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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532

NRC NAMES NEW SENIOR RESIDENT INSPECTOR AT THE PADUCAH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in Lisle, Illinois, have announced the assignment of Courtney Blanchard as the agency's Senior Resident Inspector at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant which is located west of Paducah, Kentucky, on Highway 60.

The plant, which processes uranium for use as fuel in commercial nuclear power plants, is operated by the U.S. Enrichment Corporation and owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. The NRC has two full-time resident inspectors at the plant.

Blanchard, a NRC employee since October 1996, began his duties at the plant earlier this month. Before his recent assignment, Blanchard was the resident inspector at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio and a Fuel Facility Inspector in the Lisle, Illinois, regional office.

Prior to joining the NRC, Blanchard worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a supervisor of mechanical engineering, as a field installation engineer for Owens Illinois Inc., and for Goodyear Atomic Corporation as a lead engineer during the development of the Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant.

Blanchard earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University. Blanchard, his wife Mary, and two children live in Paducah, Kentucky.

Blanchard joins Resident Inspector John Jacobson at Paducah. They can be reached at (207) 442-7118.

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