 We won't be doing any live polling today, at least in this session, so no worry about that. And just so everyone is aware, questions from both the in-person and the virtual participants will flow into the same queue. So the questions received represent the total session audience. So there's no specific priority to the questioning. Speaking of that, that queue is led up by Sarah Obadina. She's the session coordinator for today. Sarah is the former resident inspector at Calvert Cliffs. She works with me now in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and Division Reactor Oversight Inspection Branch. My name is Zach Holcraft. I am your chair. I'm the resident inspector program lead, and I've been in this role since 2020. Prior to that, I was the last senior resident inspector at Three Mile Island Unit 1. Prior to that, I was the resident inspector at Calaway Plant out in Region 4. Prior to that, I was a resident inspector development program project engineer in the Region 4 office in Arlington, Texas. At this time, I would like to turn the microphone over to the Honorable David A. Wright. Commissioner Wright was first sworn in as a commissioner on May 30th of 2018. He is currently serving a term ending in June 30th of 2025. Commissioner Wright was owner and president of Wright Directions, LLC, a strategic consulting policy development and communications business focusing on energy and water. During this time, he was also a member of the Advisory Council on the Bipartisan Policy Center's Nuclear Waste Initiative, and an ex-officio member and chairman emeritus of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, and an ad hoc organization representing the interests of industry, state officials, local governments, and tribes, and consumer advocates. From 2004 to 2013, Commissioner Wright served the South Carolina Public Service Commission in a variety of capacities, including vice chairman and chairman. From 2011 to 2012, he served as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He had previously served the Association in other capacities, including as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. From 2010 to 2013, Commissioner Wright was a member of the Advisory Board of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Research Institute. Previously, he was elected councilman and mayor in Irma, South Carolina, and to the South Carolina House of Representatives. For those of us who have had a pleasure to know Commissioner Wright, know that he is a colon cancer survivor. He is an advocate for cancer awareness and education and a former member of the Leadership Council for the Cancer Centers of the University of South Carolina. He was presented with the Community Champions Award by Molina Healthcare of South Carolina in 2016 and the Blue Star Service Excellence Award by the USC Center for Colon Cancer Research in 2014. In 1996, he received South Carolina's highest citizen honor, the Order of the Palmetto. Commissioner Wright received a bachelor's degree in political science from Clemson University. Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Wright. Thank you so much. Good morning. Good afternoon now, right? Good afternoon. So thanks, Zach. It's an honor to be with you here this afternoon in this special breakout session on the first day of the RIC, celebrating the 50th year anniversary of the resident inspector program. And I'm pumped to be able to kick this special session off. 50 years. Wow, that's a long time. In the time that I have today, I'd like to take you back to the first class of on-site resident inspectors. These are the folks that began work after the conclusion of the Atomic Energy Commission's 1974 pilot program, which you'll hear more about later in the panel. So let me set the scene. The year is 1978, and the NRC is still in its infancy. Some other things that were going on in the world around that time. Jimmy Carter was president, and Walter Mondale was vice president. The comic strip Garfield made its debut. The Bee Gees had several hit songs, including Night Fever and Stayin' Alive. Argentina won the World Cup, defeating the Netherlands three to one. Diane Keaton won an Oscar for Best Actress in Her Role in Annie Hall. The average cost of a new house in the United States, and this is painful, $55,000. For you baseball fans out there like me, 1978 was the year that the Yankees overcame a 14-game deficit against the Red Sox and went on to win the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And Bucky Dent was the World Series MVP, if you remember. The world was clearly a different place than so was the nuclear industry in the United States. The safety and performance of the fleet were not what they are today. Today we're used to seeing capacity factors of around 95 percent or so. Back then it was probably more like 55 percent. Plant trips and forced maintenance outages were common and were undermining public confidence and trust. Impo hadn't even been created yet, and licensees were struggling to improve everything from operations to chemistry. As a nation we had a lot to learn about nuclear reactors. With that backdrop I want to tell you a story about one of the NRC's first resident inspectors. He started in the NRC's first cohort of residents in 1978. He was 27 years old, and he had degrees in electrical and nuclear engineering. Some things at the NRC never change. We have multi-degree people all over the place. Like other members of the first resident cohort, he had been recruited because he had experience, having worked at Argonne National Lab Southwest of Chicago. At that time, the goal for resident inspectors was to have the same plant knowledge as a licensed senior reactor operator or SRO. The training was intense and difficult. There was no NRC Technical Training Center. So the candidates split their time between classroom training at the NRC's east-west towers in Maryland, which you can see in the photo. Is it up there? Who's running the photos? Unfortunately, we didn't get the updated slides. Well, that's too bad. They were really good photos. And the simulators at Sequoia, which were owned and operated by TVA. Because TVA also had to train and qualify their own operators, it was difficult to get simulator time, and the NRC could only rent the midnight shift. It wasn't easy, and it required long hours and personal sacrifice. Half of the class washed out, but our inspector persevered. He completed the training and was assigned to the Davis-Bessie Nuclear Power Station in Ohio. When he arrived on site, he was truly on an island. There were no senior residents at that time and no site admins either. He was it. At that time, there were also no regulations requiring licensees to provide the NRC with office space. So he was assigned to a small, poorly insulated trailer. In the winter, cold wind and snow would blow in through the gaps in the window frame and under the door. It didn't bother him, though. He was focused on the NRC's mission of protecting the public's health and safety. Back then, there was no relocation assistance program either. One member of the first cohort got stuck paying two mortgages for a lengthy period of time. He tried to downplay the situation, but unbeknownst to him, his wife wrote a letter to the chairman informing him about the problem. This started the wheels turning and eventually led to some of the relocation programs that we have in place today. This was especially important back then because residents' tours of duty were only three years, not the seven years that we have in place today. Our inspector loved the work and felt a deep sense of purpose and mission, but life wasn't easy. Of course, there were no computers, no internet, so he had to handwrite his inspection reports and physically lick them and mail them to the Region 3 office where they were typed up on NRC letterhead. Then they were mailed again, this time to NRC headquarters where they were kept in our document room so that interested members of the public could read them. The region also sent copies to the local library in the small town near the site where local citizens could read them as well. Eventually, our resident received a high-tech device known as a fax machine, which could send papers at the blazing speed of six minutes per page. Site coverage was also not easy. With no senior resident to work with, he had to coordinate site coverage with the regional office. He had a beeper provided by the licensee that they would use to notify him about a plant trip or some other event. He worked back shift hours, but there was no first 40 schedule at the time, so many of these hours were unpaid. He was not deterred though because he loved the mission. After completing his tour, he returned to the region where he was promoted to section chief. He continued to work his way up the ranks and ultimately ended up serving over 30 years at the NRC. Anybody want to guess what I'm talking about? It's Luis Reyes. Where are you at? Is he in here? Where is he at? Luis in here? So, I told you the story because I wanted to talk about selfless service, and I believe Luis embodies that. Like Luis, our residents are on the front line. They are our eyes and ears, our boots on the ground, and it can't be overstated just how important that is. Our residents make sacrifices that deserve to be recognized too. Whether it's moving kids to a new school or asking a spouse to change jobs, it isn't easy. And I, for one, want you to know that I appreciate what you do. As you can tell by this story, the resident inspector program has come a long way, but we aren't done yet. I know that we've taken some important steps lately to improve the quality of life for residents, and I'm hopeful that we can do more. So, let me close by saying