NRC names 30-year veteran to direct regional office

A 30-year veteran of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been named administrator of the federal agency's Region III office in Lisle, Ill.

Cynthia Pederson, formerly deputy Region III administrator, assumed her new position on Monday. Pederson is the agency's first woman regional administrator.

Pederson will oversee a staff of about 225 employees. Region III is responsible for regulating 15 commercial nuclear power plants and more than 1,200 materials licensees in Iowa and six other Midwestern states.

Pederson joined the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1983 as a resident inspector at the Dresden nuclear plant in Morris, Ill., and two years later became the resident inspector at the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Mich. Since then, she has held a number of increasingly responsible positions in Region III.

In 1989, Pederson was promoted to the position of chief of the technical upport staff in the Division of Reactor Projects, where she managed reactor inspection, planning, and assessment programs. In 2009, Pederson was named the deputy regional administrator for the Region III office.

Pederson received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Throughout her career she has worked to support awareness of the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in education.