The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday recommended that the Senate vote on William “Ike” White’s nomination to join the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
The approval by the committee, which received White’s nomination in May, clears the way for the full Senate Senate to send the former head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management back to the board, where he worked early in his career.
The full Senate had not scheduled a vote on White’s nomination yet.
If White is confirmed, he’ll help maintain a quorum of three for the Defense Nuclear Safety Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), the federal government’s independent safety advisor for defense nuclear sites outside of the naval reactors program.
DNFSB Chair Joyce Connery’s term expires Oct. 18 and she has not been nominated to serve another.
After Connery leaves, if White joins the board, DNFSB will have a total of three members: White, recent inductee Patricia Lee and Thomas Summers, the board’s sole republican.
The board can have as many as five members by law, only three of which may belong to the same political party.
