Andrew C. Kadak, Ph.D.

Dr. Andrew Kadak applies his extensive experience in the nuclear industry to current problems facing operating nuclear plants and those proposed for construction. He leads Exponent’s Nuclear Services expertise in addressing problems of national and international significance. These areas include engineering fundamentals in mechanical, structural, metallurgical, chemical, and electrical engineering. Additional areas include executive management consulting, construction, and operations covering such areas as risk, reliability, vulnerability and root cause analyses, and corrective action program development and assessment. Of significance to the nuclear industry, Dr. Kadak’s responsibilities include regulatory strategy development and compliance assessment.

Dr. Kadak’s expertise ranges from day-to-day operations of nuclear plants to senior executive management. Dr. Kadak has lead license renewal of operating reactors, systematic evaluation of older plants to allow them to demonstrate compliance to new regulations, financial rate proceedings to assure adequate capital for safe operation, innovative fuel purchase agreements, high level nuclear waste disposal, and storage solutions. His technical background has allowed him to actively direct strategy dealing with reactor vessel embrittlement, boiling water reactor pipe replacements and how to manage aging of nuclear plants. He presently consults on decommissioning of nuclear plants and has served on safety review boards of nuclear utilities.

Dr. Kadak is also currently a research affiliate in the Nuclear Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology having previously been a Professor of the Practice for 12 years. His research interests include the development of advanced reactors, in particular the high temperature pebble bed gas reactor, space nuclear power systems, improved technology neutral licensing standards for advanced reactors and operations and management issues of existing nuclear power plants. Dr. Kadak supervises research on the design, safety, proliferation, fuel performance, waste disposal concerns, and economics of the pebble bed reactor. Dr. Kadak is one of the lead experts on the high temperature pebble bed reactor. He has developed a unique modular pebble bed design – GEM-100 which takes advantage of modern manufacturing techniques for the nuclear power industry. His expertise ranges from reactor physics, power conversion, safety analysis, and engineering systems. Dr. Kadak has recently been working on Hybrid Fusion Energy systems and sodium cooled fast reactors. He is also a principal author of the MIT Fuel Cycle study. Dr. Kadak has served as Chairman of the Undergraduate Committee working on curriculum development and recruitment.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Kadak was President of Kadak Associates, a specialty consulting firm he established after 18 years of experience at Yankee Atomic Electric Company. At Yankee, Dr. Kadak was President and Chief Executive Officer. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all Yankee operations, including the decommissioning of the Yankee plant in Rowe, Massachusetts and engineering, licensing, environmental, and operational support to all eight Yankee-affiliated nuclear plants in New England and many other national and international clients.

Dr. Kadak was President of the American Nuclear Society in 1999-2000. He has served as a board and executive committee member of the Nuclear Energy Institute and the industry’s Advisory Committee on High Level Waste. He has served as a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners special panel on high level nuclear waste and the Aspen Institute’s “Dialogue on Nuclear Waste Disposal.” In 1995, he was a member of the Advisory Committee on External Regulation of Department of Energy Nuclear Safety. He has also conducted several audits of nuclear companies to assess management and served as chairman of a panel providing suggestions to the DOE’s Nevada Test Site as to how to make their operations more like commercial industries. In 2005, Dr. Kadak was appointed by President Bush to serve on the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. In addition, he serves as a member of the Senior Nuclear Safety Oversight Board of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Stations in Guangdong Province, China. Dr. Kadak has made more than 70 lectures and speeches on topics related to the technical and business aspects of nuclear power.

Kadak AC, Feng B. Conceptual design of an advanced breeder burner reactor. American Nuclear Society, June 2007.

Kadak AC, Finan AB. Integration of nuclear energy with oil sands projects for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and natural gas consumption. MIT CANES White Paper, June 2007.

Kadak AC. Nuclear power: Made in China. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. XIII, Issue I, Fall/Winter, 2006.

Kadak AC, Brudieu MA. Blind benchmarking predictions of NACOK air ingress tests using computational fluid dynamics. 3rd International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Johannesburg, South Africa, October 1–4, 2006.

