William Magwood is to succeed Luis Echávarri as next Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the agency supporting civil nuclear power in OECD countries.
William Magwood is to succeed Luis Echávarri as next Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the agency supporting civil nuclear power in OECD countries.
Echávarri is retiring in April 2014 after nearly 17 years at the head of the NEA. Magwood – who is currently one of the five Commissioners of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was previously Director of Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy and has served as the Chair of the NEA Steering Committee – will take up his duties on 1 September 2014.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the US industry group, said that Magwood had excellent credentials for the post: "Throughout his career, Commissioner Magwood has been an advocate of international cooperation in nuclear energy technology and of strengthening science and technology education."
It also said that it supported commissioner George Apostolakis’s renewal for a second term, and said that the agency should start a search to find a new candidate to "maintain its complement of qualified, collegial commissioners".
Seen in the light of his planned departure, Magwood’s keynote speech at the NRC Regulatory Information Conference, 11-13 March, contained many interesting observations about the NRC and its role, and about the global nuclear industry.
On the organization of the NRC, he said: "the Commission structure, which involves intensive, informed debates among five individuals with very different backgrounds — for example university professors [chairman Allison Macfarlane previously worked at George Mason University; George Apostolakis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology], nuclear submarine commanders [William Ostendorf was an officer in the US Navy from 1976-2002], Congressional staff [Kristine Sviniciki spent a decade working in the US Senate], the occasional sage [I think he is referring to himself] — provides an excellent mechanism to reflect society’s evolving view as to what constitutes adequate protection. After four years in the center of this process, I think it is a far better approach to making important, complex decisions than leaving these matters to a single political appointee."
On training and skills development, he said: "I am very proud of the important role the Federal government in general and the NRC in particular have played in supporting nuclear technology education in the United States. What we have accomplished has helped prepare us for the changing of the guard and assured that the most important pillar of our nuclear safety infrastructure — highly trained people — will remain strong for many years to come. That is a success story."
On the interconnectedness of the civil nuclear industry: "I’ve often reflected on that moment, during the signing of the Declaration of Independence when Benjamin Franklin famously remarked "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." This comment applies to many things in life, but even Franklin could never have forecast how well it applies to a group like the 3100 people in this hall today. Nuclear power is a global undertaking and we are in this together. We are married to each other. We are held hostage by each other. We are each other’s best friends and worst enemies. We are at once buyers and suppliers. We are teachers one day and students the next. The relationships and cooperation we share are part of the modern foundation of nuclear safety in all of our countries. We must seek to expand and extend them."