The two newest members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been sworn into office as of Wednesday.
Commissioner Annie Caputo was sworn in Tuesday by NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki, followed by Commissioner David Wright on Wednesday.
The Senate last week confirmed the two, nearly a year after President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate them to the commission. Commissioner Jeff Baran, confirmed last week to a second term, will be sworn in at a date yet to be determined, the NRC said Wednesday.
The confirmation process had been slowed by Sen. Dean Heller’s (R-Nev.) hold on at least one of the nominees – Caputo – as a means of fighting Trump administration plans to resume the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste disposal site in his state. The Senate vote last Thursday on all three nominees came only hours after the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal 2019 energy and water bill that zeroed out the nearly $170 million request for NRC and Energy Department funding for licensing activities.
Caputo, a former nuclear energy adviser to Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), fills a vacant position for a term to June 30, 2021. Wright, an energy consultant from South Carolina, fills a vacant position for a term ending June 30, 2020. Baran’s second term runs from June 30 of this year to June 30, 2023.
The commission is now at its full five-person membership for the first time since 2014. Svinicki’s third term ends on June 30, 2022, while Commissioner Stephen Burns’ second terms ends on June 30 of next year.
