Ex-NRC commissioner Baran takes buyout option, leaves DOE

Jeffrey Baran, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who more recently worked at the Department of Energy, has taken a deferred resignation offer from the Office of Personnel Management and is leaving the federal government.

Baran joined DOE last September as deputy assistant secretary for waste and materials management at the Office of Environmental Management. “I have accepted the Deferred Resignation Program and am on administrative leave,” according to an automated email response from Baran’s DOE account on Wednesday.

Exchange Monitor had first heard of Baran’s departure plans late last Friday, Feb. 14. As of Feb. 12, Baran was still listed on Environmental Management’s online organization chart. 

Before joining DOE, Baran was nominated to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in October 2014. Baran would eventually serve on the NRC through June 2023, according to his online bio. 

Baran’s chances for landing a third term on NRC ran into trouble in 2023 as several key GOP senators deemed him not supportive enough of new nuclear power projects.

Before joining NRC, Baran worked as a congressional staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 11 years, according to his bio. The Chicago native is an attorney with a law degree from Harvard University. 

Baran had served as a law clerk for Judge Lesley Wells of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.