Eric Loewen, president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), visited the NPRE Department on Tuesday, March 27, to chat with faculty members and present seminars for undergraduate and graduate students.
Loewen told stories about his own career path in national laboratories and industry, including tales of fortuitous mistakes and “problems that led to patents.” Meeting with undergraduates, Loewen, a proponent of fast reactors as one solution in recycling radioactive used nuclear fuel, spoke on “Heavy-Metal Nuclear Power: Could Reactors Burn Radioactive Waste to Produce Electric Power and Hydrogen?”
He also urged students to join ANS: “You’re coming here to get a degree to have a career. You need to be a member of a professional society.” Loewen encouraged the students to join him at the ANS 2012 Student Conference to be held in April in Las Vegas.
At the graduate student seminar, Loewen made a case for reforming the nation’s ALARA regulation that requires every reasonable effort be made to maintain radiation exposures and releases of radioactive materials to “as low as reasonably achievable.” This standard results in costly bureaucracy and can risk thorough inspections of nuclear facilities in exchange for low dose exposures, Loewen maintained.
Putting forth his own opinion rather than the policy of any particular organization, Loewen held that enforcing exposure limits would be a preferable alternative to ALARA. He acknowledged his position is controversial.
Loewen is Chief Consulting Engineer for General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he leads GEH’s effort to deploy the integral fast reactor, PRISM.
In policy leadership, in 2006 the George C. Marshall Institute selected Loewen as its fellow to provide consultation and prepare policy papers on domestic and international issues relating to energy policy, nuclear safety, and climate change technology development. Loewen has been an Advisory Member, Environmental Literacy Council, where he provided technical advice for promoting improvement in the science and economic information used in environmental education and public discourse.
Loewen also served as the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Leader at UN Climate Change Conferences. In 2010, Loewen was invited to meet with members of the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. Loewen’s contributions have garnered him numerous honors and awards. He is widely published, holds four patents, and is sought after for speaking engagements including several Congressional testimonies.
ANS appointed Loewen as its Congressional Fellow to the U.S. Senate in 2005. Part of his responsibility was to provide expertise to Senator Chuck Hagel on issues relating to science and technology. Loewen was instrumental in successful inclusion of Hagel’s Climate Change Legislation in the Energy Policy Act.
Loewen has a long involvement with ANS, joining in 1987 as a student; he was Chair of the University of Wisconsin Student Section, Chair of ANS’s National Membership Committee, Chair of the Idaho Section of ANS, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2003. He was appointed to the Finance Committee and elected Treasurer in 2007, a position he resigned upon his election as Vice President/President Elect. Loewen is among the youngest Presidents elected to head ANS.
Loewen has worked as a nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy and for national laboratories. In 1999 he joined Idaho National Laboratory as Consulting Engineer to research advanced nuclear concepts and deployment of proliferation-resistant nuclear fuels, and to support the Presidential-level program on Climate Change Technology. His final position at Idaho was as Systems Integration Manager where he integrated research and development activities of four national labs for the Lead Fast Reactor, managed a budget of $1.3 million, and supported the update of the State of Idaho Energy Plan.
In the scholarly arena, Loewen has served as an affiliate faculty at Idaho State University and as adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla.