J. Gary Lanthrum, Principal Engineer
Radioactive Material Transportation and Storage Consulting
703.629.3134
gary.l@ramtasc.com
 
Resume Summary
Gary Lanthrum is a nuclear engineer with 42 years of experience working on private, military and civilian government nuclear programs.  His background includes stints as a licensing engineer at the Trojan nuclear plant, project manager for nuclear submarine decommissioning, and Director of the Office of National Transportation for the Yucca Mountain Program @ DOE.  Currently Gary is consulting with private companies and governments as they grapple with nuclear waste transportation, storage and final disposition issues in the wake of the Yucca Mountain Program’s dismantlement. 
 
Chronological Listing of Positions from 2001 - Present
 
Principal Engineer, RAMTASC consulting 1/14 – Present
At the end of 2013, Mr. Lanthrum chose to start his own consulting company. Since then he has contracted with clients requiring support for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) transportation and storage projects. As the Principal Engineer for RAMTASC, Mr. Lanthrum continues to provide technical, regulatory, financial and political analyses of SNF & HLW storage and transport options for both the private and government sectors. He developed a section of the Safety Analysis Report for the Consolidated Interim Storage project in Texas that was submitted by Interim Storage Partner’s in their License Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He also developed one of the competing conceptual designs for an interim storage facility in New Mexico. He was a key contributor to the design of a new canister that could be used for transportation, storage and disposal of SNF as well as developing the process requirements for using that canister. This work was done for the Department of Energy. In March of 2021, Mr. Lanthrum completed a three year contract as an "Expert Team" member advising Southern California Edison on transportation aspects of their Strategic and Conceptual Transportation Plans for moving Spent Nuclear Fuel away from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Mr. Lanthrum remains an active participant and organizer for national and international conferences dealing with spent nuclear fuel packaging and transportation. 
 
Vice President for Consulting, NAC International 8/10 – 12/13
As Vice President for Consulting at NAC international, Gary continued to work on major nuclear waste management policies and projects with private and government sector clients. He gave expert testimony on nuclear waste management to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) and worked to turn the BRC recommendations on interim storage into viable storage projects. Internationally, Gary led NAC contracts to advise Japan on damaged fuel recovery, transportation and storage options in the wake of the damage to their nuclear plants caused by the Fukushima Daiichi earthquake and tsunami. He also provided a comprehensive analysis of SNF storage and transportation options to China pending their development of a repository and recycling capability. Gary also completed a number of private and government sector nuclear waste management projects in the United States during his tenure at NAC International. Most of these projects focused on options for interim storage and associated transportation challenges.


Director, DOE/OCRWM Office of Logistics Management (OLM) 8/03 – 8/10
This Office resided within the Department of Energy’s Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. It was created to develop the transportation system for shipping spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from utilities across the country to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.  Mr. Lanthrum’s responsibilities included program management for transportation capital projects, route selection, emergency response training support, start-up testing and contracting for operations of a radioactive waste transportation and storage system handling up to 3,000 MTHM per year. His key achievements included:
 

  • Completing two environmental impact statements and issuing records of decision on mode of transport and the selected transportation corridor for railroad construction;
  • Developing and approving a National Transportation Plan, a Conduct of Operations Plan and establishing the requirements for capital projects with an estimate at completion of $3.7 billion;
  • Obtaining key policy decisions on the operational alternatives (mode of transport and the use of dedicated trains) to guide system development and to address key stakeholder concerns;
  • Running a forum for negotiating route selection and providing emergency response training support in collaboration with states, tribes and other stakeholders impacted by the planned transportation system.
 
Director, DOE/EM National Transportation Program (NTP) 11/01–8/03
 
As Director of the National Transportation Program within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Mr. Lanthrum oversaw a suite of radioactive material transportation and packaging services his office provided to DOE sites and field offices. These included satellite tracking of Transuranic (TRU) Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel shipments. His key achievements included:
 
  • Resolving challenges faced by states trying to access satellite tracking data for shipments of Transuranic (TRU) and SNF waste through their jurisdictions.  This required migrating access to the tracking system from dial-up to web-based protocols.  This cut costs and improved access for state emergency responders and still met all the access security protocols required by the NRC;
  • Providing a Transportation Compliance Evaluation and Assistance Program (TCEAP) to DOE sites starting radioactive waste shipping campaigns.  This compliance assistance program prevented violations, fines and helped preserve shipping schedules by ensuring consignments met all regulatory requirements. Part of this assistance program included development of routing and security plans for shipments of highway route controlled quantities (HRCQ) of radioactive materials;
  • Creating public access to the main radiological risk assessment tool (RADTRAN) used for assessing potential impacts of radwaste shipment accidents and threats and providing a help desk for using the program;
  • Initiating tribal outreach programs for transportation planning across sovereign tribal lands;
  • Creating a clearing-house for sharing transportation assets and communicating lessons learned from complex-wide radioactive material shipment activities.
  • Conducting operations research studies for classified shipments of nuclear weapons and special nuclear material. These studies helped structure shipment campaigns to maximize the capabilities of resources (armed guards and specialized equipment) supporting these national security shipments.

 

Other Positions:
 

  • Special Nuclear Material Project Manager DOE/EM 1995 – 2001
  • Special Projects Branch Chief, Submarine Decommissioning - Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – 1990 – 1995
  • Nuclear Project Manager Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – 1981 – 1990
  • Licensing Engineer – Portland General Electric Company 1975 - 1981
 
Education, Affiliations & Awards
 
  • B.S., Nuclear Engineering, Oregon State University 1975
  • Appointed to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board Hazardous Material Transportation Committee, 2008-2017
  • DOE Special Act Award for Integrated Approach to Packaging and Transporting Nuclear Materials, 2007
  • Academy of Distinguished Engineers, Oregon State University, 2006
  • DOE Superior Achievement Award for Integrated Nuclear Materials Management Plan, 2000
RESUME & CV for