Dear Radiation Protection Managers, Regulators, and Vendors
Re: 2027 International Radiation Safety Symposium & Technology Exhibition Announcement/ Date Saver (January 19 – January 22, 2027)
On behalf of the NATC Technical Program Committee, I am pleased to invite you to attend the 2027 International Radiation Safety Symposium & Technology Exhibition to be held January
19-22, 2027. The 2027 Symposium will be held in-person at the Palo Verde Energy Educational Center (EEC) Auditorium located in Buckeye, Arizona. The Program Committee decided to move the symposia to an ISOE member site to encourage greater sharing of RP operational practices with an emphasis on efficiency and safety. Also, international attendees may wish to visit the Grand Canyon National Park before or after the symposia.
Every four years, the North American ISOE members host the International Symposium to include ISOE members from Europe, Asia, and IAEA members. The 2027 symposium will feature optional site tours of the USA Flex Facility SAFER which is in Phoenix. SAFER is one of two national beyond design basis accident response facilites which were developed to address the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Severe Accident on March 11, 2011.
The 2027 International Radiation Safety Symposium & Technology Exhibition will continue to be the premier regulatory/RPM meeting of 2027. The Honorable David A. Wright, U.S. NRC Commission Chair, has been the invited plenary speaker for the past three January symposium. The Technical Program Committee has invited Commissioner Wright to speak in January 2027. Michael Smith, Director of RP, Nuclear Energy Institute has also been invited to provide the latest industry update on the anticipated regulatory changes affecting RP Department Programs.
The NATC Board has selected the following theme for the 2027 International Symposium:
Global Sharing of Nuclear Plant Operational and Outage Excellence in a Changing Regulatory Environment
The objective of the 2027 International Symposium is to provide presentations on recent RP OE, good practices and lessons learned to promote safe and efficient nuclear power operations globally.
Since 1992, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois has been the host university for the North American Technical Center, Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) OECD NEA /IAEA. (Website: https:/isoe-network.net) NATC is composed of Canadian, Mexican and USA nuclear utilities and regulatory authorities. The NATC Board founded the ISOE Symposia in 1997. North American symposia have held annually since 1999. (The European, Asian and Vienna ISOE technical Centers also conduct ISOE Symposia.)
The symposium program is designed to provide solutions to dose reduction and RP management challenges/solutions experienced in 2026 especially during refueling or maintenance outages. Please contact Amy Keep (almoeller88@gmail.com) or David W. Miller (Dmiller@illinois.edu), if you have a topic that you would like the Technical Program Committee to consider for the 2027 International Radiation Safety Symposium & Technology Exhibition agenda.
The afternoon session of the second day is focused on regulatory issues from CNSC and U.S. NRC. A CNSC speaker is being invited to provide an update on Canadian RP regulatory experience.
U.S. NRC health physicists from headquarters and all four regions have been invited to provide highlights of changes to health physics related regulations and inspection criteria of interest to Radiation Protection Departments. Historically, the greatest attendee interest was for the NRC HP Inspectors’ summary of regulatory RP findings from the previous year. In the past, U.S. NRC regulators from headquarters and all four regions attended the January 2017-25 Symposia. The objective of the sharing of radiation safety lessons learned is to prevent the recurrence of nuclear utility OEs.
The NATC Technical Program Committee is planning the 2027 Symposium and associated Regional RPM meetings. The 2027 agenda will be released early November 2026 for your planning purposes. Nominations for 2026 World Class Radiation Protection Performance, 2026 RP Professional of the Year and John M. Palms Outstanding Innovation Awards are being solicited from June to December 2026. Please look for the respective nomination forms/questionnaires.
The January 2027 symposium will include the following schedule:
Monday, January 18, 2027, 6 pm – 9 pm)
ISOE Welcome Gathering in Designated area hotels (Details to be announced)
Tuesday, January 19, 2027 (8 am – 5 pm*)
Day 1 Including Plenary speakers (U.S. NRC Commission Chair [invited], 2026 World Class RP Performance Award, and RPM presentations on outage OEs lessons learned and experience with new RP technology).
