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Dr. Gail H. Marcus

Dr. Gail H. Marcus is presently an independent consultant on nuclear power technology and policy. She recently completed a three-year term as Deputy Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in Paris. In this position, she was responsible for the program of work and budget for the agency.

From 1999 through 2004, Dr. Marcus served as Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. There she provided technical leadership for DOE’s nuclear energy programs and facilities, including the development of next-generation nuclear power systems. Other responsibilities included production and distribution of isotopes for medical treatment, diagnosis and research, and oversight of DOE test and research reactors and related facilities and activities.

From 1998-1999, Dr. Marcus spent a year in Japan as Visiting Professor in the Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors, Tokyo Institute of Technology. She conducted research on comparative nuclear regulatory policy in Japan and the United States.

Previously, Dr. Marcus had been in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She served in a variety of positions including Deputy Executive Director of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards/Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Director of Project Directorate III-3, providing regulatory oversight of seven nuclear power plants in the Midwest; and Director of the Advanced Reactors Project Directorate, where she was responsible for technical reviews of advanced reactor designs.

She also served as technical assistant to Commissioner Kenneth Rogers at the NRC for over four years, providing advice and recommendations on a broad range of technical and policy issues of interest to the Commission. From this position she was detailed for five months to Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry, where she was NRC’s first assignee to Japan, studying Japan’s licensing of the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor.

Prior to her service at NRC, Dr. Marcus was Assistant Chief of the Science Policy Research Division at the Congressional Research Service (1980-1985). In this position, she was responsible for policy analysis in support of Congress covering all fields of science and technology, and played a lead role in policy analysis and development for energy, nuclear power, and risk assessment and management.

From 2001-2002, Dr. Marcus served as President of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), an 11,000 member professional society. She is a Fellow of the ANS and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is a former member of the National Research Council Committee on the Future Needs of Nuclear Engineering Education, and served three terms on the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Nuclear Engineering Department. She is just completing a term as the elected Chair of the Engineering Section of AAAS.

Dr. Marcus has authored numerous technical papers and publications. Her research interests include nuclear regulatory policy, energy technology and policy, risk assessment and management, international nuclear policy, and advanced nuclear technologies.

Dr. Marcus has an S.B. and S.M. in Physics, and an Sc.D. in Nuclear Engineering from MIT. She is the first woman to earn a doctorate in nuclear engineering in the United States.

January 2008