Former Board Members
Dr. Matthews has more than thirty years of scientific and engineering experience in nuclear technologies with a primary focus on special nuclear materials, weapons plutonium, and nuclear reactor fuels. In addition, Dr. Matthews has managed nuclear facilities including operations, construction, regulatory compliance, integrated safety management, and safeguards and security. He served as a Board member from April, 2003 to October, 2005.
Dr. Matthews received a BS in Metallurgy from Penn State, an MS in Materials Science from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Wales.
Dr. Matthews was appointed by President George W. Bush on April 22, 2003, to be a Member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which oversees the safe operation of the Nation's nuclear weapon plants. While at the Board, Dr. Matthews was principal author of DNFSB/TECH-35, Safety Management of Complex, High-Hazard Organizations, and DNFSB/TECH-36, Integrated Safety Management: The Foundation for a Successful Safety Culture. Dr. Matthews left the Board in December 2005.
Dr. Matthews spent eight years as a Research Scientist at Atomic Energy of Canada where he developed advanced nuclear fuels and structural materials. He subsequently spent two years as a Research Scientist at Pacific Northwest Labs working on proliferation resistant fuels for advance nuclear power systems. Dr. Matthews worked as a line and program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1980, and has been involved in DOE programs in stockpile stewardship, nuclear materials disposition, environmental management, and space and terrestrial nuclear power systems. Dr. Matthews was Director of the Nuclear Materials Technology Division from 1993 to 1999 and had overall responsibility for facility operations, base technologies, and program execution involving plutonium and other actinide materials at the Los Alamos TA-55 Plutonium Facility and the Chemistry Metallurgy Research Building. That position had two major aspects: (1) Managing the nuclear facilities infrastructure including nuclear facility construction projects, facilities operations, nuclear materials control and accountability, waste management, environmental compliance, industrial and radiation safety, training, quality assurance, and safeguards and security. (2) Managing technical and programmatic nuclear materials activities including DOE/Defense Program plutonium activities in stockpile manufacturing, surveillance and R&D; DOE/Environmental Management actinide materials projects in waste management, residue stabilization, and legacy materials cleanup; DOE/Nuclear Energy projects in PU238 heat sources, advance reactor fuels, and transmutation of nuclear wastes; and DOE/Materials Disposition Projects in nuclear materials management, pit disassembly, mixed-oxide fuels, and long-term storage.
In 2000, Dr. Matthews received a Senior Scientific Manager Return to Research grant at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Dr. Matthews is the author or co-author of more than eighty journal publications, conference proceedings and technical reports. He initiated the international Plutonium Futures Conference and is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.
John T. Conway, an engineer and attorney, is a former Chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. His nuclear experience includes 12 years on the staff of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, U.S. Congress (six years as Staff Director), 11 years as president/ Chairman of the Board of the American Nuclear Energy Council, and eight years as Chairman of the Con Edison Indian Point Nuclear Facilities Safety Committee.
1989 - 2005 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board,Chairman 1982 - 1989 Consolidated Edison Company, Executive Vice President 1982 - 1989 American Nuclear Energy Council (ANEC),Chairman 1978 - 1982 American Nuclear Energy Council (ANEC), President, Chief Executive Officer 1968 - 1978 Consolidated Edison Company, Executive Assistant to Charles F. Luce, Chairman of the Board (1970 78, duties included Chairman, Nuclear Facilities Safety Committee) 1956 - 1968 United States Congress, Staff Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (1958 62, Assistant Staff Director; 1962 68, Executive Director) 1950 - 1956 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Special Agent served in Kentucky, New York, Washington, D.C.1949 - 1950 Meighan & Necarsulmer Law Firm, AssociateEducationColumbia University School of Law, LLB, 1949 (converted to Juris Doctor, 1969) Tufts University, BS Engineering, 1947 Military ServiceU.S. Navy, active duty February 4, 1943 to September 1946; Saw service in North Atlantic, USPC78l, Discharged Lt.(j.g.)Professional MembershipsAdmitted to New York Bar, 1949, and Supreme Court of the United States, 1953 AwardsGrand Council of Hispanic Societies in Public Service Humanitarian Award The James and Jane Hoey Award for Interracial Justice
Joseph J. DiNunno was nominated to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in 1992. Following confirmation by the United States Senate, DiNunno assumed his official duties on August 13, 1992 and served until his retirement in May 2002.
Prior to joining the Board, he had more than five decades of diverse engineering and environmental experience, including 40 years in the nuclear field in senior positions within both the Federal Government and private industry.
He began his professional career in 1942 as an electrical engineer with Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Department of the Navy, and for the next 17 years assumed increasingly responsible positions with the Bureau of Ships, the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and the Naval Reactors Branch of the Bureau of Ships/Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). His initial assignment at Naval Reactors was oversight of the development of advanced instrumentation and controls for naval nuclear reactors. Admiral Rickover subsequently assigned DiNunno as Project Officer for the nuclear power plant of the USS Long Beach.
Upon transferring to AEC in 1959, DiNunno became a member of the regulatory staff that reviewed the safety aspects of the design, construction and operation of nuclear reactors, Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power systems, and a variety of uranium and plutonium processing facilities. Among his assignments was the matrix management of subject matter experts in reactor pressure vessel design, instrumentation and control systems, emergency power systems, core designs and containment systems. He also coordinated the regulatory program of reactor safety research and directed the development of reactor siting and safety standards. In 1967, he was assigned to Paris as AEC's Scientific Representative, where he served as technical liaison with atomic energy authorities in ten European countries, the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In 1969, Mr. DiNunno returned to AEC headquarters to head the agency's first Office of Environmental Affairs. This office served as the principal AEC interface with local and national environmental groups concerned about the impact of nuclear power development on the environment and with the federal Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and other federal agencies in the development of plans for AEC implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act.
