Thomas Wellock is the historian for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Trained as both an engineer and a historian, he writes scholarly histories of the regulation of commercial nuclear energy.

Until 2010 he was a Professor in the Department of History at Central Washington University

Central Washington University

Central Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...

, in Ellensburg, Washington

Ellensburg, Washington

Ellensburg is a city in, and the county seat of, Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 18,174 at the 2010 census. The population was 18,250 at 2011 Estimate from Office of Financial Management. Ellensburg is located just east of the Cascade Range on I-90 and is known as the...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In 2007 he received the "CWU Phi Kappa Phi Scholar of the Year" Award. His teaching and research interests include environmental history, western history, recent US history, and political history. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 in 1995, with a dissertation published as Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978

Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978

Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978 is the first detailed history of the anti-nuclear movement in the United States, written by Thomas Wellock. It is also the first state-level research on the subject with a focus on California...

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. His MA in history is from the University of Toledo

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...

; his B.S. in mechanical engineering is from the University of Bridgeport

University of Bridgeport

The University of Bridgeport is a private, independent, non-sectarian, coeducational university located on the Long Island Sound in the South End neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University is fully Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges...

.

Wellock's most recent book is Preserving the Nation: The Conservation and Environmental Movements, 1870-2000, published in 2007.