About David
President, Czufin Consulting, LLC
David Czufin has more than 39 years of experience in engineering, maintenance, work management and
operations management at boiling water reactor facilities (BWR) and pressurized water reactor
(PWR) facilities. Czufin holds Senior Reactor Operator certifications for both BWR and PWR facilities.
Since forming Czufin Consulting, LLC in 2021, Czufin has provided mentoring, training, site
observations, document reviews and safety oversight services for five different US utilities. Prior to
2021, Czufin has held key leadership positions of Senior Vice President, Engineering and
Operations Support at TVA, Site Vice President, Engineering Vice President, Corporate Director for
fleet Work Management, and Site Engineering Director at Exelon (now Constellation). He started his
nuclear industry career working for Carolina Power & Light (now Duke Energy) at the Brunswick
Plant where he held several engineering roles. He later went to Crystal River as a system engineer,
and held leadership roles in engineering, maintenance and operations support before he went to
Exelon in 2000.
Some significant accomplishments include driving best ever fleet performance based on INPO index;
improving corporate work environment survey results from worst to best in the fleet; significantly
reducing fleet-wide, longstanding human performance errors; developing and promoting an average
of at least 10 leaders per year; two different nuclear plants where he held key leadership roles,
achieved their first ever breaker-to-breaker runs, and one plant set world records for the duration; he
held a key role in improving fleet equipment reliability and significantly reducing engineering errors
across the fleet of 17 nuclear units; he had a significant role in turning a poor performing dual unit
plant into a top performer and the station received an INPO industry strength in operational decision-
making; he has supported and been inside 38 different nuclear plants around the world; he lead the
industry and INPO in the development of Technical Conscience Principles, as well as the 2019
revision; he has served as an instructor presenting experience related to technical conscience at the
INPO Senior Nuclear Plant Management courses since 2012.
Resume
Executive with over 39 years of broad experience in Engineering, Maintenance, Work Control and Operations management at four operating BWR and PWR nuclear power facilities, two corporate offices, and involvement in industry initiatives. SRO Certifications from BWR and PWR facilities. Supported and been inside 38 different nuclear power plants world-wide.
Work History
January 2021 – present
President, Czufin Consulting, LLC
Performed mentoring (for new engineering directors, vice presidents and fleet engineering organizations), training (for technical decision making, problem-solving, critical thinking, technical leadership, etc.), reviews (equipment reliability behaviors (including IER 21-004), employee development plans, causal products, excellence plans, etc.), on-site observations (engineering, leadership teams, problem-solving, decision-making, etc.), and nuclear safety oversight board.
October 2013 – December 2020
Senior Vice President, Tennessee Valley Authority
Responsible for Engineering, Fuels, Projects, Licensing, Operations Support, Security, Emergency Preparedness and Small Modular Reactor organizations in the TVA nuclear fleet center. Responsibilities include strategic planning to set direction and gain alignment across the TVA nuclear sites; identifying, developing and placing key personnel into key fleet leadership roles; engaging the workforce to find and close our gaps to improve performance every day; identify, understand and taking timely action to manage and eliminate risk. Other responsibilities include regulatory, INPO and industry involvement; providing support and challenge to bring the first nuclear unit to commercial operation in over 20 years, uprating three units, and successfully obtaining a NRC Early Site Permit that was under budget and issued ahead of schedule.
May 2011 – September 2013
Site Vice President, Dresden Station
Responsible for the overall performance of a dual unit Boiling Water Reactor site, which include providing oversight, coaching, and direction for establishing, aligning and driving the station vision, site goals, and fleet/industry actions; with a focus on maintaining long-term safe and reliable plant operation, while supporting company objectives and being a strong community partner. Some of the activities to support this include strategic planning & budgeting, staff succession planning, employee development & recognition, corporate interface, industry involvement, community outreach, and national, state, and local government interface.
December 2007 – May 2011
Engineering Vice President, Exelon Corporate Office
Responsible for overall technical direction across the nuclear fleet to ensure safe and reliable operations; Responsibilities include oversight for quality of technical products and decisions; driving consistent, high standards; long-term equipment reliability; business cases for project priorities and funding; management development and succession planning; multi-site training; standard processes and industry best practices; interface with regulators and offsite agencies; provide a strong leadership role in industry working groups.
December 2005 – December 2007
Work Control Corporate Director, Exelon Corporate Office
Responsible for governance, oversight, and improvements in work management across nuclear fleet. Also developed and implemented fleet-wide process efficiency initiative which has identified over 70,000 person-hour savings per year with 35 hours saved for each hour of review.
March 2000 – December 2005
Assistant & Site Engineering Director, LaSalle Station
Responsible for all site engineering activities and station technical support. Focus was on safe and reliable operations, strong problem identification and resolution, teamwork, accountability, long-range planning, and development of people and processes to continuously improve station performance. During this period the site went from a best dual unit run of 231 days, to a Unit 1 world record run of 739 days. The following year, Unit 2 completed the second longest BWR run at 711 days.
