startup, operation, and licensing interactions. In addition, Harrington previously worked at the Electric Power Research Institute as a subject-matter expert in pressurized-water reactor primary system applications and co-led the development of probabilistic fracture mechanics code for piping applications, developed jointly by the U.S. NRC and EPRI. Recently, his focus has been on materials management issues in small modular reactors and developing design-stage approaches to address these challenges.
Harrington holds a doctorate in engineering and earned his bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.
Palmtag is currently a research professor at North Carolina State University and brings more than 25 years of experience in the nuclear industry, including roles in commercial companies, academia, and consulting with national laboratories. He has extensive experience in developing nuclear methods and performing analysis for both light-water reactors and advanced reactors. His expertise includes steady-state and transient neutronics analysis, thermal hydraulics, cross-section generation, and in-core fuel management. Palmtag previously worked at Studsvik Scandpower and Global Nuclear Fuel and served as a consultant for the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light-Water Reactors for nearly a decade.
Palmtag holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.
A complete list of ACRS members, with biographies, is available on the NRC website, which also includes a schedule of upcoming meetings.