Bio
Dr. Bowen has nearly three decades of experience in nuclear criticality safety (NCS) and has served in advisory and program roles across industry and government in his role at ORNL. He is the ORNL Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Director (since 2025) and serves as the DOE/NNSA Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP) Execution Manager for NNSA NA-ESH (since 2017). Dr. Bowen is an NCS expert who has performed numerous site program reviews at DOE and NRC facilities and has authored hundreds of NCS evaluations as an NCS engineer at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and at ORNL. He is the current chair of the ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Consensus Committee, Chair of the ANS-8 Subcommittee and Convenor of ISO TC85/SC5/WG8 for consensus standards related to fissionable material outside of nuclear reactors. He serves as a member of the NCSP Criticality Safety Support Group. He also is the NCSP Training and Education Coordinator for the program NCS 2-week, 1-week and Non-Destructive Assay hands-on courses. Dr. Bowen received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of New Mexico. He is a recipient of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Standard Service Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from the ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division. He has also received two Distinguished Performance Awards from Los Alamos National Laboratory. He served as the chair of the ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division in 2011-2012.
Awards
American Nuclear Society Standards Service Award (2022)
Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Distinguished Service Award (2018)
American Nuclear Society Standards Service Award (2022)
ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division Distinguished Service Award (2018)
Distinguished Performance Award, LANL (2009, 2010)
Achievement Award, LANL (2004-2008)
Award of Excellence, LANL (2007)
Defense Programs Award of Excellence (2005-2006)
Yucca Mountain Project Achievement Award (2003)
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, University of New Mexico, 2015
Dissertation: “Space-time Kinetics of the AGN-201M Research Reactor at the University of New Mexico”
Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, 1997
Thesis: “The Coupling of ORIGEN and MCNP for Reactor Core and Spent Fuel Criticality Analyses”
This work was funded by the Duke Power Company.
Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, 1995
Professional Service
American Nuclear Society (ANS), member (1994 - Present)
Member of the DOE/NNSA Criticality Safety Support Group
Ex-officio member of the DOE Criticality Safety Coordinating Team, the Nuclear Data Advisory Group, and DOE Criticality Safety Support Group
Past Chairman, ANS Subcommittee 8 on NCS (2017-2026)
Observer, ANS Standards Board (2020-Present)
Convener, ISO Technical Committee (TC) 85, Subcommittee (SC) 5, Working Group (WG) 8 “Nuclear Criticality Safety” (2014-Present)
Deputy Overall Advisor, ISO TC85/SC5/WG8 for US ANSI/ASTM Nuclear Technical Advisory Group (2014-Present)
Vice Chairman, ANS Subcommittee 8 on NCS (2015-2017)
Chairman, ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division (2011-2012)
Co-Chairman, ANSI/ANS-8.1 standard for NCS in Fissionable Material Operations Outside of Reactors (2005-2017)
Member of the following ANS-8 consensus standard working groups:
- ANSI/ANS-8.1 standard for NCS in Fissionable Material Operations Outside of Reactors (2001-Present)
- ANSI/ANS-8.10 standard for Criteria for Nuclear Criticality Safety Controls in Operations with Shielding and Confinement Working Group (2013-Present)
- ANSI/ANS-8.26 standard for Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer Training and Qualifications (2020-Present)
- ANSI/ANS-8.28 standard for Administrative Practices for the Use of NDA Measurements for Nuclear Criticality Safety Working Group (2014-Present)
Instructor for:
- DOE/NNSA NCS Training and Education Course Coordinator and instructor for the 1- and 2-week hands-on NCS courses (2010-Present)
- University of New Mexico Nuclear Criticality Safety Short Course (2013-2020)
- Lecturer, NE-543 – Nuclear Criticality Safety, University of Tennessee (2013-2017)
American Nuclear Society (ANS), member (1994 - Present)