Rani Franovich is an independent consultant on commercial reactor safety and security. She advises clients and policy makers on regulatory oversight, safety and environmental licensing reviews, national energy policy, and legislative opportunities to drive regulatory modernization.
Before consulting, Rani enjoyed an accomplished 30-year career in public service with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She is a qualified NRC inspector and spent six years as a resident inspector at the Catawba Nuclear Station in York, SC, where she acquired integrated knowledge of plant operations. Thereafter, she served in a variety of leadership roles at the NRC and was a member of its response team to the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
As a regulator Rani cultivated broad and deep knowledge of inspection, oversight, licensing (both safety and environmental reviews), enforcement, allegations, safety culture, emergency preparedness, incident response, nuclear security, and organizational culture change. She completed executive education in the strategic management of regulatory and enforcement agencies at the Harvard Kennedy School, and in the National Environmental Policy Act at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. Rani earned an Executive Ethical Leadership Certificate from the Institute for Ethical Leadership, Rutgers Business School, and she advocates for increased representation, diversity and inclusion of women and minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM fields). She also served as a senior policy advisor for nuclear energy innovation at an independent global research center.
Active with the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Rani is Secretary of the Advance Reactor Working Group and a member of the Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C). Considered an expert in risk-informed, performance-based methods, in August 2022 Rani proposed an alternative conceptual framework to NRC’s preliminary reactor licensing regulations in 10 CFR Part 53. She has spoken and written about these and other regulatory matters during live, recorded, and printed media interviews; at NRC-sponsored Regulatory Information Conferences; in YouTube webinar videos and ANS Communities of Practice; in letters, written comments and presentations to NRC staff; at nuclear advocacy conferences; and as a speaker during thought leadership events.
Rani is a graduate of Virginia Tech where she earned a Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering, a Bachelor of Science with double majors in Psychology and English, and a minor in Sociology. She is a frequent writer, commenter, and public speaker about nuclear safety and regulatory modernization. An occasional guest lecturer at Virginia Tech, she discusses her career path and perspectives on regulation, advocacy, ethics and leadership.