Welcome to the fourth contractor information exchange. The theme for the meeting is "Changes and Opportunities, Successes and Lessons Learned." A powerpoint presentation (51K) accompanies these remarks.

Several significant changes have occurred over the last couple of years. One is that we have a new Secretary of Energy. I think that we're all pleased to see that he's not only very interested in these programs but I think has the same level of commitment as his predecessor.

In terms of opportunities, I think one of the messages you're going to get today is that the programs have taken on new projects during the last year. We're doing more in the area of safety analysis, simulators, safety parameter display systems. However, a lot of what we're doing is a continuation of what was started a year or two ago. So you're not going to find too many opportunities in the way of new kinds of projects.

On the other hand, you're going to hear a little this morning about new opportunities in the pseudo-private sector. Those opportunities are related specifically to work that's going to be done at the Chornobyl Shelter over the next six or seven years.

In terms of successes, you're going to hear about several I think really rather remarkable successes throughout the course of the day.

Here is a quick overview of what you're going to be hearing about today. In the morning session, we will cover changes and opportunities.

• Dan Giessing, U.S. Department of Energy, will talk about developments and accomplishments in the host countries from a higher-level perspective.

• Rich Reister, U.S. Department of Energy, will provide an overview of the nuclear safety activities focusing primarily on the Soviet-designed reactor safety program.

• Carol Kessler, U.S. Department of State and coordinator for the nuclear safety work for the U.S. government will speak at 11 o'clock on U.S. Department of State perspectives. Carol has just finished a one-year assignment as the lead of the G-7 Nuclear Safety Working Group and has accomplished rather remarkable success in terms of finalizing the plan for stabilizing the Chornobyl Shelter and leading the international effort to raise almost half of the $760 million which is going to be required for that effort.

• Dennis Kreid, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory lead for the Shelter efforts over the last year, will provide a more detailed overview of the plans for the Shelter and the opportunities involved in that.

The afternoon session will focus on contractor stories of successes and lessons learned while conducting projects within the program. I hope that that's a real opportunity for us to all learn from each other and gain something from that.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time out of your schedules to be here today, and thank you very much for your participation in this program.

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