President Obama nominates UT alumnus to key nuclear post on DNFSB

KNOXVILLE—President Barack Obama recently nominated University of Tennessee alumnus Kenneth L. Mossman to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Now a professor of health physics at Arizona State University, Mossman is an expert in radiation health and safety. He received his master’s degree in 1970 and doctorate in 1973, both in radiation biology, from UT and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences. He established the Ken and Blair Mossman Professorship in Biomedicine, currently held by Associate Dean and Professor Cynthia Peterson.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is a five-member executive branch agency with safety oversight of all U.S. nuclear weapons facilities. Its mission is to identify potential threats to public health and safety at the U.S. Department of Energy’s defense nuclear facilities and to make safety recommendations to the secretary of energy and to the president. Among other things, the DNFSB issues weekly reports on Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

“I am excited about working with other presidential appointees on the board and the very talented civil servants who carry out the work of the board,” Mossman said. “I have always had a strong commitment to giving back, particularly to institutions that have contributed to my success. This presidential appointment is another way of giving back. Other than teaching, there is no greater calling than government service in the public interest.”

Mossman has published widely on topics such as biological effects of low- and high-dose x-, gamma and neutron radiation; radiation exposure during pregnancy; the health effects of radon; and radiation protection and public policy. His current research includes nuclear regulatory science and policy and managing small risks, as well as risk perception and risk communication.

Mossman has been at ASU since 1990. Prior to that, he was the founding chair of the Department of Radiation Science at the Georgetown Graduate School. He is also an administrative judge for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, where he has served since 2008.

Mossman received his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University, and a master’s degree in education degree from the University of Maryland.

Mossman’s Senate confirmation process is expected to begin this fall.