The U.S. nuclear industry on Tuesday lauded the White House’s nominees to fill out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which currently has only three of the maximum five members.
“We are deeply appreciative that the president has recognized the outstanding service of Kristine Svinicki, in renominating her as NRC chair,” Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a prepared statement. “With the nominations of Annie Caputo and David Wright the Trump administration is staffing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with individuals possessing exceptionally strong backgrounds in nuclear energy and policy.”
The Trump administration on Monday nominated Svinicki to a third term on the commission through June 30, 2022, and to stay on in her role as chairman. Svinicki has been on the commission since 2008, following stints as a professional staffer for the Senate and as a Department of Energy nuclear engineer in Washington, D.C., and Idaho.
Svinicki’s current term ends on June 30, meaning the Senate would have to move quickly to ensure she stays on without interruption and the commission retains the three members needed for a quorum.
Caputo, a longtime Capitol Hill staffer currently serving as senior policy adviser to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.), would fill out the remainder of a five-year term through June 30, 2021. The former Exelon employee has spent over two decades providing advice on nuclear energy regulations and associated issues in both houses of Congress, according to Monday’s White House announcement.
Wright, a strategic consultant for the energy industry and former state lawmaker in South Carolina, would serve the remainder of a vacant five-year term that ends on June 30, 2020. Wright has led both the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
“All three nominees are highly credentialed and exceptionally qualified for the Commission with distinguished public service accomplishments,” the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council said in a statement Tuesday. “It is our hope that the Senate mindful of the importance of the NRC’s mission — and critical pending issues such as licensing modernization and reform, an in-progress [small modular reactor] licensing application and current U.S. fleet demands, among others — will act with equal alacrity to ensure that these nominations are approved by June 30.”