From 1972 to 1983, Mr. DiNunno was employed by the NUS Corporation. As Vice President and General Manager of the Environmental Safeguards Division, and later Technical Director of the Environmental Systems Group, he was responsible for engineering and environmental services provided both industry and the government. He managed and technically directed an inter-disciplinary staff of meteorologists, hydrologists, geologists, ecologists, socio-economists, geographers, land use planners and nuclear engineers. The Environmental Systems Group included both an Ecological Science Laboratory and a Radiation Environmental Monitoring Laboratory. It provided support services to a broad range of clients in the areas of site selection, site qualification, environmental reports, air and waste water discharge permitting and licensing as required to satisfy federal and state environmental protection requirements (National Environmental Policy Act, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation). These services were performed on a wide variety of nuclear and non-nuclear projects, including environmental investigations of sites for both low-and high-level radioactive wastes.
With the exception of 2 years of full-time employment with R.F. Weston (1986-88) in support of the Department of Energy's Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program, Mr. DiNunno continued his professional career part-time (1983-92) as an independent consultant, providing environmental and nuclear safety advisory services to both industry and the government. His career included a number of years as a member of the Space Applications Board of the National Research Council and the Citizens' Advisory Panel on the Cleanup of Three Mile Island.
Mr. DiNunno has written extensively on such issues as the safety of nuclear reactors and environmental considerations in power plant siting. He has also lectured on these topics at universities and industry seminars.
Mr. DiNunno graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He earned a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1954. In 1956-57, he received training in nuclear engineering at the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology.
Dr. Kouts was nominated to be one of the charter Members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and was sworn into office in October 1989. He retired in January 2000 after more than 50 years of service to the United States Government.
At the close of World War II, Dr. Kouts left active service with the rank of Major to continue his education. In 1950, he joined Brookhaven National Laboratory where he headed research groups in nuclear reactor shielding and reactor physics. In 1968, he founded the Technical Support Organization, a "think tank" for the Department of Energy in nuclear materials safeguards.
In 1973, Dr. Kouts was selected as Director of Reactor Safety Research for the Atomic Energy Commission. From 1975 to 1976, he was Director of Nuclear Regulatory Research in the newly formed Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Returning to Brookhaven, Dr. Kouts headed the International Safeguards Project Office for two years. For over a decade he was the Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Energy, relinquishing the position in 1988; however, he remained Senior Physicist at Brookhaven until officially taking up his present duties.
Dr. Kouts received many awards for his distinguished and significant scientific contributions including the Atomic Energy Commission's E. O. Lawrence Award and, in 1999, the Secretary's Gold Award. He served on numerous advisory committees and panels, including the statutory Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. He was a member and chairman of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency on nuclear safety matters. In addition, he was a member of the Nuclear Power Advisory Group, advising the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on activities of the Bank concerning nuclear plants in Eastern Europe, particularly the safety aspects.
During his illustrious career, Kouts authored (and coauthored) several score of articles, speeches, and research papers. He shared his experience and expertise in seeking to resolve difficult issues in nuclear materials research and development, international safeguards, and reactor safety.
Dr. Kouts received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Master of Science in Physics from Louisiana State University. In 1952, he earned a Doctorate in Physics from Princeton University.
Captain Jack Crawford served as a member of the Board from 1989 - 1996. Prior to being sworn in on the Board, he was an Independent Technical Consultant under the Trust Agreement for the cleanup of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
He began his Naval career during World War II serving in USS YORKTOWN, USS SANTEE, and USS BROOKLYN. Following his duty as Submarine Repair Superintendent at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Crawford served in various assignments with the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). His responsibilities included providing guidance and direction to ensure that required safety, quality and reliability standards were incorporated in the planning and construction of naval nuclear power plants. He served under Admiral Rickover as Deputy Manager of Naval Reactors.
Following retirement from the Navy with the rank of Captain, Crawford returned to the Atomic Energy Commission (subsequently the Department of Energy) to begin a career in civilian nuclear technology. He held increasingly responsible positions culminating in being appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. In this position he carried out a comprehensive "post-TMI" assessment of the safety of DOE nuclear reactors, the widely publicized "Crawford Report". He retired from the DOE in 1981.
Captain Crawford graduated from the Tilton School, attended Norwich University, and graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy (class of 1942). He earned two Masters Degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Naval Construction and Engineering, 1946, and Physics, 1950). He completed the curriculum at the Federal Executive Institute in 1968.
Edson G. Case was twice confirmed as a Member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Mr. Case was a 43-year veteran of Federal service, and can rightly be called one of the pioneers of nuclear reactor safety. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946, earned an M.S. from MIT in 1952, and spent the next eleven years as a Naval Officer, including work in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion program under Admiral Hyman Rickover.
Mr. Case began his civilian career as a senior staff member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and served with distinction as the Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As Senator Strom Thurmond has noted, when the Senate voted in the 100th Congress to establish a safety board with broad powers over the safe operation of the Nation's critical nuclear weapon facilities, it was entirely fitting that the President should have nominated Ed Case as one of the initial Members of the Board. Ed continued to travel and work toward the advancement of nuclear safety following his typical grueling schedule until his final illness in 1991.