Allison Macfarlane Explained

Allison M. Macfarlane
Office:	Chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
President:	Barack Obama
Term Start:	July 9, 2012
Term End:	December 31, 2014
Predecessor:	Gregory Jaczko
Successor:	Stephen G. Burns
Birth Date:	circa 1964
Alma Mater:	University of Rochester Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Allison M. Macfarlane directs the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She is the former director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University, where she was Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs. She was the chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from July 9, 2012, to December 31, 2014.

Early life

Macfarlane was educated at the University of Rochester, where she earned B.Sc. in Geological Sciences^[1] in 1987. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology she earned a Ph.D. in Geology in 1992. She held fellowships at Radcliffe College, Harvard University, Stanford University, and MIT.

Career

She was assistant professor of earth science and international affairs at Georgia Tech from 2003-4. Macfarlane was also an associate professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason University.^[2]

While at GMU, Macfarlane was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future from 2010 to 2012. The panel was charged by the Secretary of Energy to examine the issues associated with nuclear waste disposal in the United States.^[3]

When NRC commission chair Gregory Jaczko was forced to step down in May 2012, Macfarlane was appointed to complete the term. She was confirmed for a full five-year term by the United States Senate on July 1, 2013.^[4]

As Chairman of the NRC, Macfarlane prioritized the lessons learned from the North Anna and Fukushima incidents, as well as improving the NRC's communication with public stakeholders and paying more attention to the back end of the fuel cycle in an era when more U.S. nuclear power plants were decommissioned than built.

She also pushed to make the NRC a more family-friendly workplace. She had raised questions a decade earlier about the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site for long-term geologic disposal of high-level nuclear waste. Supporters of Yucca Mountain expected her to stall licensing of Yucca Mountain, but she complied with a court order that ruled her predecessor's actions illegal and directed the NRC to continue its licensing review.

Instead of completing her term at NRC, Macfarlane became the Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy and a Professor of science policy and international affairs at Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University^[5] in December 2014.^[6] She has written 10+ articles for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.^[7]

Views

In her 2006 book, Uncertainty Underground, Macfarlane criticized plans to store spent nuclear fuel in Yucca Mountain.^[8] She said the seismic and volcanic activity as well as oxidation would make the nuclear waste unstable. Macfarlane supported storing nuclear waste at reactor sites in dry casks and the allocation of billions to find a suitable geologic repository for storage over the next few decades.^{[9] [10]}

Works

• "Déjà vu for U.S. nuclear waste". Science. 30 June 2017
• Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High Level Nuclear Waste, MIT Press, 2006.

Personal life

Macfarlane is married to Hugh Gusterson, a professor of anthropology and author of works on nuclear culture, with whom she has two children.^[11]

External links

• • Nuclear agency’s new chief, Allison Macfarlane, on science and ‘Downton Abbey’
• NRC Chief says agency prioritized lessons from Japan disaster
• For new nuclear chief, concerns over plant safety
• What's next for the NRC: A conversation with Allison Macfarlane
• https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeches/2012/s-12-013.pdf Welcome Remarks International Regulators Conference on Nuclear Security, December 4, 2012.
• http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1231/ML12311A496.pdf Speech to Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), Atlanta, November 6, 2012.
• http://www.plattsenergyweektv.com/news/article/230716/293/112512-NRC-Chairman-Interview-Part-1- Platts Energy Week TV interview November 25, 2012
• http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CommissionAge Press Conference at National Press Club August 14, 2012
• http://carnegieendowment.org/2013/04/08/keynote-allison-macfarlane-chairman-u.s.-nuclear-regulatory-commission/fxkl Keynote address Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference April 8, 2013
• https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeches/2013/S-13-009.pdf Remarks at Fuel Cycle Exchange conference, Rockville, MD, June 11, 2013
• http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1330/ML13309A775.pdf Remarks at State Liaison Officers Conference, Rockville MD, November 5, 2013
• https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeches/2013/s-13-011.pdf Remarks at American Nuclear Society meeting, November 11, 2013
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxBe9-y-zZ4 Regulatory Information Conference keynote address, March 11, 2014 video
• https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeches/2014/s-14-003.pdf Regulatory Information Conference keynote address official text, March 11, 2014
• https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/comm-allison-macfarlane/comm-macfarlane-03112014.pdf Regulatory Information Conference keynote address slides, March 11. 2014
• On leadership and nuclear power The Washington Post interview August 6, 2013.
• https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/nuclear-agency-rules-are-ill-suited-for-plant-decommissioning-leader-says.html?_r=0 The New York Times profile November 17, 2014.
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/allison-m-macfarlane-head-of-nuclear-regulatory-commission-to-step-down/2014/10/21/74eb0ffc-5968-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html The Washington Post profile October 21, 2014.
• Galison, Peter & Robb Moss, "Containment" (documentary), Independent Lens, premiered January 9, 2017 on U.S. PBS. Interviewed as part of review of nuclear power and waste disposal.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Earth & Environmental Sciences . 2023-07-30 . www.sas.rochester.edu . en-US.
2. Web site: Allison Macfarlane Confirmed by U.S. Senate to Lead Nuclear Regulatory Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20121008160141/http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/2012/07/professor-allison-macfarlane-confirmed-u-s-senate-lead-nuclear-regulatory-commission/. dead. 8 October 2012. GMU. 16 August 2013.
3. News: Revamped Search Urged for a Nuclear Waste Site . Matthew . Wald . January 26, 2012 . The New York Times .
4. Web site: Chairman Allison M. Macfarlane. NRC. 16 August 2013.
5. Dixon, Darius, "NRC's Macfarlane to depart", Politico, October 21, 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
6. https://elliott.gwu.edu/macfarlane "Allison M. Macfarlane"
7. "Allison Macfarlane", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; accessed 2020.02.21.
8. News: N.R.C. Nomination Shines Spotlight on Waste-Disposal. Matthew. Wald. June 10, 2013. July 31, 2013. The New York Times.
9. News: Life after Yucca Mountain. MIT Technology Review. David. Talbot. June 23, 2009. July 31, 2013.
10. News: Mufson . Steven . Obama nominates George Mason professor Allison M. Macfarlane as NRC chairwoman . Washington Post . May 24, 2012 .
11. Web site: Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Who Is Allison Macfarlane?. AllGov. 1 August 2012.