Kadak AC, Finan AE, Miu K. Nuclear technology and Canadian oil sands: Integration of nuclear power with in-situ oil extraction. International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Reno, NV, June 4–8, 2006.

Kadak AC, Berte MV. Advanced modularity design for the MIT Pebble Bed Reactor. 2nd International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Beijing, China, September 22–24, 2004.

Kadak AC, Zhai T. Air ingress benchmarking with computational fluid dynamics analysis. 2nd International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Beijing, China, September 22–24, 2004.

Kadak AC, Bazant MZ. Pebble flow experiments for Pebble Bed reactors. 2nd International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Beijing, China, September 22–24, 2004.

Dostal V, Gezelius K, Horng J, Koser J, Iv JP, Shwageraus E, Yarsky P, Kadak AC. Mission to Mars: How to get people there and back with nuclear energy. MIT-NSA-TR-001, September 2004.

Yarsky P, Kadak AC, Driscoll MJ. Design of a sodium-cooled epithermal long-term exploration nuclear engine. MIT-NSA-TR-002, September 2004.

Zhai T, Kadak AC, H-C No. LOCA and air ingress accident analysis of a Pebble Bed reactor. MIT- ANP-TR-102, March 2004.

Kadak AC. Reconsidering nuclear power. Science Year Book 2003; 68–83.

Kadak AC. Licensing and deployment of advanced reactors. American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting, June 2002.

Kadak AC, Berte, MV. Modularity design of the MIT Pebble Bed reactor. American Nuclear Society Meeting, Reno, NV, November 2001.

Kadak AC. Establishing a Safety and Licensing Basis for Generation IV Advanced Reactors. Workshop on Advanced Reactors, Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, June 4–5, 2001.

Zhai N, Kadak AC. LOCA analysis in a Pebble Bed Reactor. Paper, American Nuclear Society Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, June 2001.

Kadak AC. An advanced nuclear power plant that can compete with natural gas. Proceedings, Electric Power 2001, March 21, 2001.

Kadak AC. An advanced nuclear power plant that can compete with natural gas. Electric Power 2001 Conference, March 21, 2001.

Kadak AC. The MIT Modular Pebble Bed Reactor Project. Proceedings, Seminar on HTGR Application and Development, Beijing, China, March 19, 2001.

Galen TA, Wilson DG, Kadak AC. Comparison between air and helium for use as working fluids in the energy-conversion cycle of the MPBR. February 2001.

Papers in Refereed Journals

Kadak AC, Freidberg JP. Fusion-fission hybrids revisited. Nature Phys 2009; 5, June.

Kadak AC. MIT Pebble Bed Reactor Project. Nuclear Eng Technol 2007; 39 2):95–102.

Kadak AC, Matsuo T. The nuclear industry’s transition to risk informed regulation and operation in the United States. Reliability Eng System Saf 2007; 92(5):609–618, May.

Kadak AC, Zhai, T. Air Ingress benchmarking with computational fluid dynamics analysis. Nuclear Eng Design 2006; 236(5-6):587–602.

Kadak AC, Berte MV. Advanced modularity design for the MIT Pebble Bed Reactor. Nuclear Eng Design 2006; 236(5-6) 587–602, March.

Kadak AC. A Future for Nuclear Energy: Pebble Bed Reactors. Int J Critical Infrastructures 2005; 1(4):330–345.

Kadak AC. Intergenerational risk decision making: A practical example. Risk 2000; 20(6):883–894.

Selected Presentations

Kadak AC. Airplanes are different—The management challenge. ANS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, June 1994.

Kadak AC. The safety goal as a regulation. ANS Executive Conference, Washington, D.C., March 1994.

Kadak AC. Self assessment—A challenge to human nature. ANS Conference, San Diego, CA, November 1993.

Kadak AC. Engineering excellence. ANS Executive Conference on Engineering Excellence, Jupiter Beach, FL, October 1993.

Kadak AC. Is technology enough? What about management? 16th Reactor Operations International Topical Meeting, August 1993.

Kadak AC. The quality of management—The next self assessment challenge. American Nuclear Society Executive Conference, Self Assessment for Self Assurance, La Jolla, CA, December 1990.

Kadak AC. Excellent and economic nuclear plant performance conference. ANS/ASME Joint Conference, Newport, Rhode Island, September 1990.

