NRC APPOINTS TASK FORCE MEMBERS AND APPROVES 

CHARTER FOR REVIEW OF AGENCY’S RESPONSE TO JAPAN NUCLEAR EVENT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named six senior managers and staff to its task 

force for examining the agency’s regulatory requirements, programs, processes, and 

implementation in light of information from the Fukushima Daiichi site in Japan, following the 

March 11 earthquake and tsunami. 

The task force will be led by Dr. Charles Miller, Director of the NRC’s Office of Federal and 

State Materials and Environmental Management Programs. Other task force members are Daniel 

Dorman, Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS); Jack 

Grobe, Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR); Gary Holahan, 

Deputy Director of the Office of New Reactors (NRO); Nathan Sanfilippo, Executive Technical 

Assistant, Office of the Executive Director for Operations; and Amy Cubbage, Team Leader, 

NRO.

“The task force will talk to agency technical experts and gather information to conduct a 

comprehensive review of the information from the events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear 

complex and make recommendations for any improvements needed to our regulatory system,” 

Miller said. “We plan to provide our observations, conclusions and recommendations in a written 

report that will be made public approximately 90 days after we start our review.”

According to the charter, the task force will conduct a near-term review and identify 

topics for assessment for a longer term review. Initially, the task force will identify potential 

near-term actions that affect U.S. power reactors, including their spent fuel pools. Areas to be 

reviewed include station blackout (loss of all A/C power for a reactor), external events that could 

lead to a prolonged loss of cooling, plant capabilities for preventing or dealing with such 

circumstances, and emergency preparedness. The task force will draw from ongoing NRC 

inspections to verify availability of plant equipment, procedures, and other resources currently 

required for dealing with such events. The task force will also gather information from domestic 

and international sources while remaining independent of any industry initiatives. 

The task force expects to develop recommendations for Commission consideration on 

whether it should require immediate enhancements at U.S. reactors and any changes to NRC 

regulations, inspection procedures, and licensing processes. 

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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 11-062 April 1, 2011
On May 12 and June 16, the task force plans to brief the Commission in public meetings 

on the status of the review. Recommendations will be reported in a July 19 Commission meeting, 

which will be open to the public. The report will also be made available to the public. The task 

force charter, at the end of this release, will also be available through the NRC’s ADAMS

electronic document database by entering ML11089A045 under the “Simple Search” tab on this 

webpage: http://wba.nrc.gov:8080/ves/.

Biographical information for the task force members is provided below.

Charles L. Miller has worked at NRC since 1980, has served as the Director of the Office 

of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs since 2006. He has 

held various management positions in offices dealing with safety of nuclear reactors, waste and 

materials, including nuclear medicine. Miller received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from 

Widener University, a master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of 

Maryland, and is a registered professional engineer licensed in the District of Columbia.

Daniel H. Dorman has 20 years of service with the NRC and has served as the Deputy 

Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. During his career at NRC, 

Dorman also worked in the offices of NRR, Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), and Nuclear 

Security and Incident Response (NSIR). Prior to joining the NRC, Dorman served in the U.S.

Navy's nuclear power program. He received a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine 

engineering from the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture.

Jack Grobe has worked for the NRC for over 30 years and has served as the Deputy 

Office Director for Engineering in NRR since 2007. He started as an inspector in the NRC 

regional office outside Chicago, Illinois, and moved up to chair a number of task force groups 

including the Davis-Besse Oversight Panel following discovery of the reactor vessel head 

corrosion and Nuclear Security Special Projects to enhance reactor capabilities to deal with fires

or explosions caused by potential malevolent acts. Grobe has a master’s degree in bionucleonics 

and a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering, both from Purdue University. 

Gary M. Holahan has 35 years of service with the NRC and has served as the Deputy 

Director for NRO since 2006. During his career at the NRC, Holahan has worked in a number of 

technical and management positions, including nine years as the Director of NRR’s Division of 

Systems Safety and Analysis, and in the Chairman’s office where he covered NRC reactor and 

research programs. Holahan’s assignments have also included the Three Mile Island Lessons 

Learned Task Force, the post-9/11 development of security advisories and orders, and the U.S. -

Canada Blackout Report. Mr. Holahan received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Manhattan 

College and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the Catholic University of America.

