NRC’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS ELECTS 

CHAIRMAN, VICE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBER-AT-LARGE 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards 

(ACRS) has elected Dr. Said Abdel-Khalik as Chairman, Dr. J. Sam Armijo as Vice-Chairman, 

and Mr. John W. Stetkar as Member-at-Large. 

 The ACRS advises the Commission independently from the NRC staff on the safety and 

safeguards aspects of nuclear facilities and the adequacy of safety standards. 

 Abdel-Khalik has over 35 years experience in mechanical and nuclear engineering with 

emphasis on reactor engineering and thermal hydraulics. He earned a master’s degree and 

doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971 and 1973, respectively, and 

remained as a faculty member until 1987. He joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as the 

Georgia Power Distinguished Professor in 1987 and was named the Southern Nuclear 

Distinguished Professor in 1993. Abdel-Khalik is a Fellow of both the American Nuclear Society 

and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is the recipient of numerous awards 

including the Glenn Murphy Award of the American Society for Engineering Education. 

 Armijo has over 40 years of nuclear power experience, and expertise in nuclear fuels, 

structural materials, water chemistry, and advanced nuclear power systems. He has received 

several awards for technical excellence that include General Electric’s Steinmetz Award, the W. 

J. Kroll Zirconium Medal, and the Industrial Research 100 Award. He was elected as a Fellow of 

the American Nuclear Society for the invention and commercialization of zirconium barrier fuel 

for boiling-water reactors. He received his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from 

Texas Western College, his master’s degree from the University of Arizona and his doctorate in 

materials science from Stanford University. 

 Stetkar is Principal of Stetkar & Associates, Lake Forest, Calif., and has more than 29 

years of experience as an engineering consultant. He is an internationally recognized expert in 

the fields of risk assessment and reliability analysis. Stetkar also serves as a technical expert for 

the International Atomic Energy Agency. Prior to his career as a consultant, he was a licensed 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 10-009 January 13, 2010
senior reactor operator and shift supervisor at Zion Nuclear Station in Illinois. He holds a 

bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, a master’s degree in nuclear engineering and an 

environmental engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The other members of the ACRS include: 

Dr. George Apostolakis, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Professor of Engineering Systems, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. 

Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the Energy 

Institute, City College of New York, City University of New York, N.Y. 

Mr. Dennis C. Bley, President, Buttonwood Consulting, Inc., Oakton, Va. 

Dr. Mario V. Bonaca, Retired Director of the Nuclear Engineering Department, Northeast 

Utilities, Hartford, Conn. 

Mr. Charles H. Brown, Jr., Senior Advisor in Electrical Systems at BMT Syntek Technologies 

Inc., Arlington, Va. 

Dr. Michael L. Corradini, Professor and Chair, Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics 

Program at University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

Dr. Dana A. Powers, Senior Scientist in the Nuclear Facilities Safety Department, Sandia 

National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. 

Mr. Harold Ray, Retired Chief Nuclear Officer at Southern California Edison, San Marino, Calif. 

Dr. Michael Ryan, adjunct faculty member at Texas A&M University and Vanderbilt University, 

Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Health Physics, Lexington, S.C. 

Dr. William Shack, Retired Argonne National Laboratory, Downers Grove, Ill. 

Mr. John Sieber, Retired Duquesne Light Company, Wexford, Pa. 

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