Christian Nuclear Fellowship
Email Vic Uotinen Vic@Rivermont.org

 

 

Meeting at American Nuclear Society events since 1976
The Christian Nuclear Fellowship (CNF) is an informal, interdenominational group of evangelical Christians who work in the field of nuclear science
and technology and who want to encourage each other to faithfully follow Jesus Christ in both their private and public lives (including in their professional activities).
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CNF Advisory Committee

CNF ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS – Professional Biographical Sketches

DR. BENJAMIN J. (BEN) CROSS Since 1982, Ben has been involved in a broad range of nuclear related work activities: U.S. Navy nuclear propulsion, commercial nuclear power generation [LWR’s and a high temperature gas reactor (HGTR)], nuclear weapon’s materials production, fission and fusion R&D, and international nuclear nonproliferation. Currently, Ben is a DOE headquarters employee working on the Energy Park Initiative.  This work involves defining the Energy Park concept and developing the framework for its implementation.Prior to his current assignment with DOE, Ben was the Manager – Nuclear Energy Programs for Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) located in South Carolina.  Ben is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado.  He earned a BSME, MBA and a doctorate in International Business Administration. He has several published articles, technical and managerial, in peer reviewed journals. His current research interest is on the management of large-scale international scientific projects and the synergistic integration of energy systems.Ben has served the ANS in several leadership positions and is also a member ASME, INMM, Fusion Power Associates (FPA) where he is on the Board of Directors, and Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness (CNTA) where he participates on their Speakers Bureau. Ben and his wife, Laura, are actively involved in their local church, Midland Valley Church of the Nazarene, located in Clearwater, SC.  Ben has been on several overseas mission trips and to Navajo reservations in Arizona.  Since 2008, Ben has become very active in a prison ministry. He has been a participant in the Christian Nuclear Fellowship (CNF) since 2000.

Dr. STEVE BINNEY served on the nuclear engineering faculty of Oregon State University from 1973 until his retirement in 2002.  Before retirement, Steve was Director of the Radiation Center at OSU. Steve joined the American Nuclear Society (ANS) when he was a student at the University of California Berkeley. Since then, he has authored and presented numerous technical papers at ANS meetings over the years, has served as chairman of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division of the ANS, and was also a long-time member of the Professional Engineering Examination Committee.  Steve became active in the CNF in 1978 and has participated in a leadership role with the CNF ever since that time.  Steve holds a B.S. degree from Oregon State University (engineering physics) and a Masters and PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of California Berkeley.

Mr. JIM HARDEMAN has served in leadership positions in the American Nuclear Society’s Environmental Sciences Division and the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division. Jim has more than thirty years of experience in radiological emergency planning and response, radioactive waste management, environmental monitoring and criticality, shielding and structural analysis. He currently manages the Environmental Radiation Program in the Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Environmental Protection Division. Jim has been an active participant in the Christian Nuclear Fellowship since 1999. Jim has a Bachelor of Nuclear Engineering degree and a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering degree, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

Dr. NOLAN HERTEL taught for 14 years at the University of Texas at Austin and since 1993 at Georgia Tech, where he is currently a Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Health Physics. He has served the American Nuclear Society (ANS) mainly though his principal professional division, the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division, which he has served in many ways, including as Division Chair and Executive Committee member. Nolan has also presented many papers and organized and chaired a number of technical sessions at ANS meetings and conferences over the years.  Nolan has been attending CNF meetings since 1977 and has been actively involved in CNF activities ever since that time. He has a B.S. and M.S. from Texas A&M University and a PhD from the University of Illinois.

