NUTUG - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- International 's Vice President of Consulting
- Vice President of Consulting for NAC International
Mr. Dave Culp is Vice President of Consulting for NAC International (NAC), where he is responsible for leading NAC's consulting efforts in the nuclear power sector including the nuclear fuel cycle.
Prior to joining NAC, Mr. Culp worked for 33 years at Duke Energy (Duke), most recently as the General Manager of Nuclear Fuels and Analysis, where he was responsible for all aspects of the nuclear fuel for the 11 nuclear units owned and operated by Duke. Within the fuels division, he worked in various leadership roles including fuel procurement, spent fuel management, core design/safety analysis/methods, material control & accountability, and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). Key accomplishments included:
Developed, licensed, and maintained a complete suite of vendor-independent methods to enable self-performance of the core design and safety analyses for the Duke Energy fleet. This included development and licensing of methods for Harris Nuclear Plant following Duke merger with Progress Energy in 2012.
Managed and supported multiple fuel design transitions and lead test assembly programs
Managed plant modifications to adapt the McGuire and Catawba nuclear stations for use of MOX fuel.
Spent fuel storage expansion programs involving spent fuel pool reracks, construction of independent spent fuel storage installations, and dry storage procurement/loading campaigns.
Negotiated rights to transfer Westinghouse and Framatome fuel and plant design information/data to 3rd party fuel vendors to support transitions in the supply of fabricated fuel.
In 2003, Mr. Culp was named vice president of Claiborne Energy Services - Duke's affiliate in the Louisiana Energy Services partnership to license, construct and operate a new uranium enrichment plant in the United States.
He served as acting Vice President of Nuclear Engineering at Duke for 18 months prior to its merger with Progress Energy in 2012. In this capacity, he had responsibility for fuel engineering and analysis, component engineering, programs engineering, engineering support, fleet electrical design, and procurement engineering for the Duke fleet.
Mr. Culp has served as chairman of the World Nuclear Fuel Market (WNFM) Board of Governors, chairman of the Ad Hoc Utilities Group (AHUG), and chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute's Utility Fuel Committee. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the WNFM Board of Governors.
He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina.
Areas of Expertise
Compatibility and mixed core evaluations
Dave Culp is NAC International's Vice President of Consulting, where he is responsible for leading NAC's consulting efforts on the nuclear fuel cycle markets, purchasing strategies, bid evaluations, contract development, material controls & accountability, fabrication technical surveillance, fabrication quality oversight, fuel assembly design reviews, fuel performance, and government policy initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Storage Projects
Doug Jacobs is Vice President of Storage Projects, responsible for overall strategic direction and leadership for the Projects business unit to ensure continued on-time delivery of high-quality projects to NAC customers.
Job Titles:
- International 's Vice President of Transportation and Strategic Projects
- Vice President, Transportation and Strategic Projects
Dr. Michael McMahon is NAC International's Vice President of Transportation and Strategic Projects, heading the company's Transportation Projects business unit. He serves concurrently as Chairman of the Board of Managers of NAC LPT LLC, a subsidiary of NAC International Inc. that is a leading provider of nuclear materials packaging and transportation solutions to the nuclear industry. He is also President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NAC Philotechnics, Ltd., a recently acquired health physics, radiological services, and waste management company headquartered in Oak Ridge, TN.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Engineering
George Carver is Vice President, Engineering and Licensing. He is responsible for all design, engineering processes, licensing actions and engineering deliverables in support of all NAC dry cask storage and/or transportation projects, and he is responsible for coordinating the activities of a broad spectrum of engineering professionals in this capacity.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Business Development
George Vaughan is Vice President of Business Development, responsible for evaluation, analysis and advancement of new domestic and international programs and projects for NAC.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Quality Assurance
Joyce Hamman is Vice President of Quality Assurance and is responsible for all aspects of the NAC's Quality Assurance program for design, procurement, licensing, testing, fabrication, operations and maintenance of NAC storage and transportation cask systems components. In this role, she defines company quality policy and maintains compliance with applicable codes, standards and regulatory requirements.
Juan Subiry is Vice President of Market and Product Strategy, responsible for providing direction for investigation and application of new technologies for use in utility, government and commercial facilities worldwide. He manages the research and development of new storage and transport designs for spent fuel and other nuclear materials, as well as enhancements of already-licensed designs.
Keith Brookshire is Chief Financial Officer having oversight of NAC's finance and accounting, procurement and contracts, human resources and information technology departments.
