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In early 2025, Paragon hosted a licensing course that explored the important world of digital systems in nuclear power plant applications. With a focus on the latest technological developments and regulatory requirements, this course provided participants with a unique learning opportunity in a rapidly evolving field.
Course Highlights
Led by Ted Quinn, Paragon VP of Licensing and Dinesh Taneja of the NRC Staff, this comprehensive licensing training course addressed the increasingly important domain of digital upgrades and advanced reactor designs. Featuring highly qualified instructors, the course offered an in-depth exploration of nuclear technology’s digital transformation, covering crucial aspects such as:
- Regulatory guidelines from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Electric Power Research Institute Standards
- Industry consensus standards
- Plant-specific experiences
Comprehensive Curriculum
The course was structured into detailed modules, with instruction taking place over four days:
- Digital Applications and NRC Digital Licensing Framework
- Regulatory Overview
- Qualification
- Software Lifecycle Review
- Advanced Reactors, Human Factors Engineering, FPGA, and High Integrity Protection System (HIPS) Demonstration
- Nuclear Instrumentation Systems
Participants gained comprehensive knowledge about:
- Technical and regulatory fundamentals of digital system design
- Installation and licensing processes
- Operational considerations
- Key differences between digital and analog equipment
- Complex system failure modes and assessment methods
Exceptional Instructional Expertise
The course’s success was driven by an outstanding team of industry experts, each bringing deep specialized knowledge from various critical areas of nuclear technology. The distinguished panel represented deep experience across nuclear operations, licensing, engineering, and regulatory compliance:
- Ted Quinn, Paragon VP of Licensing
- Dinesh Taneja, NRC Senior Electronics Engineer
- Tighe Smith, Paragon Chief Nuclear Officer
- Jerry Mauck, Senior Technical Advisor, Licensing
- Clark Artaud, Paragon Neutron Monitoring System Sales Manager
- Rob McBeth, Paragon Electrical Engineering Programmable Logic Team
- Ryan Marcum, Research Reactor I&C Consultant
Interactive Learning Experience
The course was structured as an interactive learning experience. Each day concluded with a comprehensive review and Q&A session, ensuring that participants could both clarify information as needed as well as dive deeper into complex topics.
Upcoming Course Opportunity
Paragon will be offer a similar licensing course in February 2026, which will be an opportunity for professionals in the nuclear energy sector to stay current with the latest digital systems technologies and regulatory frameworks.