ROBERT HAYES,is a Principal Engineer at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) where he works in multiple engineering and health physics roles including, air monitoring, shielding, dosimetry, RAP, and nuclear criticality safety.  He also teaches physics as an adjunct professor at the University of the Southwest in Hobbs New Mexico ((a private Christian college). He has served as the local section chair of the Carlsbad section, program chair of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (RPSD) and chair of the RPSD.  He has also served as an executive member of the RPSD and the Carlsbad and Las Vegas local sections.  He was the Technical Program Chair (TPC) for the 2008 winter ANS meeting in Reno and the assistant TPC for the 2008 annual meeting.  He has also served as TPC for 2 RPSD topical meetings (in 2006 and 2010).  He also serves on the ANS joint benchmark committee, the PE writing exam committee and has chaired numerous sessions at ANS national meetings.  He has also worked at the Remote Sensing Laboratory in Las Vegas NV where he did testing and design of various radiation detectors and served on the primary federal response organization (FRMAC) for nuclear or radiological events of national interest.  Prior to all this, he worked as a research associate for the University of Utah heading up their Center for Applied Dosimetry’s electron paramagnetic resonance laboratory where he did extensive research in solid state dosimetry for retrospective assessments of human exposure.  He has authored and coauthored a large number of peer reviewed articles and is a publication referee for a number of journals.  He is a Certified Health Physicist by the American Board of Health Physics and a Licensed Professional Engineer in the states of Nevada and New Mexico in the field of Nuclear Engineering.  He received his BS degrees in physics and mathematics in 1994, an MS in physics in 1997 and his Ph.D in nuclear engineering in 1999, all from the University of Utah.  He is also a member of the Health Physics Society, American Physical Society, Institute of Physics, Creation Research Society, Christian Nuclear Fellowship and The Gideon’s International.

Mr. CARL MAZZOLA received a B. S. in meteorology from CCNY and an M.S. in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University. He has worked in the nuclear energy and nuclear weapons fields since 1973, when he joined Stone & Webster as a meteorologist and supported the licensing of a Wisconsin nuclear power plant. Carl is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist, American Meteorological Society and has more than 40 professional publications in the fields of atmospheric transport and diffusion, consequence assessment, environmental compliance, and risk assessment. Carl’s service to the American Nuclear Society (ANS) has ranged from presenting technical papers to organizing Topical Meetings to chairing two technical divisions of the ANS (ESD and DD&R) to being Chairman of the Nuclear Facilities Standards Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Professional Divisions Committee. He has also served on the ANS Membership Committee and the ANS Special Committee on Ethics, and currently serves on the Special Committee for Nuclear Non-Proliferation. Carl is currently a manager and senior consultant with Shaw Environmental Incorporated. He has been active in the CNF since 1988.

Ms. ANDREA PEPPER has served in leadership positions on a number of American Nuclear Society (ANS) committees, including past Chair of the Professional Women in ANS Committee and vice-chair of the National Program Committee.  She also served as Assistant Technical Program Chair for a 1991 Topical Meeting and for the national meeting in Philadelphia in 1995.  After twenty years in radiological emergency preparedness, primarily for the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, Andrea shifted to an academic career, and for the past eight years has been a physical science laboratory supervisor at Georgia Perimeter College in metro Atlanta. Andrea has been an active participant in the Christian Nuclear Fellowship since 1999.  She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in physics from Michigan State University.

Dr. CHARLES ROMBOUGH has been a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) since 1974, and is a founding member of the Christian Nuclear Fellowship. Charley has presented and published numerous papers at ANS meetings. He has chaired the ANS Reactor Physics Division and the Virginia local ANS section. Charley has also served on the ANS Public Information Committee, the ANS Special Committee on Ethics, and currently serves as Chair of two ANS Standards working groups. He is the founder and President of CTR Technical Services, Inc., which operates out of Manitou Springs, Colorado and provides consulting services to clients in several countries. Charley earned a B. S. in physics and M.S. and PhD degrees in nuclear engineering – all from the University of Texas.

