Eric Abelquist

Eric W. Abelquist

Eric Abelquist is director of the Radiological Safety, Assessments, and Training (RSAT) Program for ORISE.

Abelquist is responsible for the management of all RSAT activities including the oversight of the Professional Training Programs (PTP), Environmental Survey and Site Assessment Program (ESSAP), and support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division.

Abelquist replaced long-time program director Jack Beck, who served as the associate RSAT program director until his retirement in 2003.

Abelquist joined ORISE in 1993 as a project leader with ESSAP. In 1996, he was promoted to associate program director overseeing the technical assistance that ESSAP provides to clients within the NRC and DOE. During this time, Abelquist was called upon to work with the NRC in the development of regulatory guidance documents and the evaluation of detection survey instruments.

In 1996 Abelquist was part of a team called upon to develop MARSSIM, the Multi-agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual. Years in the making, MARSSIM successfully consolidated the final status survey guidance from four federal agencies (DOE, NRC, Department of Defense, and Environmental Protection Agency) into one guidance document.

MARSSIM has been so successful that Abelquist later contributed to the development of training courses and a software program, COMPASS, that supported and expanded ORISE’s MARSSIM work. In 2001, Abelquist also authored a book entitled Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARSSIM Users.

Abelquist holds a bachelor’s degree in radiological health physics and a master’s degree in radiological sciences and protection from the University of Lowell in Lowell, Massachusetts. He is a certified health physicist and contributing editor to the Health Physics Newsletter.

Abelquist is one of nine directors on the Board of Directors of the national Health Physics Society (HPS) whose responsibilities include establishing and exercising control over all funds, properties, activities and policies; holding at least two regular meetings each year; and authorizing the formation of society sections and chapters.  He assumed the responsibilities in July 2003 for a three-year term.

Eric was President of the East Tennessee Chapter HPS from 2001 to 2002, and was the founder and first president of the HPS Decommissioning Section.  He is a certified health physicist, author of the textbook Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARSSIM Users and contributing editor to the Health Physics Newsletter.

Eric Provides technical assistance to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in aspects of decommissioning survey protocols and instrumentation, including special projects. Also Manages radiological surveys and environmental assessments that confirm the adequacy of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) programs.