David Lochbaum is the Director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned
Scientists. David Lochbaum is one of the nation's top independent experts on nuclear power. At UCS, he monitors safety issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, raises concerns with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and responds to breaking events, such as current concerns over aging power plants and plant fire safety.
Mr. Lochbaum is a nuclear engineer by training and worked in nuclear power plants for 17 years. In 1992, he and a colleague identified a safety problem in a plant where they were working, but were ignored when they raised the issue with the plant manager, the utility, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They decided to go to Congress, and the problem was eventually corrected at the original plant and at plants across the country. Concerned about nuclear safety and frustrated with the NRC's complacency, Mr. Lochbaum joined UCS in 1996. Mr. Lochbaum left UCS in 2009 to accept a position as a reactor technology instructor at the NRC’s Technical Training Center. Mr. Lochbaum returned to UCS in his old position in March 2010.
He has written numerous reports, including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Report on Safety in America's Nuclear Power Industry, Three Mile Island's Puzzling Legacy, and the book Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis. He is widely quoted in the media and a frequent guest on network news programs.