April 18: WSU Tri-Cities, DOE lecture to explore preparation for natural hazards at Hanford Site

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities continues its partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to offer the next Hanford lecture focusing on the impact of and preparation for natural phenomena hazards on the Hanford Site at 3:30 p.m. April 18 in the East Auditorium at WSU Tri-Cities.

Students, faculty and the community are welcome to attend the presentation.

Stephen McDuffie, seismic engineer for the Chief of Nuclear Safety at DOE, will speak about how they prepare for natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, high winds and mitigation for DOE nuclear facilities and how they determine the requirements for its facilities to withstand those hazards.

Both existing and new nuclear facilities must be designed to withstand natural phenomena to ensure the facilities continue to serve their safety functions during such events.

McDuffie has more than 25 years of nuclear safety experience. He has served as a seismic engineer for the Chief of Nuclear Safety at DOE since September 2008. In this position, he oversees natural phenomena hazard characterization and design activities at DOE facilities and maintains operational awareness at several of DOE’s high-hazard nuclear facilities. McDuffie holds a bachelor’s in geology from Whitman College and master’s and doctoral degrees in earth and planetary sciences from Johns Hopkins University. He also holds a master’s of business administration degree from WSU Tri-Cities with a focus on decision sciences and revenue management.

The lecture on April 18 will be broadcast live at WSU Pullman, WSU Vancouver, WSU Everett and WSU Spokane via the campus AMS video streaming service.

For more information, contact Akram Hossain, WSU Tri-Cities vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and external programs, at 509-372-7314 or ahossain@tricity.wsu.edu.