Ms. BONNIE RUMBLE is a Past-Chair of the Membership Committee of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and served on the Executive Committees of the ANS’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Division and Waste Management Division. She was a charter member of Professional Women in ANS and chaired that group’s Subcommittee on Mentorship. Bonnie also served on the ANS Special Committee on Ethics 2001-2004. During her career, Bonnie has worked in manufacturing engineering, nuclear criticality safety, environmental emissions compliance and project management. She is currently a Senior Technical Consultant with the NISYS Corporation (a part of Enercon Services, Inc.), providing technical and management services to government and commercial nuclear facilities. Bonnie has a B.A. degree in physics from Taylor University and an M.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Mr. HOWARD SHAFFER, currently an independent consultant in Nuclear Public Outreach, a former nuclear submarine Engineer Officer, served for many years as a nuclear Startup Engineer and Systems Engineer for a number of nuclear power plants. Howard, a long-time member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), was appointed as the ANS 2001 AAAS Congressional Fellow, serving on the House Committee on Science, Energy Subcommittee.  He has presented papers at ANS meetings, served on the Ethics Committee of the ANS and on several Standards committees, as well as serving the ANS in several other capacities. Howard has participated in CNF activities for some twenty years and has made many valuable contributions to our activities during this time.  Howard did his nuclear engineering undergraduate work at Duke University and his graduate work at MIT.  He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Nuclear Engineering in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Illinois

Mr. VIC UOTINEN founded the CNF in 1976 and has served as the coordinator (director) of CNF activities since that time. Vic has served on the Executive Committees of two technical divisions of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) - the Reactor Physics Division and the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division. He also served three years on the ANS Special Committee on Ethics (which he chaired 2003-2004). During his career in the nuclear technology field, Vic worked for Battelle Northwest, Babcock & Wilcox, and Framatome (the predecessor of Areva), and published several journal articles and many technical papers on topics related to reactor physics, plutonium recycle and various other aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Now serving full-time as Director of Missions at his church, Vic still serves on the ANS Membership Committee. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and also completed additional graduate studies at the University of Michigan (in physics) and the University of Washington (in nuclear engineering).

Dr. ALAN WALTAR served as President of the 16,000 member American Nuclear Society (ANS) during 1994-1995. He was Professor and Head, Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University from 1998 to 2002. Alan served on the ANS Ethics Committee and has been a member of the CNF Advisory Committee since the 1980s.  Alan has authored several books and numerous technical papers. He was instrumental in the formation of the World Nuclear University Summer Institute (SI) and has served as a mentor and a member of its faculty for several years. Alan currently serves as consultant to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Sustainable Nuclear Power Initiative), the International Atomic Energy Agency (recent Chair of Nuclear Knowledge Management Working Group), the U.S. Department of Energy (Independent Review Group for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership), and several private nuclear firms. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, an M.S. in nuclear engineering from MIT, and a PhD in engineering science from the University of California Berkeley.

Dr. ROBERT WILSON has held several leadership positions within the American Nuclear Society (ANS), starting with his service as chairman of the student branch of the ANS at UCLA. Since then, he has served in various offices in ANS local sections in Idaho and Colorado and on the national level as Chair of the Nuclear Criticality and Safety Division (twice). Bob also served on the ANS Special Committee on Ethics for three years. He has presented many technical papers at national and international conferences, chaired many technical sessions, served as general chair and program chair of Topical Meetings, and is currently Program Manager for Criticality Safety at the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.  Bob was a founding member of the Christian Nuclear Fellowship, having attended the inaugural meeting of that group in 1976, and has made many valuable contributions at CNF activities over the years.   His degrees are from UCLA (B.S. and M.S. in engineering physics) and the University of Washington (Ph.D. in nuclear engineering).

Advisory Committee members NOT in
the photo are:

Howard Shaffer
Bob Wilson
Steve Binney
Bob Long
Jim Hardeman
Bonnie Rumble



L to R Charley Rombough, Carl Mazzola, Andrea Pepper, Alan Waltar, Nolan Hertel and Vic Uotinen
 

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Last modified: 12/10/16