Recognizing Robert Boston

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, with my colleagues Senator Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, I rise today to honor the exceptional and distinguished career of Mr. Robert D. Boston. Mr. Boston has dedicated more than 38 years to federal service, that includes his 23 years of service at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Mr. Boston has led an impressive life and career, and we are most grateful for his leadership role as the Manager of the Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office--a position he has honorably served in for many years. In this role, he has been responsible for oversight of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the nation's leading nuclear energy research, development, and demonstration laboratory; and for providing oversight of the environmental cleanup and waste management mission at the Idaho site.

As Deputy Manager and later Manager, he was instrumental in negotiating agreements between the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho. Many of these agreements have been critical to establishing the INL as the nation's lead nuclear research and development laboratory. Under his leadership, a path was created in the agreement for the INL to receive spent nuclear fuel for research purposes and an approach was developed for the handling of spent fuel from important on-site reactor demonstrations. These elements will ensure ongoing missions at the Lab.

The INL is home to the world's most powerful test reactor, the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). This test reactor serves as the flagship irradiation facility in the U.S. and can simultaneously support a variety of experiments for multiple customers like the Department of Energy, the U.S. Navy, or university and industry partners. During his tenure, Mr. Boston oversaw the important maintenance overhaul of ATR Core Internals Changeout VI. The 11-month outage, the longest and most complex outage in ATR history, was completed in March of 2022 and will enable the nation's principal test reactor to continue safe operations critical to the Department's research portfolio and security mission.

Mr. Boston played a key role in DOE history when he led the effort to restart the Transient Test Reactor in 2017. This transient reactor facility, also known as TREAT, is a unique national asset and is now providing the Nation with a testing capability that has been missing since 1994. While in operation at INL, TREAT will help shape the future of clean energy and foster new ways to bring innovative reactor technologies to the market.

Under his leadership, the INL completed many major infrastructure improvements, and significantly improved research and development capabilities with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. In addition to these improvements, Mr. Boston has also been involved in establishing new and innovative reactor projects, including the Versatile Test Reactor, the PELE Department of Defense reactor, and the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation project (MARVEL), among others.

Mr. Boston will also leave an enduring impression on the future generations of nuclear engineers in Idaho. He is adjunct faculty at Idaho State University (ISU) and a member of the ISU Reactor Safety Committee, ISU Engineering Advisory Board, and the ISU Health Physics Advisory Board.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Boston's leadership has had a lasting impact on the advancement of the Idaho National Laboratory, the Nation's nuclear energy program and national security missions. We sincerely thank Mr. Boston for his dedicated service to our state and country and wish him well in this next chapter of his life.

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