Vendor Opening Reception, 5 pm – 7 pm (location to be announced)
Wednesday, January 20, 2027 (8 am – 5 pm*)
Day 2 Morning sessions on RP Management Experience, Challenges and Successes. The afternoon session includes CNSC and U.S. NRC regulatory presentations on observations from U.S. NRC RP inspection programs, revisions to regulations and NRC RP findings. Feedback from the Canadian RP inspection program will also be solicited.
Thursday, January 21, 2027 (8 am – 12 pm*)
Day 3 2027 Symposium (Industry Speakers (NEI, EPRI, INPO and RPM Operating Radiological Events/Lessons Learned).
Palo Verde Plant Tour of RP Program. (1 pm – 4 pm) Details to be announced. (Limited Enrollment)
Friday, January 22, 2027 (8 am to 12 pm*)
Region III RPM Meeting (Observations from NRC Branch Chief and RP Inspectors in Control of RP Programs).
Technical Tour of SAFER, Buses will transport attendees to SAFER and return to Palo Verde EEC. Details to be announced. (Limited Enrollment)
* All times are in the USA Mountain Standard Time Zone.
Symposium Highlights:
The 2027 winter International Symposium & Technology Exhibition will continue to be the premier utility/regulatory meeting for Radiation Protection Managers and health physics professionals to exchange the latest good practices and lessons learned from innovative technology and regulatory revisions.
The symposium plans to feature technical papers on the latest approaches in work management, dose control, pixelated 3D CZT technology, remote monitoring, AI, source term reduction, personnel dosimetry QA lessons learned and dose rate measurements. The symposium is held early in the calendar year at the suggestion of nuclear utility Radiation Protection Managers to assist individual plants in setting annual and refueling outage dose goals/targets.
Call for Papers:
Authors of papers for the International Radiation Safety Symposium & Technology Exhibition are requested to send their paper titles and abstracts to Amy Keep at almoeller88@gmail.com and David W. Miller at dmiller@illinois.edu. Additional information for authors will be provided to you by the 2027 Technical Program Committee.
NATC Board Members:
The 2026 NATC Board Members are as follows:
Jennifer Allen, Point Lepruea, New Brunswick Power
Ben Chui, Darlington, OPG & ISOE Canadian Country Coordinator
Herbert Engstrom, RPM, Palo Verde Generating Station, Arizona Public Service & U.S. ISOE PWR Country Coordinator
Joseph Jaegers, RPM, Dresden Clean Energy Center, Constellation & U.S. ISOE BWR Country Coordinator
David W. Miller, NATC Regional Coordinator, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Amy Keep, NATC Executive Administrator & Event Coordinator
If you have any questions, feel free to contact either Amy Keep,
via cell: 269-930-0753/email: almoeller88@gmail.com or David W. Miller via cell: 217-855-3238/email: dmiller@illinois.edu or
Hope to see you at the Palo Verde Energy Education Center in January 2027. January is typically the best weather in Phoenix!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Amy Keep
NATC Executive Administrator/Event Coordinator
almoeller88@gmail.com
269-930-0753
Sincerely yours,
Herbert Engstrom
RPM
Palo Verde Generating Station, APS
Cc: Joseph Jaegers, Dresden RPM, Constellation & NATC Board Member
Herbert Engstrom, RPM, Palo Verde RPM, APS & NATC Board Member
Ben Chui, OPG ALARA Manager, Canadian Country Coordinator & NATC Board Member
John Moser, RPM, LaSalle County, Constellation & Region III RPM Meeting Chair
Jennifer Allen, Point Lepreau, New Brunswick Power & NATC Board Member
Amy Keep, Executive Administrator & Event Planner, Un of Illinois