Kadak AC. Promoting professionalism and credibility in the engineering organization. INPO Workshop, Atlanta, GA, May 1990.

Kadak AC. What's a safety culture? How do I get it? How do I keep it? Presented to the Nuclear Nonoperating Owner's Group, Boston, MA, September 1989.

Selected Other Lectures

Kadak AC. An intergenerational approach to high level waste disposal (that might work). A Symposium on Advances in Nuclear Technology, MIT, April 1997.

Kadak AC. Developing a practical and cost effective decommissioning plan. Energy Daily Conference, April 1997.

Kadak AC. The U.S. NRC’s nuclear regulator research—Accomplishments and needs. ANS/ENS International Meeting, November 1996.

Kadak AC. The science and politics of high level waste. International Conference on High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal, May 1996.

Kadak AC. Risk management in electric utility decommissioning. ANS Executive Conference, May 1995.

Kadak AC. High level waste legislation. New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners, March 1995.

Kadak AC. Yankee’s decommissioning program. NRC Regulatory Information Conference, May 1994.

Kadak AC. The safety goal as a regulation. ANS Executive Conference, March 1994.

Kadak AC. How long will the current nuclear power reactors operate? MIT, October 1993.

Kadak AC. The atom and human values. 60th Steinmetz Memorial Lecture, Union College, October 1992.

Kadak AC. How to decide to shut down a nuclear plant prematurely. NUMARC panel presentation, October 1992.

Kadak AC. Institutional investors conference on economics of older nuclear power plants. Lehman Brothers, NY, March 1992.

Kadak AC. Generating companies, an idea whose time has come...again. Nuclear Engineering International, September 1989.

Kadak AC. Utilities of the 1990's—Generators of cash or electricity? American Nuclear Society Executive Conference on Utility Management Strategies of the 1990's, April 1989.

Selected Invited Lectures

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars – Current and Future Prospects for Civilian Nuclear Power: US and Japanese Perspectives, Washington, D.C., May 8, 2008.

Manhattan Institute, New York City – Nuclear Energy Options, March 28, 2007.

American Physical Society Conference - Nuclear Renaissance, October 31, 2006.

Westinghouse/BNFL, MIT’s Pebble Bed Reactor Research, Monroeville, PA, May 11, 2001.

Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, MIT Fuel and Safety Research, May 11, 2001.

New England Council of Public Utility Commissioners, The Inevitability of Nuclear Energy, Mystic, CT, May 21, 2001.

Council of Scientific Society Presidents, Advanced Nuclear Energy Plants – The Pebble Bed Reactor, Washington, D.C., May 6, 2001.

• Professor of the Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 1997–present
• President, Kadak Associates, Inc., 1997–present
• President and Chief Executive Officer, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, 1989–1997
• Vice President, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, 1986–1988
• Project Manager, Vermont Yankee, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, 1983–1985
• Project Manager, Yankee NPS (Rowe), Yankee Atomic Electric Company, 1980–1983
• Assistant to the Vice President, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, 1979–1980
• Manager, Nuclear Information, New England Power Company, 1975–1979
• Principal Physicist, PWR Physics, Combustion Engineering Corporation, 1972–1975
  

• Nuclear Energy Institute - Board of Directors (past)
• Nuclear Energy Institute - Nuclear Waste Advisory Committee (past)
• American Nuclear Society (ANS)
  – President 1999/2000, – Board of Directors, past Chairman of the National Planning Committee
• Advisory Committee on External Regulation of DOE Nuclear Safety (member)
• Electric Power Research Institute Research Advisory Committee (past member)
• The University of Massachusetts Engineering Task Force (past member)
• Edison Electric Institute past member of the Policy Committee on Energy Resources, past member of the Nuclear Power Executive Advisory Committee
• Electric Council of New England Board of Directors (past)
• New England Council Board of Directors (past)
• Nuclear Utility Management and Resources Committee (NUMARC) past member of the Issues Management Committee Board of Directors, and Executive Committee
• Northeast Section of the American Nuclear Society, Tau Beta Phi, Sigma Xi
• Member of the Industry Review Group on the Chernobyl Accident