New NRC resident inspector starts at Callaway Energy Center

 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks to the media before a meeting with Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 23, 2009. Maliki pledged to mend sectarian divisions and fight corruption as he urged the international community to continue providing support to his nation. Photographer: Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks to the media before a meeting with Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 23, 2009. Maliki pledged to mend sectarian divisions and fight corruption as he urged the international community to continue providing support to his nation. Photographer: Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials selected Michael Langelier to serve as the new resident inspector at the Callaway Energy Center. Langelier's first day at the nuclear facility was Monday.

Langelier said his time in the Navy first sparked his interest in chemistry. He joined the Navy in 1993, right after graduating from high school and served for more than eight years.

"I was a nuclear operator on submarines, but I also did the reactor coolant and steam plant chemistry," Langelier said.

After leaving the Navy in 2001, he attended the University of Maine, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering.

Langelier and his wife recently relocated to Callaway County from the NRC's Region IV office in Arlington, Texas, where he started working in February 2014. There, Langelier worked as a project engineer where he lined up inspections for inspectors and performed other administrative tasks. Langelier described the project engineer position as a "training platform."

"It allowed me to train to become a resident inspector," Langelier said. "They hired you on as a project engineer initially and then you go through learning the regulations and how to inspect and take a bunch of different classes while you're a project engineer."

Then, at the end or near the end of training, if a resident inspector position opens up, Langelier said project engineers can apply.

Before joining the NRC last February, Langelier worked as an engineer for an environmental engineering firm and for Georgia Pacific, which produces a wide range of consumer paper products and chemicals, as well as other products.

In his previous jobs, Langelier said he did environmental engineering, hazardous waste remediation, waste-water treatment and process-safety engineering work. That background, he said, gave him interest in working with the NRC.

"I had an interest in safety and I had the nuclear background ... I happened to be looking for different opportunities and I came across this one and decided to go for it," Langelier said.

Langelier said he has a wide knowledge of different aspects of engineering that he thinks will help him as an inspector at the Callaway plant.

"In my previous jobs, I did a lot of different types of engineering. I did some process controls, I had a chemical engineering background, I did mechanical design work - so I have quite a wide variety of different disciplines that I can go back to when I'm inspecting."

NRC Region IV Administrator Marc Dapas stated in an NRC press release that he also believes Langelier's experience will benefit the NRC.

"Mike Langelier's technical expertise will assist the NRC in carrying out its mission to protect people and the environment by ensuring the safe operation of the Callaway plant," Dapas stated in the release.

Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center generates electricity for about 1.2 million in the state. NRC resident inspectors continuously monitor each nuclear plant's activities. The NRC has at least two resident inspectors at every U.S. commercial nuclear power plant. Langelier joins the Callaway plant's senior resident inspector, Tom Hartman.

Resident inspectors monitor work projects, conduct inspections and serve as the NRC's "eyes and ears" at each nuclear facility, according to an NRC press release.

"I'm looking forward to working here and making sure that the plant is operating safely,"Langelier said.