thank you to any of you who have been a resident or are a resident today. I see you and I appreciate all that you do. Thank you very much. I think the best of the situation, unfortunately, yeah, his slides could get in, but I do want to point out this picture. I could have chosen just the headshot for Commissioner Wright, but I love this photo of Commissioner Wright out in the field with Mack Reed out of V.C. Summer. Commissioner Wright likes to do his day in the life tours where he comes out and he visits with the residents. He's by himself. I actually talked to Mack after Commissioner did this tour with him. He said, Commissioner, you know, Commissioner called him the night before and said, what do I need to do? Mack told him, I get there at 6 a.m. and Commissioner said, okay. And he came out and he shadowed Mack all day. They did inspections. They walked around. They talked to people. And he really did live his life, you know, as a resident for that day. So everyone up here on this podium today has a resident-spectre experience. Commissioner Wright, I would say, honorarily has at least a day's worth of resident-spectre experience. And I know he's done a couple of them, at least four days. Three days. All right. So we'll go back to the beginning. Obviously, from the title of this panel, it's the 50th anniversary of the resident-spectre program. Why did we choose this year as the 50th anniversary? In 1974, the Atomic Energy Commission, not the NRC, the Atomic Energy Commission. So the resident-spectre program actually predates the NRC by one year. The AEC Director of Regulatory Operations initiated a trial program of resident-spectre. Two inspectors were located in the proximity of four plants. The first of these, Mr. Dwayne C. Boyd, was assigned as the resident-spectre at the Kowani and Point Beach sites in June of that year. Mr. Boyd assumed this role, and in September of 1974, an additional resident-spectre was assigned to the Palisades and D.C. Cook facilities. This trial program was terminated in October of 1976, and of us being the NRC, an evaluation of this trial period was performed and yielded the following benefits. On-site inspection time increased, inspector knowledge of the plant increased, and NRC awareness of plant status and problems improved. I think that's a pretty, those are some pretty obvious conclusions, you know, some easy benefits for having folks on-site. The following year in 1977, President Carter asked the NRC to implement a program that would place resident-spectres of power reactors in other nuclear sites. The staff provided five proposals to the commission for consideration. I'd like to run through those proposals real quick just to give you an idea of the realms of possibility that we had in 1977. So five options, and they recommended option three. So option one was basically status quo, which was no resident-spectres. We would continue with team inspections from the regional offices. Option two was similar to what the pilot program was, where we would have semi-residents at satellite offices that would cover multiple sites. Option three is very similar to what we have today, it was the recommendation, and that's devoted, you know, full-time resident-spectres on-site at each reactor facility. Option four, this is where it gets really, you could see the realms of possibility in 1977. Option four was 24-7 coverage on-site at every reactor facility under construction and operating. Option five, and this was actually a proposal from a citizens group, was 24-7 inspector coverage in the control room, and the most extreme of that version was that that individual would have authority to shut down the plant due to safety concerns. Just, I think it's fascinating to think about, as the commissioner alluded to in his talk, you know, it was a different time in the 1970s. In this paper, the benefits that were provided to the commission for this decision-making was increased NRC knowledge of conditions at a licensee facility and better technical basis for regulatory action, lessened reliance on the accuracy and completeness of licensee records by improving the inspector's ability to independently verify licensee performance. That one, it's a lot of words to basically describe being able to observe licensees in the field, observe the operators, the technicians in the field performing their revolutions, was seen as much better than reviewing paperwork after the fact. Additional assurance that licensee management control systems are effective and that licensee performance is acceptable, and lastly, improved NRC posture is relative to incident response. Our first panelist today is Scott Morris. He serves as the deputy executive director for reactors and preparedness programs, the DEEDR, and the office of the executive director for operations where he leads the NRC offices of NRR, nuclear reactor regulation, nuclear security and incident response, ENSER, and the NRC's four regional offices. Mr. Morris previously served as the regional administrator in region four and director of the division of inspection and regional support, my former boss, in the office of the nuclear of NRR. He's also held several senior management positions in ENSER and most importantly, was a resident and senior resident inspector. Scott, I've done a lot of research obviously in my position as a resident inspector program lead and it's led to this panel today. One of the reasons I've done that is I really want to try and nail down what our original thought and intent was regarding the purpose of the resident inspector program. These four benefits that I've put up here are the best that I could find in those original documents. So my question to you to kick this off is what do you believe are the primary purposes of the resident inspector program? And I guess maybe a better question is what's the importance of the resident inspector program to you as the DEEDR? Yeah, thanks, Zach. Appreciate the introduction and the questions. Well, first of all, I would say that my answer would align pretty closely with the original proposals. I mean, and Commissioner Wright mentioned eyes and ears, boots on the ground, whether you like those terms or not. And it's a presence in the field for a significant fraction of time that in and of itself has a lot of benefits. And I think one of the purposes is having that sort of global knowledge of all things that are going on, sort of keeping a big picture of all the different things that are going on in a site. And maybe something we don't talk a lot about. But, you know, in addition to following up on trips and transients and events and watching maintenance and watching evolutions in the control room, looking at how radiation protection gets done, how security gets done, you know, any and all of those things on any given day. It's really the thing we don't probably talk about a lot, but I think is hugely important. And for me, one of the key purposes is those individuals that serve as resident inspectors have the opportunity to listen to conversations, look at how decisions are getting made at the licensee facilities and really get a sense of the safety culture. We don't have a, you know, a direct baseline inspection really on safety culture and that's fine. But in addition to all the things I mentioned, I think that in and of itself is a really important aspect of the job. Because it gives me a sense as deeter for one thing. For one thing I can say when people ask me or challenge me, well, why is this plant safe? My first answer almost always is because I have, we have people, highly trained and skilled people who work at that facility every day. They live in the community. They send their kids to the schools in the community. They own property in the community, et cetera. And that, and they wouldn't do that if they didn't think it was safe. They wouldn't put their own family in harm's way if they didn't think it was safe. So for me, it all boils down to credibility as an independent objective, credible regulator. Having that presence in the field on a very regular basis who understands the complexities and nuances of a particular site or plant has access to senior leadership at the plant. Through middle management down to first line supervision to individuals working in the field in the control room, that type of access and that type of opportunity to engage the licensee staff in that way. In addition to looking at the full breadth of technical work that they do, for me it gives us the credibility we need to be an independent objective regulator. And we leverage the fact that we have resident inspectors at these sites all the time, whether it's in media interactions, public interactions, interactions with our congressional oversight committees, you name it. Thanks, Scott. When you were talking about safety culture, a jog to memory, I had a conversation with a former resident inspector today. We talked about the fact that the most readily apparent judgment that we have inspectors on site is we have our quarterly integrated inspection reports and we document our findings in there. And what he was alluding to is the fact that those, you know, findings aren't the only way that a resident inspector can monitor, you know, provide oversight on the site and ensure that the site is acting safely. Yeah, so I'm glad you brought that up because I should have said this as well, is I think the mere fact that there is an office on site with the light on inside and the door open that says nuclear regulatory commission on it, and knowing that there's somebody in the NRC parked in the NRC parking spot and out in the outside the fence, and that there's someone or some buddies with wearing white hats with the letters NRC walking around the plant. I think it's impactful