CONGRESSMEN PREVIEW TOPICS OF NRC OVERSIGHT HEARING

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R- Ky.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) sent a letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane last week highlighting the main questions they would like answered at the Energy and Power Subcommittee and Environment and the Economy Subcommittee’s joint hearing on NRC oversight scheduled for next week. The meeting will address what the congressmen feel is the Commission’s inefficiency in completing its workload in a timely manner. “We are concerned about the Commission’s inability to reconcile its declining workload and reduced number of licensees with its erosion of schedule discipline,” the congressmen wrote. Their questioning features topics such as performance metrics and licensing costs to the timeline of the release of the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Reports. Macfarlane and the rest of the NRC Commissioners are scheduled to testify before the joint committee on Dec. 12 at 10:15 a.m. in Rayburn 2322.