Two members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday praised Senate confirmation of a third, putting the board back at a quorum but two members short of a full roster.
“We look forward to her arrival,” Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce Connery and vice chair Thomas Summers said in a Monday press release. “Her expertise and long experience working with defense nuclear facilities will be a great addition to our agency, and we look forward to a restoration of a quorum of the board.”
A DNFSB spokesperson on Monday told the Exchange Monitor that Lee is working out her final days at Savannah River National Lab and there is not yet a date set for Lee to be sworn in and start work for the board.
The Senate in a 54-to-41 vote last week confirmed Patricia Lee, Ph.D., a manager at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, to be a member of the board, an independent federal agency that provides safety advice and recommendations about DOE nuclear facilities.
Lee has a career that spans more than three decades at the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, Lee has served on various technical, non-technical, and community affiliated boards, according to the DNFSB press release.
“I look forward to joining the board in the near future and contributing to the safety of the defense nuclear complex in this new capacity,” Lee said in the DNFSB press release.
The board has lacked a quorum since the October retirement of long-time hand Jesse Hill Roberson.
DNFSB is set up as a five-member panel and the member crunch might not be over yet. The term of the chair Connery, who first joined the agency during the Barack Obama presidential administration, expires Oct. 18.
President Joe Biden has nominated William (Ike) White, who led DOE’s $8-billion nuclear cleanup branch for five years, but the Senate Armed Services Committee had not scheduled a nomination hearing for him as of Thursday.