just in and of itself on what happens at a site. It's kind of like we've all we all probably drive and if I had a police officer in my backseat all the time I might change a little bit about how I how firmly I come to the stop sign. So it's impactful. Just the mere presence you stole my thunder Scott that's going to be in my slide a couple slides from now. Fantastic. No, no, no, no, it's it's it's it's it's kind of it's a buried point but it's very important one. So, fast forward the Commission approved the staff's recommendation recommendation three, and that initial approval was for a nationwide pilot. Originally it was supposed to be eight sites. It was later expanded to 20. And it was supposed to be baby steps we were going to implement and this was the this was the initial cohort that Luis Reyes was a part of it. We were going to implement test it out slowly build the program up but then March 24 1979 occurred and the timeline got escalated. The thing that I find so interesting about this time period is the resident inspector program so yeah the Commission directed the staff to go to full implementation right away to skip the pilot go go go full. And so we had the staff I think it was 139 resident inspectors at all the operating and sites under construction at the time. And we had to do it in a year or two. I just I cannot imagine. I'm running a fully running program that's 50 years old. I couldn't imagine starting from scratch having to write the procedures the programs, hiring all these people we didn't have the staff to fill these roles we had to hire. We had the backfill we had to come up with policies we had to we had to write at the commissioner alluded to rule we wrote 10 CFR 50 70 inspections to require licensees to provide office space if there's a resident inspector on site. We had to do all these things rapidly. We had to do it during a time where this was just one of the things that we were working on as an agency. And I mean as the commissioner alluded to by this time we might not have been in our infancy but we were certainly still a toddler. So I just it would have been an interesting time to be in the NRC I think. With that I'd like to introduce our next panel member. Billy Dixon is a branch chief in the division of operating reactor safety in region three in the Lyle Illinois. Since joining the NRC in 1996 he has held most importantly positions as a resident inspector at Dresden senior resident inspector at Clinton power station and senior resident at Bradwood nuclear station. He's also been a branch chief in the region three division of reactor safety and division reactor projects. He's also a recent graduate of the SES candidate candidate development program. Billy as a former resident and now as a current leader of resident inspectors as a branch chief to residents. What does it take to be a resident inspector. What makes a good one. Thank you for the questions act. So based on my experience as a resident inspector senior resident inspector and an individual who actually currently supervised resident inspector. I think it's very important that resident inspectors must maintain and develop and maintain an understanding of how basic nuclear power plant and operations provide for the protection of public health and safety inherent in that. You must have to have the ability to apply concepts from various technical areas. So an understanding of science and engineering fundamentals are essential. The second attribute I believe it takes to be a resident inspector is that you must master the art of collecting analyzing and integrating code information from various resources such as codes and standards. In order to make an informed supportable regulatory decision. This is important for all of our residents all of our inspector types. But it's especially important because of the resident inspector and the number of different technical fields and situations that they have to deal with in performing their everyday duties. The last attribute that I'll actually talk about this major attribute we're going to discuss today. I believe that the resident inspectors have to exhibit good personal and interpersonal skills while conducting the regulatory regulatory activities. They have to do this at individuals and have to do this part of the team. They have to be able to clearly express their thoughts and ideals. They have to be effective listeners and they have to speak and write with the appropriate safety focus and context. Within our NRC you often heard and you've heard today that the resident inspectors are the eyes and ears of the agency. I often counsel and remind my resident inspectors that they're on site. They are the face of the NRC. The resident inspectors actually interact with all levels of plant employees from the maintenance department. All the disciplines in the maintenance department the engineering disciplines. They actually have have interactions with the radio radio protection health physics personnel on site and all levels of management. And it is very important that the resident inspectors be able to maintain positive positive and professional relationships with plant staff. Those are the attributes that I believe you have to have to be a resident inspector. You did ask what it takes to be a good resident inspector. They have to master all of those attributes. But there's another attribute that I've found as a supervisor that I think makes a resident inspector a very effective resident inspector. Those who can work independently make a great resident inspectors. Those who actually can exemplify teamwork make a great resident inspector and those who exhibit flexibility and adaptability. As a resident inspector resident inspectors deal with a lot of different circumstances. They do have to understand what's going on the plant want what goes on goes on at a plant. But at the same time they need to be able to adapt because of all types of issues equipment failures and having to deal with abnormal operating occurrences. So that's what I believe actually makes an effective resident inspector. And thank you for the question. Thanks Billy. You know as a branch chief I remember back to my days both as a junior officer in the Navy and then later as a resident inspector and senior resident. And probably the hardest thing for me to learn was that it was never wrong to call the branch chief. And I remember you know my claw board every single question is like what would you do in the situation. Well I'd first call my branch chief. And then they say well what if you didn't pick up. I think that was a great answer. You touch on a lot of things that I was thinking about one of the things that I'm often reminded of is you know we've had a big focus. I'm becoming a much more modern risk informed regulator. And it's been interesting. You know I was a resident as we started that process of change and cultural change and obviously I moved on to my current position now. And I find conversations with residents they're always struggling to find what that means to them. And one of the things that I constantly remind them and others about is that resident specters have always been risk informed. You know it's a resident inspector for 50 years now has had to separate the wheat from the chaff very quickly. They look they see so much information coming in. You know if you're at a two unit site and you're reviewing their corrective action database on a daily basis. There could be a hundred condition reports that you're screening through in that in that moment. You know those couple of minutes and you have to pick out those important ones. You have to do that risk informed decision making right there on the spot. And use that knowledge and that technical basis and that training that you have to figure out. Oh this one's important. And this is what this one takes a follow up. And you know this one about the paint being the wrong color in the cafeteria. I can probably put someone else handle. And so I think you really nailed it there. I did want to bring up I had the pleasure of receiving this very old and yellow document earlier this week on. It's it's some of the original training that the commissioner had alluded to for the resident specters in 1977. So this is a memorandum for the for inspectors from Ernst Vogel now the director of the office of inspection enforcement. I just want to read the first paragraph. It's obviously very thick document. As an NRC inspector you are a vital contributor to nuclear safety. You and other NRC inspectors form the cutting edge of our regulatory program because you are located in the field where you can personally observe and improve the performance of licenses. In order to properly fulfill your responsibilities you must have at least three important qualities. Honesty devotion to duty and professional knowledge. And then obviously the rest of the book is about how to how to have those three things. So 1980 the programs getting staffed. And we actually wrote a report to Congress Congress was very interested in this program and it's a process especially falling through my island. And so in that we had a section where we talked about industry perception on the benefits of the program. Perhaps also some of the issues that some of the other feedback industry had for the implementation of the program. But in their discussion of the actual benefits that the industry offered up they said better communication increased focus on requirements in the field that gets back to this concept of date. They noticed like Scott was saying having that inspector over their shoulder or someone who could be in the field at any moment watching them perform work in the field. Industry leadership commented that the focus among their technicians and their