Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/24/2014
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Allison Macfarlane will step down from her position at the end of this year for a position at George Washington University starting Jan. 1, the NRC announced this week. Macfarlane, who took over the chairmanship in 2012, followed a tumultuous period at the Commission under former chairman Gregory Jaczko, as well as fallout from the Fukushima disaster in Japan. “I came to the Commission with the mission of righting the ship after a tumultuous period for the Commission, and ensuring that the agency implemented lessons learned from the tragic accident at Fukushima Daiichi, so that the American people can be confident that such an accident will never take place here,” Macfarlane said in a statement. “With these key objectives accomplished, I am now returning to academia as Director of the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. At George Washington, I will continue to work on nuclear safety and security and for a better public dialogue on nuclear technology through my teaching and writing as well as by training a new generation of specialists in this area.”
Her term, which doesn’t expire until June 2018, saw the NRC finish it’s re-do of the court-mandated Waste Confidence rulemaking as well as the court-mandated re-start of the Yucca Mountain licensing review. She brought with her to the Commission an emphasis on nuclear waste safety, but her views on key rulemakings like the expedited transfer of spent fuel from pools to dry cask storage and the indefinite storage capability of fuel on-site after a reactor shutdown in the NRC’s Waste Confidence update were out-voted by the other members of the Commission. Macfarlane was also at the center of a recusal controversy when some stakeholders raised questions about her impartiality in regards to Yucca Mountain, due to her previous academic work on the project, including a book titled “Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste.”
A Surprise Announcement
Her decision to leave the Commission was a surprise to most observers. “I don’t know if I expected her to complete her full-five year term, but I didn’t expect her to leave so soon,” said Tim Frazier, former designated federal officer of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, which Macfarlane also served on. “She was brought in at a very difficult time for the NRC, and knowing her as well as I do from our time on the Blue Ribbon Commission, she was a perfect choice then. Certainly, her academic background, the collegial way she operates, was obviously helpful in fixing things at the NRC.”
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member David Vitter (R-La.) praised Macfarlane’s collegiality while also criticizing what he deemed unnecessary regulation from the NRC. “Considering the NRC’s tumultuous past and the political pressure she was under, Chairman Macfarlane handled a tough leadership situation at the NRC with grace, even as she was pushed to undermine the industry and implement unnecessary regulations," Vitter said in a statement. "I wish her only the best as she steps into her new role at George Washington University. It’s vital to the security and reliability of our nation’s energy needs for the members of the NRC to be independent, thoughtful, and highly qualified – and I urge the President to nominate someone with those characteristics, despite certain political pressure from Senator Reid to do otherwise.”
Chairmanship Up in the Air?
With Macfarlane’s impending departure, it would mark the third change in the Commission in the past year. Former commissioner George Apostolakis did not get re-nominated by the President, while William Magwood left the Commission in September to serve as director general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency. Their replacements, Steven Burns and Jeffrey Baran, were approved by the Senate last month, but only Baran has been sworn in. With the need for a Chairman, it is widely expected that Burns would receive an interim Chair distinction while the Obama Administration identifies a nomination to replace Macfarlane, mainly due to his previous work at the Commission. Burns previously worked for the NRC, rising to General Counsel under then-Chairman Gregory Jaczko, but left in 2012 for a position with the Nuclear Energy Agency.
