Her Story
About Darcy
I've been in the nuclear energy industry for 15 years, and my specialty has always been radioactive waste management. After grad school, I started working at a nuclear power plant as a health physicist, which gave me really hands-on operational experience. Then I had the opportunity to work at a national laboratory that was part of the Manhattan Project, where there was a lot of legacy waste from making the atomic bombs that needed to be cleaned up and disposed of. I worked as the director of radiation protection at this legacy cleanup site for about 3 years. I wasn't really looking for a job, but my current position came up at a research organization I'd known for quite some time, so I jumped on the chance to join. I've been with this company for 5 years now, and I just got promoted to Technical Executive last week. In my role, I manage large technical research projects related to radioactive waste coming from nuclear power plants, which involves a lot of project management and collaboration. I also respond to technical questions and requests from our many members at actual nuclear power plants. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is traveling overseas to speak about my research and lead technical discussions. It's incredibly humbling and expansive to interact with people from different countries and cultures, and to be invited as a technical expert while also learning so much from them.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Darcy
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think the word I'm looking for is depth - cultivating your own depth by reading a lot of books and actually speaking to people face-to-face, which sometimes is lacking now in our society. Engage people in person, particularly those who think differently than you do, because when you read books, talk to people, and you hear all these different perspectives, that allows you to develop your own unique sense of self. To be a leader, you have to be an independent thinker, and you have to have the courage to speak up, and the only way to do that is when you're secure and confident in your beliefs and values.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think it's a really exciting time in all energy sectors as we figure out how we're going to need energy to support AI data centers and things like that. It's such an opportunity to do more wide-reaching research - answering even bigger questions and challenges. So many countries are coming into the nuclear energy sector that haven't been before, and to be able to support those countries who are new to the nuclear energy sector would be really, really exciting and a fun challenge.
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