Chuck Casto

On March 11, 2011, fifty minutes after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit eastern Japan, a tsunami 45-feet high engulfed the nuclear power plant known as Fukushima Daiichi, knocking out electrical power and all the reactors' safety systems. Three reactor cores experienced meltdowns in the first three days, leading to an unimaginable nuclear disaster. The person the Tokyo Electric Power Company called for help was Dr. Chuck Casto.

What an amazing and humble gentleman. A great honour and pleasure speaking with Chuck, I am sure you will love this conversation as much as I did.

Dr. Charles Casto is a nuclear safety and regulatory professional with 38 years of experience consisting of positions of increasing responsibility, including executive, regulatory, technical, and operational areas of expertise. He was a member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service, and last held the position of NRC, Regional Administrator, Region III, overseeing 23 reactors in eight states as one of the senior administrators for the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Dr. Casto led the integrated US Government and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) efforts in Japan during the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011. Working directly with Ambassador Roos, and coordinating with the NRC’s Emergency Operations Center in the U.S., he represented the United States Government to the Japanese Prime Minister’s Cabinet. His efforts are widely recognized as being a singular contribution to the emergency response during the Fukushima nuclear crisis, through his efforts in coordinating the U.S. government response, providing technical consultation to the Daiichi plant manager and Japan’s nuclear agencies, and serving as a liaison to Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto during the Fukushima nuclear disaster. After serving for 11 months in Japan as the U.S. government’s lead nuclear representative during the crisis, Dr. Casto received the Presidential Distinguished Award (2012) from President Obama; for his contributions to the U.S. government, he previously received the Meritorious Rank Award (2009) from President Bush.

Links.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-charles-chuck-casto-990b948/

Website: https://www.castogroup.com/

Further context can be gained here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciRRsCIAy6A

Thanks for listening. We have some great guests coming up in future pods so get ready to learn. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your week, and stay safe. https://plus.acast.com/s/health-and-safety-conversations.

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