NRC e-newsletter covering the many aspects, initiatives, and staff perspectives on the NRC mission.

1. INSIDE:
2 Spotlight On
Power Tools of the Mind
3 The NRC in Our Lives
Federal Primer
Info Loop
4 Hello…My Name Is Joe Giitter
About the NRC
GREETINGS
Welcome back to RE:ACTIONS, your
inside track to employment initiatives
and opportunities at the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. In this issue,
we share insights into what keeps the
NRC atop employment satisfaction
rankings among Federal agencies.
We spotlight the NRC grant program
designed to help select faculty enrich
their development and expand their
research programs. We’ll also cover
some of the most sophisticated
measures used to help carry out the
NRC mission of safety; and take a
look inside the cutting-edge command
and control center of NRC security
operations. And we’ll make sure you’re
“linked” to up-to-the-minute updates
on NRC news, events, and careers.
Please be sure to share this issue
with fellow staff, faculty, students, and
others who may be interested in all
that NRC has to offer in employment,
scholarship, and grant opportunities.
And finally, from all of us here at
RE:ACTIONS, our sincere best wishes
for a terrific 2015!
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1, WINTER 2015
INSIDE THE NRC
Consistently ranked as a top place to work in Federal Government, the NRC owes more to its popularity
among employees than its outstanding benefits and excellent work/life balance culture. According to
NRC Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer Jody Hudson, it also has a lot to do with how the NRC involves
its employees. “We’re #3 across the Government in employee engagement,” says Hudson. “And that’s
something we focus on like a laser beam. Employees prefer to work in an environment where they are
highly engaged…they are less likely to leave, they enjoy the work more, and they contribute more toward
the productivity of the organization. PLUS everybody wants to work in an environment where they enjoy
coming to work!”
Hudson also credits the NRC’s strong commitment to agency values—and making those values part of
the agency DNA. “We’re currently pursuing an initiative called Behavior Matters,” he notes. “We’re working
to involve all employees to discuss our values and what those values look like in practice and what they
look like when they’re violated. The goal is to have a good understanding of how our agency values
translate into individual behavior.”
Another key focus, says Hudson, is supervisor training. “One of the drivers in employee engagement is
the relationship that an individual has with their supervisor. So we focus a lot on our supervisory leadership
development programs here.” According to Hudson, the NRC offers a 14-course supervisor training
curriculum based more on a “coaching style” versus a “directing style” and the approach appears to be
paying off. “We think this focus helps us be a top-ranked agency, Hudson notes. “We are #1 across the
Government in the category of supervisors according to the Partnership for Public Service.”
Hudson also describes the power of the NRC mission as a third key factor helping the agency to
continually achieve high ratings. “It’s a safety mission…and it’s very clear why we’re here. Everyone can
understand the power of that mission and their role in it.”
With millennials set to comprise the largest portion of the entire workforce in just a few years, the NRC
continues to look ahead for ways to attract this audience to its mission. “We’re looking at ways to leverage
the creativity of our front line staff—and push more of the decision-making down and offer more creativity
and flexibility around how people do their work,” Hudson explains.
“This is something that’s very important to the Millennials. Millennials have a very strong interest in being
able to have more say over how they do their work—and be able to have opportunity for creativity and
innovation,” he notes. “So we want to have a workplace environment that’s aligned to their needs and their
interests, so they will want to stay here at the NRC.”

2. SPOTLIGHT ON:
Nuclear Education
Program:
Faculty Development
To help ensure a workforce capable of
achieving its mission, the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission offers numerous
education grant opportunities to support
faculty at accredited higher learning
institutions. Since the Nuclear Education
Grant program began in 2008, more than
89 faculty members have been supported
through these grants.
Faculty grant awards are used to attract
and support probationary, tenure-track
faculty in the first six years of their
academic career. These grants may also
include support for developing proposals
for research and small amounts for
initiating or continuing research projects in
the recipients’ areas of expertise. Awarded
faculty may also use grant funds toward
course development, equipment stipends,
participation in professional society
meetings, preparation of papers, travel,
and associated expenses.
Other NRC programs include:
GRANT PROGRAMS
• Minority Serving Institutions Program (MSIP)
• Nuclear Education Program
- Scholarship and Fellowship
- Curricula Development
- Trade School and Community
College Scholarship
• Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES)
Financial Assistance Program
STUDENT PROGRAMS
• Co-Operative Education Program (Co-Op)
• Summer Internship Program
• Office of General Counsel Internship Program
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
• Disability Employment Program
• Nuclear Safety Professional Development
Program (NSPDP)
• Veteran’s Employment Initiative
POWER TOOLS OF THE MIND
Risk. Threat. Danger. All words that an ill-informed, post-
Cold War public routinely associated with the nuclear
industry in its early days. With time, we became more
comfortable with the idea of clean…and safe…nuclear
power, but in the wake of events at the Browns Ferry
Nuclear Plant in 1975 and Three Mile Island in 1979,
leadership at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission knew
it was time to take their efforts to the next level.
