Robert "DJ" Carter Named Brookhaven Lab's Nuclear Safety Division Manager
February 13, 2024
Robert “DJ” Carter, a nuclear safety professional with more than three decades of experience, has been named manager of the newly formed Nuclear Safety Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory.
As Nuclear Safety Division Manager, Carter will be responsible for leading efforts to reestablish the Laboratory's nuclear safety program, with the goal of increasing Brookhaven's isotope research and production capacity to help meet the nation's growing need for critical isotopes for medicine, industry, and national security.
“DOE has designated isotope research and production as a mission-essential function, and the Lab’s long-term goals require that the Lab's isotope program operate under a nuclear regulatory structure going forward,” said Sharon Kohler, Brookhaven’s Associate Laboratory Director for Environment, Safety and Health. “DJ has the experience and knowledge necessary to stand up this new division and ensure its success.”
The new division will be responsible for developing institutional nuclear safety processes and documentation and preparing and maintaining safety analyses for nuclear facilities. These efforts will also pave the way for construction and operation of the Clinical Alpha Radionuclide Producer (CARP), a new facility at Brookhaven that will further increase its production of alpha-emitting isotopes such as actinium-225, which show great promise in treating tumors by delivering a lethal punch to cancer cells. The Lab is currently working toward achieving the next CARP milestone, CD-1 (Approve Alternative Selection and Cost Range) to bring this new facility online so that more of these promising isotopes can be produced and tested—and if shown to be efficacious, brought to patients around the world.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to help facilitate the mission of the Lab’s Isotope Research and Production Department,” Carter said. “The isotopes being produced here at Brookhaven are delivering amazing, life-changing results, especially for those battling metastatic cancers. I’m grateful to play any small role in helping to further that success.”
Carter has served as the Lab's subject matter expert for work planning & control and conduct of operations since August 2022, and will continue to oversee and provide stewardship of the institutional work planning & control and conduct of operations functions in his new role.
“Work planning and control is very important to safely conducting the research we undertake here at Brookhaven, and that system needs to effectively serve everyone at the Lab,” said Carter. “Our staff are our most important resource, and we owe it to them to provide a safe and efficient environment in which to work.”
Prior to joining Brookhaven, Carter worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. At LLNL, he served as nuclear facilities manager for the Superblock complex, a collection of two Hazard Category 2 and two Hazard Category 3 nuclear facilities for research and development of special nuclear material. In addition, he also served as LLNL's conduct of operations manager. Before joining DOE, Carter served on active duty for 28 years in the U.S. Navy, filling numerous roles in support of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Carter holds a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering Technology and is trained as a human performance improvement practitioner.
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
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2024-21692 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
