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Lisowski to Head GNEP

By Eric McErlain
Just off the wire from DOE:
U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon announced the appointment of Dr. Paul Lisowski as Deputy Director of Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. As Deputy Director, Dr. Lisowski will lead the day-to-day operations of the Department's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a key element of the President’s Advanced Energy Initiative.

“I am excited that Paul will be joining our team,” Assistant Secretary Spurgeon said. “He brings a wealth of technical knowledge and expertise, which will be vital as we move forward with building new nuclear power plants under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.”

As Deputy Director of Nuclear Energy, Dr. Lisowski will take the lead on planning and integration of advanced nuclear reactors, fuel processing, and research and development in support of the Global Energy Nuclear Partnership. Dr. Lisowski will also use his expertise and leadership to expand the use of nuclear power, minimize nuclear waste, demonstrate more proliferation-resistant recycling, develop advanced burner reactors, and establish reliable fuel services.

Most recently, Dr. Lisowski worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he served for five years as the Director of Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). While there, he was responsible for science and technology development, safety, maintenance and operation of the three national user facilities and an isotope production facility. In this position, he was responsible for the management of over 300 scientists, engineers and operations staff and for the management of an annual operating budget of up to $125 million.

Prior to that, Dr. Lisowski served as the National Director for the Accelerator Production of Tritium Project. The National Laboratory and industry team that he led were awarded the 2000 DOE Award for Excellence in Program and Project Management.

“I am pleased to be part of this exciting GNEP initiative,” Dr. Lisowski said. “I am confident that my past experience with large multi-laboratory and industry teams will greatly contribute to the success of GNEP.”
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Comments

Kirk Sorensen said…
Rather than pursue sodium-cooled fast reactors as the central thrust of GNEP, I would suggest that Dr. Lisowski examine the work of Dr. Eric Ottewitte of INEL. Dr. Ottewitte proposed a reactor based around the molten chlorides as a way to destroy transuranic waste that has many safety and performance advantages over the sodium-cooled, solid-core breeder.
August 28, 2006 at 11:48 PM
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