Dennis R. Spurgeon is the incumbent Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy within the United States Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

. He was sworn in on April 3, 2006, becoming the most senior nuclear technology official in the American government. In addition, he is the leader of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a strategy aimed at accelerating the demonstration of a more proliferation resistant closed fuel cycle and reducing the possibility that nuclear energy could be used for non-peaceful purposes. In his capacity as Assistant Secretary, he has previously served as Acting
Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and Environment

Under Secretary of Energy for Energy and Environment

The Under Secretary for Energy and Environment, also known as the Under Secretary of Energy, is a position within the United States Department of Energy...

.

Career and education

Prior to becoming Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Dennis Spurgeon was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Office for USEC, Inc.

United States Enrichment Corporation

The United States Enrichment Corporation, a subsidiary of USEC Inc. , is a corporation that contracts with the United States Department of Energy to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear power plants.-History:...

, an international supplier of enriched uranium for nuclear plants. Prior to that, he was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and principal owner of Swiftships, an international company in shipbuilding for commercial and military markets. He had held posts in the Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

 administration, including Assistant Director for Fuel Cycle in the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. He was also a member of a White House task force that developed Ford's policy on nuclear energy.

Spurgeon served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, achieving the rank of Captain. During his time as a U.S. Naval officer, he served as technical assistant to Commissioner Tommy Thompson and later to Dr. Glenn Seaborg, Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...

 and the predecessor agency of the department. He also held executive positions at the former United Nuclear Corporation, where, as Chief Operating Officer, he managed the manufacturing of reactor cores for the Navy and operation of the Department's former N-reactor, located at the Hanford Reservation. He previously worked for the General Atomic Company, where he assisted in the development of nuclear reactor plants for electric power generation.

Dennis Spurgeon graduated with from the U.S. Naval Academy. He holds a Master of Science

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

 degree in nuclear engineering

Nuclear engineering

Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of the breakdown as well as the fusion of atomic nuclei and/or the application of other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics...

 and the degree of Nuclear Engineer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

.

Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy

Dennis Spurgeon has said that because of the Nuclear Power 2010 Program

Nuclear Power 2010 Program

The "Nuclear Power 2010 Program" was unveiled by the U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham on February 14, 2002 as one means towards addressing the expected need for new power plants...

, under which the Department of Energy is cost-sharing the preparation of early nuclear power plant site permits, he expects announcements of new power plants before President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 leaves office, and the beginning of construction by 2010. He told the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Water and Development Appropriations that additional repositories for nuclear waste are needed, as the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository will be oversubscribed by 2010. He also manages the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative

Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative

The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative is an extensive research and development effort of the United States Department of Energy . The mission and focus of AFCI is to enable the safe, secure, economic and sustainable expansion of nuclear energy by conducting research, development, and demonstration...

 program. Under the program, the U.S. attempts to recycle spent nuclear fuel using advanced technology while reducing nuclear proliferation and the amount of nuclear wastes requiring permanent geological disposal.

Assistant Secretary Spurgeon has termed the conditions brought about by popular demand for a clean alternative to fossil fuels and global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

 a "global renaissance" for the nuclear industry. He has said that Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 would be given special consideration in the development of the uranium enrichment industry, because they would play a pivotal role in a new nuclear suppliers club that the United States is trying to establish.