operators shifted from ensuring that evolutions were properly documented which had been the previous primary means that we provided oversight. To actually being done appropriately in the field the first time you know like in the moment they were more focused on doing the right thing in the moment. And that was a widespread piece of feedback minimal regulatory burden. I thought this is a very interesting comment. It really had to do with the idea that you know when you have a resident inspector on site they there's some time they're going to take to familiarize themselves with that licensees programs and processes. But once they're ingrained into all of that they don't need so much support from the licensee to track down documents or look for things or find their way around the plant. One of the unfortunate drawbacks with team inspections even today is that there is a period of time of preparation where the team inspectors have to get caught up and they have to learn the licensees processes and procedures before they can perform an effective inspection. And so taking a lot of that away the licensees really felt like that was a major plus ongoing observation of correction of problems. The ability of a resident inspector to see something happen real time and then see how that licensee responds how they documented in the corrective action program how they prioritize it how they determine the cause and they perform and they determine the corrective actions. That resident inspector can follow that whole process and hold the licensee accountable and make sure they're doing the right things licensees could see improvement in that process. There was a lot more follow up in the corrective action program and of course more informed NRC response. Again this idea of you know having a subject matter expert that's part of the licensee that's right there to be able to provide that expertise in a moment's notice should something happen. My next panelist is Mr. George Wilson. He's the vice president of regulatory affairs and licensing for terror power. He has almost four decades of government and private sector experience in the field of nuclear energy before joining terror power. He was a senior executive at the NRC where he served in multiple roles in licensing oversight and of course for the nuclear facilities. Before that more importantly he was a resident inspector before working for the NRC. Mr. Wilson served in various capacities for the Tennessee Valley Authority at the Watts Bar nuclear plant including operations and maintenance. Mr. Wilson started his nuclear career as a member of the United States nuclear Navy. George acknowledging that your company does not currently have any sites with resident inspectors perhaps he could still provide some industry perspective on the value that resident inspectors bring. Thinking about these bullets and what they meant back then and what they mean today. Do you have any thoughts about whether or not these are still good things? Are there others? Are there ways we could be doing it better? Yeah, thanks Zach. I did talk to some of my colleagues to get a more robust answer. You know the residents are in the public. They do public outreach once a year. There's normally a readily assessment meeting where they're available to the public. They distil public confidence. They remind the public they live in the area. They do communications through reports. They're quarterly reports or inspections. So the big deal is they live there and it instills public confidence through different ways. It's also beneficial for the residents to provide a trending exercise. They look at everything that a licensee does. It's an independent set of eyes looking at processes and procedures and programs and observations. So, you know, the major objective for both the licensee and the residents is the safe operation of the plan. So they're both after the same thing. So a resident can provide a lot of observations and trending that then the licensee can use and you do problems at a smaller level before they become a larger level. So that's where the value that they're adding. The more experience that they got, the bigger broad that they've been to a bunch of different, you know, so you're getting like benchmarking done because most residents or seniors have done inspections at various places. So they actually get their own best practices and during some of the observations they could say, hey, I've seen this work here, here and here. It might not work at your plant, but it gives you some things to potentially try to correct what you can do and enhance some of your programs at the plant. So, yeah, we do see that they still have value. Thanks, George. That's great. You touched on some of the ideas of the public. And so did Scott. So I had this question. I really wanted to provide a slide on this, but the research to prep a slide on this would have been just a little too much. You know, it's commonplace for any time there's an issue at a site and we put out a press release. It's almost become a throwaway line, but it's super important. At the very end we say something along the lines of resident inspectors are on site and valid and independently verifying that the site is safe. How important do you think that it is to the public and I guess to us and to the industry? So I guess I'll start with Scott. I'll put you on the spot. How important is it to us to be able to tell the public that? Well, I mean, I think it's essential, but not but. And I think that the acceptance of an operating nuclear facility in any given community is different. You know, there's a diverse, there's a wide range of how well a plant is accepted in their community versus not. And but in every case, it's important to remind folks that that we do have this resource at the at these facilities. And in the cases where and I would also say that in probably the vast majority of people in the community. Don't really think about it. They don't maybe don't even care that much about it. But the ones that do and the ones that are active and vocal and engaged and really interested in the safe operation of the plant. That's where I think our residents play a hugely important role because they in my experience, my own personal experience as a resident and senior resident and all the oversight related jobs I've had in the in the subsequently. That is one of the things that they I have they always tell me that they appreciate is to establish a rapport at that level. They know that they have this this person that they trust they have a rapport with that's working at that facility that is objective independent not quote unquote captured by the licensees culture whatever that may be. So that that to me is it's huge. So I think we have to it is that it is important enough that yes it may be try. Yes, it may look like boilerplate language and press releases, but it's vital. I 100% agree. I'm reminded I think back during the early days of covid and we ordered everyone to come home. The residents still were going in because it was so important that we reassured the public that we still had inspectors on site performing independent verification. They they they took precautions. They didn't go in as often, but they still did touch the site on a regular basis and make sure that the licensees who are still operating their sites doing it safely. I always think back on that as just a true sign of how important this program still is to us. So yeah, George. My question to you, I guess is more, you know, there's this concept that a strong regulator kind of lifts all boats, if you will, you know, it helps the industry because it helps to assure the public is. Do you think that that's still true that that helps the industry to show that we're we're out there providing independent verification. Yeah, yes, I do. I think it does help. You know, it also in those in those annual assessments in the public outreach, you know, they, you know, when the NRC reminds, hey, look, that they come to me and talk to me anytime just like Scott was talking about. They're in the office. You can come and talk to me about any issue. You know, we're there. So it's not, you know, from the NRC side. So from the ministry side, like I said, that public reassurance is a big deal. They can go talk to the NRC about anything. So it's just not one thing. So the public confidence. Hey, look, once again, they're all out there for the safe operations. It's independently verified. You know, that's a big deal. Thanks. Thanks, George. Yes. The other thing I was reminded of that you mentioned, Scott, the number of times that I've had someone say I didn't realize that we had resident inspectors on site. But now that I know that I feel safer, which I guess that's part of the reason why we're here today. Is to make it more, make it more plain to the public and everyone that we still have resident inspectors on site. So I want to touch on something that is, you know, has always been there. You know, it's one of the reasons why my position exists is to try to provide focus on the program and to make sure that the program stays healthy. From its initial implementation, it's it's the resident spectrum program has had pretty consistent staffing difficulties. As the commissioner alluded to, there were term limits in the early days, initially three years. Then it became five years pretty early in the 80s. And then later in the 90s, it became seven years. This limit causes residents to have to relocate their families each time they get a new position and relocation. Anyone that's ever moved, no matter the best circumstances is hard. So difficulties with relocation, compensation and career paths has always existed since the beginning. Some of these occur in cycles. Obviously the