1998 – March 2000
Engineering Manager, Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3
Responsible for management of reactor & fuels engineering, configuration management, PRA/risk monitor, safety analysis, severe accident guidelines, and dose analysis programs. Provided technical support for day-to-day plant operations and emergency operating procedures. Managed department priorities and resources and established long-term direction. Planned and scheduled program improvements, self-assessments, benchmarking, and training.
1997 – 1998
Operations Staff Manager, Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3
Responsible for reactor engineering, operations procedures, modification coordination and acceptance, corrective action program investigations, training assistance, INPO SOER actions, and general technical support for operations control room staff. This included management of several station restart issues.
1994 – 1997
Mechanical Maintenance Manager, Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3
Responsible for staff of 5 supervisors and 37 bargaining unit technicians who performed all mechanical maintenance (including corrective and preventative maintenance programs), machining, HVAC, and modification activities.
1989 – 1994
Engineer & Engineering Supervisor, Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3
System engineering supervisor responsible for technical support for operation and maintenance activities of secondary and primary-side plant systems; including budget, schedule, personnel development, regulation compliance, and plans (day-to-day and long-range) to resolve facility equipment concerns.
1983 – 1989
Engineer, Carolina Power & Light, Brunswick Station
Field & design engineer responsible for overall design, management, support, and field installation of plant modifications, AOV testing, IST program, condenser re-tubing, and major maintenance activities.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 1983
Licenses & Certificates
NEI Senior Nuclear Executive Seminar
INPO SNPM Class Number 78
BWR & PWR - SRO Certifications – (LaSalle & Crystal River)
Professional Engineer (Florida & North Carolina – Inactive)
INPO Industry Advisor (Sequoyah, Farley, Southern Nuclear Corporate and Calvert Cliffs)
WANO Industry Assessment Member (Shimane 3&4, Matsue, Japan)
Past Chairperson EPRI PMMP Executive Oversight Board
Past Chairperson NEI SMR Working Group
Past Chairperson BWR Vessel Internals Program (BWRVIP) Executive Committee
Past Vice Chairperson Boiling Water Reactor Owners Group (BWROG) Executive Committee
Past Advisory Board Member University of Tennessee Nuclear Engineering
Past Advisory Board Member University of Florida Test Reactor
Past Advisory Board Member IIT Armor Engineering Oversight Board
Accomplishments
Senior Vice President, Engineering and Operations Support, Tennessee Valley Authority
Improved fleet center survey results from worst to best in the fleet
Selected and promoted over 65 leaders in TVA, with over 70% internal
Significant reduction in fleet-wide, longstanding human performance errors
First time since 2007 the TVA nuclear fleet INPO index was greater than 90%
Watts Bar U2 Commercial Operation, Browns Ferry EPU and SMR Early Site Permit
Implemented TVA Continuous Improvement Program with over $200M in savings
EPRI PMMP Chairperson (2014 to 2019)
INPO Evaluation Industry Advisor @ Calvert Cliffs
External Industry Advisor for INPO Corporate Evaluation @ Southern Nuclear
Presenter at over 20 INPO SNPM courses (from 2013 to 2020)
Site Vice President, Dresden Station
First ever breaker-to-breaker runs for both units
Best employee survey results in 2013 for fleet
Weekend Community Open House - 229 attendees
Weekend Family Day – 532 attendees
NRC Chairman and Commissioner visits
INPO Evaluation Industry Advisor @ Sequoyah
Presenter at 4 INPO SNPM courses (in 2012 & 2013)
Corporate Engineering Vice President, Exelon Corporate Office
Successfully developed and placed 10 new engineering directors into fleet
Supported successful college intern and new engineering graduate program
Lead industry/INPO group to develop & publish Technical Conscience Principles
Developed and implemented risk matrix for long term asset management plans
University of Florida Test Reactor & IIT Armour Engineering College Oversight Boards
BWRVIP Chairman & BWROG / BWRVIP Executive Committee Member
EPRI - PMMP EOC Member & MRP Industry Sponsor
Corporate Work Management Director, Exelon Corporate Office
Established actions and oversight for Summer operation (best ever in 2008)
Training for work management effectiveness (adopted fleet-wide)
Maintenance productivity matrix (adopted fleet-wide)
Efficiency improvement process (adopted fleet-wide)
Instructor for Work Management Risk Awareness at MIT
Catawba NSRB Member
Site Engineering Director, LaSalle Station
December 2005 rated as INPO 1 (first since 1991)
Set world record breaker-to-breaker operating runs of over 720 days
Site lead for INPO identified strength in site Operational Decision-Making
Reduced engineering error rate by 40%
Engineering Fundamentals & Excellence Plans (adopted fleet-wide)
Equipment ACE process & ER Clock (adopted fleet-wide)
Initial Technical Pre-Job Brief framework (adopted fleet & industry wide)
Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3
Successfully revised and implemented new site modification process
Assigned as lead to resolve final plant restart issue in Training
Site lead for root cause of operations human performance events
Improved procedure quality by enabling craft to insert drawings into procedures
Improved repetitive maintenance tasks through process review and equipment staging
Reduced mechanical maintenance craft sick time hours by >50%
Resolved 12 longstanding equipment issues without plant modification