Andrew Smolinski

Andrew Smolinski is Chief, Radiation Sources Section of Radiation Sciences Department (RSD) at Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) and Reactor Operations Supervisor (ROS), responsible for operations, reactor dosimetry, and facility management of the 1.1MW pulsing TRIGA Mark F research reactor, and Cobalt irradiator facilities. The mission of AFRRI is to defend the nation from nuclear and radiological threats through research, leadership, training, and education. AFRRI is committed to be medically and operationally prepared to preserve operational force resilience and fighting strength in the event of adversarial employment of nuclear weapons. Research areas involve radiation biomedical research into protectants, mitigators, biodosimetry, and materials research that impact operational readiness on a radiological battlefield.

 His expertise is in radiation facility management and engineering with experience on over 10 different reactors, working under Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Naval Reactors (NR), and Department of Energy (DOE) regulatory frameworks. He currently holds and SRO license on the AFRRI reactor (R-84). He serves on the executive committee of the National Organization of Training, Research, and Test Reactors (TRTR) and various standards committees for American Nuclear Society (ANS). He also serves on several reactor and radiation safety committees, serving on the reactor and radiation safety committees for AFRRI, and on the reactor safety committee for the University of Maryland Research Reactor.

Prior to coming to AFRRI he performed engineering, research support, and facility management functions for hot cells and reactors at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for 12 years, in support of the DOE advanced nuclear fuels and materials. Andrew spent four years in the operations department as an on-shift Shift Technical Advisor (STA) with a senior reactor operator (SRO) certification at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station (KPS), and four years working for Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) as an engineer in the Ship and Prototype Testing group in support of reactor startups for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

Andrew Smolinski received an M.S. and B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.S in Energy Policy from Johns Hopkins University. While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison he received an SRO license from the NRC for the University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor (1MW pulsing TRIGA reactor).