economy has a big effect at the housing markets having a rough time that our residents have a rough time moving. The job market actually has a kind of an opposite effect because we have a pretty stable demand signal for residents. So if the job market is going down, we actually do a little bit better. And the NRC staff itself goes through cycles, I would say, of how we value resident inspector experience and in regards to things like promotion potential. Other issues are more like they've been building over time. Demographic changes and attitudes towards telework, especially after COVID-19 have altered perspectives on, you know, like the the desirability of the resident inspector program. I had someone earlier say it wouldn't be a real panel if you didn't have a current resident inspector on it. And to that I say my next panelist is Jen England. She is the senior resident inspector at Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Burwick, Pennsylvania. Jen rejoined the NRC in December of 2019 and has served as a resident inspector at the James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant, acting senior resident inspector at North Anna and Beaver Valley Stations and as an acting senior construction inspector at the Vogel Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4. Jen served as the Indian Point nuclear generating resident, nuclear generation resident inspector during her previous time at the NRC. Before returning to the NRC, Jen served as a quality manager in the aerospace, automotive and medical device industries. She served as the management representative, statistical process control chair, radiation manager and the safety manager. Jen worked for Knowles Atomic Power Laboratory and its operations program and on the final safety analysis report for the Virginia class submarine. Jen earned a bachelor's degree of science in chemical engineering from Rutgers University. Jen, with all that in mind, simple question, what are the biggest challenges that resident inspectors face today? Thanks for that question, Zach. So the day-to-day work of being a resident inspector is engaging. It's extremely satisfying. Each day I have the opportunity to learn something new as I verify that the plant is operating properly for the safety of the public and my family. I will talk more about the positive aspects in a later question, but now I will actually answer Zach's question. What are the challenges? The major challenge for the resident inspectors today is a lack of staffing due to the quality of life issues of the role. Residents and fuel facility inspectors are the only NRC employees stationed at a licensee facility which limits our work-life balance options as compared to the other NRC positions. Due to the location of our jobs, we're required to move regularly and we cannot always set our work schedule. Moving is a challenge. I know I just moved in December. I have broken things. We're still working on it. But moving does put stress on the entire family. Children need to learn new rules when they attend a new school. Partners and spouses may need to involuntarily leave their job or try to develop a career changing locations every few years. And the entire family will experience social isolation until new community ties can be forged. My home must be purchased for resale in mind since my job ends after a very short period of time. And I am subject to housing market trends. This means I'm unable to personalize my home for my family's needs. Our work schedule is also a challenge. My work hours are not terribly healthy and they strain my family. My plant has a 6 a.m. morning meeting coupled with my 40-minute commute from my resellable home sets my wake-up time between 4.30 and 4.45 a.m. This early start time has a negative impact on my body and my family as I am often too tired to participate in evening activities. We also perform inspections off hours. As an example, two weeks ago, I had to observe an unannounced fire drill. For whatever reason, unannounced fire drills are always at 3 a.m. Next week, the just-in-time training for the upcoming outage is being performed at noon for day shift, which is one portion of the training and 6 p.m. for night shift, which is another portion of the training. This is the most relevant training observation that we will have this quarter, so obviously we will be there. But again, this takes time away from our family and we don't get to set the times. And our refueling outage, as always, starts at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. Shutdown is a required observation, so there will be some late nights to do that. I do have the flexibility to take time off during the week. However, my husband and nearby daughter work a standard schedule, so when I take time off then I really don't have anybody to hang out with. These work-life challenges contribute to the biggest challenge, which is the lack of staffing. Each operating reactor is slated to have a senior resident and one or more resident inspectors. Our daily activities keep us busy. As we determine plant status, we walk down the control room panels, we review every item entered into the corrective action program, and we share this information with the regional office. On a weekly basis, we perform tours in all key areas and we complete inspections in a wide variety of areas. Having at least two inspectors allows these responsibilities to be shared so that more in-depth inspections can be completed uninterrupted and some of our off-time can also be enjoyed uninterrupted. Over the last few years, the staffing levels have been well below the full level. I am in the region in the northeast of our 11 plants. Four sites for 2023 had extended periods with a single inspector. 2024, we are already starting this year with one of our sites having extended period with a single inspector. Just to keep it personal, I'll be alone at my site for eight weeks this summer when my resident completes required training and takes one week of vacation. Our regional management team is very supportive and they do try to fill these spots. And they also provide extra support from regional staff for a week or two at a time. But there just appears to be a lack of interest in the resident inspector position by other agency staff. To summarize, the largest challenge facing the resident is a strain from a lack of staffing, which is caused by the unique and challenging nature of this position. This month, the agency has implemented a retention incentive to keep residents in the field and attract more to the position. Hopefully, this will encourage more staff to take these critical roles. Thanks for the question, Zach. Thank you, Jen. Jen and I, Joe, discussed beforehand that she probably had the hardest question. She had the balance, I think, what is an incredibly important subject to advocate for the residents and the difficulties surrounding the job without coming off as whiny. I think she did really good. Hopefully, I was successful at not sounding like a whiner. It is a hard job. It is. There's a lot of challenges. None of these challenges said inspections are hard. The inspection part is really the great part. That's the part that keeps you going into the office every day. Thanks, Jen. Yes, I think that's absolutely correct. Can I go off script for just a second? Oh, please. I rarely do that. So, first of all... We're going to talk about the things that we've done. I know. I'm not going there. I'm not going there. I just want to... First of all, I want to acknowledge, right? I mean, everybody sitting at this table has been through it. Yes. And even after resident life, I've myself moved. I totally get it. I want you and the rest of the resident community to know that the senior leadership team at the NRC, up to and including our acting EDO, the regional administrators, the office directors, we get it. And we really are focused on the staffing piece. We're focused on... And I'm not going to go down your list of stuff, but there's more that we can and should and will do. So, it's just that important. And so, I personally wanted to just thank you for sharing your personal experience. And I noted that when Zach was reading your bio, I don't know how many different sites you were at. I lost count, but you've clearly moved quite a bit. And that is a huge toll. So, thank you personally for me. Thanks, Scott. Yeah. So, discussing the challenges, I don't want to make it sound like the NRC hasn't done things to try and meet these challenges. From the get-go, the NRC implemented a number of benefits available only to resident inspectors. We've had a special pay scale since the very beginning that's above the normal GG pay scale that the rest of us are under. This scale has been adjusted over the years. It was adjusted in the 90s to adjust how the cost of living adjustment was done. And most recently, it was adjusted in 2020 to account for the fact that if you were in a lower rest of the U.S. or similar locality, the pay is so low that it's prohibitive for you to be able to move there. And so we adjusted it there as well. We also have something called save pay, which is, if you've served, it's now cumulative. Six years or more as a resident inspector, you keep that special pay scale when you leave the program. So even if you go to a job where you would have been paid less, you maintain that higher pay rate. A lot of people don't realize that the residents get a, they get all the discretionary benefits that we can possibly throw at them when it comes to relocation. So a lot of the things that, if most federal employees when they move, if they get anything, they get the bare bones. And our residents get everything. They get paid money. They get reimbursed for the real estate fees. We have a