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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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The transformation of the NRC: 50 years of commissioners
The dust is beginning to settle following the whirlwind of changes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the past year, and 2025 ultimately may be viewed as a transformative year, as well as the year the NRC celebrated its golden anniversary. The 12 months of that milestone year brought more change to the agency in its composition, its mandate, and its relationship to the executive branch than any comparable period in the preceding four decades.
Now at 51 years and counting, the NRC is working with a full commission and issuing new rulemakings to both regulate and support the next round of nuclear deployments. With the turbulence of 2025 still fresh in our minds, Nuclear News decided it was a good time to revisit the professional backgrounds of all 42 NRC commissioners who have served over the agency’s 50-year history to see how the composition of the commission has evolved over time.
M. Jack Ohanian was a passionate and tireless nuclear educator throughout his career. An ANS Fellow, he was an active member of the Society from 1964 until his death in 2011.
He was born on August 7, 1933 in Istanbul, Turkey and was educated there until he came to the U.S. in 1956 to study as an exchange student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Ohanian became a faculty member at the University of Florida (UF) in 1963, where he taught for 38 years. In 1969, he was named the Department Chairman of Nuclear Engineering. He was named the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering in 1979, and in 1998 he became the interim Dean of the Graduate School and the VP of Research at UF. A year later he was made interim Dean for Engineering, a position he held until his retirement.
His dedication to the field of engineering included his service to the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) as chairman.
Ohanian earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Robert College, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Nuclear Engineering from RPI.
Just prior to becoming A U.S. citizen in 1967, he was awarded the American Legion’s Medal of Valor for helping to save a father and daughter in a river in Oleno State Park, Florida.
Dr. M. Jack Ohanian passed away on October 31, 2011.
Read Nuclear News from July 1990 for more on Jack.
