Bio
Alyson Coates is a commercial nuclear industry expert, with more than 25 years of experience supporting nuclear power plants and cogeneration facilities. She has worked at River Bend Station NPP, H.B. Robinson NPP, Dow Chemical Louisiana Operations, and Dow Chemical St. Charles Operations. Alyson is an expert in Root Cause Analysis / Performance Improvement, Cybersecurity, Regulatory Assurance, Engineering, Fuel Movement, and NPP Operations.
In May 2020, Alyson joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as a senior technical staff member. At ORNL, she supports the Office of International Nuclear Security (INS) within the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). Alyson is the INS country lead for Slovenia and Slovakia, the project manager and technical project officer for the INS Ukraine and Belarus teams, former deputy country lead for the INS Ukraine team, insider threat mitigation representative on the INS Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Initiative for Sabotage Mitigation and Energy Security, and a subject matter expert on the INS Site Security Management team. She has also supported the INS Sabotage Working Group and Transport Security Team. She collected data on nuclear transportation for input and co-author of the Desktop Assessment Report for Nuclear Material for Germany, India, Mexico, Slovakia, and South Africa.
Prior to her beginning her INS work, Alyson provided research, development, and analysis in support of reactor safety, licensing and interface with the US DOE on development of regulatory documents and papers associated with the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR), a proposed 3D printed reactor.
Her goal is to continue to participate on nuclear security focused projects. She is currently working on her PhD in Nuclear Engineering with a certificate in Nuclear Security Science and Analysis. Her proposed dissertation is on the Use Of Site’s Boolean Logic Model For Determination Of Critical Equipment In Beyond Design Basis Conditions (Insider Mitigation, Offsite attack, UAS attack and contingency planning).
Professional Experience
- May 2020 - Current: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- September 2014- May 2020: Entergy Operations River Bend Station NPP
- January 2010 - April - 2013: Progress Energy / Duke Energy H.B Robinson NPP
- May 2006 - January 2010: Dow Chemical
- May 1997 - May 2006: Entergy Operations River Bend Station NPP
Awards
Secretary of Energy Achievement Award for – Ukraine Detection Assistance Team
Education
- Expected 2026: PhD, Nuclear Engineering with certificate in Nuclear Security Science and Analysis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
- 2021: Masters of Engineering, Nuclear Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
- 1996: Bachelor of Science, Nuclear Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Professional Service
Founder of non-profit Blount Independent Robotics Team
Founder and lead coach for FIRST Tech Challenge youth robotics team