The nominee for the top nuclear energy position at the Department of Energy could get another trip through the Senate confirmation process for Christmas, according to a spokesperson for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Asked whether there was any chance that Rita Baranwal might be allowed a confirmation vote as assistant energy secretary for nuclear energy in the upcoming 116th Congress, the McConnell spokesperson said Tuesday that “[n]ominees who are on the Executive Calendar when the Senate adjourns sine die are returned to the White House.”
There was no update on the nomination as of deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor.
The White House nominated Baranwal in October, and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 27 advanced the nomination for a floor vote. However, that has not happened yet and the 115th Congress is in its final days. When it will actually wrap up remains in question as the federal government was just hours from a partial shutdown Friday.
The 116th Congress is due to begin on Jan. 3, 2019. Senate rules, in theory, allow nominees to be held over from one session of Congress to the next. However, that requires the body’s unanimous consent, and no such motion was scheduled for floor consideration as of Friday afternoon.
The Republican Senate held some nominees over from the 114th session of Congress into the 115th session, which began on Jan. 3, 2017. If that does not happen again, Baranwal and nominees from other agencies might find themselves yo-yoing back to the White House for possible renomination in the New Year.
The White House on Thursday did not respond to a query on whether it would renominate Baranwal, if necesary, in the next Congress.
Baranwal, current director of DOE’s Gateway for Innovation in Nuclear program, could not immediately be reached for comment.
If confirmed, Baranwal would take charge of the Energy Department’s programs to advance development of new nuclear power technology, along with its nuclear waste mission. That, in theory, could involve guiding DOE’s license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
The Obama administration suspended the 2-year-old licensing process nearly a decade ago, and the Trump administration has not persuaded Congress yet to revive the proceeding at DOE and the NRC.
Addressing the topic of nuclear waste disposal during her Nov. 15 confirmation hearing, Baranwal said she “would work with what Congress decides and passes as law and would follow that.” For now the law of the land is the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which specifically designates the federal property in Nye County, Nev., as the eventual site for disposal of the nation’s used nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The last confirmed head for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy was Pete Lyons, who served about four years before retiring in 2015. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Edward McGinnis currently leads the office, which is budgeted at $1.3 billion for fiscal 2019.
Its primary mission is to provide early stage technology research, development, and demonstration in three areas: sustaining today’s domestic nuclear power fleet; establishing advanced reactor technologies, and maintaining a national strategic fuel cycle and supply chain infrastructure.