home buying service. There's admittedly some gripes to how that program works. And obviously there's some tax implications, and that's a whole other can of worms. But we do a lot to try and give the residents as much as we can to help offset that move. In 1994, we began a relocation incentive where if you move to a new location as a resident inspector, you get a percentage of your annual salary. We've adjusted that over the years as well, most recently in 2020 as well. And as Jen alluded to, in just this month, we implemented a new 15% annual retention incentive for resident inspectors. So if you're on site and you're not under a relocation obligation, you'll receive an additional 15% annually because the program is that important and keeping it staffed is that important. One of the town of benefits that's not on the screen when we've touched on it a couple of times, and it's been discussed, again, significantly over the years. In fact, there used to be an inspection manual chapter that was titled something along the lines of resident inspector career paths. It's no longer an effect that I cannot find a copy to save my life. But it's this idea that resident inspector experience is a particular value within the NRC and that those individuals selecting resident inspector jobs should have a leg up when they're applying for more senior positions later in their career. Scott, does the NRC value resident inspector experience? Should hiring managers consider that experience when filling vacancies? So I assume you mean for post resident inspectors. Yes, following the resident inspector experience. Okay. Because we certainly value the resident inspector experience, but I think you're talking about as they move further into their career. Yes. Potentially. So I'll speak for myself, but I think there's a pretty significant majority of my peers and others in the leadership team who would agree that there is, I personally value the experience that a resident inspector, a former senior resident inspector brings to the table. I think the opportunity to see how our regulations and license conditions are actually implemented in the field. I think it was Rogerio's mentioned it at the plenary this morning. That was a real aha for him. You know, instead of just looking at calculations and validating things, seeing how it was actually applied in the field was a huge, and I think that not only, so that expands your aperture as an individual professionally, but it also gives you additional insights that you may not have otherwise had which can be leveraged in your future roles. Residents, you know, they, some, it's been mentioned a couple times, there's quarterly inspection reports that issued. Well, along with that are also exit meetings where at the end of every quarter, the resident and senior resident or sometimes solo will sit down with the licensee management team and actually debrief their findings and assessment over the last quarter in what's ultimately going to wind up in the public record. And so that opportunity to be able to convey assessment information to that audience is really important. And I think you get an opportunity every quarter to hone your communication skills and the brevity with which you can deliver sometimes information that people don't want to hear, right? So, but to do it in a very professional, calm, dispassionate way is a huge skill set that I think pays dividends in your career long-term, certainly has for me. Being able, the other thing about it is discernment. We haven't said, I think we've talked about, somebody said wheat and chaff and I think it was USAC, but the ability to look at a large data set and discern what's important and what's not and what to go after and what can be left for later or not pursue it at all. I think that skill is also pays dividends in the long run. It certainly pays for me in my career. The opportunities to engage with the public, there aren't, I would argue that the resident and specter position and maybe licensed project managers and some others probably have the greatest opportunities to interact with the public. That skill in and of itself in order to again talk about credibility and provide that sense of reassurance that it's safe and here's why. So it's the communication skills, the listening skills, the discernment and assessment skills. Those are all things that I think are really beneficial in any career and I think the residents, as a resident and specter you get lots of opportunities early in your career to do just that. When I was a regional administrator out in Region 4, I observed that every, there's four regions, most of you know that in the United States, all four regional administrators were former residents or senior resident and specters and I think we're at three or four now but the point is that that experience serves you well and our last senior executive class that just graduated in January I think had five or six former, six senior residents in it. So I think that's very, very telling about the value of the experience. Thanks Scott. Jen, could you provide some perspective maybe that the current residents have on this? Not to rebut Scott. Not to rebut Scott. Go ahead. So senior resident specters and resident specters have significant autonomy compared to NRC jobs at the same level. We plan and complete our inspections with little supervision as we're the only NRC staff on site. We take initiative to reach out internally to our experts to ensure we properly assess issues and get any technical assistance we need. We communicate our inspection results internally into the station up to the most senior level on site. We often sit at a table full of licensee staff and respond to detail challenges for each one of our assessments. This challenging environment provides the opportunity for us to develop good organization technical and communication skills. This unique set of skills was highly valued by the agency for many years. If I look back on my early days with the NRC 25 years ago, the sentiment was that the path to a promotion was paved by your time as a resident or senior resident. While I am well supported by my branch chief, I am concerned that the representation of the resident's in senior leadership roles is quite low with it being approximately equivalent to the percent of NRC staff with resident experience. These are the executives who make decisions related to our assignments and the program, yet many have never done this job. They have never moved their family because they came to an end of a tour or had to avoid parents on a baseball field because they worked for the licensee. I do not share this to discredit these competent and dedicated executives. I share it to highlight that the worth of the experience has declined. This decline is the result of two executive classes in a row not containing a single person with resident experience. Most recently, as Scott said, there has been more interest in the resident position and the most recent NRC executive class contained managers with this experience. The commission has also taken a strong interest in the program, including one commissioner who has spent a day in the life of a resident in several regions to better appreciate the hard work that we do. Hopefully this recent increase in interest in the resident inspector program will encourage more staff to take these critical roles. Thanks, Jen. Thanks, Jen. I have tried very hard to pull data on the percentages of resident inspectors. It is just very hard because God bless our poor folks over in O'Chico or HR folks. They try to classify everyone correctly. The percentage has changed. The numbers have changed. It is very hard to pull that data with any real confidence of what I am getting. I think what I counsel residents in my own humble experience is that both of my promotions from GG 13 to 14 and 14 to 15, I was told by my supervisor that my resident inspector experience was a key attribute that contributed to my qualifications that helped me get into the positions I was in. So I know that it happens. What I tell them is it is not just being a resident inspector isn't enough. You have to, you know, you have to also demonstrate your ability to take those attributes and those things that you learned as a resident inspector and apply them across the NRC. Do things like lots of rotations and construction inspector positions. You know, really and provide recruitment videos on the resident inspector program. All, you know, these are the kinds of things that show, you know, your devotion to the NRC and your ability to be a leader on top of just being a resident. And a resident inspector recruitment event. Sorry, I forgot about that one. Any one of the other probably wasn't. I hate to break your script, but I do want to give my perspective because it may be a little bit different than Jen. Simply because of the fact that, you know, to me it depends on where your value systems are. As a resident inspector and a person former resident inspector, the amount of times I've been called to just to be asked about my perspective on issues based on my experience. I value that highly, right? I value the respect that's afforded to be being part of a resident inspector program. There are other pay it's in its issues. But again, I think the agency has done an admirable job in looking at you know, that's a very sensitive subject. You know, there's a lot of laws associated with how the agency must compensate its employees. So, you know, I believe just personally based on based on my interactions with senior managers, interactions with a fellow of my peers and interactions with the senior resident of the court itself. I believe that the position of my experience is valued. So, that's it. Thanks, Billy. I want to look