No. IV-13-009

Contact: Victor Dricks (817) 200-1128

 Lara Uselding (817) 200-1519

 

March 26, 2013

 E-Mail: OPA4@nrc.gov

NRC NAMES ARTHUR T. HOWELL AS REGION IV ADMINISTRATOR

Arthur T. Howell, a 28-year veteran of the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, has been named the new Administrator 

of the NRC’s Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. He succeeds 

Elmo E. Collins, who retires on March 31.

“Over the course of his career, Art Howell has repeatedly 

demonstrated an exemplary commitment to technical and 

managerial excellence,” said William Borchardt, the NRC’s 

Executive Director for Operations. “The experience he has 

gained in a wide variety of NRC assignments will serve the 

agency well.”

Howell was named Deputy Regional Administrator in Region IV in December 

2010.

NRC’s Region IV office is responsible for the inspection and safety assessment of 

14 nuclear power plant sites (21 reactors). Region IV covers 22 states, including Alaska 

and Hawaii, overseeing the inspection and licensing of medical, academic and industrial 

users of radioactive materials. Sixteen of those states are Agreement States, which 

implement the NRC’s materials inspection and licensing programs. Region IV also 

licenses and evaluates nuclear power plant control room operators. 

Howell graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of 

Science degree in 1979. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy nuclear power 

program as a submarine officer and then worked briefly for Pacific Bell and the Impell 

Corporation. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in National Security Studies from 

Georgetown University in 1990. 

Howell joined the NRC in 1985 in the Office of Inspection and Enforcement as an 

inspector. After an NRC reorganization in 1987, he became a member of the Diagnostic 

Evaluation and Incident Investigation Branch, where he served as a team leader for several 

NRC NEWS

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NRC Diagnostic Evaluations of power reactor facilities. In 1988, he became a member of 

the technical staff of NRC Region IV, where he has held positions of increasing 

responsibility.

Throughout the 1990s, Howell served as a host country coordinator for numerous 

delegations from Russia, Ukraine and Armenia, and led a number of joint nuclear safety 

initiatives between the United States and Russia.

Howell was selected for the Senior Executive Service in 1996 when he was named the 

Deputy Director, Division of Reactor Projects in Region IV. He was subsequently selected as the 

Director, Division of Reactor Safety in March 1997. Following the completion of a temporary 

assignment as the NRC’s team leader for the Davis-Besse Reactor Pressure Vessel Head 

Degradation Lessons-Learned Task Force, Howell was named as the Director, Division of 

Reactor Projects in NRC Region IV, effective November 2002. Howell was named as the 

Director, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety in NRC Region IV, effective June 2008. 

He is a 2003 and 2010 recipient of the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious

Executive.

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