FAI Leadership Team - Safety Consulting Engineers
-
Zach Hachmeister
President -
Ken Kurko
Senior Vice President -
Brenda Lorenz
Chief Operation Officer -
Jim Burelbach, Dr.
Chief Commercial Officer -
Martin Plys, Dr.
Chief Technical Officer -
Ashok Dastidar, Dr.
Vice President Dust & Flammability -
Chan Paik, Dr.
Vice President Methods Development -
Hans K. Fauske, D.SC.
Emeritus President and Regent Advisor -
Robert E. Henry, Dr.
Emeritus Senior Vice President and Regent Consultant
Zach Hachmeister
President

Many are familiar with Zach as COO and a constant resource, here at FAI, combining customer service with practical lab experience, data analysis, organizational leadership and consulting. Zach continues to build on our reputation of solving complex process safety and severe accident prevention management in the chemical and nuclear industries.
A subsidiary of Westinghouse since 1986, FAI operates globally and specializes in engineering, process safety testing, consulting and training.
Ken Kurko
Senior Vice President

His technical background includes designing and coordinating calorimetry testing services aimed at kinetic modeling, thermal stability analysis, as well as determining emergency relief requirements and evaluating reactive chemical hazards.
Mr. Kurko is proficient at DIERS vent sizing methodologies for reactive and non-reactive chemistries, including Fauske’s simplified methods as well as Leung’s ω-method for two-phase flow. He is also experienced with effluent handling design such as header sizing and conceptual design of catch tanks, knockout pots, and quench tanks.
Brenda Lorenz
Chief Operation Officer

As Chief Operations Officer (COO), Mrs. Lorenz is responsible for the following areas:
Investment:
- Manage facility capital and operating investment budget
- Manage key operating budgets for FAI (EHS, QA, equipment maintenance, facilities, and remaining cost center budgets)
Compliance:
- Develop and implement process to ensure company compliance with regulations and procedures
- Develop and maintain comprehensive safety and quality programs
Operations:
- Lead day-to-day operational issues
- Manage FAI administrative, financial, IT, and other critical operational needs
- Manage FAI licenses, certifications
Jim Burelbach
Chief Commercial Officer

Since joining FAI as a Senior Chemical Engineer in 1988 Dr. Burelbach has been active in fundamental research, product and software development, process safety consulting, and global instrument sales. His diverse technical experience at FAI includes severe accident analysis, waste stream modeling, and experimental work, activities in support of commercial nuclear plants and processing facilities such as at Hanford (US) and Sellafield (UK). He is familiar with MAAP and FATE software and contributed to their early development, has experience in accident simulator applications, and supported advanced reactor thermal-hydraulic calculations using RELAP5. Other experience includes plant risk assessment, nuclear and chemical plant walkdowns, waste sludge characterization, waste solvent fire testing, hydrogen/air mixing and equipment qualification testing. He led development of PrEVent emergency vent sizing software for runaway chemical reactions and deflagrations.
Dr. Burelbach has enjoyed traveling in support of our global customers through technical training, product demonstrations, and conferences, applying extensive hands-on expertise in developing and applying our VSP2 and ARSST adiabatic safety calorimeters and vent sizing software. He previously managed FAI’s Chemical Testing and Consulting Services, responsible for all aspects of our contract testing business while specializing in runaway chemical reactions and DIERS emergency relief system (ERS) design methods.
Martin Plys
Chief Technical Officer

Dr. Plys has led development of FAI's general nuclear and chemical facility analysis program which is routinely used for a variety of Hanford projects including WTP, SNF, tank farms, and waste capsules. Model applications include in-facility combustion, fission product release, deposition, and transport, and fire hazards; in-vessel reactive waste transients; and evaluation of reactive metallic fuel and sludge processing, transport and storage. For the WTP, Dr. Plys has authored hydrogen design technical guidance, participated in management transition and due diligence, and was technical lead for the original explosive hazards analysis. His contributions to the Hanford SNF project included technical bases for pyrophoric behavior of SNF, process design and modeling, and post-process water content, radiolysis, chemical reactions, and long-term behavior. He is author of the advisory panel summary report for disposition of Cs and Sr waste capsules. Dr. Plys has also worked on litigation support defending Hanford contractors for Plutonium Finishing Plant operations. Dr. Plys' modeling contributions in severe reactor accident analyses include general flammability and combustion of gases, reactor material behavior during core melt, fission product release, aerosol transport and deposition, and general chemical equilibrium model development. In 2015 he was named a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and also was named Consulting Engineer, Engineering Center of Excellence for FAI’s parent company, Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC.
Ashok Dastidar
Vice President Dust & Flammability

