The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing next month for the White House nominee to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
The White House last week announced the intended nomination of Rita Baranwal as assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy. The actual nomination paperwork was submitted to the committee late on Oct. 5 or over the weekend, a Democrat close to the process said Thursday.
The hearing had been set for this Tuesday before being rescheduled to Nov. 15 late in the week.
The source said the panel hopes to learn more about Baranwal prior to the hearing. It is standard for a nominee to meet with committee staff prior to the hearing, the Democrat noted.
“We still don’t know a ton” about Baranwal, according to the source, adding that there are “no big red flags” on the nomination.
Baranwal has served just over two years as director of DOE’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative, which is based out of the Idaho National Laboratory. The program provides funding and other support for research and development to promote nuclear power.
Prior to joining the Energy Department, Baranwal spent more than a decade in the nuclear industry: nearly nine years in multiple managerial roles at Westinghouse Electric, ending as director of technology development; and two years and nine months working on nuclear fuels materials research and development for Bechtel Bettis at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa.
If advanced by the committee and confirmed by the full Senate, Baranwal would assume leadership of an office that is funded at over $1.3 billion in the current federal budget to manage DOE’s nuclear power and waste-related activities. That would include potentially advancing the still-moribund license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada. In its first two budget proposals, the Trump administration has sought funding at DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume the licensing process halted nearly a decade ago by its predecessor; Congress has blocked both requests.
Two other federal nominees will appear before the committee alongside Baranwal: Bernard McNamee, to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Raymond David Vela as director of the National Park Service. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building; it will be webcast.
The actual votes on Baranwal and the other nominees would likely be held at a subsequent business meeting. There are a dwindling number of legislative days for the Senate to act on the nomination prior to the end of the 115th Congress in early January 2019. Pending nominations at that point would either be held over or returned to the president, who would resubmit or drop them.
Pete Lyons was the last assistant secretary for nuclear energy to receive Senate confirmation, serving from 2011 to his retirement in 2015. The office is currently led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Edward McGinnis.
