Autonomy is one of the nuclear regulator’s most important assets, especially where developing nuclear technology is concerned, the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week at a virtual annual conference.
“In the past few years, as climate change and energy security have come to the fore as existential threats, many have rallied around nuclear as the solution for clean power — including many you would not expect,” Christopher Hanson, the NRC chair, said in his opening remarks at the Regulatory Information Conference, held virtually this year. “There is a wave of excitement around getting new reactors online quickly, and the NRC is necessarily caught up in that wave,” he said.
Although interest in new nuclear power is growing, the commission is obligated to remain independent and objective, “rather than let ourselves be pushed by the wave or caught in a bubble,” Hanson said.
“We are independent, but not isolated,” Hanson said. “Independence is an imperative for effectiveness and public trust. Yet, we must also transform how we work so we can meet new demands while never losing sight of our core responsibilities overseeing existing uses of nuclear.”
NRC has already demonstrated its unwillingness to simply ride the advanced reactor wave. The agency in January rejected advanced nuclear company Oklo’s license application for its Aurora fast reactor, citing “significant information gaps” in its safety reviews. It was a decision that produced some consternation from the public, particularly on social media.
In the year or so that he’s been in the big chair at NRC, Hanson has put the agency’s independent status front-and-center. In a March 2021 interview with RadWaste Monitor, Hanson was clear that NRC doesn’t take its marching orders from the Joe Biden administration or anyone else.
