The Senate has approved the nominations of Thomas Summers and Joyce Connery to seats on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
The Senate approved the two by voice vote on July 2, according to the website Congress.gov. That came after both were nominated in May and then reported out of the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 24. Their terms end on Oct. 18, 2024.
Connery is already on the board, joining in August 2015 during the Barack Obama administration and serving as chair until January 2017. Her prior term actually expired in October 2019. Before joining the DNFSB, Connery worked for the Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration and served two tours at the White House National Security Council.
Summers, former vice commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, won a twofold approval from the Senate — both to serve out a partial term that ends on Oct. 18 of this year, followed by a full term into October 2024. He was nominated to the partial term in January 2019, filling a spot previously held by former DNFSH Chairman Sean Sullivan, who resigned in February 2018 after recommending the Trump administration abolish the safety board.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Summers was not yet listed on the DNFSB website. There was no immediate word on whether he has been sworn into office.
The DNFSB is an independent health-and-safety watchdog for DOE defense nuclear sites, with up to five members. Although the agency lacks actual regulatory power, it makes health and safety recommendations to which the secretary of energy must accept or reject.
Chairman Bruce Hamilton and Jessie Hill Roberson are the other two current members of the DNFSB. The fifth slot is vacant.
Lisa Vickers, a National Nuclear Security Administration facility representative for the Production Office at the Pantex Plant in Texas, was nominated to the DNFSB in January 2019. But her nomination never made it out of Senate Armed Services and she has not been renominated.