to the future now. It is, after all, adapting to a changing landscape as our theme this year for the regulatory information conference. So I want to talk a little bit about where we think the program is headed. And I have two pictures up there. Actually, I have two pictures of some advanced reactors, but I also want to talk about it from a perspective of personnel and just the program in general. As we hire a lot of new people and a lot of new folks are coming in and talk about some of those demographic changes. I want to put it to you, Scott, first. What do you anticipate? What do you see in the future for the resident specter program? Is there anything you'd like to highlight? Well, I mean for the operating fleet, in addition to all the things we're doing to try to attract, recruit, retain residents, I think that is not going to change. But in terms of the future, some of the new advanced reactor designs, and I'd be interested in George's thoughts on this, which are Gen 4 designs with a lot more passive safety system and inherently safer, much smaller foot prints, smaller staff, not maybe not as many things going on at any one time. I think there's an opportunity to have a conversation around it. I'm not going to foreclose on what the future is going to be for residents at some of these new designs. I think the answer is it depends. It may depend on how many modules there are. It may depend on the specific design, if it's first of a kind or not. But I'd be interested in George's thoughts, but clearly we're going to have to have a conversation and balance the passive safety features with this need to again have that independent objective on-site presence for whatever fraction of time is needed to provide that public confidence. But George, I'd like to hear your thoughts. I think the residents will still do the public confidence that's going to be a big deal when you put a new type of reactor that's never been in United States before. You've got our reactor up there, which is a sodium fast reactor, and they've only been on the prototypes. So I think they do add a value. I think going along with that, you're going to have to look at the oversight structure of the oversight program as a whole. How many you're going to have to look at the numbers that you have based on what you have, because my plant won't have any safety related operator actions. So it changes drill scenarios, it changes EP, potentially changes security. So I think the big thing is I think the residents are still going to add value. They're going to have public confidence. And then you're, do you always have one there or can you have one that lives between if you build modules and they're like in a triangle? Could you put them in the middle of the triangle and they could go to three plants? I think based on the inherent safety, I think those are things that the NRC is going to have to look at as they watch the advanced reactors and they look at the oversight program and look at the inherent safety. So with my design, my safety system is always on. It doesn't have to initiate. So, you know, with that change, that changes the risk dynamics that the NRC has to look at. So I think they still serve their purpose. The NRC will have to evaluate long-term what they think will be the right coverage, just like I think what Scott said, what the industry at the table, to try to give their perspectives. And so that's where I think it's going. Thanks, George. I think about this question quite a bit given my position. When it comes to the advanced reactor construction oversight and advanced reactor oversight process, I keep coming back to the same basic concept, which is all the different facets of things we need to consider about inspection footprint and emergency response, it all kind of spreads out and gets multifaceted and it all converges back in and funnels back into the same basic concept, which is risk. And so I think it's fair to say no matter what, as we come through the thought process and decision making and go into the future of this, I'm pretty certain whatever decision we come to is going to be risk informed. And Jack, I know you know this, but risk has many dimensions. There's technical risk from some sort of reactor issue to there's legal risk. There's credibility, you know, public credibility risk. So there's many dimensions to it that will have to be factored in. Yes, and I can't wait to get to those questions in the future. Thank you. I want to end on a positive note. That wasn't positive? I thought it was very positive. I know exactly. Did you want me to give some highlights about what the industry sees? I know there was a question you were going to ask me about what the industry sees in a resident. Oh, yeah, I guess that's fair. All current residents cover your ears for a second. One of the things I noticed when I was trying to find an industry representative for the panel is there was no shortage of former resident inspectors that are serving in leadership positions in industry. We have CNOs, we have these, there's regaffairs, directors, there's lots of different individuals at many different positions across the industry that were former resident inspectors. So George, yeah, if you want to provide some thoughts and some input on what you think causes that, I guess. Yeah, I find the resident inspector's background to be very enticing. You know, they have a very broad general knowledge of the plant, all the programs, how the programs fit together, how the licensing basis is developed. They're a self-starter. I know that they know how to prioritize things from one to end. They know how to do verbal and written communications very well. They understand how to troubleshoot, they understand how the regulations fit into the licensing basis. So, you know, that is something that the NRC teaches them is very, potentially very attractive. They can fill a lot of roles and, you know, at a site or in a company. Thanks George, that's good. Yeah, I think you know, yeah, that sort of concept that the residents are just a jack of all trades and many of them are masters of several really makes them just this multifaceted individual capable of so much. One of the things like, it's not a fair comparison coming from a Navy background. I try to stay away from Navy metaphors. In the Navy, the sort of the pinnacle career moment is when you're the captain of the ship and then just below that is the executive officer and once you've checked that box then, you know, you're basically set to do whatever you want in the Navy in your future career as long as you do a good job. While a resident inspector, I've never tried to compare the job of resident inspector to the captain of a ship. I do think that job, that resident inspector position serves a similar role within the NRC. Once you've been a resident inspector and a senior resident inspector, you've checked a certain box and you've proven yourself capable of that level of responsibility and capability, I think. So on that note, I want to wrap up with one last question, formal question before we have a couple minutes for some questions from the audience. We saw a lot of photos of residents in the field today. Most of them, they were smiling if they weren't focused on equipment. And obviously, here's a photo of our residents in Region 2 recently all smiling. That's because I believe and I think all the folks on this panel believe, and we've talked about this some already, that this is the best job in the NRC. There's some difficulties with staffing, moving cost of living. It's a hard job. The actual job is hard, but I think it's very rewarding. And when I talk to residents, when I survey them and ask them what are their concerns are, what are the things we need to address. It's never make the job easier. They understand the job they're getting into. They like the job. They feel rewarded by this job. It's really all those other things. And so with that in mind, could you all describe the good things about being a resident inspector, what you liked about being a resident inspector, why it's such a great job? Who ever wants to go first? I'll go first. It'll be refreshing to say nice things. The best part of the resident job is to contribute to the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear power plant that I'm stationed for the benefit of the public. My job changes every day. There are a variety of plant activities that I can inspect that keeps the job interesting and it keeps me very engaged. For example, I can review the material condition of the plant and its components. I can observe equipment testing. I can observe training or I can follow up on an equipment failure that allows me to learn the details of system design maintenance and operation. As an example, on a Monday I may perform a fire walk down and identify too much fire loading near some safety related pumps. I can also observe on Tuesday that this material has been removed as the result of my observation. On a Wednesday I may observe a leak on an air valve for an emergency diesel generator. I can also observe the maintenance the following week to replace the valve due to my observation. On a Thursday I can review breaker failures and identify that the industry recommends that a component be replaced every six years yet the station is replacing the components every 18 years. I can then observe the maintenance activities over the next year to replace these components at their next available opportunity. On Friday of course I must document this information for my upcoming inspection report. These are some simple examples that I identified or was involved in. These examples also highlight the diversity of the job and a small snapshot of my personal contributions to the safe and reliable operation of