Mr. Brookshire was formerly Treasurer and Vice President, Finance and Administration, with Chainalytics, a global consulting and technology firm, where he was the top financial executive and managed all aspects of the company's accounting and finance operations, as well the human resources, sales operations, contract management and office administration functions. He was instrumental in several of the company's acquisitions as it expanded into six countries.
Job Titles:
- President and Chief Executive Officer of NAC International
Kent Cole is President and Chief Executive Officer of NAC International, responsible for leading the company's strategic direction, growth and profitability. His decades of experience in the nuclear industry include leadership roles on collaborative teams providing products and services to enhance the performance, safety and reliability of nuclear power plants in the United States and worldwide.
Job Titles:
- Director of Human Resources
Laura Piscetta is Director of Human Resources, responsible for the overall administration of NAC's human resources functions, including organizational development, performance and compensation management, employee relations, recruitment activities, benefits analysis and plan administration, payroll, safety, and governmental compliance.
Job Titles:
- Owner and Principal Consultant, Nuclear Fuel Advisors
Mr. Adolfo Repáraz, Owner and Principal Consultant, Nuclear Fuel Advisors is an expert in fuel manufacturing technology. He has extensive experience in the commercial nuclear industry in the areas of fuel mechanical design and manufacturing, fuel manufacturing equipment design and processes, fuel design requirement definition, quality control of manufacturing activities, irradiated fuel inspection, fuel performance assessment, failed fuel diagnostics, irradiated fuel inspection tooling, manufacturing surveillances, project management, hot cell inspections, and interaction with licensing authorities. He was responsible for defining fuel component material and finished product requirements for Exxon Nuclear (now Framatome) and participated in the transfer of technology to build a new nuclear power plant in Lingen, Germany for Exxon Nuclear.
Mr. Repáraz has substantial knowledge and experience regarding quality surveillance (QS) oversight of nuclear fuel fabrication, and most recently the PLUS7 design fabricated at Kepco Nuclear Fuel (KNF). Since 2017, he has served ENEC as an Alternate Project Lead under our current QS services contract and has helped to assess KNF manufacturing practices and activities with respect to current industry standards and practices. Under this contract scope of supply, Mr. Repáraz can be made available for any location but would continue to have a primary focus on work performed at KNF in Korea.
Mr. Repáraz has extensive experience in the commercial nuclear industry in the areas of fuel mechanical design and manufacturing, irradiated fuel inspection, fuel performance assessment, failed fuel diagnostics, irradiated fuel inspection tooling, manufacturing surveillances, project management, hot cell inspections, and interaction with licensing authorities. He is highly experienced in quality assurance/quality control management. He is a certified QA Auditor by AQS (American Quality Society) and a Lead Auditor by DOE OCRWM (Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management). While at Westinghouse, he was responsible for implementation of the Westinghouse Quality Management System in all activities related to his functional responsibilities.
As a highly qualified QS Engineer, he is available to serve as a backup for onsite surveillance activities and mentoring of ENEC staff when the NAC Project Manager is unavailable or if fabrication schedules require parallel surveillance efforts in different locations. As QS Engineer, he is also available to accompany the NAC Project Manager (or other QS Engineers authorized under this project) when work activities dictate the need for additional qualified staff, as may be requested and authorized by ENEC.
Areas of Expertise
Compatibility and mixed core evaluations
Mr. Ben Howell has over 15 years of nuclear engineering experience, including responsibilities for nuclear fuel fabrication facility inspections, surveillances of U.S. and international manufacturing facilities, analysis of fuel components and designs, resolution of engineering problems in fabrication facilities, and oversight of nuclear fuel NDE. He has served as lead engineer for fuel fabrication inspections, team member on NUPIC audits, and utility representative for fuel vendor proposed design/manufacturing changes. In addition to his work with commercial nuclear plants, he served as member on a Technical Review Board for a DOE project in response to the Fukushima accident
Mr. Howell has significant expertise in economic analysis for energy markets. He has performed energy market analysis for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and PJM regional transmission organization markets; virtual trading for MISO, ERCOT, and PJM; evaluation of energy market pricing, weather patterns, transmission outages, and plant outages for submissions to the power markets; and analytical solutions to improve accuracy/efficiency in power market analysis.
His work history includes 13 years with Duke Energy, including as a Lead Nuclear Engineer where he was responsible for fabrication inspections at vendor fabrication facilities (3 to 5 per year). He also served as the nuclear fuel engineering representative for review of international manufacturing facilities; utility representative for analysis of fuel component design changes; and team member for Nuclear Procurement Issues Corporation NUPIC audits.
