Nomination of Nunzio J. Palladino To Be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Designation as Chairman

The President today announced his intention to nominate Nunzio J. Palladino to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Upon confirmation the President intends to designate Dr. Palladino Chairman.

Dr. Palladino is dean of the College of Engineering and professor of nuclear engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corp. for 20 years before going to Penn State, including 4 years on loan to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory. In 1950-59 while working at Westinghouse, Dr. Palladino was in charge of reactor core design for the submarine prototype reactor, Mark I; for the Nautilus reactor; and for the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. In 1958 he was awarded the Westinghouse Order of Merit for technical direction of reactor designs of the Nautilus and Shippingport power plants; in 1956 he received the Prime Movers Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his work on the Shippingport plant.

Dr. Palladino served as the first head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University in 1959-66, when he was appointed dean of the College of Engineering. As head of the Nuclear Engineering Department, he was responsible for development and implementation of course work and graduate programs and research in nuclear engineering.

Dr. Palladino has served on many committees, including the Governor's Energy Council and the Governor's Science Advisory Committee, for which he chaired the Energy Management Subcommittee; member and chairman of both the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Atomic Energy Development and Radiation Control and the U.S. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, which reviews all nuclear plants proposed for construction and operation in the United States. More recently, he has been a member of the Governor's Commission on Three Mile Island, and participated on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission special task force to evaluate the cleanup activities at Three Mile Island, which culminated in the preparation of a report submitted to the NRC Commissioners.

Dr. Palladino is a native of Allentown, Pa., and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University in 1938 and 1939. In addition, he did graduate work in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee and in business and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Lehigh University awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of engineering in 1964. He is married, has three daughters, and resides in State College, Pa. He was born on November 10, 1916.