the power plants where I was stationed. Personal satisfaction for me is leaving something better than I found it. The resident inspector job provides me many opportunities to accomplish this. To summarize the best part of the resident job is reviewing a variety of activities in contributing to the safe and reliable operation of the plant. And when you meet someone and they ask you what you do it's pretty cool to tell them that. You know it's not just about the power plants. I don't know who's next. Pretty tough to top that. For me I love the access. I'm just a curious person in general and as an engineer I like to see how things work. I just like the freedom of being within the bounds of the confines of the program to be curious and follow things and be able to, I think I mentioned earlier, access to whether it's a mechanic, an operator, the site member, the public, whatever it is. I mean that just the diversity was what I really found appealing. I was just going to say this. The continuous learning opportunities is that being a resident inspector afforded me. And you know, being a resident inspector for some 13 years I actually saw my impact on sites. I thought I added a lot of value to the licensees program in terms of safety and safety focus. And so that was the most, that was the thing that gave me satisfaction in being a resident inspector. Again, just the opportunities for situational leadership was invaluable. So that's it. Thanks, Billy. George, anything? You don't have? I enjoyed making the plant overall safer. I think we had the same objective. I mean it was my goal to make sure that my life was better than when I was the resident and the senior that it stayed a good operating plant. I also knew that if it was a bad operating plant my life became miserable both all the extra hours. So it was beneficial for me to keep at it a strong operating plant. But I added value and I could see where I added value and I took pride in that. Thanks, yeah. Yeah, I think you nailed it all. I, you know, for me, I mean there's no right answer. For me, part of what you said, it was nice to know that within the baseline inspection program I had my quarterly inspection reports. I had my sample numbers I needed to hit and so I had some, I had a known product I had to provide that was nice knowing that I had that behind me. As long as I did that I was in good shape. But then having the freedom within that baseline inspection program and adapt it to the things that I was seeing at my site and getting out in the field and actually doing those inspections and having that ability to see the different facets and all the different aspects. It was, you know, I don't know about you all, about one or two in the afternoon I start to get a little, if I'm sitting at my computer and knowing that I could just grab my hard hat and head out and get some plant status done, maybe follow up on a sample I was working on, go talk to someone. It just meant so much to me. It was such a, you know, a refreshing part of the job and it really made me happy to be there. All right. That's it for the formal portion. But we do have some questions from the audience. First one's for you, Scott. This one is from Sosini. Greetings. I would like to ask what approach do you recommend who embarking nuclear countries when it comes to the resident inspectors? I guess basically setting up a resident inspector program. Wow. Interesting. So I think there's a lot of things come to mind but one thing is don't try to reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of obviously many countries that have operating nuclear facilities that are either in construction or have been operating or even at the back end decommissioning. And I have witnessed in my international interactions a lot of desire to collaborate and share information. So by all means, reach out to your international liaison folks and engage with your community or any country that has this program. So don't reinvent the wheel is what I would say. And I would say reach out to countries that don't have it. I think Spain does have resident inspectors. I think France does not. But when you think about France has a lot of reactors but it's a pretty small country so they can get to any of those facilities pretty quickly and it's not too burdensome on those inspectors to get out and do those inspections. Yeah, I would also say I mentioned it in passing but before you can operate a plant you got to build one. Right? And so we also have construction residents. So there's a really I think important opportunity during the construction phase of a facility to have resident inspectors and region based inspectors who do specialty work. And that's where it starts. That's where you start to build that infrastructure that you'll need for the operating phase. Sorry, I was going through the other questions. Yes. That was good. Let's see here. This one is for any of us really. Are there opportunities for HQ staff to support the resident inspector offices to mitigate some of the staffing issues that Jen described? Yes. For any of the HQ staff that may be listening we have an inspection opportunities portal and if you are not and would like to get inspector qualified you can talk to anyone in the division reactor oversight in my division office in NRR and we'll set you up with a call card and be happy to give you check out and send you can get you out to sites and get you some experience and you can contribute to those inspections. We do get some headquarters folks out on inspections. I've been with HQ staff. I'm a HQ staff member and I'm still inspector qualified and I do go out on inspections a couple of times a year. Most of the folks in division reactor oversight do that as well so that is something that's available to everyone. And if you're HQ staff and the 15% annual retention both sounds like a really good deal you can become a resident inspector as well. You do not have to be a member of the resident inspector development program in order to do that. So that's something to do. It is the 50th anniversary. The actual date is in late June but we're going to kick off a social media campaign where we have current resident inspectors provide posts that talk about what they think of the program and why the program is so valuable to them. And to kick off the social media campaign we've developed a video and we'd like to preview the video now. This is going to be the official release here. You're all seeing it for the very first time. It's premiere night. So if we could go ahead and provide the video. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the start of the resident inspector program in June and over the next few months we'll be acknowledging and highlighting resident inspectors contributions to our mission and here in their own words what it means to do this critical job. We have our important safety and security mission in many ways but one of the most important is through our resident inspectors. They're stationed at every U.S. nuclear power plant to watch the daily operations at the sites and serve as our eyes and ears on the ground. The program first started in 1974 as a trial run with one inspector at the Kiwani and Point Beach nuclear power plants. In 1977 we expanded the program with more inspectors at more plants after concluding that the concept worked. In all some 1150 resident inspectors have served at the NRC since the start of the program. Now 50 years later there are 119 NRC resident inspectors at 94 operating nuclear reactors and two fuel cycle facilities. The NRC puts all resident inspectors through a rigorous 18 to 4 month qualification program. The new inspectors learn about federal safety regulations and their role in independently verifying these requirements are being met at U.S. operating commercial reactors. Towards the end of the process there's a final qualification board during which senior inspectors and managers evaluate how well the individual integrates and applies inspector competencies into field situations. Resident inspectors come from a variety of backgrounds who most have degrees in engineering or science. Some served in the Navy's nuclear program, others worked in the nuclear industry and others were recruited directly from college. Once the resident inspectors complete their training they're assigned to a plant. There they spend their days keeping an eye on plant activities to ensure the plants are meeting NRC safety criteria. No day is ever the same. Inspectors for example may visit control rooms and review operator logbook entries, observe operators performing plant manipulations, visually assess areas of the plant, observe test of or repairs to important systems or components, interact with plant employees to determine if they have any safety concerns, and review corrective action documents to ensure problems have been identified and fixes implemented. If resident inspectors uncover safety critical issues they immediately notify plant operators who must remedy them. And then the resident inspector relays the information to NRC management. If issues are serious enough the NRC will consider taking enforcement action. Resident inspectors with the agency's eyes and ears and boots on the ground for what's happening in and around the plant. Resident inspectors live in the community near the plants however to maintain objectivity they're restricted from interacting socially with plant employees. In addition resident inspectors can only stay at one plant for a maximum of 7 years. Many of our senior officials got their start as resident inspectors. Join us in commemorating the resident inspector program's 50th anniversary. And check back with us over the coming months to hear more about what it means to carry out this vital work.