LAS VEGAS – EM’s Gustave “Bud” Danielson is the first recipient of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA) Committee Outstanding Service Medal.

   “It is with great pleasure that the NQA Committee selected Bud as our first recipient of this award and we have no doubt that he will continue to serve the health and safety needs of the public in matters of nuclear energy for many years to come,” ASME NQA Chair Douglas A. Brown said.

   Brown praised Danielson for his outstanding technical contributions, and cited his more than 20 years of NQA Committee service and commitment to a safe, nuclear global community.

   “He is being recognized for his active commitment to safe operations in the broader nuclear community through his involvement with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and his efforts to get the ASME Committee involved in global quality and safety issues,” Brown said. “If it were not for his efforts, ASME NQA would still be watching the expanding global efforts from afar instead of playing a lead role in the quality and management arena in Vienna.”

   Danielson is a senior-level general engineer in EM’s Office of the Chief of Nuclear Safety, which oversees EM’s high-hazard nuclear facilities. He accepted the award at the ASME NQA Fall 2016 meeting in Las Vegas. The medal will be presented to an NQA Committee member annually for extraordinary merit in achieving improvements in quality processes within the nuclear industry. 

   Representing DOE as an NQA Standards Committee voting member since 1995, Danielson has served multiple terms as chair for two subcommittees, and two terms as vice-chair of the Standards Committee. He held a contributing member position on the ASME Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards. He is the inaugural chair of the new Subcommittee on International Activities and a DOE voting member of the ASME Board on Conformity Assessment.  

   The NQA Committee maintains the American National Standard ASME-NQA-1, Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications. The standard is used to develop quality assurance programs for DOE and commercial nuclear facilities worldwide.

   A DOE employee of 26 years, Danielson has been instrumental in DOE’s application of ASME-NQA-1 to its nuclear facilities, including those in the EM portfolio. His contributions to NQA-1 served to better address DOE’s nuclear facilities and activities. He is an original author of DOE’s quality assurance requirements (10 CFR 830 and Order O414.1), Integrated Safety Management System and associated guidance. He authored or coauthored other DOE nuclear safety directives and IAEA nuclear safety documents.

   Earlier this year, ASME recognized Danielson with a certificate of acclamation for excellence in forming the society’s Europe International Working Group (IWG), which has grown to include members from Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Romania and Czech Republic.

   The society honored Danielson for bringing a greater international perspective to work to maintain standards for nuclear quality assurance.

   Danielson is laying the groundwork for ASME to create additional IWGs in China and India in 2017, and later in other regions that use NQA-1 to provide items and services to the DOE and global nuclear industry.

   Danielson continues to promote DOE and U.S. nuclear safety and quality practices through numerous meetings, consultancies and exchanges with the IAEA community. 

   Previously, Danielson was honored with a society award for leading a team that helped make the nuclear quality assurance standard reflective of DOE’s nuclear safety regulation, 10 CFR 830. These changes allow for DOE’s contractors and suppliers to achieve full compliance with 10 CFR 830 requirements through implementation of NQA-1.