Peter Elder has been working for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for over 20 years in various regulatory roles covering the entire nuclear fuel cycle. He started as a technical specialist in 1996 as a fuel performance and safety analyst and moved on to become a project manager in power reactor licensing. He has also occupied a variety of management roles throughout his career at the CNSC. He has experience in all areas of the organization’s mandate: safety, security, safeguards and environmental protection. He has also served as a nuclear counsellor at the Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna. In this role, he advised the Canadian government on International Atomic Energy Agency activities in nuclear safety and security, emergency management and technical cooperation.

Before joining the CNSC, he worked for AECL as a section head and research scientist in the area of high-temperature fuel behaviour and fission product release. He co-authored a number of scientific papers during this period on fuel behaviour under accident conditions and was involved in several international collaborations in this area.

He completed a Master's in Materials Engineering from Queen’s University following his undergraduate degree in Engineering Science (Physics Option) from the University of Toronto.

He was appointed Vice-President and Chief Science Officer of the CNSC’s Technical Support Branch in April 2018.