Enter, Joe Giitter and the science of Probabilistic Risk
Assessment (PRA). As one of the first to formally study
PRA—as the cornerstone of a Graduate Degree from the
University of Tennessee in 1986—Giitter found himself at the
frontline of what was to become a discipline of high priority to the NRC. Today Giitter
serves as Director of the NRC Division of Risk Assessment.
“The NRC Commission approved a PRA policy statement about 20 years ago that
states that ‘PRA technology in NRC regulatory activities should be increased to the
extent supported by the state-of-the-art in PRA methods,’” notes Giitter. “So there was
an expectation that we continue to use and expand PRA, as appropriate, in all of our
regulated activities. Since that time, the agency has been moving toward being a more
risk-informed regulator—which means that we should strive to use risk insights to a
greater extent in our decisions.”
So what exactly is PRA, and how does it work at the NRC? Giitter explains: “PRA
consists primarily of fault-tree models and event-tree models. Fault-tree models use
deductive logic to start with an undesirable consequence of some kind and look
at various ways in which that undesirable consequence can occur; and it requires
analysts to think in what we call ‘failure space.’ Event-tree models use inductive logic to
evaluate how a particular initiating event can progress. So assuming there’s an initiating
event, you’d look at a range of possible outcomes, including combinations of system
failures and operator errors that could lead to an undesirable consequence. Because
plants are designed with sufficient redundancy and diversity it would typically take
a combination of failures or a significant common cause failure to result in a serious
event.”
According to Giitter, “PRA provides a systematic way of looking at how an initiating
event could lead to a core damage event. Not only does it tell you which systems are
most important to ensuring that a serious event doesn’t happen, but it can also help
you in the design process to make the design more robust and less vulnerable to
initiating events.
Giitter’s NRC PRA team has two main areas of responsibility: oversight, providing
support to the regions in developing tools and conducting independent assessments
as part of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), an area where the NRC has become
more risk informed; and licensing, focusing on risk-informed licensing applications,
such as the current effort to transition about half of the operating reactor fleet to a risk-
informed licensing basis for fire protection.
PRA really is the epitome of the NRC mission to protect people and the environment,
as it is all about anticipating and heading off problems before they have a chance to
occur. But, as Giitter points out, the folks who do this work are few and far between:
“PRA candidates are incredibly tough to find, and they’re paid really well!” To ensure
adequate staffing, the NRC has begun a “Grow Your Own” program to take the most
highly qualified candidates and train them to the NRC’s rigorous standards.
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3. FEDERAL
PRIMER
One of the many Federal Government
policies embraced by the NRC to support
a positive work environment and a healthy
work/life balance is the NRC Employee
Workschedule Flexibilities (NEWFlex) plan.
Designed to help NRC employees succeed
at work and in their personal lives, NEWFlex
allows employees to complete eight non­
consecutive hours of work on or offsite
between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Other
features of this popular plan include:
• Permissible workdays are normally
Monday-Friday
• Work hours can vary day to day
• Gliding schedule is possible
• Telework initiatives are supported
• Mandatory core hours include
10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
on Wednesday
Participation in NEWFlex is voluntary and
supervisor approval is required with full
consideration of factors such as office
coverage, training needs, participation
in collaborative projects, and conduct or
performance issues.
INFO LOOP
Q. Aside from
RE:ACTIONS, what’s a
good way to stay informed
about what’s happening
at the NRC?
A. If you are a student or a recent graduate
who is currently on LinkedIn, you can
keep track of more interesting updates…
current news…new career opportunities…
and cool ways the NRC is helping us in our
everyday lives—all on the NRC LinkedIn
page (Search: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission). Use this handy connection
to find out more about who we are, what
we do, and what it’s like to work here.
Even better, you can see who you know
who works at the NRC, leverage your
professional network, and get hired! Find
our new opportunities posted on the
College Member Job Board as well as the
General Job Board and Career Page.
THE NRC IN OUR LIVES
In satisfying its mission to protect people and the environment, the NRC is nothing
less than exacting in its standards. In this issue, RE:ACTIONS takes a look at the
NRC formula for safety:
UNIMPEACHABLE PERSONNEL
As Chief of the NRC Emergency Operations Center, Bernard (Bern) Stapleton offers
considerable NRC experience and security expertise. A former graduate of the
NRC Nuclear Safety Professional Development Program (NSPDP), Bern’s early nine
years of NRC experience included work as an NRC Physical Security Inspector
before moving on to 13 years of weaponry experience at the Department of
Energy. He returned to the NRC after 9/11. “NRC liked my experience in classified
information and in what NRC calls safeguard information for power plants and
security programs,” notes Stapleton.
Recognizing Stapleton’s expertise and potential, he eventually became a candidate
in the NRC Leadership Potential Program and in 2009 became the Branch Chief
for the NRC Information Security Group, responsible for all security information
protection as well as the computer systems for processing classified information.
