Forum: INL Director John C. Wagner

Join City Club of Boise for a conversation with John C. Wagner, director of Idaho National Laboratory and president of Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC. Wagner is responsible for management and integration of a large, multipurpose laboratory whose mission focuses on nuclear energy, national and homeland security, and energy and environmental science and technology.

When: Tuesday, July 19th 11:45 am – 1:15 pm

Where: The Grove Hotel, 245 S Capitol Blvd, Boise, ID 83702

Ballroom 2nd floor

Speaker Biography: 

John C. Wagner

Wagner began serving as INL director on Dec. 11, 2020. He has more than 20 years of experience performing research, and managing and leading research and development projects, programs and organizations. He has been at INL since 2016 and served as associate laboratory director for Nuclear Science and Technology (NS&T) since 2017. His previous roles included director of Domestic Programs in NS&T and director of the Technical Integration Office for the DOE-NE Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program at INL. Wagner initially joined INL as the chief scientist at the Materials and Fuels Complex in 2016.

Wagner received a B.S. in nuclear engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1992, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Pennsylvania State University in 1994 and 1997, respectively. Following graduate school, Wagner joined Holtec International as a principal engineer, performing criticality safety analyses and licensing activities for spent fuel storage pools and storage and transportation casks. Wagner joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as an R&D staff member in 1999, performing research in the areas of hybrid (Monte Carlo/deterministic) radiation transport methods, burnup credit criticality safety, and spent nuclear fuel characterization and safety.

While at ORNL, Wagner held various technical leadership positions, including technical lead for postclosure criticality in support of DOE OCRWM’s Lead Laboratory for Repository Systems, Radiation Transport Methods Deputy Focus Area lead for the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), and national technical director of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation Planning Project. Wagner held various management positions, including group leader for the Criticality and Shielding Methods and Applications, Radiation Transport, and Used Fuel Systems groups. In 2014, Wagner became director of the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division (RNSD), with responsibility for management direction and leadership to focus and integrate the seven RNSD R&D groups (Advanced Reactor Systems and Safety, Nuclear Data and Criticality Safety, Nuclear Security Modeling, Radiation Transport, Reactor Physics, Thermal Hydraulics and Irradiation Engineering, and Used Fuel Systems) and the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center. Wagner is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and recipient of the 2013 E.O. Lawrence Award. He has authored or co-authored more than 170 refereed journal and conference articles, technical reports, and conference summaries. He was the original developer of the A3MCNP and ADVANTG codes and led the development of the CADIS and Forward-Weighted CADIS hybrid transport methods.

Speaker: John C. Wagner

Forum Chair: Greg Hahn 

Forum Moderator: City Club board member Katherine Himes, P.h.D.

City Club thanks our Premier Sponsor, Northwest Nazarene University and the NNU School of Business and our Annual sponsor, University of Idaho. The 2022 Forum Series is sponsored by AARP of Idaho, Bank of Idaho, Echelon Group, Idaho Humanities Council, Optum, PacificSource Health Plans, and Small Mine Development. We are pleased to welcome university students to attend our events thanks to our University partners Boise State University, Northwest Nazarene University, and University of Idaho. Our media partners include Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, and the Idaho Statesman.

If you have any questions, call 208-364-4614 and staff can assist you.