University Park, Pa. -- Gregory B. Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), will visit Penn State University Park on Thursday, Jan. 20. In conjunction with the visit, Jaczko will tour the Breazeale reactor and meet with nuclear engineering students and faculty.
The NRC is the federal agency charged with overseeing the safe operation of power and research reactors in the U.S., as well as certain radioactive materials. The chairman and his fellow NRC commissioners periodically visit power and research reactors to help better inform their decision-making regarding such facilities.
Jaczko became an NRC commissioner on Jan. 21, 2005, and was designated by President Obama as chairman on May 13, 2009. Before joining the NRC, he served as science policy adviser and appropriations director for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Born in Pennsylvania and raised in upstate New York, he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and philosophy from Cornell University and a doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His full biography is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/jaczko.html online.