The job of the NRC is to formulates policies and regulations governing nuclear reactor and materials safety, issues orders to licensees, and adjudicates legal matters brought before it. This is a critical regulatory agency that has important duties with respect to the nuclear industry in the U.S. and usually carries out those duties properly.
Sometimes the NRC is derelict in its duties. It has conspired with nuclear power plant operators to change rules and regulation to make them more favorable to the operators. It has been lax in enforcing regulations. It has offered extensions of deadlines for correcting problems at nuclear power plants.
The new Trump administration has also been lax in carrying out its duties. Out of over five hundred high level staff positions agencies of the Executive Branch that the President must recommend to the Senate for confirmation, the Trump White House has only put forward about forty nominations. Whether this is a matter of incompetence or deliberately delaying staffing so as to reduce the ability of regulatory agencies to do their jobs is not clear. Trump has frequently attacked government regulations as being an impediment to the growth of jobs in the U.S. Trump has also stated that he is in no hurry to fill some of the empty position because he does not feel that those jobs are really necessary.
Now the Senate is under pressure to confirm Kristine Svinicki, the nominee of the Trump administration for the Chairman of the NRC. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said today that "Unless Ms. Svinicki is confirmed by June 30th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will lose its quorum." The NRC requires a quorum of three commissioners in order vote on important issues. The lack of the quorum in the top management of the NRC means that the NRC would have to be shut down. Barrasso would like to have a voice vote in the Senate to confirm Svinicki.
Svinicki is currently the chairwoman of the NRC. She has been a member of the NRC for over ten years. With her term expiring at the end of June, Trump has nominated her for another term. It is not clear at this time when the Senate will schedule votes on Svinicki as well as other energy-related nominees who are awaiting confirmation. If Svinicki is not confirmed by June 30th, there would only be two members on the commission which would not be a quorum and the law says that it would have to be shut down. Two other NRC nominees are waiting for approval by Barrasso’s committee.
Barrasso said “We must also act to confirm the other two nominees as expeditiously as possible to return the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to a full slate of five commissioners. Until then, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's collective ability to fulfill its mission of licensing and regulating the nation's civilian use of radioactive materials to protect public health, and to provide for safety and security, will be diminished.”
The danger to the U.S. public of accidents at nuclear power plants is enormous. If the NRC is not fully staffed and operating after June 30th there will be serious risks to public health and the environment.
