SENATE ARMED SERVICES AIDE TO SERVE AS NUCLEAR WASTE ADVISOR TO MONIZ

Mary Louise Wagner, a top aide to Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and longtime staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is set to leave that post to advise Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on nuclear waste issues, aides confirmed. Wagner’s last day working for the Arms Committee will be July 12. Moniz is familiar with nuclear waste issues as a former member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, but the Department of Energy will be communicating closely with Senate members and staffers regarding the recent nuclear waste legislation issued by a bipartisan group led by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). In addition to working with Congress on comprehensive legislation, Moniz and DOE will be working to implement the Obama Administration’s January waste strategy to start up pilot spent fuel storage by 2021, establish larger consolidated storage by 2025, and operate a new geologic spent fuel repository by 2048.