NRC CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES SENIOR MANAGEMENT CHANGES 

 ROCKVILLE, Md. – Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale E. Klein Thursday 

announced two key management changes designed to better position the agency to prepare for 

the challenges expected in the coming decade. 

Chairman Klein, with the approval of the Commission, selected Bill Borchardt, a 25-year 

veteran of the agency and currently director of the Office of New Reactors (NRO), to succeed 

Luis Reyes as the agency’s Executive Director for Operations (EDO). Klein also announced that 

Reyes had agreed to extend his 30-year career at the NRC by again serving as Regional 

Administrator in the agency’s Atlanta-based Region II office. The region is home to the agency’s 

newly created reactor construction inspection program that will be a central element in coming 

years to ensure that any new reactor licensed by the NRC is built to the highest safety standards. 

The new assignments are effective May 2. 

 “The breadth and depth of talent at the NRC is exceptional. Any one of a number of 

individuals within the agency has the talent and temperament for this highly demanding job,” 

Klein said in announcing the EDO selection. “It was a tough decision to choose the right person 

to fill Luis’ shoes. Bill Borchardt has made a tremendous contribution to this agency by standing 

up the new reactor licensing process so the agency was fully prepared for the first wave of new 

reactor license applications in almost three decades. His organizational expertise, broad 

knowledge of NRC programs and experience at the agency will serve him well in this critical 

position.” 

 The Executive Director for Operations is the chief operating officer of the Commission, 

and is authorized and directed to discharge the operational and administrative functions 

necessary for the day-to-day operations of the agency. This includes supervising and 

coordinating policy development, agency operational activities, and implementation of 

Commission policy directives. 

 Klein said that Reyes "cut his teeth" at the NRC during the completion of plants during 

the first wave of commercial reactor construction in this country. "He has spent four years as the 

EDO, leaving his family in Georgia during the assignment, to help guide the growth of the 

agency in preparation for the new wave of reactor license applications. He has enormous talent 

and expertise that we do not want to lose to retirement. The bulk of the initial applications for 

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No. 08-074 April 10, 2008
new reactors will be in the South, and Luis’ leadership at Region II will ensure that we have a 

seasoned veteran at the helm of a vital task as we go forward.” 

 Borchardt, 52, created the new reactor licensing organization from scratch starting in 

August 2006. In just 20 months he built an office of 425 people and organized it to process 

applications in a timely fashion. During Reyes’ four years as EDO, the agency grew from about 

3,000 to nearly 3,650 employees with another 200 due on board by the end of the fiscal year. The 

growth is largely to accommodate the growth of the office Borchardt set up and other elements 

of the NRC affected by the influx of new applications. As of Thursday the agency had received 

applications from nine entities seeking approval for 15 new reactors. 

 Borchardt, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the U.S. Naval Academy 

and was qualified to operate naval submarine reactors, began his career as an officer in the 

nuclear Navy. After serving as the senior site inspector at both pressurized and boiling water 

reactor commercial nuclear power generating plants, Borchardt began a series of increasingly 

responsible positions at the agency’s headquarters. 

 His positions have included service as the Director of the Operating Reactor Inspection 

Program within the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Director of the Office 

of Enforcement, Deputy Director of NRR, and Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Security 

and Incident Response. He has been selected for the 2007 Meritorious Presidential Rank Awards 

to be presented at a late spring ceremony. 

 Reyes, 57, began his career with the NRC in 1978, serving first as a reactor inspector in 

Illinois. He held increasingly more responsible positions until in 1992 he was selected as the 

Deputy Regional Administrator in the Atlanta-based Region II office. Four years later he became 

the Regional Administrator. He assumed the EDO position in 2004. 

 A licensed professional engineer with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the 

University of Puerto Rico, Reyes has earned a number of prestigious awards for government 

service, most recently the Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award in 2006, an honor 

attained by only one percent of the Senior Executive Service Corps annually.

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