I was pleased and honored recently
to receive a letter from the Secretary of Energy confirming my appointment to
the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB). Members of EMAB are appointed by the
Secretary of Energy and serve at the discretion of the Assistant Secretary for
EM. My role will be to provide expert advice on environmental
stewardship, science, and technology. My term ends in Sept. 2016. The mission of EMAB is to
provide independent and external advice, information, and recommendations to
the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) on corporate issues
relating to accelerated site clean-up and risk reduction. These issues
include project management and oversight activities; cost/benefit analyses; program
performance; human capital development; and contracts and acquisition
strategies. EMAB membership includes individuals from private industry,
academia, the scientific community, and governmental and nongovernmental
entities. (You can learn more about EMAB here.)
As
I think about this appointment, I recall a conversation I had many years ago
with Dr. Alvin Weinberg. It was a
wonderful spring afternoon (much like we’ve been having recently here in East
Tennessee), and I had the privilege of sharing the afternoon with him in his
home in Oak Ridge. Just Weinberg and
me. (What a treat!) I’m sure I asked him dozens of questions that
afternoon. One question I asked went
something like this, “What do you consider to be the greatest oversight or
worst mistake made by you and your fellow founders of the nuclear age?” His response was immediate and
passionate. “We underestimated the
challenge of dealing with nuclear waste.”
And then almost as quickly he added, “I’m not speaking of the technical
challenge. I think that has been largely
solved. I’m speaking of the challenge of
dealing with the public and with the public perception that this is an insurmountable
problem.” Now of course, Dr. Weinberg
was speaking primarily about the waste associated with commercial nuclear
power. But I’ve never forgotten that
conversation and the larger implications of that conversation with regard both
to commercial nuclear power and the legacy waste from our federal nuclear
enterprise.
Just
a few days ago I had the pleasure of attending the graduation of my niece,
Taylor, at the University of Tennessee.
The commencement speaker was Jim Haslam (founder of Pilot Corporation
and father of our current Governor Bill Haslam). As is his style, Jim addressed the graduates
and attendees with a brief, focused, and memorable speech. Among the few points he shared was one that
when something like this: “There are three phases in our lives. Early on, you LEARN – you prepare for your
future. Then, you EARN – you earn you
way forward in the world. Finally, you
RETURN – you give back to those who helped you along the way and to society in
general.” I really liked his
speech. Personally however, I like to
think that at some point, the learning, earning, and returning become coexistent lifestyle attributes, rather than a strictly serial
sequence of life phases. Learning never
stops. Earning doesn’t end. Returning is a continuous activity. (I’ll bet Mr. Haslam really feels that way as
well.)
Serving on EMAB is one small way to “return” something to an enterprise that
has given me so much over the past thirty-five years. I look forward to serving. I encourage you to ask, "How can I serve?" and "How can I return?" Every one of us has been equipped with gifts, talents, and experiences that qualify us well to serve others. How about you? Who are you serving?
Just
thinking…
Sherrell
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