PNNL

Rob Howard, project manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has been named recipient of the 2022 Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Significant Contribution Award by the American Nuclear Society.

The award recognizes individuals and teams for a successful accomplishment that significantly advanced the scientific, engineering, societal, or regulatory aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle and/or nuclear waste management.

Howard received the award at the American Nuclear Society annual meeting in June.

He specifically received the award “for over 30 years of dedicated leadership and sustained efforts in advancing the technical basis for safe nuclear waste disposition.”

Howard, who joined PNNL in 2020, has more than 30 years of nuclear industry experience, including design implementation, modeling, safety analyses, testing, and licensing and regulatory interactions for nuclear and high-level radioactive waste management systems and facilities.

In 2021, Howard was selected as national technical director of the Integrated Waste Management program for the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Office—a program for which he has been an integral part since its inception.

Prior to joining PNNL, he was involved in projects, such as developing and submitting the license application for the Yucca Mountain High-Level Radioactive Waste Repository.