Fellow Engineer, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
Vice President, Dust & Flammability Testing and Consulting Services
Dr. Ashok Ghose Dastidar specializes in Chemical Process Hazards Analysis, Flammable Dusts, Liquids & Vapors Explosion and Combustion Hazards Analysis and Testing and Electrostatic Hazards Analysis. He has extensive technical experience performing tests and analyzing data to determine the following:
- Electrostatic Hazards – field measurements, discharge potential, charge transfer and ignitability,
- Dust Explosibility Hazards – ease of ignitability and explosion severity,
- Flammability Hazards – ease of ignitability and explosion severity of liquid and vapor explosions,
- Thermal Stability and Reactivity Hazards – by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Dewar Tests,
- Hazard Analysis and Risk Mitigation – using HAZOP, FMEA/FMECA, and FTA.
Dr. Dastidar is a member of the following:
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Member E27 Committee overseeing test standards to assess the hazard potential of chemicals.
- ASTM E27.05 Subcommittee chairman overseeing dust explosibility test standards.
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
- NFPA Technical Committee Member for NFPA 664 (wood dust), NFPA 61 (agricultural dust), NFPA 484 (metal dust), NFPA 654 (chemical dust), NFPA 91 (pneumatic transport of dusts) and NFPA 655 (sulfur dust)
- Editorial Board of Powder and Bulk Solids
- Editorial Board of Journal of Loss Prevention
Chan Paik
Vice President Methods Development

Dr. Paik’s extensive experience and research interests focus on the fields of thermal hydraulics, severe accident phenomena, and developing severe accident codes for several types of reactors. During his career at FAI, Dr. Paik’s major contributions include directing and performing:
- MAAP5 Fukushima enhancement project to augment and improve specific models:
This project implemented new code developments to calculate core debris mass, location, and chemical composition in Fukushima Daiichi Units 1-3 reactors. These code enhancements were made specifically to provide results to plan and implement clean-up operations of damaged Fukushima reactors. - Development of MAAP PWR, BWR, CANDU codes:
Major developments designed and implemented for severe accident phenomena models for MAAP5 and MAAP4 PWR, BWR, and CANDU codes, for severe accident code MAAP-ATR for advanced thermal reactors in Japan, for MAAP4-CANDU for Ontario Hydro/AECL, and for ISAAC for CANDU plants in Korea. - Analysis of severe accident phenomena:
Analysis focused on areas such as hydrogen generation, core melt progression, lower plenum debris pool response including in-vessel retention, Molten-Core-Concrete-Interaction, containment thermal hydraulics, and fission product release and transport. Additional analysis conducted of spent fuel pool accidents and accidents during low power shutdown conditions. - Validations of MAAP5 and MAAP4 codes:
Experiments and projects included validations against plant transients and additional experiments such as the TMI-2 accident, BETHSY tests, PHEBUS FPT tests, CORA tests, HDR containment experiments and OSU experiments for AP600/AP1000. - Global lecturer and author:
Dr. Paik lectures and provides severe accident training courses for utility personnel throughout the world. Dr. Paik also develops training materials and has published over 40 articles in the area of nuclear safety.
Hans K. Fauske
Emeritus President and Regent Advisor

Dr. Hans K. Fauske (1935-2021)
It was with great sadness that we saw the passing of our company founder and namesake Dr. Hans K. Fauske, DSc. Hans touched the lives of countless people around the world through his illustrious career of technical leadership in nuclear and chemical process safety. Beyond his many scientific publications and awards he was an inspiring leader, patient mentor, tireless competitor, and devoted family man. We remember his intelligent companionship and are proud to continue the tremendous legacy he leaves in the process safety community.
Since leaving Argonne National Laboratory in 1980 to found Fauske & Associates, Inc., Hans was involved in many innovative projects covering a wide range of safety issues in the nuclear power and chemical process industries. He served as Senior Consultant to the Industry Degraded Core Rulemaking program (IDCOR) which resulted in the MAAP computer models for analyzing severe accidents in commercial nuclear power plants worldwide. He also provided overall technical direction for the AIChE Design Institute for Emergency Relief Systems (DIERS) which led to state-of-the-art methodology and laboratory tools for characterizing chemical systems and designing relief systems for storage and process equipment worldwide.
Dr. Fauske’s detailed obituary can be found here.
Robert E. Henry
Emeritus Senior Vice President and Regent Consultant

He was a member of the EPRI (industry) team that assessed the reactor behavior following the Three Mile Island - Unit 2 accident and he was also one of the Industry Representatives in the U.S. delegation to IAEA /Vienna to evaluate the Russian interpretation of the Chernobyl Unit 4 accident. In addition he has served on NRC review panels to evaluate ongoing research. As a result of his experience, Dr. Henry was chosen to author the EPRI Technical Basis Report for supporting the development of Severe Accident Management Guidelines for all four U.S. reactor types.
Dr. Henry’s areas of expertise are severe accidents, two-phase flow and boiling heat transfer as well as waterhammer phenomena. In particular, he, along with Dr. Fauske, authored the Henry-Fauske two-phase critical flow model which has been used to analyze the blowdown behaviors for nuclear plants in all of the nuclear power countries.
Previously Dr. Henry held a number of responsible research and development positions at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) from 1969 to 1980 including Associate Director of the Reactor Analysis and Safety Division.
Dr. Henry has published more than 150 articles in the areas of nuclear safety and engineering and has authored, or co-authored six U.S. patents as well as a book on the accident management lessons from the TMI-2 accident. He is a member of the American Nuclear Society and in 1985, he received the Tommy Thompson Award: the highest honor the American Nuclear Society gives in the field of reactor safety. Dr. Henry also received an Award for Outstanding Engineering Accomplishment from the College of Engineering, University of Notre Dame, in 1990.
EDUCATION:
University of Notre Dame, BS, MS, and Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, 1962, 1964, and 1967