The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday advanced three of the four Trump administration nominations for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
The nominees approved on voice vote were: Bruce Hamilton, current DNFSB chairman; current board member Jessie Hill Roberson; and Thomas Summers, former vice commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. They now wait for a vote by the full Senate.
Still awaiting committee action, however, is Lisa Vickers, a facility representative for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. The White House nominated Vickers in January with the intent of making her the new vice chair, a position that is currently unfilled.
The Vickers’ nomination remains under consideration, a spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee said by email Wednesday. The spokesperson declined to elaborate on the Vickers’ status.
All of the nominees Vickers, are proposed as DNFSB members, rather than chairman, the role filled by Hamilton.
Hamilton joined the DNFSB as a member in 2015 during the Obama administration. He was subsequently named chairman by Trump in October 2018. A Navy veteran, Hamilton also has four decades of experience in nuclear energy. His term would expire Oct. 18, 2022.
Roberson is a onetime DOE assistant secretary of environmental management with more than 30 years in the nuclear sector. She was first confirmed to the DNFSB in early 2000 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. After a time away from the board, she rejoined the DNFSB five years ago during the Obama administration. If confirmed again, her term would expire Oct. 18, 2023.
Summers is a retired Air Force officer and former assistant National Nuclear Security Administration deputy for research development testing and evaluation for military applications. He would fill the unexpired term of former DNFSB Chairman Sean Sullivan, serving until Oct. 18, 2020.
The other current member of DNFSB is Joyce Connery, an Obama administration appointee whose term actually expired last month, but who continues to serve under board rules until someone is nominated to take her place.
Daniel Santos resigned from the board on March 29, leaving the panel with its current three members.
The mission of the five-member board and its staff of less than 100 is to provide independent analysis, advice, and recommendations on safety at Department of Energy nuclear sites. The DNFSB lacks authority to regulate Energy Department nuclear facilities but can make safety recommendations to the secretary of energy, who then must publicly respond to them.
The board was created by Congress in 1988. It was budgeted at about $31 million during fiscal 2019, which is more than the $29 million sought by the White House for fiscal 2020. Congress has yet to pass final agency budgets for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, leaving the federal government funded at prior-year levels under continuing resolutions through at least Dec. 20.
The DNFSB has suffered its share of internal strife in recent years. A recent report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general found the board suffers from low morale and communication problems.
The report noted the DNFSB contracted with the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service to work on communications among board members and with senior federal staff.
Externally, the DNFSB has also pushed back against Order 140.1, issued by the Energy Department in May 2018. The board fears the order will limit its access to certain people and records at nuclear defense facilities. The Energy Department insists it is not seeking to shut out the board, but rather planning to speak with one voice on safety matters.
