Tag: Arden Rowell

Professor Arden Rowell has teamed up with the Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA) Research Laboratory, led by Nuclear, Plasma, & Radiological Engineering Associate Professor Zahra Mohaghegh on a new research grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The grant, titled “Context-Based Analysis of a Risk-informed, Performance-based Regulatory Approach for Advanced Nuclear Reactors,” will span from 2024 to 2027. The project aims to help the NRC—the agency responsible for regulating the safety of civilian nuclear reactors—identify how to effectively use its aging statutory mandates to address new and emerging nuclear technologies. 

“The NRC’s legal responsibility to regulate nuclear energy has never been more important,” Prof. Rowell emphasizes. “Reactor technology is advancing rapidly even as the risks of relying on fossil fuels become increasingly apparent. How can NRC best regulate the risks and opportunities presented by advanced reactor technologies, while still staying true to its legal and democratic mandate to protect people and the environment? This is a legitimately difficult question, and I hope that our collaboration can help NRC craft a creative but implementable answer.”   

NPRE Associate Professor Zahra Mohaghegh, has highlighted the value of this project as a collaboration between engineering and law experts. “Because accident scenarios must consider social and environmental distress, managerial deficiency, and human error as well as physical and technical system failures, I believe that risk analysis and risk-informed regulation require the development of a common vocabulary within diverse engineering and social science domains to address risk emerging from the interface of social and technical systems,” said Prof. Mohaghegh.  

Professors Rowell and Mohaghegh are affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where engineering and non-engineering experts collaborate to address complex real-world problems. They have previously collaborated on a DOE project and are now looking forward to a new collaboration under this NRC grant, supporting development and enhancement of risk-informed performance-based regulatory approaches. This project will aid decision-makers and stakeholders in ensuring safe, resilient, sustainable, and socially and environmentally responsible technological advancements for nuclear energy.

Professor Arden Rowell, an expert in environmental law, administrative law, risk regulation and human behavior, has joined the faculty of the Beckman Institute or Advanced Science and Technology. In addition to her work at the College of Law, Rowell will share her expertise with students of Beckman and continue her collaborative work with the faculty and researchers there. Rowell’s recent collaborations at Beckman have focused on work with Zahra Mohaghegh, an associate professor of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering.

Read more about her appointment on Beckman’s website.

Professor Arden Rowell recently spoke to Stateline about the lack of federal regulations to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke. Rowell, who has studied respiratory safety regulations, said that only three states — California, Oregon and Washington, which is in the process of finalizing its rules — have developed their own enforceable standards on worker safety and wildfire smoke.

“The guarantee of worker protections that so many of us presume we have seems like it’s falling down here,” Rowell said. “As we see more fires, we’re going to see more risks. Does every single state then need to fill this gap?”

Read the full article at stateline.org.