Among the many subplots of the still-undecided White House contest between President Donald Trump (R) and former vice president Joe Biden (D) is the makeup of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Matthew Moury, the Department of Energy’s associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety, and security, was nominated to a post on the maximum-five-member Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in July and sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Moury’s nomination calls for him to serve out a term set to end Oct. 18, 2021, according to the committee’s website.
But the nomination of Moury, who spent two decades at DNFSB as a staffer and senior manager, has remained at the committee without a hearing since then.
With the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Senate occupied with judicial nominations, a continuing budget resolution and coronavirus relief packages, the committee never advanced the Moury nomination for the safety watchdog panel to the full Senate.
Should the President win re-election, Moury’s nomination could still be confirmed by the Senate just as the body did with four DNFSB members, including one who has since departed, in early July.
On the other hand, should the Democrat Biden ultimately prevail, the GOP Senate would have to decide whether Moury fit on the list of priorities during a presidential lame-duck session.
The DNFSB now has three members, enough to operate and make decisions. One member is a Republican, former Air Force officer Thomas Summers. Summers is presently acting chairman following the recent resignation of DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton for personal reasons. The other two members of the board are Joyce Connery and Jessie Hill Roberson.
Connory was the chair of the board during the Barack Obama administration and would be in play to reprise the role, in a Biden administration. DNFSB can only have three members at a time from the same political party, but a sitting President can appoint any one of them as chair.
While the $30-million agency lacks actual regulatory teeth, it can make formal safety recommendations for nuclear facilities to the secretary of energy, who must then publicly respond to them.