Nathan T. Sanfilippo has worked for the NRC for nine years and has served as an 

Executive Technical Assistant in the Office of the Executive Director for Operations since May 

2010. Prior to his current position, he worked in NRR, NRO, and NSIR on nuclear power plants 

performance assessment, emergency preparedness inspections, new reactor licensing, and aircraft 

attack mitigation measures. Sanfilippo earned a bachelor’s degree in materials science and 
engineering and a minor in global business strategies from the Pennsylvania State University, as 

well as a certificate in legislative studies from the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown 

University.

Amy E. Cubbage has worked at the NRC for 22 years and currently serves in NRO as a 

team leader. Cubbage has extensive experience working on boiling-water reactor system reviews 

and as the lead project manager for the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) 

Design Certification. Cubbage received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the 

University of Virginia.

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CHARTER FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION TASK FORCE 

TO CONDUCT A NEAR-TERM EVALUATION OF THE NEED FOR AGENCY ACTIONS 

FOLLOWING THE EVENTS IN JAPAN

Objective

The objective of this task force is to conduct a methodical and systematic review of relevant 

NRC regulatory requirements, programs, and processes, and their implementation, to 

recommend whether the agency should make near-term improvements to our regulatory 

system. This task force will also identify a framework and topics for review and assessment for 

the longer-term effort.

Scope

The task force review will include the following:

a. A near-term review to:

• Evaluate currently available technical and operational information from the events 

that have occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan to identify 

potential or preliminary near-term/immediate operational or regulatory actions 

affecting domestic reactors of all designs, including their spent fuel pools. The task 

force will evaluate, at a minimum, the following technical issues and determine 

priority for further examination and potential agency action: 

• External event issues (e.g. seismic, flooding, fires, severe weather)

• Station blackout

• Severe accident measures (e.g., combustible gas control, emergency 

operating procedures, severe accident management guidelines)

• 10 CFR 50.54 (hh)(2) which states, “Each licensee shall develop and 

implement guidance and strategies intended to maintain or restore core 

cooling, containment, and spent fuel pool cooling capabilities under the 

circumstances associated with loss of large areas of the plant due to 

explosions or fire, to include strategies in the following areas: (i) Fire fighting; 

(ii) Operations to mitigate fuel damage; and (iii) Actions to minimize 

radiological release.” Also known as B.5.b.

• Emergency preparedness (e.g., emergency communications, radiological 

protection, emergency planning zones, dose projections and modeling, 

protective actions)

Develop recommendations, as appropriate, for potential changes to NRC’s regulatory 

requirements, programs, and processes, and recommend whether generic communications, 

orders, or other regulatory actions are needed.

b. Recommendations for the content, structure, and estimated resource impact for the 

longer-term review.
Coordination and Communications

The near-term task force will:

• Solicit stakeholder input as appropriate, but remain independent of industry efforts.

• Coordinate and cooperate where applicable with other domestic and international 

efforts reviewing the events in Japan for additional insights.

• Provide recommendations to the Commission for any immediate policy issues 

identified prior to completion of the near-term review.

• Provide recommendations to program offices for any immediate actions not involving 

policy issues, prior to completion of the near-term review.

• Identify resource implications of near-term actions.

• Consider information gained from Temporary Instruction 2515/183, “Followup to the 

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station Fuel Damage Events.”

• Develop a communications plan.

• Update and brief internal stakeholders, as appropriate.

Expected Product and Schedule

The task force will provide its observations, conclusions, and recommendations in the form of a 

written report to the Deputy Executive Director for Reactor and Preparedness Programs at the 

completion of the 90-day near-term review.

During the development of its report, the task force will brief the Commission on the status of 

the review at approximately the 30- and 60-day points.

The report will be transmitted to the Commission via a SECY paper, and the task force will brief 

the Commission on the results of the near-term effort at approximately the 90-day point. The 

report will be released to the public via normal Commission processes.

The task force will recommend a framework for a longer-term review as a part of the 

near-term report. The longer-term review will begin as soon as the NRC has sufficient technical 

information from the events in Japan (with a goal of beginning by the end of the near-term 

review).

Staffing

The task force will consist of the following members: 

Leader Charles Miller FSME

Senior Managers Daniel Dorman NMSS

Jack Grobe NRR

 Gary Holahan NRO

Senior Staff Amy Cubbage NRO

Nathan Sanfilippo OEDO

Administrative Assistant Cynthia Davidson OGC

Additional task force members will be added as needed. For the near-term review, other staff 

members may be consulted on a part-time basis.
EDO Interface

The task force will keep agency leadership informed on the status of the effort and 

provide early identification of significant findings. The task force will report to Martin J. Virgilio, 

Deputy Executive Director for Reactor and Preparedness Programs.