This position included considerable time overseas working with professional peers
in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. Bern presently oversees all operations of the
NRC’S brand new state of the art Operations Center.
STATE OF THE ART FACILITIES
At the heart of the NRC mission of protecting people and the environment is a
sound, state-of-the-art security system that is in constant coordination with all
U.S. nuclear power plants. “We run 24 hours a day, with 12 dedicated operations
officers, each with strong nuclear education backgrounds,” says Stapleton. “Some
are military—many formerly of the nuclear Navy—and some from the academic
sector. We’re instantly in touch with nuclear facilities about any potential issues.
We also receive and respond to ‘allegations’ or safety concerns from concerned
citizens that need to be addressed and documented—sometimes very serious…
sometimes even a bit wacky. Our work also includes coordination with medical
licensees, hospitals, and radiographers from an industrial standpoint; and we
also track radioactive shipments.”
(continued p.4)
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4. IMPECCABLE POLICIES
“We’ve had to implement several new measures, particularly after Wiki-leaks,”
notes Stapleton. “Our particular focus now is to make sure classified info is
accurately protected, much like we did after 9/11 when we determined it was
not optimal to have detailed information on nuclear power plants available to
the public on our website. Now that information is only readily available with a
properly vetted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.” Another essential
post-9/11 focus is the relocation of NRC emergency operations headquarters to
an undisclosed location thousands of miles outside of the Washington, DC area.
Stapleton also acknowledges Cybersecurity as a huge area of focus and growth,
with the formation of the NRC Cybersecurity Directorate. Other areas of concern?
“Drones around nuclear plants,” notes Stapleton. “We’re all over that.”
HELLO…MY NAME IS JOE GIITTER
Joe Giitter wears at least two hats at the NRC. As
Director of the NRC Division of Risk Assessment, Joe
leads a team of about 60 practitioners of Probabilistic
Risk Assessment (PRA) (see story on page 2) who
help ensure that nuclear plants operate safely and
‘incident-free.’ And as a highly engaged NRC University
Champion since 2005, Giitter ensures that students
at his graduate studies alma mater University of
Tennessee (UT) are engaged in curricula most relevant to the nuclear industry’s current
needs, and most likely to help the students achieve gainful employment and opportunities
when they graduate.
“I’ve made arrangements with UT Placement Services to have an interview room available
when I visit the campus, and I also make sure I talk with NRC managers to know what
they’re looking for,” comments Giitter. “I really enjoy the connection with these higher
quality students and have them come to the NRC and move up—and I’ve mentored them
and it’s fun watching their careers take off!”
According to Giitter, UT offers one of the largest nuclear engineering programs in
the country and is actively building its graduate and research program. In fact, since
the University of Virginia and University of Maryland closed their nuclear engineering
programs, UT accepted their students at in-state tuition rates providing they graduated
with a nuclear engineering degree. UT also holds two NRC grants for faculty development
and student scholarships.
Joe earned his Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from Iowa State University of
Science and Technology and then went on to work for Westinghouse. He attended UT to
focus on the nascent field of PRA, and earned his Master’s degree in 1986. After working
as a contractor to Oak Ridge National Laboratory on an NRC project to develop training
materials for State emergency responders, Giitter joined the NRC in 1985. When asked
about the NRC award-winning culture, Giitter is quick to note, “I don’t really know of too
many micro-managers at the NRC—managers are really able to empower their staff and
help them grow. Embodying that kind of attitude gets positive reactions from staff.”
ABOUT THE NRC
The NRC mission is to
license and regulate
the Nation’s civilian
use of radioactive
materials to protect public health
and safety, promote the common
defense and security, and protect
the environment. Created as an
independent agency by Congress in
1974, the NRC ensures the safe use
of radioactive materials by regulating
commercial nuclear power plants
and other uses of nuclear materials
through licensing, inspection, and
enforcement of its requirements.
OUTREACH & RECRUITMENT TEAM
Kristin Davis: Branch Chief
Kristin.Davis@nrc.gov | 301-287-0707
Kimberly English:
Recruitment Program Manager
Kimberly.English@nrc.gov | 301-287-0711
Peggy Etheridge:
Student and Disability Programs Manager
Peggy.Etheridge@nrc.gov | 301-287-0712
Kreslyon Fleming:
Outreach Events Coordinator
Kreslyon.Fleming@nrc.gov | 301-287-0714
Nancy Hebron-Isreal:
Nuclear Education Grants
(faculty development & scholarship/
fellowship programs)
Nancy.Hebron-Isreal@nrc.gov | 301-287-0718
Tanya Parwani-Jaimes:
Nuclear Education Grants
(curriculum development programs)
Tanya.Parwani-Jaimes@nrc.gov
301-287-0730
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Outreach & Recruitment Branch
Washington, DC 20555-0001
301-415-7400
CONTACT US
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nrcgov
LinkedIn: Search: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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