Mr. Howell has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina.
Areas of Expertise
Compatibility and mixed core evaluations
Mr. Brian Jones is an NAC International, Associate engaged for NAC's Project and Programme Management Services.
He has been a Consultant Change and Delivery Manager for UK and Global clients for over 30 years following an early career in regulated Financial Services systems development. Having achieved much in permanent roles he moved to Consulting and since has used his well-honed transferable delivery skills for major UK and Global organisations.
Most recent work has been with UK Government leading significant areas of change related to the UKs EU Exit programme and mostly within the field of Civil Nuclear Material Safeguarding and IAEA Reporting. Mr Jones was asked to join a small Consultancy Team tasked with re-aligning and then leading the UK Office of Nuclear Regulations programme to establish a new Nuclear Safeguarding Regulatory Body; establishing a warranted Inspection Team, Back Office Nuclear Accounting capability and provision of State Nuclear Accounting processes to satisfy IAEA global Materials Control and Accountability regulation.
It was this programme where Mr Jones established his strong relationship with NAC; being the ONR Delivery Lead and working closely with the NAC team to adapt NACs Reporter product to meet UK State System of Accounting and Control. This complex project to non-negotiable timescales proved extremely successful with Mr Jones role being recognised as critical by both the responsible ONR Director and by the UK Governments Independent Programme Assurance body (the IPA). He further undertook the Assurance Lead role across all aspects of the ONR Programme and supported the transition into ‘steady state' and through early life support.
Mr. Dan Collier has over 50 years of experience in all areas of the international nuclear fuel industry with expertise in policy setting, nuclear material control and accounting (MC&A), and the commercial aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including costs of supply, prices paid, commercial terms and conditions and procurement and marketing strategy development. He has provided first-hand consulting expertise to most entities in the nuclear industry all over the world. He has assisted foreign and domestic utilities in developing and refine procurement strategies; sellers in the development of marketing and sales strategies and assessment of competitors: and governments in the evaluation and determination of policies. Mr. Collier has contributed to analyses in all areas of the fuel cycle from uranium mining through spent fuel storage and decommissioning, to use of recycled products. He has conducted seminars on the commercial and technical aspects of the nuclear markets and has conducted numerous market briefings for clients.
In 1978, he started NAC's nuclear fuel consulting services division. In this capacity, Mr. Collier completed and managed hundreds of fuel-cycle consulting assignments for clients. As the consulting business grew, NAC expanded the consulting staff and set up offices in Moscow, Tokyo, and London. Mr. Collier managed the staff and developed new products and approaches to NAC's analyses.
In 2003 he assumed responsibility for the operation of Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards System (NMMSS) by NAC. NMMSS is the U.S. government's state system for nuclear material control and accounting. This system tracks all nuclear materials in the United States, all exports from the United States and imports into the United States. The system provides information to the U.S. government, trading partner governments and the IAEA. Mr. Collier maintained this role through 2007 when he returned to lead NAC's consulting practice.
Beginning in 2008 Mr. Collier led the development of NAC Reporter®, a commercial software technology to provide countries and facilities with a modern, comprehensive nuclear material accounting software package. He led the development of NAC's contracts to supply customized versions of this software to entities in the UAE, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. He has also provided support to the U.S. government in evaluating the reasonableness of foreign government reports on the use and disposition of U.S. obligated nuclear materials.
Mr. Collier was the executive director of the World Nuclear Fuel Market (WNFM) from 1987 through September 2020. The WNFM is an industry association of more than 85 companies in 18 countries dedicated to improving market efficiency and price transparency. The WNFM facilitates trading in nuclear materials and price transparency. He is also a past board member of the World Nuclear Association.
Mr. Collier has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Georgia State University.
Areas of Expertise
Contract development
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer
- International 's Chief Strategy Officer
Mr. William "Bill" Gallo is NAC International's Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, Mr. Gallo leads the development of business strategies, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions to drive NAC's growth and profitability. He brings to this role decades of leadership experience in the nuclear energy sector.
Bob Helfrich is Senior Vice President, and Corporate Secretary and General Counsel of NAC International. He joined NAC in 2003 as its first corporate general counsel.
Mr. Helfrich has nearly 45 years of experience in the nuclear industry. He was previously senior nuclear counsel at Exelon and FPL Energy - two of the leading nuclear utility operators in the United States, before which he was a lawyer with the nuclear utility practice group of Winston & Strawn and was a registered U.S. patent attorney.