 I'm Tom Wellock, the historian at the NRC. In this video, we're going to look back on the career of Stephen Burns, the NRC's only career civil servant to receive a presidential appointment to serve as an NRC commissioner. His career spans seven presidencies and almost the entire life of the agency. In 1978, Burns joined the NRC as a staff lawyer. And almost 30 years later, became the head of the NRC's legal division. In 2014, he became an NRC commissioner. But a few months later, he was appointed agency chairman. When I came to the NRC in 1978, I would not have imagined that I would spend most of my career as a lawyer here. When I came, I really didn't necessarily think that I would stay in the government, much less at the NRC. I didn't have any particular interest or background in nuclear energy. But Burns stayed on and spent a career honing his skills, what he calls the regulatory craft. The regulatory craft involves seeking a sweet spot between overregulation and underregulation. It's really looking for effective regulation. Part of that craft, I believe, is listening to the opinions of those outside of the NRC. While the NRC is independent, that does not mean we are isolated. It's important that the NRC communicate with and engage in meaningful dialogue with the industry, the Congress, the states, local governments, non-governmental organizations, international entities, and the public. I was interested in the process of government. I was interested in how do these things work? How does an agency actually get things accomplished? We think of very broadly in terms of presidential pronouncements or senators on the floor of the Congress making statements. But at some point, those have to be implemented. Within months of Burns' arrival at the NRC, the Three Mile Island accident forced the staff and its five-member commission to expand safety regulation in multiple areas and take a harder line with industry. Burns was assigned to enforcement, confronted with numerous quality assurance issues and whistleblower allegations. The NRC made rigorous regulatory enforcement a priority. In 1978, the agency issued just 14 civil penalties to licensees. Eight years later, the number rose to 114. There was much more of a focus on taking enforcement action. You had a number of instances where orders were used, just halt construction, until those quality assurance programs were rectified. We were more reactive in how to be less reactive and either more prescient or proactive in arresting this type of poor performance. That became a real focus. To be more proactive, the NRC turned to the US Nuclear Navy. An organization renowned for its commitment to excellence under Admiral Hyman Rickover. At the NRC, it was the era of the admirals as former submarine commanders Lando Zeck and Kenneth Carr served back to back as NRC chairman. Burns joined Carr's staff and became his executive assistant. There really did seem to be this call to have the experience of the US Navy onto the commission to provide, I think, some stability and also leadership. Admiral Carr was of the school that a clean plant is a well-run plant, is a good plant. That in a well-maintained plant was a good plant and showed good management. He was most successful, and the strongest advocate for was for the maintenance rule, which the agency adopted in the early 1990s. The maintenance rule was one of the NRC's most successful regulations. Instead of enforcing arbitrary rules, it encouraged licensees to manage risk and engage in practices important to safety. The rule became a model for similar programs. I think that the agency was finding its groove. Looking back those 13 years later, you see having gone through the significant experience of Three Mile Island, what that meant to the agency in terms of refocusing its programs. We're starting to see, I think, greater consistency and greater credibility. If I think about the lessons I learned from Admiral Carr in working for him for those five years when he was chairman and commissioner, I would carry these things. Keeping your sense of humor, it helps move people through situations. Adhering to those things that you think are important to the success of the agency willing to communicate outside your comfort zone. And perhaps finally, again, giving credit to those who are working with you, who are working for you, for the successes that the organization has. After serving Chairman Carr, Burns returned to the legal staff and served in leadership positions. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon created security issues at nuclear power plants that could not be solved by simply requiring licensees to add more guards, gates, and guns. There were legal limits on what licensees could do to defend against terrorists. So should I, if I'm a licensee, have to protect against a terrorist attack? Isn't that the job of government? The type of weaponry that a private guard force can legitimately use becomes an issue as well. The NRC supplemented security requirements with measures to cope with the consequences of an attack. There is a provision in the rule. Often you'll hear sort of the insiders refer to as B5B. And the rule that had you, the licensee, responsible for strategies, mitigating strategies in the event of large fires or explosions, which could include an aircraft impact. When the Fukushima Daiichi accident occurred in 2011, Burns was the NRC General Counsel. And B5B served as an inspiration for an industry initiative called Flex to cope with and mitigate the consequences of major accidents. That approach to being thoughtful about the implementation, particularly with the so-called flex equipment, this extra equipment that's available on site to make up electricity or pumps for water, something like that, it was something that we as the regulatory agency could identify and or associate ourselves with and say, this is a good idea. This improves safety. And again, that shows that the regulatory agency is not an inflexible entity. It shows that it's focused on the overall safety objectives but allowing creativity in how we might accomplish those objectives. When Burns joined the commission, he brought over three decades of regulatory craftsmanship to learning lessons from Fukushima and an improving agency efficiency and communication with Congress. As he stepped down in 2019, he offered some advice for NRC staff. There are three things that I would encourage members of the NRC staff to do. That's be engaged with each other. Be engaged with the issues that you're working on and being engaged with the public and other stakeholders that we interact with. Commissioner Burns, thank you for taking your time to talk to us. And good luck on your retirement. Thanks, Tom.