Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regional Administrator Chuck Casto spoke to Belmont students on Monday to share lessons he learned on overcoming cultural differences during an international disaster.
Casto narrated his experience of dealing with the Japan Fukushima nuclear disaster following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 16,000 people, left much of the Asian country in ruins and wiped out six nuclear power plants.
“When you think about a disaster like that, people come together to support their friends. That is what we Americans do as a nation,” he said of Operation Tomodachi, the mission of U.S. Armed Forces to support Japan with disaster relief. “America shares its best and brightest minds with its friends.”
Casto said he was filling his truck with gas at an Atlanta-area Wal-Mart on March 11, 2011 when he received a phone call instructing him that he had three hours to catch a flight at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport to lead nuclear power accident recovery efforts in Japan.
While on the 14-hour flight, an attendant noticed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission logo on his shirt and moved him from coach to business class. There Casto planned to review protocol and reference materials and learn Japanese cultural nuisances; instead he spent the time answering questions of the concerned flight crew as they flew into a nuclear plume.
The School of Nursing welcomed the inaugural class for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at a reception in late August. The five members of the new class were joined by program faculty members, Provost Thomas Burns, College of Health Sciences Dean Cathy Taylor and Director of Graduate Nursing Programs Leslie Higgins.
