Course Lecturers

Ellen M. Saylor is a Senior R&D Staff member at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory providing nuclear criticality safety support and technical expertise to various DOE and NRC programs and assisting in various training courses. She received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 1992. Ellen served as a Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer for over 20 years, starting at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site in Golden, Colorado and continuing in the same capacity at the United States Enrichment Corporation in Paducah, Kentucky, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Ellen’s duties at these various sites included performing, revising and reviewing multiple criticality safety analyses for various operations involving multiple forms and types of fissionable materials, providing daily support for operations, reviewing various procedures, operations and safety documents, and providing nuclear criticality safety training. Ellen is a member of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Division of the American Nuclear Society and is a member of several standards’ working groups, including chairing the working group for ANSI/ANS-8.17, Criticality Safety Criteria for the Handling, Storage, and Transportation of LWR Fuel Outside Reactors.

John A. Miller has a B.S. and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and over 20 years of experience providing support for the nuclear criticality safety (NCS), radiation dose and shielding, and the lifecycle planning and management of nuclear materials. He has supported activities at multiple Department of Energy (DOE) facilities in the USA, as well as at the Sellafield Nuclear Facility in the UK.  John has been involved in training criticality safety professionals through DOE hands-on NCS classes, UNM NCS Short Courses, UNM NCS Manager’s Workshops, UNM/UK NCS Workshops, etc. He is active in the ANS NCSD and has served in leadership roles and on various committees. He is also active in the development of NCS Standards (i.e., NCSCC, Chair of ANSI/ANS-8.19, and member of ANSI/ANS-8.1 and -8.6).

Neil has worked in criticality safety for 30 years.  During this time he has worked on and managed the delivery of criticality safety assessment to diverse areas of reprocessing, storage, waste handling and transportation.  He has been the international representative on the development of ANSI standards on criticality and currently is the UK expert lead on the development on criticality safety ISO standards.  Neil was the site nuclear safety officer at Sellafield and now is a Principal Consultant with the National Nuclear Laboratory.

Robert D. Busch is an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. He received a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1971, and a M.S. and Ph. D. in Nuclear Engineering from The University of New Mexico in 1972 and 1976 respectively. Bob started teaching for the Department as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 1976 and continued in that capacity until 1978. From 1978 through 1985 he was a consulting engineering doing work in energy engineering and software design. During that time he received his professional engineering license. Bob rejoined the Department on a part-time basis in 1985 teaching laboratory courses. He became full-time in 1988 and is currently the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory Director and Chief Reactor Supervisor for the UNM AGN-201 reactor, where he is an NRC-licensed senior operator. He is the Director of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Courses held each summer in Albuquerque, and also teaches similar courses in the United Kingdom every other year. In 2001, Dr. Busch received the American Nuclear Society Nuclear Criticality Safety Division’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his 15 years of service to the criticality safety community.

Dave McCaughey is the North American Regional Business Director for the Estane Engineers Polymers business at Lubrizol.  He received a B.S. in Physics from Bethany College in 1984, and a B.S in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Florida in 1986.  Dave began his career at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1986 as a Nuclear Criticality Safety Specialist. In 1990, Dave went to work with General Electric at the Wilmington, NC Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing facility.  During his time there he held a number of roles including Nuclear Criticality Safety Specialist, Manufacturing Manager, and Quality Manager.  In 1997 Dave moved to a commercial role with General Electric’s Reuter Stokes operation which manufactured radiation sensors.  In 2001 Dave moved to Lubrizol in a business development role.  Dave has been faculty member of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Course in Albuquerque since 1990 and has been a faculty member of the sister course in the United Kingdom since 1996.

James has worked as a criticality safety assessor for 14 years.  He initially worked for Sellafield Ltd, where he worked in a broad range of areas of fuel manufacturing, storage and reprocessing plants on the Sellafield Site.  James was also a member of Sellafield’s criticality on-call rota team for several years.  He is currently a Senior Consultant with the National Nuclear Laboratory.  He is the Criticality Technical Lead for NNL’s Active Handling Facility and he has led the development of criticality safety assessments for a variety of nuclear sites.