2021 Hodes Award Nominations Sought

Nominations must be received by August 31, 2020.
Click here for the nomination packet.

The Award

The Southeast Compact Commission for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management is accepting nominations for the 2020 Richard S. Hodes, M.D. Honor Lecture Award—a program that recognizes an individual, company, or organization that contributed in a significant way to improving the technology, policy, or practices of low-level radioactive waste management in the United States.  The award recipient will present the innovation being recognized at a lecture during the Waste Management ’20 Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona.  The Commission will provide the recipient with a $5,000 honorarium and pay all travel expenses for the recipient.

Criteria

The Richard S. Hodes Honor Lecture Award recognizes innovation industry-wide.  The award is not limited to any specific endeavor—contributions may be from any type of work with radioactive materials (nuclear energy, biomedical, research, etc.), or in any facet of that work, such as planning, production, maintenance, administration, or research.  The types of innovations to be considered include, but are not limited to:

•     conception and development of new approaches or practices in the prevention, management, and regulation of radioactive waste;

•     new technologies or practices in the art and science of waste management; and,

•     new educational approaches in the field of waste management.

The criteria for selection include:

1.   Innovation.  Is the improvement unique? Is it a fresh approach to a standard problem? Is it a visionary approach to an anticipated problem?

2.   Safety.  Does the practice enhance radiation protection?

3.   Economics.  Does the approach produce significant cost savings to government, industry or the public?

4.   Transferability.  Is this new practice applicable in other settings and can it be replicated?  Does it increase the body of technical knowledge across the industry?

Nominations – Nominations must be received by August 31, 2020

To nominate yourself or another individual, company, or organization for this distinguished award, please submit a nomination packet to:

Awards Committee
c/o Ted Buckner

Executive Director
Southeast Compact Commission
Post Office Box 5427
Cary, NC 27512
(919) 360-6040
tedb@secompact.org

or visit the Southeast Compact Commission’s website at http://www.secompact.org/.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the award, the individual/group must consent to being nominated and must be willing to prepare and present a lecture about the innovation being recognized at the Waste Management Symposium.  Individuals or organizations can nominate themselves or another individual, company, institution, or organization. 

Past Recipients

The following individuals and entities are past recipients of the Richard S. Hodes, M.D. Honor Lecture Award:

•     W.H. “Bud” Arrowsmith (2004);

•     Texas A & M University Student Chapter of Advocates for Responsible Disposal in Texas (2004 honorable mention);

•     William Dornsife (2005);

•     California Radioactive Materials Management Forum (2006);

•     Larry McNamara (2007); 

•     Michael Ryan (2008);

•     Susan Jablonski (2009); 

•     Larry Camper (2010); 

•     Christine Gelles (2011); 

•     Lawrence “Rick” Jacobi (2012); 

•     James Kennedy (2013); 

•     EnergySolutions, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (2013 honorable mention); 

•     Electric Power Research Institute (2014); 

•     Division of Radiation Control of the Utah DEQ and EnergySolutions (2015); 

•     Louis Centofanti (2016);

•     Scott Kirk (2017);

• The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Off-Site Recovery Program (2018); and
• Clint Miller (2019)
• Savannah River Remediation LLC (2020)

Background

Dr. Richard S. Hodes was a distinguished statesman and a lifetime scholar.  He was one of the negotiators of the Southeast Compact law, in itself an innovative approach to public policy in waste management.  He then served as the chair of the Southeast Compact Commission for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management from its inception in 1983 until his death in 2002.   Throughout his career, Dr. Hodes developed and supported innovation in medicine, law, public policy, and technology.  The Richard S. Hodes, M.D. Honor Lecture Award was established in 2003 to honor the memory of Dr. Hodes and his achievements in the field of low-level radioactive waste management.